Myself, a real person, who has more medical problems with aging, want a state-of-the-art modern hospital to be able to receive the best care available.
The problem of transportation could be solved if there is involvement to make this happen. I very well know the expenses of taxicabs, but there is bus service and a shuttle bus in Hagerstown. The Commission on Aging could also help. Also there is a free clinic on Franklin Street.
Maybe along with the plan for the development of Robinwood Hospital there could be a plan for the accommodation of those in need of transportation.
How can you count on what the politicians say when so many people just don't vote?
If a child can make a community aware of the need for fire alarms in homes, why can't a businessman voice his or her opinion as an individual about Robinwood?
Yvonne Berget
Myersville, Md.
Stop using our education system as political football
To the editor:
As president of the Washington County Teachers Association, I am very concerned that our elected leaders may be prepared to go to Annapolis in January and vote yet again to shortchange public education. The Bridge to Excellence Act (Thornton) was outstanding legislation that was intended to finally pour much needed new money into our schools. Now, proposals are on the table to stretch the funds by as much as 10 years. The result will be a tiny ripple in a huge needy pond. We must not compromise our students or the educators in this county.
I urge our legislators to look for other ways to answer the state's money woes and stop making public education a political football. If the future of our children is a major priority, let's show it with real commitment. Public schools must be fully funded to support the future of Washington County.
Claude H. Sasse, president
Washington County Teacher's Association
Hagerstown
Injection is cruel
To the editor:
One of the drugs used to execute condemned killers is being challenged by inmates in Texas and 28 other states. This drug was banned from being used on animals.
What this drug does is suffocate a person before they lose consciousness. This is cruel and unusual punishment. A judge ruled that the drug has "no legitimate purpose in lethal injections." The Maryland courts need to look at this issue, if in fact this very same drug is being used by the Maryland system.
Let's re-look at the past when people argued it was cruel and unusual punishment, and those claims led to the halting of executions before being resumed in 1976.
Now with the new evidence being shown and proven, can't we now say it is cruel and unusual punishment?
Kevin W. Ward
No. 300715
Western Correctional Institution
Cumberland, Md.
