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Letters to the Editor

PPE usage important in current times

To the editor: Personal protective equipment (PPE) has never been more important than right now. Health care workers are facing a shortage of N95 masks, surgical masks, gowns, gloves, and alcohol-based hand sanitizer. Nurses are using the same N95 masks for a week at a time and are only able to get a new one if they get something on that mask before the seven days are up. This is causing a very serious issue among nurses from using the same mask all week and making it an unsafe work condition. When taking care of a COVID patient, that health care worker must remove their gloves, ...

Teens and the dangers of vaping

To the editor: Teens all over the country are being influenced by vapes. Vapes are being marketed towards the younger population due to all the fun, different flavors they put out. Over half of teens that vape have said that they do it because of the flavors, along with it being the fun, cool thing to do nowadays. There has been a recent push to ban all non-tobacco flavored vapes, to try to decrease the number of users. A lot of teens think that vaping is not as harmful as smoking cigarettes, and some are under the assumption that they cannot get addicted to the nicotine in ...

National School Lunch Program feeds millions of children

To the editor: Seventy-five years ago, President Truman signed the National School Lunch Act, forming the National School Lunch Program, which—in turn—paved the way for the creation of other programs like school breakfast, afterschool meals, summer meals, and more. School nutrition programs play a massive role supporting kids through school meals, pantries, and much more. Across the country, around 30 million students participate in the school lunch program, including nearly one million kids in Ohio. Yet, this year, school nutrition professionals are facing an immense set of ...

Police Department is reason for low crime in Lisbon

To the editor: Supporting “the will of the people” and following “the rule of law” are vital tenets that must be followed at any level of a democratic government. In the case of funding for the Lisbon Police Department, “the will of the people” was the Nov. 5, 2019 passage of an additional one-half percent income tax, and “the rule of law” was specific wording in the approved ordinance stating “a minimum of 75 percent of the one-half perfect increase shall be allocated and dispersed to the Village of Lisbon Police Department for the general operations of the Police ...

Mental health issues are a big concern

To the editor: Mental health is a very concerning topic at this point in every one’s life. Mental health is very prevalent in the United States of America and in the last fifteen months, mental illness and suicide rates have increased significantly due to COVID-19. Mental health is everywhere, it may be you, your neighbor, your boss or coworker, someone in your family or even a stranger working a functionally normal life. With mental illness on the rise, you would assume that resources would be too, but sadly the answer to that is no. Some wanting to talk to someone and searching ...

Reacts to recent letter to the editor

To the editor: Rarely have I encountered a letter to the editor dripping with such venom as in the Monday, Sept. 20 edition. For the record, I did not know Tim Novak and I have been vaccinated. However, I hold no malice toward people who choose not to take the vaccine. Can you blame them? In March 2020, we were told not to wear a mask. A few months later, we’re told a mask then two masks. We were told to get the vaccine so we don’t have to wear masks. Now we need to go back to wearing masks even if we are vaccinated. Initially, we were told the vaccine would prevent us from ...