Smart meter coverage one-sided

To the editor,
LPEA and Dan Harms enjoyed an unfair platform (Durango Herald, Sun., Feb. 9) to tout alleged “facts” and “baseless” fears surrounding the smart meter (aka AMI meter) controversy. Harms’ so-called facts are unabashed wireless industry talking points, spoon-fed by utility companies to offset growing, national consumer opposition. For example, AMI meters transmit anywhere from 9,600 to 190,000 network messages per day (24/7), not just the consumer messages transmitted “once or twice per hour,” as Harms alleges. 

Since Harms refers to the Internet, google “smart meter lawsuits” for cases argued and won in courts in Hawaii, Maine, California, Oregon and other states. Baseless? The settlements say otherwise.

LPEA has a single purpose: Get smart meters installed, fast, before they’re stopped! (Ditto Atmos Energy.) Harms was selective in his references, ignoring credible “facts” and science to the contrary. Utility companies want to reduce operating costs by eliminating jobs and capturing usage data leading to higher prices based on time and amount of energy consumed. (Similar to how cellular phone companies bill for usage.) Manufacturers are installing AMI chips in new appliances to communicate with your smart meter. The long-term plan, subsidized by government, is to connect everyone to a national power grid, giving them the capability to monitor and control energy usage right to our home! (Think about what’s happening with the NSA and the possibilities with AMI meters attached to every home!)  

Harms, LPEA and the Herald ignore (non-Internet) empirical evidence from independent experts with credentials superior to theirs. Harms is an LPEA employee and has no choice. An ethical community newspaper does. Although not specific to smart meters, expert testimony on radiation standards before the FCC (Ref., FCC 13-39) in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 18, 2013, rebuked numerous wireless industry claims regarding the 4

impact and safety of radio frequency exposure limits.

The Herald chose to ignore this testimony and responded by commissioning an idiotic cartoon by Judith Reynolds and printing it right above an opposition letter. By discrediting and discouraging opposition in such a cowardly manner, the Herald acts as an enforcer for the giant wireless communications and utilities industries.

Go to http://ehtrust.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/ 11/FCC.pdf and read this expert testimony and arrive at your own conclusions. Keep us out of Harms’ way!

– Edmund Andersson, Durango

Dad defending his booty title

To the Telegraph,
I wanted to thank Luke Mehall for making my dad, Henry Stoy’s, day by writing about his ‘’swagger’’ at the Booty Shakin’ Contest for Snowdown. He is very proud of his moves and his thong, that is still proudly folded in his coat pocket.

– Thanks, Danielle Stoy, Durango

Clinic’s doors close, window opens

Dear Telegraph,
The La Plata Community Clinic (LPCC) has been in transition since last fall when we learned Axis Health Systems Inc. obtained the status, along with federal funding, to become a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC). Their new clinic, La Plata Integrated Healthcare, opened in January 2014. We applaud Axis because La Plata County has desperately needed an FQHC for a long time.

In what is a bittersweet announcement, the LPCC will no longer function as a medical or dental clinic as of March 28, 2014. While we would very much like to continue, we do not wish to duplicate efforts, and funding for health-care dollars is very limited. Until then, we are using our remaining funding for its intended purposes by helping those on our dental waiting list. We are also assisting LPCC’s patients with getting connected to the new La Plata Integrated Healthcare clinic and other resources.

Our organization is assessing if there is another role to play in the community. However, our tenure of running a donated-care clinic is coming to an end. Since the LPCC started, our vision has been to address unmet health-care needs. With the support of this great community, we have accomplished this in spades. The LPCC has made a difference for over 400 patients who have received direct health and dental care, and by giving information and referrals to 500 more. The LPCC accomplished so much because of 30 caring professional volunteers who donate their time and with the help of generous donors and community champions. This has been a valuable journey. We wish the very best to the new clinic which is located north of the Durango Public Library.

– Ginny Newman, Clinic Manager, La Plata Community Clinic

Dangers of RF understated

To the editor,
It was with great interest that I read the Herald, Jan. 26, letter to the editor by Ms. Andersson about the dangers of radio frequency (RF) emissions. I recall several years back another strong, dedicated to the cause and well-informed citizen named Erin Brockovich who brought to our attention the negative health consequences of contaminated drinking water. Newspapers and industry representatives made disparaging comments to try and discredit her, as well.

There can no longer be disagreement by the sufficiently informed that radio frequency emission is harmful to humans and animals. Those who are willing to accept the views of the telecommunications and wireless industries without question or, are otherwise uninformed, will continue to lead their discussions on these health-related issues based on personal feelings rather than empirical data. The science is irrefutable.  

It appears that our county commissioners are locked into their uninformed views regarding the health impact of RF emissions. However, it is their responsibility to research this information once it is put before them and not rely just on the input from the telecommunications and wireless industries or groups whose profit motives outweigh public health and safety concerns.   

It is the choice of the commissioners whether or not to become sufficiently informed. But, as a tax paying citizen of La Plata County, my hope is that they will read the medical and scientific evidence presented to them and put our citizens’ health, safety and quality of life before the profits of the industry. If they choose to support those companies by writing telecommunication industry “friendly” regulations for La Plata County without regard for our health, then I will choose to support the other candidate at the voting booth. 

Wake up to this issue folks! We can help our current elected officials by letting them know that “We the People” have been awakened to the issue and we will be watching closely.

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”  – Martin Luther King Jr.

– Chris Gallagher, Durango