The myth of "Safe and Sane" fireworks is dispelled by Downey police and firefighters who encounter cases each year of cleverly modified versions which backyard mechanics turn into dangerous and illegal pyrotechic explosives.
This makes each case a problem for the investigating officer to decide whether the device is in fact safe and sane or illegal. This at a time (the 4th of July), when public safety personnel are swamped with calls.
Both current and former police and fire chiefs support a ban of the sale and use of fireworks.
The myth of safe and sane fireworks is also voided when the explosive is placed in the hands of a child. The highest percentage of fireworks injuries are in the 5-to-14 age bracket, according to the U.S. Product.
Downey is no longer a rural community. The streets last 4th of July were filled with residents, some newcomers and some longtimers, whose combined number and careless actions with fireworks constituted a clear and present danger both to structures and fellow citizens.
The City should sponsor a patriotic public fireworks display yearly-one put together professionally and with safeguards. Such displays are clearly more spectacular and maintain our traditions.
Fireworks is big business, and the manufacturers of these devices are willing to invest big dollars in an effort to defeat this measure on the March ballot. Don't let them. Their interest is purely financial.
As for the 18 clubs which raise funding through fireworks sales under the present system, we're sure a year is enough time for them to find alternative means of funding. The 18 that sell fireworks for profit are given until July 4, 2003 to find alternative sources of funding under the proposed law!
After all, there are more than 160 similar non-profit clubs in Downey that have chosen to exist without selling fireworks.
Land mines started in World War I and, at first, were used to stop tanks, also a new invention. It was not long before technology figured out how to make these mines small enough to be called anti-personnel mines when buried in the ground. They reached their zenith in southeast Asia during the Vietnam War where hundreds of thousands were "planted." Made of plastic, with plastic explosives, they were undetectable to magnetic sweeps, waiting to be set off by contact. Vast areas were planted and then the fighting stopped. The new victims are no longer soldiers, but civilians, especially children. It is reported that "600 men, women and children are still killed or maimed each week by land mines."
This story repeated itself in Bosnia and is happening right now in Afghanistan. A large number of land mines were placed by both the Russians and the Taliban, each against the other of course, but still left over to harm both our soldiers and their civilians. It also significantly reduced what little land is available for farming.
So what do you do with these things? About ten years ago Bill Wattenburg, scientist, teacher and inventor, thought back to his childhood and remembered a farm implement called a harrow. It is a flat, rectangular metal thing with short spikes sticking out the bottom which is dragged behind a tractor to level out the dirt after plowing or discing. Wattenburg's invention was to replace some of the connecting solid metal pieces with heavy chain and still keep some of the six inch downward spikes to unbury the unexploded mines that the chains did not set off. Obviously a tractor is not going to work here. So the magic key was Wattenburg's idea to pull this 16 foot wide "chain matrix harrow" at the end of a 500 foot tow line with a large helicopter, keeping the aircraft far enough from the explosions to be free of damage.
Supervised by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, he ran tests with a Navy helicopter and it worked. He tried to get the Army interested to clean up the land mines from the Gulf War, but the Army was not interested, saying the soldier casualty losses were acceptable. Yet those land mines now in Afghanistan have already maimed some of our troops and will lie in wait for years to cause civilian casualties. The chain matrix harrow could prevent this as well as clear some of the terrain for badly needed agriculture. However, it seems inter-service rivalry is alive and well and if the Army did not invent it, they don't even want to try it out, much less use it.
Our military does a wonderful job at what they do and are clearly the finest fighting force in the world, but new ideas often come from unexpected places and people, and arrogance should not keep the world from being a safer place to live for everyone.
Consider the facts. Nearly 70 percent of fourth graders in our nation's lowest income schools cannot read at grade level. According to a study conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the skills gap between the best readers and the worst is wider in America than in any other developed country.
