Our Readers Respond...

Dear Editor:

Thank you for publishing my letter to the editor in your second issue. It was a first for me, and it made me
feel like I had a participatory voice. I would also like to thank you for your coverage of the elections and especially your coverage further exposing the odious Mrs. Pirro.

Recently a major protest, that has been growing over the years, took place at Fort Benning, Georgia. The Associated Press ran the story on Nov. 19, 2006 with this opening statement:

“Thousands of protesters paraded, chanted and raised white crosses Sunday outside Fort Benning, the
home of the Army’s Airborne, Ranger and Infantry training, as they continued a 17-year effort to close a
military school they blame for human rights abuses in Latin America.”

Given the general political mood in Latin America and the large Latino community in Westchester, I believe
this to be an ongoing issue with a wide following. The infamous School of the Americas (SOA) renamed
Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC) is just as valid an issue as the related undocumented immigration debacle.

There is also another area that I would like to read more about; the Third World health-care services provided
to the uninsured as well as those with Medicaid. Where there are populations of marginalized poor people,
i.e. Yonkers, Mount Vernon, Tarrytown, New Rochelle, etc., health-care services are poor, to miserable.

Poor people in these communities are faced with outpatient clinics generally related to hospitals, frequently
causing excessive waiting times and the jamming of emergency rooms. There are obvious problems with
transportation and generalized corruption in the entire health-care sector.

Hoping you and your excellent staff all the best, I look forward to reading more about our county, country
and planet.

Owen Fisher
Yonkers