Kudos for Article – More Info Wanted

I wish to thank Brandon Hensley, one of your contributing writers, for his excellent article on 5G protesters in the Sept. 26 issue. I was elated to see it! I too have been doing research in this area and, from the numerous articles I have read, I have concluded that installation of the 5G technology is not in our best interests health-wise whatsoever.

With no concern by the cellular industry for the potential adverse health effects and a lack of testing for such, this is disaster in the making. As a writer for the legal field, I have seen far too many instances of products being produced and unleashed on the general public without proper testing only to cause irreparable harm. Here is an excerpt from just one of the articles I found on the subject of 5G technology: Why 5G Cell Towers Are More Dangerous – Get The Facts! | Radiation Health Risks (www.radiationhealthrisks.com).

“5G Radiation is a high frequency form of microwave radiation. A microwave oven cooks your food using the 2.45 GHz frequency. 5G frequencies are expected to range from about 24 GHz up to about 300 GHz. As mentioned earlier [in the post] Kevin Mottus of the U.S. Brain Tumor Association says that within the radio frequency portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, which includes the 5G microwave range, the higher the frequency, the more dangerous the radiation is to living organisms.”

I know preparations are in progress for this to be installed here in our local area. We need to be an “informed” public and make our voices heard. If we don’t, it will surely be ramrodded down our throats as so many other things seem to be.

I would like to request that Brandon do some more research in this area as soon as possible and let us know what can be done to counter this effort of the 5G installation and, additionally, who we need to speak to. There is power in numbers. Silent voices can be equated to condoning this travesty.

Trissie Badger

Glendale

Welcome, Ace Hardware

I am happy to see that Ace Hardware is taking over the space formerly used by OSH. I am familiar with the big, full-service Ace stores in Truckee and Calistoga, and am pleased to see one of those coming to La Crescenta and glad they are hiring some former OSH employees.

That being said, I am hoping that Ace will continue the great service to the community that OSH did, and that is to accept hazardous waste related to products they sell. I believe that a store that sells hazardous items such as fluorescent light bulbs, paint and batteries should be obligated to take these items back when they are burned out or used up. People are more likely to take these items to their local store than to drive to the nearest county hazardous waste facility in Sun Valley to turn in a couple of burned-out fluorescent bulbs or a handful of dead batteries.

Our only other large hardware store in the Crescenta Valley does not accept return of the hazardous items they sell. I am afraid most of these items just end up in household trash bins.

Jeremy Burnham

La Crescenta

Limits for School Board Members

At the Nov. 5 GUSD Board of Education meeting there was much discussion on the possibility of term limits for school board members. It was very disturbing to learn that the discussion took 16 months to make it onto the agenda and, further, that it was met with such resistance.

The governor has an eight-year term limit, as does the cabinet, state legislators, countless local positions, and even the President of the United States. If school board members believe that they need more time to learn their jobs than the leader of the free world, then frankly they’re in the wrong profession. If incumbents don’t vote for term limits they’re voting in their own interests while amassing social capital. Term limits level the field. A lack of limits keeps new blood from entering the arena and reinvigorating the process while allowing ineffective politicians the opportunity to run on their experience, often hiding the fact that it was their actions specifically that brought about the present state of affairs. School boards across the country suffer from the same untamed incumbency that paralyzes Congress. Term limits can spark elected officials to choose action over complacency and motivate them to accomplish goals more quickly.

Public education is in crisis. There is an urgent need to address important and often difficult issues facing our next generation of learners. Term limits are not meant to disrespect, under appreciate or undervalue the contributions of our sitting trustees, but rather to cultivate a culture of capacity building and to encourage an opening of the doors to the board room and a welcoming of fresh ideas, new approaches and diverse representation.

Neda Farhoumand

Glendale