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Show Dear Sam: During the past few years. I have been enjoying some of the finest athletic entertainment enter-tainment that any community commun-ity in the state can afford to its residents: Moab's Sum mer Baseball Program. Having a boy of my own who is active in the program I became quite interested as to what the men who coach these teams get out of it. I started attending all the games I could and talking to the cpaches in an effort to find out why they are willing to spend so much of their summer involved in the summer sum-mer baseball program. Here are some of the facts with which I soon became acquainted. ac-quainted. There are 38 men (two for each team) involved in coaching 19 teams. Six T-Iague T-Iague teams (ago 8-9), nine Little League teams (ages 9-12) 9-12) and four Pony League teams (ages 13-14). This total to-tal program involves approximately approx-imately 320 boys per year. The coaches average about hours per day for five days a week working with these boys. This runs for 12 weeks and amounts to 5,703 hrs, per summer. This doesn't include meetings held in the winter for equipment inspection, inspec-tion, rules study, repair and maintenance of facilities and general planning for the next year. A number of these men work on rotating shifts and find it necessary to trade shifts and occasionally forfeit for-feit a shift in ordor to coach their teams. The coaches taking their teams to the State Touranment must spend valuable vacation time or take a leave of absence ab-sence from their jobs wihtout pay in order to bo with their teams. There is also the expense ex-pense of driving ones own car around to pickup the boys .for practice or games and then seeing that they get home if they don't have transportation. Treating th-.' teams after the games is another an-other expense. These various expenses could cost a coach as much as $300.00 per year, the minimum runs about $75.00 per year. Where does this money come from? Out of the coach's pocket. Some parents do chip in now and then and those who do are appreciated. What do those men get out of all this except a crimp in their own budget and a lot og gripes from people on ho.v they coach and who should play? (very few of the gripers grip-ers are willing to help.) They get the satisfaction of knowing know-ing Jhey have helped the boys stay busy for the summer, sum-mer, taught them the value of teamwork, self denial for the good of the team, and the feeling of spirited competition. com-petition. And just maybe by some great stroke of luck and a "lot of hard work, they might get to take their team to State. No very rewarding for a summers work is it. Just try to get one of these coaches to give up their team; then stand back and watch the fireworks. Who are these men who give so much to the Community? Com-munity? They are your neighbors. nei-ghbors. Miners. Office Workers, Work-ers, Store Clerks, Millwork-ers. Millwork-ers. Mechanics, ' Engineers and Electronics Experts. If you have been missing these games you are missing some of the greatest thrills of your life as these teams battle for those State Tournament Tourna-ment berths. By the way, if you should see one of these men around town or at the games, pat him on the back and say "thanks for helping the boys". Sincerely, J. B. Wiggins Dear Mr. Taylor: The Honorable Yito P. Battista. New York Stat? Assembly, has an article "I Cpose Fluoridation" in th? July 1909 issue of "Prevention "Preven-tion Mggazine" (the magazine maga-zine for better health). Bo-cause Bo-cause so many of us in Moab oppose floridation of our water wa-ter supply. I feel it appropriate appropri-ate to furnish a few of tlv facts and information contained con-tained in this article. Subject article reads, in part, as follows: "In each of the past four sessions of the New York State Assembly that body has turned back every attempt to make fluoridation fluor-idation of the water supplies mandatory on a state wide basis. ; In October, 1G. the Food and Drug Administration ordered or-dered a sales ban on fluoride fluor-ide compounds for expectant mothers. It was understood though not stated officially, that the FDA had evidence that fluoride compounds were harmful to the unborn. Such evidence was presented present-ed in the Jounral of the American Am-erican Medical Association (138. 