Writer wants change on town council
To the editor:
I just returned from the last NashvilleTown Council meeting pertaining to next year’s budget. I can’t begin to tell you the lack of class that a member of the “Squad” demonstrated toward our police chief, Ben Seastrom.
After this council spent almost the entire year insulting, belittling, making serious accusations of his character and demeaning his department and its officers, the council decided to pass the budget equal to last year’s budget.
You may say that’s good news for the department, but unfortunately it’s not. This Squad has demoralized the department so badly that officers have left or are looking for other, better paying positions. To this point almost any other police department in southern Indiana pays more than Nashville.
The final straw tonight was when Squad member Anna Hofstetter had to get in some final shots at the chief. I really believe she thinks she is the moral compass of the council and Nashville. She sat there and basically shook her imaginary finger telling the chief “We’re not cutting your budget this year, but you better come to this council next year with some major reductions in your budget.”
This current council is controlled by the Squad. Two thirds of this group will be up for election next year. We the people of Nashville cannot allow this group to continue causing mayhem on issues we care about. This is the same group that is wanting to remove the blue flags from the police cars and to defund the department anyway they can.
I want to be transparent and state that I am an advocate for Nashville and attend almost every council meeting, which I encourage all of you to do the same. Finally, I have no desire to be a member of this council, I just don’t want the Squad to have a seat either.
Jim Hays, Nashville
A call for county comprehensive plan
To the editor:
On Oct. 27, the Brown County Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) denied a petition to build a 185-site RV park in Nashville town limits.
The board listened for over two hours to public opposition. Technical issues were raised that, perhaps, could have been addressed. More importantly, a number of residents voiced concerns about the negative impact on their quality of life and decreased property values.
As one gentleman made clear: Great project, wrong location. I heard 100 voices echo the same sentiment. One hundred individuals who might eagerly contribute to crafting a comprehensive zoning and development plan for the county.
BZA president, John Dillberger — who ran a great meeting — was quoted in the Democrat (Oct. 27) as saying that decisions by board members were made more difficult because a detailed plan was not available to guide them. Let’s help them out.
Let’s make an effort to develop and implement a comprehensive plan for county development.
Scott Mills, Brown County
Stark differences: COVID deadlier than flu
To the editor:
Some people avoid getting a COVID vaccination because they equate COVID and the flu. Let’s explore this idea.
The flu is nothing to sneeze at, but COVID deaths and mortality rate are worse. The mortality rate for influenza is estimated to be 1 in 1,000 while COVID’s mortality rate is closer to 1 in 100. There have been over 700,000 COVID deaths in the USA, and over 16,000 COVID deaths in Indiana. An average year sees about 35,000 deaths from the flu in the USA, of which about 1,000 are Hoosiers, according to Dr. Michael Klompas, a professor of population medicine at Harvard Medical School.
The death and mortality rate statistics show COVID to be much deadlier than the flu, both nationally and within Indiana.
Older populations are at greatest risk of death from COVID compared to younger people, but middle-aged and younger persons experience higher COVID deaths than flu deaths. Over 40,000 adults between 30 and 50 died from COVID as of Oct 10, 2021, and only 824 in that age group died from the flu during the same time period. COVID is more deadly than the flu, for both young and old, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
OVERSET FOLLOWS:It’s not just death. You are twice as likely to be hospitalized with COVID than the flu. COVID patients struggle to breathe, are more likely to need intensive care than flu patients and the average length of stay in the intensive-care unit for COVID at 15 days is twice as long as the flu at eight days. If you don’t die, hospitalization experiences tend to be much worse with COVID than the flu, according to a study published in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society.
And then there’s the COVID “long-haulers.” While long-term effects from the flu are rare, many adults and children suffer COVID after-effects. As early as July 2020, scientists were sounding the alarm regarding COVID brain damage, including temporary brain dysfunction, strokes, nerve damage and brain inflammation. More common COVID symptoms were “fatigue (58 percent), headache (44 percent), and attention disorder (27 percent),” all of which can affect concentration, according to a study published in the journal “Brain.”
The long term effects also occur in children, even some with mild symptoms. Children can experience multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS) during, or immediately after, a COVID infection. MIS is a condition where different body parts can become inflamed. Symptoms include a fever, a rash, belly pain, vomiting, diarrhea and moderate to severe cardiac abnormalities, according to data from the CDC.
What does all this mean for Hoosiers? Indiana has consistently trailed the national vaccination rates, ranking 14th lowest in the country with 49 percent of all residents fully vaccinated, according to the CDC. Many health professionals predict Indiana will experience another serious increase in infections and deaths this winter, due to colder temperatures and more inside exposure and low vaccination rates.
Denny Kubal, Brown County
Thanks to community foundation for grant
To the editor:
Keep Brown County Beautiful wishes to thank the Brown County Community Foundation for the grant they received for Dumpster Days and Electronics Recycling.
Although the grant was scheduled for 2020, due to the complications of COVID-19 we were unable to hold Dumpster Days in 2020. We were able to arrange to have Dumpster Days on June 4, 2021. Due to not using all of the grant for Dumpster Day, we received permission from the community foundation to pay for televisions and monitors on Electronics Recycling Day at the Brown County Recycling Center.
We did not advertise this, but handed each patron a card explaining that their televisions and/or monitor was paid for by a grant from the Brown County Community Foundation and sponsored by Keep Brown County Beautiful.
Through both of these special days we kept people from dumping trash on the sides of the road and on private property.
It gave people the opportunity to bring trash on Dumpster Day for free. This is a good way to dispose of old mattresses and furniture that also are too often seen on the side of the road.
If you were one of the people that benefited from these services, thank our Brown County Community Foundation! We just did!
Cathy Paradise, President of Keep Brown County Beautiful
Family thanks volunteer fire department for event
To the editor:
To the Jackson Township Volunteer Fire Department, I wanted to say thank you so very much for all your hard work and the joy you bring to families.
My grandkids love the Friendly Forest so much. We have been going for years both weekends, weather permitting.
You do such a great job to make it fun, yet not scary. Just affordable, family friendly fun.
May God continue to bless you and your hard work. Joy in Jesus is putting others first and you do that with all your time and work you put into the community.
Looking forward to the Christmas Forest. Christmas begins with Christ; shine for Him.
The Miller Family, Oak Ridge Road (Submitted by Nikki Miller)
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