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RT10082015

for breaking news visit www.timesnewsweekly.com OCTOBER 8, 2015 • times 13 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.couriersun.com OCTOBER 8, 2015 • THE COURIER SUN 25 oped  A LOOK BACK letters Coming together to fight breast CanCer October is National Breast Cancer Awareness month and is a reminder for all of us to do something. Throughout the month of October women are encouraged to make a mammography appointments. Some may wonder why a man is writing a letter about breast cancer which is mainly a women’s disease, but it is a disease that affects all of us. Where the ones we love are affected by this insidious disease like our mother, sister, wife, lover or life companion. We are their caregivers and try to care for the ones we love. I know my wife of 28 years goes every year for the test, and I know it scares her because breast cancer runs in her family and she has friends who have had the disease. Yet each time she goes for the test I’m afraid to hear the worst and maybe lose the most important person in my life. I know many men have fears like myself. But we all must remember that early detection is the answer. Also when coupled with new treatment options and mammography screenings do improve a woman’s chance of survival. We all need to get involved and do what we can to help in the fight against this most insidious disease. Frederick R. Bedell Jr., Glen Oaks Village believe in the City’s publiC sChools “You gotta believe!” That holds for sports clubs vying for a championship and it’s just as true of a team that is in the midst of a championship season that has lasted generations. That is, the New York City public schools. A winning strategy begins with faith from the fans and from the team’s soul. The public school roster is a team not only as metaphor but in reality. And they are underrated by many people who don’t know the game and don’t care to know the game. Our schools have borne much malicious and groundless disparagement from spiteful and ignorant critics who have been subsidized to spread lies. They think that New York’s first-place education franchise is not even a major league competitor! It’s time to get the word out that the treasures of the system abound and are not limited to the specialized “elite” schools. Our public schools are not only surviving; they are flourishing. We’ve gotta believe! And we do. Ron Isaac, Fresh Meadows Where Will Cuomo find the money? Governor Andrew Cuomo may have already maxed out his transportation credit card. He hasn’t made public how the state will pay back the major federal loan that financed the majority of the $3.9 billion cost for replacing the Tappan Zee Bridge. Will he have the state pick up the tab, or pass the cost on to motorists by having them pay higher tolls? Will it double or more over the coming years? He will not come clean on his source for paying this multibillion-dollar loan back to Washington until after he is reelected to another term in 2016. Just how does Cuomo propose finding several hundred million more on top of the $400 million he has already promised to cover what may end up costing up to $1 billion for building a new light rail system from NYC LaGuardia Airport to the Queens No. 7 subway Willet’s Point Citi Field Station? Add $7.3 billion more which he pledged to help cover shortfalls in the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s proposed $28 billion 2015-2019 Five- Year Capital Plan (cut from the original $34 billion) and $5 billion toward $20 billion for construction of the new Amtrak Gateway Tunnel project connecting New Jersey with Penn Station. Combined, all of the above would run Cuomo’s tab of unfunded transportation improvements to $16 billlion! Cuomo reminds me of the cartoon character Wimpy who famously said, “I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.” When the bills become due, taxpayers will end up paying Cuomo’s bill. Larry Penner In defense of Planned Parenthood BY COUNCILMAN RORY LANCMAN Planned Parenthood has been all over the news lately, with a sea of pink T-shirted supporters taking over Foley Square last week amid a strong defense against the newest round of baseless attacks the organization is facing. Planned Parenthood serves everyone who walks through the doors of one of their clinics, regardless of whether that person has insurance or can pay the full cost of their care. Although the organization is best known for the important sexual and reproductive health care they provide, Planned Parenthood clinics also conduct anemia testing, screen for high cholesterol and provide tetanus vaccines. Through the 900,000 cancer screenings Planned Parenthood provides every year, the organization has helped thousands of women detect cancer early, getting them into treatment when it is most effective and saving countless lives. Planned Parenthood also works to educate individuals and professionals in a variety of areas. The organization provides medically accurate, age-appropriate sexual education curriculums, and will send health educators into local schools. They also train clinicians in reproductive health care, and offer classes to family planning providers, managed care plans, community health organizations, and city and state agencies on public insurance and reproductive health care. These many valuable services are why I welcome the opening of the Planned Parenthood clinic in Queens, which will serve more than 18,000 individuals each year. This clinic will help many of my constituents get routine gynecological care and compare different birth control options. It will also provide safe and legal abortions. Women shouldn’t face protesters outside of their doctor’s offices for availing themselves of legal, and often necessary, healthcare. It’s frustrating to turn on the TV and hear the same arguments happening again. At some point, the pundits might want to acknowledge that it’s not the 1950s. Ninety-eight percent of women in the U.S. have used birth control at some point in their lives. One in three women have abortions. All of these women should be able to access their medical care in a safe facility with knowledgeable, caring doctors. That’s exactly what Planned Parenthood provides. Something so commonplace as comprehensive reproductive care shouldn’t still be controversial. Councilman Lancman represents the 24th Council District, which includes all or parts of Briarwood, Fresh Meadows, Jamaica and Jamaica Estates. visit QueensCourier.com for more stories identify thisPLACE Go to www.queenscourier.com and search “Identify This Place” to find out where this is timesnewsweekly.com


RT10082015
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