Prevention Month Raises Awareness
Editor:
September is World Suicide Prevention Month, a time to become aware of the high rates of suicide on the lower Eastern Shore, to remember those who lost their lives to what the National Institute of Mental Health calls one of the most preventable public health crises in America, and to learn suicide prevention first aid.
Here are some facts about local suicide tragedies:
In Worcester County, from 2012-2014, the rate of suicide was 16% higher than the state average.
For the same period, the Wicomico County rate exceeded the state rate by 33%.
The Maryland Youth Risk Behavior Survey revealed that 17% of young people seriously considered suicide and 13% actually made a suicide plan in 2015.
Rural regions across the country historically suffer higher rates of suicide than urban and suburban areas, so the Eastern Shore is not an outlier. The reasons are myriad: shortages of mental health professionals, high rates of firearm ownership, and the rural sense of proud independence, among many others.
World Suicide Prevention Month is a time to become cognizant of the threat of suicide, but the operative goal is to teach as many citizens as possible how to recognize the risk factors and warning signs that may lead one to contemplate taking his or her own life, and the simple steps that anyone can take to keep that person safe until healthcare professionals can step in.
Suicide prevention first aid is not much different from CPR. A practitioner does not have to be a cardiologist to keep someone alive until the ambulance arrives, and a person does not have to be a psychiatrist to keep someone safe from suicide until trained mental health professionals can step in.
Begin by visiting the website of the Jesse Klump Suicide Awareness & Prevention Program at www.choosetolivemaryland.org. There you will find tips on recognizing the warning signs, the cries for help that precede most suicide attempts. You’ll learn how to listen, what to say and what not to say, and you’ll find a comprehensive guide to local mental health services. Through the website, if you belong to a group – a church, school parents’ group, community organization, any group that welcomes guest speakers – invite us to speak. There is never a charge for any of our presentations or workshops.
World Suicide Prevention Month is a time to stop and think about those close to you. Someone is suffering from depression, and someone may be thinking about suicide. You can prevent that. Imagine how you would feel if you had the opportunity and didn’t know what to do.
Ronald W. Pilling
(The writer is the secretary/treasurer of the Jesse Klump Memorial Fund.)
Information To Mull Before Voting In Nov.
Editor:
Consider these facts. Hillary, at the age of 27, was fired by her Democrat boss, Jerry Zeifman, while she worked on the Watergate investigation. “Because she was a liar.” Zeifman said, “She was an unethical, dishonest lawyer. She conspired to violate the Constitution, the rules of the House, the rules of the committee and the rules of confidentiality.” She still is unable to tell the truth — even about trivial things. For example, she claimed to be part Jewish while running for Senator of NYS. She claimed to be named after Everest climber, Sir Edmund Hilary. He climbed the mountain when Hillary was already 5 years old. She claimed she was under sniper fire when visiting Bosnia. Yet pictures clearly show her greeting people casually on the tarmac there. In ’78 and ’79, she invested $1,000 in cattle futures and quickly turned that into $100,000. Her involvement is evident with regard to the Whitewater debacle that sent several people to prison and drove Vince Foster to suicide. The list goes on and on.
She didn’t accomplish much as first lady of Arkansas. As first lady of the USA, she screwed up the healthcare initiative her husband assigned her. As Senator of New York, she failed to bring jobs to upstate residents as promised. On Nov. 11, 1999, Hillary gave Yasser Arafat’s wife, Suha, a hug and kiss. Many say that much of the USA money given to Arafat (a serial killer of Jews) for Palestinian aid went to support his wife’s lavish lifestyle in France.
Hillary’s record while Secretary of State is atrocious. The Russian “reset” lead to cancelling defense missiles for Poland and the Czech Republic. Russia annexed Crimea, continues to violate missile and nuclear test ban treaties, and invaded Ukraine and their jets have buzzed our warships. The New York Times reports that uranium investors gave millions to the Clinton Foundation while Hillary’s office was involved in approving a Russian bid for uranium mining assets in Kazakhstan and the USA. China is annexing islands that do not belong to them. Hillary did not try to dissuade Obama from pulling out of the then stabilizing Iraq in ’11. This led to hundreds of thousands dying, and the growth of ISIS (not ISIL).
ISIS has engaged in unspeakable cruelty killing hundreds of thousands. Beheadings, burnings and drowning’s in cages and the metastasizing of the caliphate can be blamed on them. ISIS seized power in Iraq and Syria and can be found all over the planet. Under Hillary’s watch, Mubarak of Egypt and Qaddafi of Libya were overthrown, leading to chaos and sanctuary states for ISIS. Our embassy in Benghazi was attacked by terrorists resulting in the torture death of Ambassador Stevens and the deaths of 3 other American heroes. They begged for help many, many times but none was sent. Then to add insult to injury, Hillary lied to their families about the real cause of the attack. She and Obama did not support the democratic uprising in Iran. It failed. This helped pave the way for Iran’s development of nuclear weapons. Iran vows to destroy Israel the “little Satan.” It has been theorized that they could hit us, the great Satan, with an electromagnet pulse. This pulse from a nuclear weapon would be exploded 25 to 40 miles above the center of the USA, frying our electric grid for decades. Our society would be devastated.
