PAGE A18 • THE VILLAGE BEACON RECORD • MARCH 07, 2019
Opinion
Editorial
Celebrating women March is Women’s History Month, a time to honor the feminine icons who have left their mark on the world. However, when it comes to learning about accomplished women, in many ways, people need to educate themselves. A recent article from the Smithsonian Magazine cited a report from the virtual National Women’s History Museum released in 2017 titled “Where Are the Women?” The study examined the status of women’s history in state-level social studies standards seen in the K-12 curriculum and found only 178 women. This find was compared to 559 men found in the same scholastic standards. Fortunately, while school systems catch up with including the countless impressive women in history missing in their curricula, many libraries and museums offer programs dedicated to Women’s History Month offering information about the lives of so many amazing and impactful women who may not be included in a high school textbook. Of course, there are options to increase your knowledge, such as digging a little deeper on the library shelves or the internet to find out information beyond the frequently told stories of abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe, suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton, civil rights activist Rosa Parks or 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Those women are out there and are not as hidden as one may think. We’ve come up with just a few powerful women who may not be referenced enough, or not at all, in the history books. Elizabeth Jennings Graham was an African-American teacher who in 1854, when Manhattan streetcars were mostly segregated, fought for the right to ride in any car. She won her case in New York courts in 1855, and by 1865 all New York City transit systems were desegregated. Margaret Hamilton was the lead software engineer for NASA’s Apollo program. Along with her team, she wrote the code algorithms for the spacecraft’s in-flight software. Apollo 11 went on to become the first mission to successfully land humans on the moon. Sonia Maria Sotomayor, born in the Bronx, become the first Latina and Hispanic justice in the Supreme Court of the U.S. when President Barack Obama (D) appointed her to associate justice in 2009. Digging even further into history and across the sea, there is Ching Shih, a female pirate leader, who lived in the late 1700s to early 1800s. History has remembered Shih as a fierce warrior who commanded more than 300 Chinese sailing ships, defeating Qing dynasty Chinese officials and Portuguese and British bounty hunters. She was so successful she managed to force the Chinese government to grant her a pardon. Unlike the careers of other famous pirates in the Caribbean, she died peacefully in her bed. Stories like these and others of women’s impact on the world and our everyday lives are out there waiting to be discovered. We encourage our readers to go out and find those stories or perhaps even make history themselves.
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Letters to the editor
Democrats should support border wall I have a good idea for all the Democratic, anti-President Donald Trump (R) letter writers who believe there is no crisis at our borders. Why don’t they all go to areas in our country that have “no walls” with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D), U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) and all the rest of the Democratic hopefuls for president and
actually observe what’s going on and talk to the border patrol, homeland security and immigration officials and officers? Maybe then they will stop the rhetoric and possibly see how the Democratic leaders are using this crisis for political reasons, especially since they did agree that there was a crisis when President Obama
(D) was in office. Let’s actually keep our country safe from illegal immigrants that come into our country causing all types of crimes against our citizens, and possibly begin to think beyond political parties. Richard Esopa Miller Place
This past January at the state budget address New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) rolled out his policy proposal to potentially legalize the recreational sale and use of marijuana. In his fancy PowerPoint presentation, Cuomo highlighted the benefits from legalizing the recreational sale and use of marijuana. He proposed that the policy would increase jobs for growers, distributors, retailers and the tax revenue — the root of all evil — generated by approving this policy. Cuomo claims that the revenue from legal marijuana could generate up to $300 million annually once the policy is in full effect. What was left out of Cuomo’s plan are the risks on the general public that will follow if this policy is approved by the state. Is Cuomo dismissing the fact that marijuana is a mind-altering substance? Peer-reviewed studies have shown that marijuana use increases the risk of psychiatric disorders. Scientifically, we know that the human brain does not fully develop until the ages of 25-26. By Cuomo saying that it is perfectly legal to start recreationally smoking marijuana when you turn 21, he is basically telling you to start using a
mind-altering substance that may cause a negative impact on the growth of your adult brain. Further implications of this proposal include having an effect on parents, and on treatment professionals who are educating their children and clients on the potential dangers of marijuana use. I am both a parent of three daughters under the age of 21 and a treatment professional in the field of alcohol and substance abuse. I personally would be opposed to tell my daughters that at 21 years old they have the legal right to use a substance that I know could place them at risk to develop a psychiatric disorder, have a decrease in motivation, and possibly develop a dependence for the drug which could lead to the exploration of other mindaltering substances. Of course, supporters of this policy proposal will argue that alcohol, cigarettes and prescription opioids are legal substances that pose a health risk, but also generate revenue. As a society, have we not learned from our past mistakes? Look at what has happened since Purdue Pharma said back in the late 1990s that OxyContin
had no potential for abuse. The heroin epidemic we face today, and millions of dollars spent fighting it, are because of the mismanagement and misinformed information that was provided to the public. How is this policy going to help the current state of health care? With health care systems wanting to improve overall health outcomes from a medical and behavioral health integration model, how does the legalization of recreational marijuana help cut medical and behavioral health care costs? One could argue allowing marijuana to be used recreationally would increase the risks of individuals developing a psychiatric or medical illness, which could lead to poorer health outcomes and increased health care costs. Hopefully Cuomo can see past the dollar signs in his eyes when dreaming about this proposal, and see the potential risks and dangers that the approval of this policy can have on our state in years to come. Joseph Catalano Graduate student School of Social Welfare at Stony Brook University
Push back against marijuana legislation
In support of clean water standards Clean, safe drinking water is a human right. This year, New York State is set to establish the toughest in the nation drinking water standards. These landmark standards will ensure that New Yorkers are protected from emerging contaminants that pollute our drinking water. However, clean drinking water comes with a price tag. Those who pollute our water should be responsible for the costs of cleaning up our water. That’s why I introduced a bill to close loopholes in state law that have allowed polluters to evade fiscal responsibility for the costs of cleaning up the contamination they’ve caused. This would allow public water authorities and districts the ability to potentially recoup
hundreds of millions of dollars -- essential funds desperately needed to treat and contain emerging contaminants within our water systems. Last year Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) pledged $200 million towards cleaning up this effort. This is a good step forward, but New York State cannot and should not fund this fight alone. The federal government has once again bucked its responsibility to protect our drinking water by delaying implementation of critical standards, which determine the level at which a contaminant triggers a water authority to reduce and remove it from our water supply. These standards are too important to delay. this year New York, using expert
recommendations from environmentalists, academics, health professionals, and water authority officials, will set toughest in the nation drinking water standards. We must continue taking steps forward to protect our drinking water so that it is safe for generations to come. We must pass legislation to hold polluters accountable for contaminating our drinking water. And we must urge the federal government to make our environment a priority and share in the cost of ensuring our drinking water is clean and safe. Because that should be something we can all agree on. Jim Gaughran State Sen. 5th District
The opinions of columnists and letter writers are their own. They do not speak for the newspaper.