Please don't use memorial bricks section as a staging area

To the editor:

The city of Lawrence did a great job giving the Lawrence Veterans Memorial Stadium a much needed face-lift. They also did an amazing job in creating the memorial bricks for all the past and living veterans who proudly served or died for our freedom.

What I find very offensive is when there is an event at the stadium and the event holders use the section of the memorial bricks as a staging area. They set up tables, place equipment and walk all over the memorial bricks. There is plenty of room under the stadium seating to set up tables and store equipment without walking on, dropping, or trashing the area around the bricks.

At a recent event at the stadium, an individual from out of state started a conversation about the stadium and how wonderful it looked. He commented about the bricks, asking why they were there. I gave the individual my interpretation of the memorial bricks.

I informed him since the stadium name is Veterans Memorial Stadium, the city thought it would be a nice and appropriate area to remember the veterans from Lawrence that served or died for our country. I informed him that family members/friends are able to purchase the brick to honor, salute, or as a remembrance to those who served in the military. He was just in awe that people had no respect for the memorial area.

I'm hoping that this letter can shed some light on the memorial bricks. To the event holders, whoever they may be, that they have some respect for veterans, not only the bricks, but for all the men and women who proudly serve or lost their lives protecting our country.

WILLIAM R. SANTACROCE JR.

Lawrence

Republican lies start again

To the editor:

Once again the smear squad is emerging from the woodwork with a book written by Jerome Corsi, author of "Unfit for Command," the book that did John Kerry in — and now they have come out with another hatchet job called "Obama Nation." Get the play on words?

It is truly amazing how gullible Americans are, voting in 2004 for a man whose service in the National Guard has always been a question mark, over a true American hero with 11 citations for his meritorious service in Vietnam.

The term for discrediting Kerry has become a standard word in political lexicon and it is "Swift-Boating." Now the same operatives are attempting to bring down Barack Obama with untruths, nefarious suggestions and unsubstantiated statements that serve to put doubts in people's minds about Obama with respect to his patriotism, religion, alleged wrongdoings of all sorts and political philosophy.

The quality of writing is truly the real abomination, for Corsi resorts to leaving questions in a reader's mind and little attribution to support his allegations. In short, it is in the same category as the gossip rags that adorn checkout counters in supermarkets.

This is a sad story in that Americans who hate a potential Obama presidency will flock to buy the book, looking for reinforcements of their anti-Obama feelings.

The Swift-Boaters fooled America once, shame on them. If they succeed in turning Americans against Obama, shame on Americans.

MICHAEL VEVES

Haverhill

Truth about firefighters doesn't make the news

To the editor:

As the oldest member of the Haverhill Fire Department, and one of the two longest-serving, 32 years, I cannot sit by any longer while my department, my profession and my friends are run down in your newspaper.

Over my years on the job, I have been injured a few times. It goes with the work. I would never describe myself as a hero, but I do work with some men who are genuine heroes.

They have literally crawled and run though flames to save children and adults. Yes, they are paid to do this.

When was the last time six commercial fishermen gave up their lives to try and save two homeless people who may have been inside a burning, known death-trap building?

Sometimes these stories don't get into the news media, but sometimes they do. A few years back, your newspaper, The Eagle-Tribune, proclaimed one member of the Haverhill Fire Department a hero, with a front-page headline, a large color photo and the lead story.

We have very good protective equipment issued by our department and excellent training from the Massachusetts Fire Academy, but even Kevlar/Nomex fabric in our turnout gear can burn. There is always that risk, but we are paid to take it.

Not everyone is cut out for the job. It is not uncommon for recruits to turn in their gear after their first training session in the Burn Building or the Flashover Simulator, where the temperature can go from ambient, to more than 1,000 degrees in a few minutes, just as it does in a structure fire.

The injury and death statistics don't always tell the story of the cancers that afflict, at an elevated rate, people who do this job. Not the stuff of newspaper headlines.

Information on this can be found by checking a study released by the University of Cincinnati that has determined firefighters are at a greater risk of developing four different types of cancer than the general population. Rates of testicular cancer were 100 percent higher and prostate cancer 28 percent higher among firefighters.

And the study goes on to suggest the protective equipment firefighters are using is insufficient in protecting them against the cancer-causing agents. In another article, eight additional cancers showed "possible" links to the job, according to findings published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

In my opinion, the section of your paper called "Sound Off" borders on yellow journalism. Someone can anonymously make inaccurate claims and outright lies in your paper, charges with no information to back up the claims, with no name attached to their writings.

My name will be on this letter.

MICHAEL D. FRIEL

Haverhill