Letters for January 5, 2017

Protect the kids

Re “Scouts’ dishonor” by John Flynn (SN&R News, December 29):

Too many of these crimes go unexposed and the public remains unwarned and unaware. The Boy Scouts do not deserve the trust of parents to keep kids safe if they behave this way. I’m wondering whether Michael V. Johnson has been replaced or dismissed from his position as youth protection director or if this has happened on his watch. This doesn’t sound like anything he would tolerate. Kids are never responsible. We adults must see ourselves as mandatory reporters of anything we see or suspect. Organizations exposed and sued should own the harm caused on their watch and never, ever shame or blame the victim. Sexual preferences have nothing to do with abuse. Every action taken to make it safer for victims to report helps prevent more abuse.

Barbra Graber

Harrisonburg, Virginia

Vaxxers’ greed

Re “Return of the anti-vaxxers” by Raheem F. Hosseini and Matt Kramer (SN&R News, December 29):

The vaccines are also lethal, just like the diseases. Three billion dollars has been paid out already to victims of vaccines or their surviving family members. The payoffs do not compensate for dead babies or for a lifetime of seizures and the multitude of other chronic disabilities. It is inexcusable to vaccinate pregnant women as the [Center for Disease Control] recommends for the flu. There is no testing or safety for the fragile unborn baby. I was pro-vax and I vaccinated both of our children fully. It was when I held my infant son in my arms, and he issued a high-pitched, unwavering scream from vaccine encephalitis (brain swells within the hard skull) that I witnessed how helpless a parent can feel who chooses to vaccinate. The nurse said this scream was “normal.” No one ever reported his reaction. Most vaccine injuries go unreported because there is no attempt to look for or document vaccine damage. How would millions of American families who witnessed vaccine reactions in their family member feel about Sen. [Richard] Pan saying, “I will make it impossible to get a vaccine exemption?” Would they vaccinate the second child after their first child died from vaccine injury? This is what Pan is asking for as he forges ahead this year with Senate Bill 88, “Child’s Bill of Rights,” which is the groundwork in his continuing push to force vaccines on every person. Is there no limit to vaccine company greed?

Jessica Denning

Carmichael

Shame on SN&R

Re “Return of the anti-vaxxers” by Raheem F. Hosseini and Matt Kramer (SN&R News, December 29):

Why is SN&R on the wrong side on this one? I thought you stood for human rights. The mandatory vaccine laws are just getting started in this country. It’s un-American, plain and simple, to force medications on otherwise healthy individuals.

Waste Nottingham

Foresthill