Passing of Marie Walli is a loss
It was with great sorrow I heard of the passing of Marie Walli. We have lost some important Homer folks of late, including Clem Tillion.
Marie may not of been in his class, but she was close.
I first got to know Marie in the 1980s when she served on the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly, and I was on the borough School Board. She had found a wonderful site for a new elementary school in Homer, badly needed at the time, and fought hard for its purchase.
The borough had built McNeil Canyon Elementary School and thought Homer’s needs were taken care of, but Marie knew Paul Banks Elementary was over capacity, and Homer folks did not want their children bussed to McNeil.
When McNeil was built, it was an area experiencing dramatic growth, but about the time the school was built, Homer Electric Association changed their long line extension policy. I got involved with that, as did a realtor from Anchor Point. We both were vocal in our objections, and HEA promptly put us on a review committee. It was clear: the members of HEA were subsidizing the subdivision development where the first house to go in was at the farthest end of the subdivision, requiring a long line to access, at considerable cost for HEA. Both the gentleman and I had to agree, what they proposed made sense for HEA members.
Marie recognized that Homer would need another elementary school, and thus we have West Homer Elementary. She fought hard for that, and it is thanks to her efforts we had a place to build a school.
May you rest in peace, precious Marie.
God’s many blessings to your wonderful family.
Milli Martin
The consequences of being your own physician and self medicating
The first rule of a physician is “do no harm.”
That should also be the given for those who self-diagnose and self-medicate to treat medical conditions.
There are serious risks to self-medication to treat an acute or chronic condition caused by the lack of therapeutic advice. If patients are not instructed clearly on the correct dose of a medication, frequency, how to take, as well as side effects and potential interactions with other drugs, then the patient remains uninformed and open to these risks.
Politicians hold a huge media platform and some use it to promote prescription drugs designed for a medical condition and now repurposed to treat a different condition. Many of the drugs they promote to prevent or treat COVID-19 have not followed the established protocol of testing and studies for safety or effectiveness. Guesstimates are only of how much of a dose to even give or how that drug will interact with other drugs to treat COVID-19, as well as other drugs patients may be prescribed to treat some serious medical conditions as heart disease and high blood pressure.
Politicians in defense of this practice say we are in a surging viral pandemic and we must allow the use of such drugs now.
Some politicians are strong advocates of the practice of self-diagnosing and self-medicating for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 with these repurposed prescription drugs, as well as over-the-counter meds and supplements that have their own danger. Politicians often add a caveat such “as seek advice of your own doctor.” The hard truth is a lot of people will not.
This is the experimentation on humans being offered by politicians that the same politicians say we should fear.
Patricia Mayhan, retired nurse, state of Alaska
Grateful for Kachemak City Park support
Last winter, a group of people who value outdoor recreation began meeting to address a concern. The Kachemak City tennis courts badly needed repair and the city funds set aside for maintenance would do little more than tear up the old court surface. With input from a wide variety of people throughout the Homer area, we embraced a new vision for the playground and tennis courts. A two-year project took wing, and there is an endless list of people to thank for the new and much improved park that is emerging at the Kachemak Community Center.
The new multi-court surface is done and the drainage issue that caused the court surface problems is resolved. A bicycle pump track was built and a play field and path to the north were roughed in. More playground equipment was ordered, a sledding hill was formed and lighting is currently being installed. Next spring and summer will see the multi-court surface (tennis, pickleball, basketball) fenced, the playing field seeded, picnic tables set around the field, the path completed and the playground expanded.
We are so grateful to everyone in the Homer area who has stepped up with their energy, ideas, money, equipment and labor. With another summer season of work ahead of us, it is not too late to join your neighbors and make a tax deductible donation to the Kachemak City Playground Repair Fund through the Homer Foundation.
Thank you, and as Alice Witte said, “Play like crazy!”
Bill Fry and Chris Perk, for the Kachemak City Park Committee
Thanks, Homer Foundation
Thanks so much for the money that was so generously given for me to experience this year’s Steens Mountain running camp. Your contribution to the costs of going to this awesome camp was a huge blessing for me and those who came with me. I learned many things through that eventful week. One of those was that encouragement can give you anything you need when you are hurting a lot and yet have many miles to run. You gave me the first steps of encouragement when it came to going to this camp in the first place.
Thank you so much!
Adams Veldstra
Thanks to Rotary for ‘Loved and Lost’ bench support
Our heartfelt thank you to the board of directors of the Rotary Club of Homer-Kachemak Bay for their recent donation to the Loved & Lost memorial bench fund. We are honored to be among the numerous projects this wonderful group supports.
If you would like to join in supporting the memorial bench, you can do so online through our Go Fund Me at http://gofundme.com/f/lovedandlostmemorial OR through our fiscal sponsor, Homer United Methodist Church at https://www.homerumcalaska.org/donate .
You can also make and mail a check payable to HUMC, 770 East End Road, Homer, AK 99603. Be sure to write “memorial bench” in the subject line.
Thank you to each and every individual, business and organization who make up the more than 250 who have already made one-time and ongoing donations of just over $30,000 towards our $40,000 goal in support of this beautiful and important bench. We, Duffy’s family and friends, are grateful.
Christina Whiting
Thanks for educating Rep. Vance
Dear Editor,
I would like to thank Nancy Lord, Konrad Schaad and Marylou Burton for educating Sarah Vance.
Last week these three intelligent persons stated that Sarah Vance should not be dispensing her non-medical and unscientific advice to our community.
They are correct.
Sincerely,
Carole Hamik
We may all need a Plan B soon
Dear Editor,
Like yappy little dogs, several people wrote letters in last week’s paper ridiculing Rep. Sarah Vance. They were angry that Sarah suggested doctors be permitted to treat COVID-19 patients with therapeutic medication, rather than only relying on vaccinations. They might have reason to regret their foolish criticisms. We may all require an alternative to vaccination very soon.
Recent evidence shows that fully vaccinating a population does not stop COVID-19. For example, Gibraltar is a small country with 100% of its population vaccinated. The average number of shots/person is 2.7, and yet they still have a high rate of COVID-19 cases. This same pattern is seen in places like Singapore-88% vaccinated, Iceland with 77% and Ireland with 76%. There are many other examples. Countries with the highest vaccination rates are seeing unexplained outbreaks of COVID-19 in their vaccinated populations. This pattern is also true in the United States. In Maine, they have 79% vaccinated and COVID-19 cases are just as high now as the peak last January when few were vaccinated. Even the patron saint of the left, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said last week that vaccines didn’t work as advertised, and Americans are in danger due to their waning immunity.
While this is happening in vaccinated countries, COVID-19 is virtually nonexistent in central African countries with mostly unvaccinated populations. The reason why might be that the same therapeutic drugs that Rep. Vance recommended are widely distributed there for the prevention of malaria. We need to accept that vaccines alone will not eliminate COVID-19 and that therapeutic medicines could work. We should support Sarah Vance’s proposal. She was right and deserves an apology from all the ankle biters on the left.
Respectfully,
Greg Sarber
