Kudos to Rep. Demings for Alzheimer’s attention
At the beginning of each new year there is hope. Hope for a year filled with new promises and new goals. This year, there is new hope in the fight against Alzheimer’s. Last month, President Trump signed a budget agreement that included an additional $350 million in funding for Alzheimer’s. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, more than 5 million Americans currently live with an Alzheimer’s diagnosis.
Alzheimer’s is the only disease in the top 10 that has no treatment, prevention, or cure.
My deepest gratitude going into 2020 is to Congresswoman Val Demings for being a champion in this fight. She consistently listens to her constituents and is committed to honoring all those affected by Alzheimer’s disease. The congresswoman’s continued leadership over the past year has highlighted how elected officials are working in a bipartisan way to address Alzheimer’s as a public health crisis.
This recent funding increase brings annual funding for Alzheimer’s to $2.8 billion. This funding is critical and will equip scientists to work at a more rapid pace to advance basic disease knowledge, reduce risk, uncover new biomarkers for early diagnosis and drug targeting, and develop potential treatments.
My fight against Alzheimer’s is personal. My mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2017 and I’m her primary caregiver. Thank you, Congresswoman Demings, for listening to my story, and those of other caregivers who are going through similar circumstances.
Because of you, we are one step closer to our goal of a world without Alzheimer’s.
Usha Tewari Orlando
OPD officer’s Taser use was justified
I totally agree and support Officer Peter Meier’s use of Taser force on a 19-year-old last May (“Officer disciplined for using Taser on suspect,” Jan. 9). The age of majority in Florida is 18. Meaning you gain almost all the legal rights adults have.
The suspect ignored Officer Meier’s lawful commands to stop his bicycle time and again. At least three to five times. This young man biked around two other police vehicles as officers chased him into an appartment complex.
Officer Meier tased him to make the arrest. He was injured from that. Had he stopped for Officer Meier the first time, he would not have suffered scrapes to his arms, punctures from the taser probes, and recent surgery to his left shoulder. That’s all on him. Not the good officer.
Lawful authority should be respected and obeyed, regardless of what you think might happen. Red-herring excuses to flee don’t cut it. There are consequences for not doing the latter.
Look in the mirror, young man, and be accountable for what happened and why it happened. You’re 19, not nine!
Ray Palmer Ocoee
Senate trials play by different rules
I trust I’m not the only attorney who read and wryly chuckled at Scott Campbell’s prosecutor v. judge analogy in his letter to the editor (“Pelosi should let Senate trial proceed,” Jan. 8). I certainly hope Mr. Campbell isn’t an attorney because attorneys, particularly litigators, and judges know there are rules of court that prescribe in great detail how a trial is to be conducted. The rules are published and transparent and are not easily subject to manipulation as are the U.S. Senate’s rules.
I suspect Mr. Campbell may have used this easy, but misleading, analogy to reinforce the beliefs of the uninformed, or those who refuse to become informed, populace.
Carol Lawrence DeBary
