Letters
Letters to the editor
Highlands Today
Published: April 26, 2012
Dietary supplementsPublished: April 26, 2012
The FDA is once again acting in a way that is not in our best interest by trying to put supplements on the chopping block. In the 1990s, the FDA was threatening to limit our access to dietary supplements.
We as consumers made our wishes known in a loud united voice and in 1994, the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act was passed to protect our right to easy access to supplements.
When Congress passed this act, they recognized that supplements are a natural product and safer than chemical food additives. Now the FDA is trying to impose stronger limits upon dietary supplements than have been used on the most potent of prescription drugs.
If you feel strongly about this, please take a minute and call or write your congressmen and let them know. Please act now to protect our rights.
Susan Finney
Sebring
Protecting families
April has been Child Abuse Prevention Month. As a kick-off, our community rallied on the courthouse steps to give a voice to children who suffer in the shadows. I was unable to attend, but I appreciate the attention paid by citizens, students, local leaders and this newspaper.
We can all play a part in keeping families whole and pushing back the darkness of abuse and neglect. We have yet to fully tap the vast resource of goodwill and dedication that many couples in our communities — especially the faith community — have to offer.
I have become passionate about a program called Caring Families. It is administered by Florida Baptist Children's Homes. The concept is simple, requires no government funding and little overhead.
The program matches caring volunteers willing to open their homes to parents who need helping caring for their children temporarily — before things get out of hand and the state is required to step in.
Parents in dire straits are more prone to take out their frustrations on children. So the Caring Families program is a voluntary effort to bring relief much in the way families and neighbors used to pitch-in years ago to help when loved ones struggled to care for their kids.
And let me tell you why programs like these are so critical: For each child diverted from the DCF system, we unclog court dockets, save taxpayer money that can be used for other important services and, above all, avoid the breakup of families.
We all welcome the day when DCF has fewer abuse cases to report, but stemming the tide will take more than government to help keep families strong and whole. Let's not allow focus on abuse prevention efforts to end just because the month does.
Denise Grimsley
Sebring
The veep
After watching Jeb and Marco playing "Alfonse and Gaston" for two weeks, it is apparent that the outsourcing governor and the accidental senator will continue in their minuet until Romney gets off the dime.
Perhaps unwilling to accept a computer date that will enhance his chances in Florida, he will look further for a backup, even one who can't spell potato, if push comes to shove.
With the leader of the ticket, whose only virtue is he too hates Obama, who really cares who is selected for the number two spot?
Republicans, whose only interest seems to be advantaging the wealthy at the expense of everyone else, really don't care who occupies the White House as long as he is a Republican.
Whatever happened to concern for the country?
Randy Ludacer
Lake Placid