My name is Jeffrey Evon, born and raised here in Bethel. I am the son of the late Joseph Evon and Joanne Evon. I am here tonight to voice my concern about the growing amount of traffic in the housing area, due to the AC liquor store. I know there was a chance for me to protest this location in the past. But I believe this location should be looked over once again.
This area is filled with families who have kids. We have ASHA and BNC right at the front door of this liquor store, who are helping a lot of families with housing, and even new beginnings.
Kids play at a playground located right across the street from this liquor store. Kids go sledding directly behind the store. Kids go with their parents to the store to shop and do laundry. Kids even walk back and forth to school with some even going to the store for lunch.
This area is highly resided by children of this community. It’s hard to understand how this location was even approved.
But, the liquor store is not my concern. My concern is about all the traffic the liquor store creates. This traffic involves a lot more intoxicated people in the area. There are people hanging out behind the BNC apartments, where the kids are sledding. There are intoxicated people at the Pinky’s boardwalk where the kids walk to and from the Pinky’s Park. There are intoxicated people at the playground across the street, where these kids are supposed to be playing. There are intoxicated people inside and outside the store, where these kids are shopping. These areas belong to the kids of this community.
A few weeks ago, a 9 year old girl was pinned on the ground by some intoxicated people near the boardwalk to Pinky’s Park, with a knife. My kids live with their mom, right across the street from where this happened. Her son was bothered by an intoxicated person while he was walking home from basketball practice. I’ve seen a 4 wheeler tipped over, in the middle of the road, with an intoxicated person standing right in front of it and an ambulance drives right by this person and goes to a house in the next court.
I am not going to wait around for one of my kids to get hurt. This is why I am here to voice my concern. And I’m sure there are other concerned families out there who live in this area.
Jeffrey Evon
Bethel, Alaska
Response to Flouride article
“Imagine” writes Angelica Afcan in Speak Your Mind, December 13, 2017. Imagine no front teeth she writes. Sad to say, the truth is dental health is a serious concern to rural Alaskan residents. Her solution is based on myths that somehow fluoride ingestion remineralizes the surface of the teeth. This myth is a not universally accepted by researchers who say topically fluoride might help, but the concentration of ingested fluoridated water and resulting saliva fluoride levels is much too low by a factor of 95,000X. Latest studies show CWF has not helped Australian children as she claims. Many communities are discontinuing water fluoridation there. Worldwide, 97% of populations do not contaminate their water with fluoride industrial waste.
MYTH: a widely held but false belief or idea.
Unbiased science challenges the myths of which we all have had many: Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, and (I respectfully ask you to consider to include) Community Water Fluoridation (CWF).
CWF was promoted in the 1940’s as a miracle dental treatment and determined ‘safe and effective’ long before sufficient honest data was collected. Studies included those paid for by the sugar, dental, fertilizer, and nuclear power industries have continued to support the CWF myth. Money perpetuates the fluoride myth. Fluoride is a known toxin, accumulates in bones (not just teeth) lifelong. I know because at 64 years old, daughter of a military dentist who enthusiastically supported fluoride consumption. My bone fluoride, measured from hip replacement in 2013, was 1500Xthe concentration of fluoride in water. I have suffered many ailments from overexposure to fluoride starting with dental fluorosis proceeding to GERD, hyperparathyroidism, thyroid goiter, kidney stones etc.
My health has improved as documented in lab reports by avoiding fluoride. My accumulative fluoride body level was never monitored by the cities practicing CWF, my dentist, or employer at water treatment plant. With CWF, you have no idea of your actual dose depending on how much you drink, how much food eaten prepared with fluoridated water and dosed with fluoridated pesticides, or how much you are consuming in drugs and dental products.
Ms. Afcan was educated by institutions that are still perpetuating the antiquated CWF myth. Much of her article is directly out of their mind set.