Now we have her unsecured emails and deletions. FBI Director Comey affirmed that she lied repeatedly about them to Senator Trey Gowdy during Senate hearings. Also being investigated are the lavish donations to the Clinton Foundation made by foreign powers. Will they expect favors in return? What about the exorbitantly priced speeches made to Wall Street executives? Are they expecting favors if she becomes President? She admitted that she will raise taxes on the middle class, offer “free” college tuition, and let millions of unvetted foreigners into our country. She will continue funding for Planned Parenthood (The people that make a fortune killing preborn children and selling their body parts.) While she is claiming to support African Americans, it is important to note that the majority of aborted babies are black. She supports making it much more difficult for the law abiding to own a gun even for self protection. Her Supreme Court appointments will effectively take away most, if not all, of our second amendment rights. She vows to dismantle the coal industry and is against the Keystone pipeline. This will perpetuate our dependence on foreign oil coming from unstable, radical Islamic states for our energy needs. We have the capability of becoming completely energy independent.
Would any of us consider hiring a serial liar and a proven incompetent to be our maid, nanny for our children or any other position? Of course not. Why then our President? No matter how many ways she has proven not worthy of a position of distinction, she might still be elected because she is a Democrat. No consideration is given to how she can hurt this country for generations. I find this baffling.
John Adams said, “There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties, each arranged under its leader, and concerting measures in opposition to each other. This, in my humble apprehension, is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution.” The 2 party system also gave pause to Washington. They both agreed it will serve to divide the country.
On Jan. 8 1996, columnist William Safire (of the very liberal New York Times) called Hillary Clinton a “congenital liar”. Yet after this, there are millions who will vote for Hillary because she is a Democrat. Comic play writer of ancient Athens, Aristophanes 447 BC-386 BC, summed it up perfectly when he said, “Youth ages. Immaturity can be outgrown. Ignorance can be educated and drunkenness sobered; but stupid last forever.”
Dennis W Evans
Berlin
Termination Off Base
Editor:
Where, other than Ocean Pines, can one’s contract be terminated for doing a great job?
I would like to thank Bob Thompson for a very effective six years as general manager of Ocean Pines and for the numerous accomplishments he achieved for the Ocean Pines residents.
Bob lived and breathed Ocean Pines 24 hours a day, seven days a week. He and his team accomplished more for the community than you have space to list in this paper. And, he did it without seeking recognition.
Bob’s most significant problem as general manager was his compensation package – but the board of directors sets the salary, not the general manager. Even with regard to bonuses, he offered to eliminate them but the board majority disagreed.
It is unfortunate that approximately 25% of the 8,500 Ocean Pines residents voted. The other 75% were probably happy with the direction Ocean Pines was headed and didn’t think their votes were necessary. Many of the 25% who voted give Ocean Pines the reputation as the ‘Pines whiners’ and the ‘Pine nuts’. Bob has had to deal with considerable negativity encouraged and promoted by a certain website and one local publication in particular.
Bob has his heart in the community and loved working for the people of Ocean Pines. He had other career opportunities while serving as general manager but didn’t seriously entertain them, as Ocean Pines is his home where he and our daughter, Missi, have raised their children!
Dotty Ruffo
Ocean City
Critical Crossroads Ahead
Editor:
What keeps going through my mind is the vision of Mrs. Clinton and her response to a question about the bombing of the Consulate in Benghazi, Libya in the Senate committee hearing in January 2013. I’m sure all of you who saw it in the news remember her response “At this point what difference does it make?” Well, I guess, if you’re part of the, so-called, main stream media, or part of any of the core members of both political parties, or one of the many people who just want a woman to be president, I guess it really doesn’t make much difference.
But if you’re one of the many who still believe in the Republic form of government our founding fathers conceived of, it makes a big difference. None of us care to see how our nation, through numerous administrations, has lost the respect of many nations. We, as true believers in our Constitution, have witnessed an increased debt, a growth and expansion of government, increased taxes, loss of manufacturing jobs, a breakdown of our borders, an increase of illegal immigrants,civil unrest, a loss of obedience to law, a disrespect for our law enforcement officers, a weakening of our military and elected officials who no longer represent us: It makes a whole lot of difference.
We are at a crossroad in our nation and a choice as to what direction we take will be decided this November. We can choose to continue on the present road, which I’m afraid will end in the splitting apart of America and the end of the United States that many of us have been a part of all our lives. Or we can decide it’s time for a change and a new direction. How can that happen? The answer is by putting a business person into the White House. Someone who understands what makes a business profitable and whose product is desired, will realize the many problems within our over grown inefficient government and will attempt, with the help of Congress, to start making effective needed changes that can be the first steps needed to redirecting our country and a start to regaining our past position as a leader of nations. A country admired and respected.
The choice is ours, the voters. If we choose wrongly we’ll see our flag come down and never raised again. The other choice at least will give us a chance to save our once great country for ourselves, our children and our grandchildren. Think about how important your vote is when you go to vote this November. It will be up to us, when voting, to take control over our government making our elected officials more responsible and conscientious as to their responsibility to our nation and our allies throughout the world. Let us, with God’s help, bring this country back into a world that has been divided, helping to heal that breakdown and making us whole again. God bless each of you and God Bless America.
Paul St. Andre
Ocean City