Northeast residents discuss Lyme disease and overgrown vegetation on Grant Avenue and a group of seniors voice their opinion on separating families.
Learn about Lyme disease
I invite readers to attend an important community educational forum on Lyme disease, and the impact of Lyme disease on climate change, that I will host on Monday, Aug. 27. The event will take place from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Hatboro Community Church, 730 Preston Lane, Hatboro.
Pennsylvania is by far the national leader in Lyme disease, with nearly 40 percent of all cases in the U.S. Research indicates that climate change is increasing both the incidence and the geographic spread of Lyme and other tick-borne diseases.
Everyone in the community should be concerned about Lyme disease since it is complex, difficult to diagnose, debilitating and occasionally fatal. Parents should be especially concerned. Children and youth are the most likely victims of Lyme disease. Initial symptoms may go unrecognized. By the time it is clear that something is wrong, Lyme may be misdiagnosed as a behavioral or psychological problem.
As part of the event, the PA Lyme Resource Network will present the latest information on the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease through their Dare 2B Tick Aware Lyme and tick-borne disease prevention program. We will also get the latest data and trends on Lyme disease.
A special speaker at the event will be investigative reporter Mary Beth Peiffer, author of the new book, Lyme: The First Epidemic of Climate Change. She will have copies of her book available for sale and signing.
Rep. Thomas P. Murt
152nd Legislative District
Grant Ave. needs a haircut
It was not until I had to take my car into the shop recently and had to become a pedestrian that I discovered how a large portion of Grant Avenue became a bum in need of a shave and a haircut.
You cannot walk on the sidewalk between Krewstown Road and Grant Avenue without fighting through a jungle of vegetation.
There is literally no sidewalk anymore on the left side headed to Bustleton Avenue until right after the railroad bridge before the shopping center. Anyone who ventures on that side of the road either has to walk in the street itself or risk getting either ticks or poison ivy. This is an embarrassment to a city that routinely trims the island just a half-block away that separates Northeast Avenue and Krewstown Road.
Calling 311 for the last week has not worked. Someone in the city should notice and take action.
Mike Gibson
Bustleton
Local senior group: We must keep families together
We senior citizens are moved to cry out as never before to speak the wisdom of our years to the chaos of the moment.
We are women and men who have borne the heat of the day with courage, and it is now that we need to raise our voices to hold fast to our cherished beliefs.
We senior citizens, all residents of Philadelphia, say a resounding no to children systemically being abused through the trauma of separation and cruel treatment at the hands of government workers; families torn apart by arbitrary rules that disregard basic values of human decency; and continued dissemination of false information that sows confusion and discourages respect for a common good.
There is a better, more life-giving, more just and merciful way into the future. We know it because we have lived it. We are mothers, fathers, who have nurtured children with love and compassion and gratefully watch them embrace those same values; we are grandparents, uncles and aunts unafraid to speak our truth to save generations of children we shall never live to know.
We challenge our generation of older citizens: Speak up now. Copy this letter or write your own. Raise your voice in town halls, churches, community centers, union meetings, retirement homes, assisted-living facilities and newspaper opinion pages. Call your congressional and Senate representatives. Be informed voters — patriotic to the core.
Let us truly be the wisdom carriers of our times. We have only our one, precious life to give.
The letter was signed by 14 people who are part of a discussion group at a local retirement community
