Your sports story 'Healthy heart watch' (Nov. 3) that discussedthe frequency of emergencies at high school sporting events raisessome important questions about both the adequacy of coach training aswell as the athlete screening process. While you rightfully focusmuch of your attention on the need for better health screening, theAmerican Red Cross also believes equal emphasis should be given tosafety training for coaches and the availability of lifesavingequipment on the sidelines.
To prevent injuries from escalating into major emergencies, everyschool and park district coach should be certified in standard firstaid and CPR. It is a simple four-hour course taught year-round by theAmerican Red Cross of Greater Chicago at several facilities in themetropolitan area.
The American Red Cross also provides automated externaldefibrillators and training in how to use them to Chicago areaschools, community facilities, public agencies and workplaces.
Sudden cardiac arrest claims the lives of 250,000 people eachyear, and as many of 50,000 of these could be prevented throughwidespread use of automated external defibrillators in public places.
In addition, the Red Cross sponsors a Sport Safety Trainingcourse, developed in conjunction with the U.S. Olympic Committee,that teaches coaches and parents how to prevent, prepare for andrespond to many sports-related emergencies.
We make all these courses available several times a year becauseevery individual who serves as a paid or volunteer coach should havethese very basic skills.
Many young lives can be saved if both trained personnel andappropriate equipment such as automated external defibrillators arepresent on the sidelines.
William L. Braden,
chief executive officer,
American Red Cross of Great Chicago
Our bountiful feast
For a majority of Americans, Thanksgiving is an annual four-dayweekend: seeing some relatives, eating a little turkey and watchingfootball on TV.
Giving thanks is a vision to your own soul. It emanates from yourheart and progresses to your mind, transmits to a higher being andcomes full circle. That connection is called a blessing.
Giving thanks doesn't cost money. It doesn't take much effort. Itis so simple we often take it for granted. Thanksgiving is nothingmore than a reminder to all of us that mankind cannot exist alone.That the Golden Rule, the Ten Commandments, positive thinking andprayer all lead to self-fulfillment, and that sharing-even if it isnothing more than a thought-brings about a benefit from which we allcan prosper.
Every day should be Thanksgiving.
Randy F. Gollay, Buffalo Grove
Sink that gravy boat
As Thanksgiving approaches, more people than ever are realizingthat 'T-Day' need not mean 'Turkey Day.' From a physician'sperspective, as well as a turkey's, that comes as good news.
Contrary to hyped claims by the turkey industry, turkey meatcannot credibly be described as health food. A modest 4-ounce servingof white meat packs about 10 grams of fat-one-fourth of it saturated-and about 90 milligrams of cholesterol. Naturally, no family cookwants to put heart disease, cancer, hypertension, food-borne illnessand other serious health problems on the menu. Yet those are amongthe hidden ingredients in any holiday or everyday recipe calling forturkey, cornish game hen, ham or any other animal products.
Here's my prescription for a healthy new tradition: Leave turkeyand all animal products off your menu every day. And by all means,enjoy to your heart's content the harvest fruits-along with theharvest vegetables, grains and legumes.
Neal D. Barnard,
president,
Physicians Committee
for Responsible Medicine,
Washington, D.C.
The vagaries of voting
The events concerning the election have me wondering what peoplein foreign countries are thinking about the United States. I am fullydisconnected from the process.
Anyone who must be away from home should be allowed to vote byabsentee ballot. However, these ballots should be in the hands of thelocal administration on the same day the election is taking place. Ifthey are not in by the time the polls close, they should not becounted.
I was taken aback here in Cook County when it came time to voteyes or no on judges. How many people out of 100 can tell you anyhistory of the job performance of any of the judges? Localgovernments have commissions for just about everything-why not acommission for judges? Let the commission decide which judges aredoing their jobs and whether they should be retained.
Our president should be elected by popular vote. The ElectoralCollege is outdated.
I am 72 and never have seen an election like this one. I hope Inever have to see another.
James E. Sharpenter, Ashburn
Just doesn't add up
Do individual votes count? For those who voted for Al Gore, theycount only in the way of adding insult to injury.
To win the nationwide popular vote by getting almost 50 millionvotes-only to lose an election by by the smallest of margins, becausethe other candidate gets the winning 25 electoral votes from onestate-now that's 'fuzzy math.'
The devil's in the details, indeed.
Elsie Chialtas, Dolton
A columnist in crisis
Ann Coulter's column (Nov. 14) makes references to this'constitutional crisis' as a 'national emergency.' The Constitutionis working just fine right now; we've hardly shaken the dust off itfor this election.
The only national emergency is the one George W. Bush'sRepublicans are trying to scare everyone into: to sway public opiniontoward demanding an immediate resolution rather than a fair andaccurate vote count.
Coulter criticizes Florida's attorney general, who is also Gore'sstate campaign chairman, for 'boorishly' not removing himself frominvolvement in the recount. However, she completely ignores that it'sBush's state campaign co-chairperson-acting as Florida's secretary ofstate-who set the deadline preventing further fair and accurate handcounts.
Contrary to Coulter's claims, Gore does not want to 'delayconfirmation of the Florida vote for as long as possible,' only longenough to complete a fair and accurate count.
And it shouldn't surprise us that a correspondent from theconservative weekly Human Events would consider violations of thevoting rights of African Americans to be mere 'phony legal claims.'
Brad Blackwell, Lake View
No sacrifice too large
On Election Day there was an accident. A senior citizen took afall so serious that 911 had to be called. (We later found out thatshe had a broken arm, maybe a broken nose and various otherinjuries.) This happened in front of the polling place where I was anelection judge. As she waited for the paramedics to arrive, she said,'All I wanted to do was vote.'
While she bled, she did indeed vote. And then those greatparamedics took her to the hospital.
To those of you who didn't vote because it was too cold or justplain inconvenient, shame on you.
Leona Toppel, Naperville
Voice of a community
In a news story ('Hispanic leader rips school plan,' Nov. 11), theimage of torn leadership in our community was exposed. As a longtimeresident and homeowner in Little Village, I would like to share withyou who the real leaders of Little Village are.
Our leaders are people concerned about the welfare of our children-not those who use children to gain political influence. Our leadersare people who meet with us and ask our concerns-not opportunists whoshoot from the hip and react when it is convenient. Our leaders arelocally elected officials-not paid staff people and politicians fromother wards. Our leaders are people who lead by example.
One such leader is Ald. Ricardo Munoz (22nd), who has workeddiligently for the last several years to secure new schools for ourward. His plan, which has been endorsed by Mayor Daley and theChicago Public Schools, is the right plan. It calls for a dualcampus.
Juan Rangel, executive director of United NeighborhoodOrganization, does not believe in this plan because he does notbelieve in our community. By citing gangs and drive-by shootings asthe rationale for rejecting the dual campus, Rangel has demonstratedhis lack of faith in our community. He has led the public to believethat Little Village residents are incapable of managing theirstreets, communities and schools.
I invite Rangel to visit some of our schools and see how well-managed they are. We have wonderful principals, staff and parents whoare dedicated and committed to education and safety. I spend lots oftime in Little Village schools and am not aware of any one of thembeing controlled by gangs. The parents and local school councilscontrol our schools.
I ask for Mayor Daley and school board President Gery Chico toremain committed to the dual-school campus plan on 31st and KostnerAvenue.
Thomas M. Howard,
Lower West Side
