This is the day to thank those who did so much

This is the day to thankthose who did so much
EDITOR:
Thank a veteran every time you have a chance to vote for a representative or about a tax issue. Thank a veteran if you value the abolition of slavery and if you value the unity of our nation.
Thank a veteran who put his or her life in the way of a genocidal maniac as he blitzed through Europe. Thank a veteran for freeing hundreds of thousands of people from the shackles of a the former Soviet Union. Thank a veteran if you emigrated from the killing fields of Vietnam or Laos or Cambodia. Thank a vet for stopping the genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Thank a vet for trying to save Africans from the enslavement of warlords.
Thank vets for building bridges, water projects, hospitals and schools and for teaching people how to build a nation that gives everyone a voice. If you value the best things about America, thank a vet for passing those on.
Thank any veteran you know for serving faithfully when asked -- whether it was difficult, or inconvenient or downright scary. Thank a vet for taking the necessary action, for all of us, when threats and appeals from the whole world won't stop the bully -- when only force can.
PHYLISS HAMMERSTROM
Cleveland
X The writer is a Marine Corps veteran and the executive director of the USO of Northern Ohio.
Save the Boardman woods
EDITOR:
This is an urgent call to action for the citizens of Boardman, as well as the consumers from all around who shop in Boardman. Sam's Club on South Avenue proposes to vacate its current structure and erect a Super Sam's Club with a full line grocery department on property north of Lowe's, which is owned by a private individual.
The site, 17 acres of virgin wooded area, will be destroyed, and yet another vacant building will be left to join Ames and others. Wildlife will once again be displaced due to the poor, unnecessary development practices that have given Boardman a concrete facelift.
Why couldn't Sam's Club expand their existing facility, as they plan to do in other cities? It also brings unnecessary competition to local grocery stores that can't compete with Super Sam's prices. The lost jobs will be replaced by low-paying, usually part-time, low-fringe-benefit jobs.
Of the three trustees, Mrs. Miller has been fighting this proposal for sometime now without the cooperation of her two colleagues. I urge anyone who lives or shops in Boardman to attend the next trustees meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the government center.
Dan Kuzma
Canfield
X The writer is president of the Youngstown State University Environmental and Animal Rights Coalition.
Life begins at conception
EDITOR:
The recent letter by a physician regarding stem cell research has greatly saddened me. The refusal of some in the medical and scientific community to recognize the humanity of babies from conception onward perpetuates scientific falsehoods used to justify embryonic stem cell research. Regarding this issue, several things must be considered:
(1) Both the Human Embryo Research Panel and the National Bioethics Advisory Commission have described the human embryo as a living organism from fertilization -- it will not change into some other animal type. It is what we all looked like at 5-15 days development.
(2) Embryonic stem cell research necessitates the destruction of these embryos.
(3) ES implants for Parkinson's has yielded nightmarish side effects such as patients who twist and jerk their bodies, constantly chew, and fling their heads with no way to deactivate the cells. Fast-growing tumors also abound.
(4) No success has been obtained using ES cells in diabetic patients.
(5) Ethical alternatives exist. According to 2002 studies, adult stem cells from bone marrow and blood are stimulated to form insulin-secreting pancreatic cells, new retinal cells, and blood vessels. Experiments are also encouraging with cord and placental blood from live births, and certain enzyme developments.
The end does not justify the means. I am a retired R.N. with a 35-year-old son diagnosed with juvenile onset diabetes at age 9, and have several close friends with severe debilitating conditions. None would want a child to die for the potential benefit of their cure.
MARTI RUNYAN
Girard