The truth is loss of front teeth or baby bottle mouth is a result of bottles of sugary juices or milk left in an infants’ mouth increasing food available for microbes that cause dental decay to flourish. Microbes can infect the child from food fed them that was chewed by others with active dental decay. Your dental professional telling you baby bottle mouth is caused by lack of CWF are incorrect. Their advice is in error if it does not emphasis brushing and better nutrition and limiting contact with sugars and processed foods. You are being done a disservice by any medical professional that remains mired down in mythology about fluoride. With their poor advice repeated by Ms. Afcan about the “miracle” of CWF you might be less inclined follow better advice. You may feel you have an excuse to blame the poor dental health of your child on lack of CWF, when you need to take responsibility for their wellbeing. We must do all we can to give our babies the best chance of health.
Good nutrition and proper brushing are known to give our children good oral health. Mother’s milk has hundreds of times less fluoride than fluoridated water. Nature has deemed low fluoride is best. Breast feeding is best even when commercial interests tried to convince you formula is more scientific (another industrial myth). Children should not even have fluoridated toothpaste under 6 years old because it causes increased risks of unsightly dental fluorosis. Recent credible research links consumption of fluoride in pregnant women to reduced IQ in infants. Any lower dental decay rates in children with CWF is from impaired thyroid function causing delay of tooth eruption into the oral cavity, delaying exposure to decay. Decay rates are comparable after 17 years with or without CWF as evident comparing national rates with and without CWF.
Shame on Ms. Afcan living in Hooper Bay, Alaska, site of the May 1992 CWF accident that killed Dominic Smith and sent about 300 there to the hospital. Perhaps Ms. Afcan should talk to current residents that still think their chronic kidney ailments resulted from that event. Fluoride is a poison: fluoride kills acutely, sickens at high doses, and chronically poisons in any amount, harming infants the most. Don’t fall to Ms. Afcan’s reiterated industrial myth, “Fluoride in small amounts will only add the benefit of preventing cavities for our people.” She dismisses current research based on her notion CWF is in a much lower range, I testify as a professional chemist certified in fluoride analysis, she is wrong in this assessment. We are being overexposed by fluoride in the US as evidenced by increasing rates of dental fluorosis which is the reason the recommended level of CWF was lowered from 1.2 to 0.7 ppm in 2011. Do not believe in imagined myths based on distorted research funded by industry, seek the facts and act now to stop (never start) Community Water Fluoridation.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/fluoridefreealaska/; https://www.facebook.com/groups/nofluoridebarrow/
Susan Kanen, Biochemist
Anchorage, Alaska
Medicaid travel, pilots, and timely departures
Before it gets too far, I am writing this letter on behalf of my wife, Benita, and my 8 year son, Samuel, who were the passengers with 6 others of RAVN air service commuter plane that landed to Scammon Bay about 6:20 pm to be precise as I was with them at our local airport on January 10.
It was about 6:40 pm, 10 minutes after the pilot (assisted by the village agent) got done unloading the freight, the passengers boarded the plane to fly to Bethel and my wife and son as medicaid travelers had a connecting flight to catch with Anchorage with Alaska Airlines 746 jet at 8:00 pm.
I began walking up to the village and it takes me less than 10 minutes to reach my house. When I reached my house about 6:50 pm, the plane had still not taken off. When it finally took off, the time was about 8:05 and I thought that my family would not make it on time to catch their connecting flight with Alaska Airlines jet service. This meant my son would miss his doctor’s appointment at the Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage. And sure enough, my wife called me an hour and 15 minutes later confirming my suspicion that they had missed the 8:00pm Alaska Airlines flight by 5 minutes after the gate had closed.
Then I asked her why the pilot took long to take off and her reply is that because the pilot took his grand old-time doing paperwork at his seat in the cockpit. My wife happens to be not assertive enough to speak up, but I strongly felt that the pilot should have had the extra sense and courtesy to ask if any passenger had connecting flights to Anchorage to catch with Alaska Airlines jet service. Because of the unfortunate situation that my wife and son experienced with how things operate with RAVN air service, I am encouraging not only my wife, I am also encouraging the YKHC Medicaid Travel Management to start using Grant Air service more often for Medicaid travelers. Thank for allowing my wife’s frustration to be heard. Other people may have experience the same situation flying with RAVN air service planes.
Homer Hunter, Jr.
Scammon Bay, AK