1964 t, when a premature prema-ture infant who died after II hours was found to have extensive ex-tensive calcification of the aorta. The infant was found to have 59.3 parts pen- million mil-lion of fluoride in the main heart artery. Ordinarily, no fluoride is found in that organ. or-gan. A significant minority of people in this communily suf fer from various degrees of kidney disease. Some of them, in whom the kidneys do not function at all, survive sur-vive only because they are able to be (rented wilh artificial arti-ficial kidneys and a process known as hemodialysis. Fo. these people, using fluoride (water in th? hemodialysis machine can prove fatal. John Lear ported out in a recent issue of Saiurday Review' tint fluoride iN.a toxic tox-ic nv'neral and cannot be flushed cut of the body if the kidneys are not functioning properly. But there are hundreds hun-dreds of thousands of people peo-ple in this country who are suffering from kidney ailments ail-ments not severe enough to be brought to the doctor's attention. Thus, these people peo-ple too would, have difficulty in eliminating fluoride from their systems. There is evidence evi-dence that the mineral level is birlding higher and higher in their bodies, and there is no reason to think that the (results will not eventually be disasterous. Just what levels of fuloride intake will be dangerous for these people? No one knows, oshua Lederberg. professor of genetics and chairman of the genetics department de-partment at Stanford University Uni-versity and Nobel Prize winner win-ner for genetics and bacter iology in 1353. discussed this problem recently. Writing in (he Washington Tost (March 13, 19591. Dr. Lederberg said, 'The real problem is cur lack of basic knowledge, both about the action of very lew doses of fluoride on bone and other cells and about (he variety of human responses respon-ses in dealing with it.' Arthritics are another group who suffer because of the addition of fluoride tn the public wa,T -supply. Dr. William Gutman of Flower Fifth Avenue Hospital in New York City recently said 'many people suffering from arthritis wilL.iJradually experience an increase and a speeding up of their condition con-dition when exposed to fluoridation.' flu-oridation.' Dr. Gutman's solution: sol-ution: 'Since fluoridation benefits only a small segment seg-ment of the population let it be supplied on an individual basis. It could be given in a pill or in milk or even in school lunches.' We have in the nation to-ctov to-ctov untold millions of known and unknown victims of diabetes. dia-betes. Other chronic diseases affect 80 million or more persons. We know very little lit-tle about the causes of them but. there is grow ins; evidence evi-dence they are related in some way to malfunction of the body's enzyme systems We also know trv substances substan-ces - includins fluoride -effect those systems. Numerous authorities are in agreement that until we understand the role thf,?e substances play in influencing enzyme systems we have no right to subject the public at lare to those substances throuqh daily doses. Vet this is precisely what cily and state governments govern-ments are doing throughout the nation. Without any regard re-gard whatsoever lo individual individ-ual susceptibility to harm, age. stale of health, body weight or allergies, men with political and legislatve backgrounds are makiir; medical decisions which could have a colossal negative nega-tive effect on the health of 1he nation. An additional fact, one of great importance, which the New York Staie Assembly gave consideration to. is that flunride has already become be-come a leading health hazard haz-ard as a pollutant. Both scientists sci-entists and law courts have recognized that fluoride is an air pollutant has caused nekness and death in cattle, cat-tle, destruction of farm crops and deterioration cf buildings. Medical authorities authori-ties have also reported tha". fluoride in the air has caused caus-ed serious human illness. Fluoride Fl-uoride is now so widely recognized rec-ognized as a serious pollu'-ant pollu'-ant that the United States Surgeon General Stewart listed it as the third most serious environmental pollutant. pollu-tant. Dr. Barry Commoner considers it among th: highest high-est priority pollutants.'' According to Dr. F. B. Ex- nfT. M. D. Sr.-- erican Medicsl' f; has nev approv? ; n"r recommpri" tion. or uriod V DroIJb3:hcV f'f Pharmacol-' University Schu; cno. says th,. n.' as direct collu'ar V ; interfering with Z ' taholism and e" anisms. 1 hope that v- . ftund this info.V" will give serio-jV".-" the health haz-"' brougt about V Council is al!Wej ,: date our water ' Sincerely. L'dia Anders,- |