Dan's Papers - May 1, 2009 -

How many sons and daughters will be led to their slaughter? We honor the fallen and dead, we should also honor the living.

It seems to me, if you want to be free, there are other ways to save your country. Remember, after everything is said and done, you don't have to carry a loaded gun.

Richard is a decorated Viet Nam Vet. - DR

It is extremely important to elect Dr. Laura Anker Grossman on May 19 to another term on the East Hampton School Board. She brings 30 years of experience as an educator and 17 years of experience on the East Hampton School Board. She has been an advocate for higher educational standards throughout her career and has shown integrity in administration, transparency and budgeting. She is a consensus builder and has shown openness in all her dealings while on the school board. Her agenda is to improve the quality of education of our students.

Dr. Grossman has also been instrumental in developing the award-winning, collaborative pre-kindergarten program with the East Hampton Day Care Center and Project Most, an after-school program at the John Marshall Elementary School. Both of these programs have improved academic performance and served the needs of working families.

In these trying times, we need educators on the school board. They understand the educational process as well as our fiscal concerns.

Educators on the school board is good. - DR

Our present healthcare system is in dire need of an overhaul. Healthcare costs and insurance premiums are rising much faster than household incomes. And many of us are skipping or delaying needed care to keep food on the table or pay our mortgages.

Only comprehensive health care reform will provide Long Islanders with the high quality, affordable coverage we need and deserve. The American Heart Association notes that 15 percent of non-elderly adults with cardiovascular disease are uninsured and many with insurance struggle with the high costs of care. The uninsured with cardiovascular disease have a higher rate of death following a heart attack or stroke, compared to those with insurance.

Our elected officials need to consider the challenges facing heart disease and stroke patients as we struggle to find quality, affordable care. They have the power to pass meaningful health reform that benefits all Americans, including those with pre-existing conditions.

For more information, visit heartsforhealthcare.org.

There appears to be a doctor shortage.

The EPA, like many other government organizations never gets anything right. In the EPA's list of air polluters that appeared in Newsday on April 18, the agency omitted one of Long Island's biggest polluters - the Long Island Railroad. The LIRR operates 46 diesel locomotives that sit idling for as many as eight hours a day in the Jamaica, Speonk, Port Jefferson, Montauk and Babylon rail yards. The EPA, as well as many politicians and MTA Board members, is acting irresponsibly by ignoring the deadly fumes that are known to cause severe health problems that these diesels emit.

According to a report produced by the Washington State Department of Ecology, each diesel engine annually burns over 80,000 gallons of fuel (mostly from unnecessary idling), emits more than 15 tons of nitrogen oxides, 900 tons of carbon dioxide and 1,000 pounds of fine particulate matter known to cause cancer. Multiply this times 46 diesels and the results - an unconscionable waste of money and tons of deadly pollutants that we breath 365 days a year.

For more than 30 years the LIRR has been using outdated diesel locomotives that pollute, waste fuel and make unacceptable noise that effects the quality of life, in addition to being inefficient and expensive to operate. In fact, in a Newsday article on October 23, 2008 the LIRR President Helena Williams admitted that diesel locomotives are operational nightmares. The EPA, the LIRR and the MTA have their heads in the sand. They continue to allow diesel locomotives to operate, which waste money, pollute the environment with toxic fumes and produce unacceptable levels of noise and they ask the commuters to pay for their stupidity. When will it stop? The EPA, the MTA Board, and the LIRR management must be held accountable and taken to task. They must be forced to resolve this situation immediately before Long Islanders and visitors to the region suffer major consequences beyond unreasonable fare increases.

It's public transport, which is good.

What do other railroads use for power? - DR

My husband and I are avid readers and have kept up with all that is wonderful about our area except for the "Subway." Many years ago, we were playing with the idea of such a subway, but then last week we noticed that there was going to be a filming of a motion picture scene at the subway. My husband and I had decided to go and to call and perhaps become extras until there was a number in the last four digits of the phone number missing. I tried to call Time Warner to no avail. We still considered going until the rain made us rethink our plans.

There are no times available to catch this subway and the only mention of this subway is in Dan Papers.

My husband and I would like to go and see this subway. Could you please let me know where we can find the trip schedules and where we can get access to the subway?

Unless all of this is just some hyped-up joke lingering longer than need be for April Fools.