Letters

All correspondence should be sent to editor@monitor.net. We reserve the right to edit letters as needed.

Starting with this issue, you'll notice a request for your comments at the bottom of each story. We're trying something new, to make this section of the paper more interactive.

Letters will now be posted immediately to the current issue. (Well, maybe not immediately; we need to scan them for libel, slander, and get-rich-quick schemes, of course). You can also respond to letters written by others, much as you can in a newsgroup or mailing list.

We hope that you will help us start a discussion about the stories we carry, making the Albion Monitor an even more interesting newspaper to read.

	What a great idea: having a link to post letters to the editor after every article, and adding them to the same issue of the Monitor to which they refer! You can't do that with paper. Dave Herd
	Prison Labor Boon for Employers, Report Says Gulags huh? My my, what a great incentive this gives society to protect the innocent. Gee, all we have to do is make being unemployed a crime and Corporate Amerika will be able to compete with any country's labor. Maybe Singapore can send their stuff here to get made. Neil Jensen Add your own comments
	'Environmental Sickness' Controversy Unresolved I read with interest your article on Environmental Illness, and I wanted to thank you for covering what is for many of us a survival issue. Not only is it a challenge to cope with the prevalence of toxins in the world, but it has also been painful and difficult to confront the denial of those around us whose immune systems are not as sensitive. Frequently they react as if we are being "precious" or "controlling" when we express our needs. Occasionally, they seem to understand -- until they "forget" for the tenth time about using fabric softener or burning incense or wearing perfume or using insecticides in environments we must share. Most often, people let us know that they are more willing to forfeit our company than their habits. It reminds me of an incest survivor who takes the risk of telling her family about the experience. They appear sympathetic -- until they send a note that says, "We wanted to invite you to the party (wedding/reunion/funeral), but your father is going to be there, and so we will understand if you choose not to attend." Why is the victim defined as the problem and not the perpetrator? Why is the disabled person considered the problem instead of the toxin? And why do those who deliberately choose to create a hostile environment for those of us with this disability believe that we will not hold them accountable for that choice. Bottom line is that they are toxic to us. Carolyn G. Add your own comments
	Obscure Antioxidant Better Than Vitamins C, E The article doesn't mention natural sources of alpha-lipoic acid. I'm dubious about nutritional supplements that can only be purchased in concentrated form. Nicholas Wilson Add your own comments
	Predator in our Back Yard As someone who lived with the geometrically increasing mountain lion population, I have to urge people to consider what must be done to allow human/cat coexistence. When I moved to the "boonies" in '87, I was aware of the potential for danger from the local wildlife. After all, I was developing a new human habitation. However, the large cats were preying on domestic animals, much closer to town, than where I lived. The cats were attacking and eating dogs, cats and geese, etc., down in the orchards and vineyards that had been developed for 75 years or more. According to Fish & Game, this was because the local deer population had been depleted by the increase in the big cat population. You have to keep in mind that a mountain lion needs at least one good-sized deer a week. Eventually, without human intervention, this situation would even out, but in the meantime, the danger to the "unsuspecting" townfolk (and their livestock and pets) has increased dramatically. For those of you who would like to protect all wildlife, please consider that, though this (Prop 197) is not a perfect bill, it is a start in the direction of managing wildlife and is NOT just a license to hunt big cats. Leslie Humphrey Add your own comments

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