Reading is the heart of learning. If a child cannot read by the third grade, he or she will fall further and further behind his or her peers. By the fourth grade, students learn other subjects, such as math or history, by reading. Once a student is able to read, he or she is able to learn. Clearly, we must do something to make sure that these children develop the skills necessary for a successful academic career and a productive life. No child should be forced to flounder through our school systems because he or she cannot read.
Realizing this, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, recently signed into law by President Bush, makes a significant investment in literacy programs. The legislation creates the "Reading First" initiative to ensure that all children, no matter their background, can read by the third grade. It triples the federal investment in literacy education to a total of $975 million. These funds will go to states and local school districts to implement the reading instruction programs that work best for their students. Reading problems will be diagnosed and corrected early, preventing students from falling through the cracks. Catching and correcting problems early will also prevent students from being mistakenly labeled as special-needs students and entering an already overtaxed and underfunded special education system.
The No Child Left Behind Act also includes an "Early Reading first" initiative. This early childhood literacy program will enhance reading readiness in our nation's lowest-income communities or where high numbers of students are not reading at grade level. This $75 million program is designed to provide the critical early identification and early reading interventions necessary to prevent reading failure among America's children.
Many of the children who struggle with reading have limited proficiency in English. The No Child Left Behind Act addresses the special needs of these students by improving bilingual education. Schools and school districts are held accountable for ensuring that students are proficient in English within three years of beginning school in the United States. It consolidates bilingual education programs, and lets local schools use the program that best fits the needs of their students. Improving bilingual education gives these children the skills they need to be competent readers and successful throughout their lives.
Congress and the President have taken a positive and significant step toward equipping out students with the literacy skills necessary to succeed in life-opening the worlds of great literature and of academic achievement to all of America's students. In a high-technology, information age, these skills also are fundamental for obtaining the advanced skills that provide economic success both for individuals and our nation.
For more information about the Reading First initiative and other literacy programs, visit the National Institute for Literacy's website at www.nifl.gov.
Having said that, I hasten to add that I truly admire the guts of some of those who do offer up resolutions in a big way, like many writers and editors do, practically laying bare their souls in print for all to see, risking public scorn if/when they fall short of their promises (which is what resolutions are).
On the other hand, I don't do anything more than ask for help in being the best possible husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle, friend, et al. Which is the same as wanting to do the best I can with what I've got to work with.
And that last I'm sure pleases my friends and supporters as much as it frightens my critics.
That game was replaced (this one time only, thankfully) by the BCS Bowl yesterday.
I've long been a football follower of pro and college teams alike. In time, my main interest became the NFL's San Francisco 49ers. Most recently college football has seemed more appealing than pro games, largely because of rowdy fans of the Raiders.
The recent bottle-throwing idiocy of pro football fans in Cleveland and New Orleans, acting like Raider fans, has bolstered my interest in college teams over the pros. But now the BCS folly is making that choice seem questionable.
(ADDENDA: A friend said he went to a pro football game the other day and a typical soccer crowd showed up. He was only kidding-I think.)
On the front of the General Post Office in New York City the following is inscribed: "... neither snow nor rain not heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds." Although often taken to be a USPS original, that was excerpted from the writings of the Greek historian Herodotus about the Roman postal service of 500 B.C.
Postal service has been an important part of U.S. history. The first postmaster general was Benjamin Franklin, appointed by the Continental Congress in 1775. When Samuel Osgood became the first postmaster general under the U.S. Constitution in 1789, there were only 75 post offices in the country and fewer than 2,000 miles of "post roads."
The pony express of 1860-61 is perhaps the most colorful part of the USPS history, wherein riders carried mail between St. Joseph, MO to Sacramento, cutting delivery time from 24 days to 10. Yet, it only lasted 17 months because of completion of the transcontinental telegraph and rapid growth of train lines.
But none of the preceding deserve more credit for the successful operation of America's postal services than do the USPS men and women of today. We salute you, one and all, and thank you.