Letters to the Editor

April 16, 1998

To the editor:

On April 4, 100 volunteers came to Harpers Ferry National Historical Park for the 10th Annual Potomac Watershed Cleanup.

They joined thousands of others at almost 100 sites up and down the Potomac River and its tributaries.

People came to Harpers Ferry from near and far, from Carlisle, Pa., Slatyfork, W.Va., parts of Maryland and Virginia and the District of Columbia, to join with local folk from Jefferson County. Some of the volunteers were members of the Potomac Valley Audubon Society, the Shenandoah River Outfitters Association, the Tressler Wilderness School and the Jefferson Campground.

Blue Ridge Outfitters, River Riders and River and Trail Outfitters deserve special mention for their donation of time and equipment.

With generous support from the maintenance, law enforcement and interpretation staff of the Park Service, the volunteers worked hard for three hours picking up trash and debris along the shoreline and islands of both the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers. Sixty-three tires, 293 large bags of trash and 24 barrels were removed from the watershed.

Those volunteers improved the appearance of our most visible resources, the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers, along the gateway to the Eastern Panhandle. The shoreline is safer for wildlife and for people. The Chesapeake Bay will have less garbage floating in its direction. We all live downstream.

David Fox

Harpers Ferry, W.Va.

To the editor:

This is in response to your March 16 article titled "Teen sets off a smoke signal." Second-hand smoke contains over 4,000 chemicals and many of these chemicals cause cancer.

Studies substantiating these facts led the Environmental Protection Agency to classify second-hand smoke as a Class A carcinogen. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health considers second hand smoke a potential occupational carcinogen and recommends that all available preventive measures be used to minimize exposure to second hand smoke.

The Maryland State Legislature took this information seriously and several years ago, passed a statewide policy restricting smoking in the workplace.

The laws regarding smoking in public places were adopted to protect workers from the health problems associated with exposure to second-hand smoke, not to force people to stop smoking. It is important that all citizens obey the laws, but especially important for our elected officials to take any law passed by the state body seriously.

Barbara Orlando

Healthy Community 2000

To the editor:

I was most interested to learn in the Money section of my Sunday, April 5, Herald-Mail that there are not more sewing machine operators, farmers, bookkeepers, typists or word processors!

All of these jobs, according to the columnist on the first page, are supposed to have declined more than 100 percent. Doesn't anyone edit a newspaper anymore?

I can't believe that no one at the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Occupational Outlook Quarterly, the Chicago Tribune or The Herald-Mail is aware that you can't decrease anything by more than 100 percent.

Nicholas E. Bedessem

Boonsboro

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