| Stand up for our president
I usually have my breakfast with The Valley Independent of the previous day. However, of one thing I can be assured, indigestion is coming my way but it's not the fault of my bagel. Your front page story, "Little support for Bush in Valley," was completely biased and negative. But you didn't ask me. President Bush has had to face 9/11, terrorism and the threat of nuclear war. However, his greatest enemy was and is the media. Any news that can be twisted into a question mark on the president's policies is accepted with great zeal by slamming the president with unjust criticism. .
Worse than jail? Sprawl
Graterford Prison, home to some of Pennsylvania's most dangerous criminals, could be on its way out of Skippack Township, ending a stay that has spanned eight decades. Yet as word spread yesterday, officials and residents of the Montgomery County community voiced their fear that something worse could move in: condos. State officials confirmed to The Inquirer that they were looking for alternate sites for the outdated, overcrowded facility, home to nearly 3,000 inmates. Its prime 1,780 acres, they said, might wind up in the hands of private developers. The news was immediate heartburn for Kathleen Ludwig, a township resident since 1996. "The last thing we need in this area is more housing," she said. "We can't handle the traffic that is here now." With nearly 1,200 homes built just since the 2000 Census, Skippack is suffering the same growing pains as neighboring municipalities in the county's prosperous center.
Disease prevention at heart of Haskell program
Kerry Girty, left, and Deb Thompson, middle, discuss “Go Red Friday" with freshman Jennifer George, of Sapulpa, Okla. Thompson has helped to form a group at Haskell Indian Nations University focusing on women's health. The group will meet to discuss different health issues throughout the semester. .
Health & fitness beat: Jan. 15
FEEL THE BURN To relieve the heartburn of gastroesophageal reflux, many people take acid suppressants, including a type called proton-pump inhibitors. The inhibitor drugs are thought to interfere with the body's use of calcium, so researchers wondered whether this might lead to more broken bones. Funded by GlaxoSmithKline (a company that makes a different type of reflux-combating drug as well as marketing an osteoporosis drug), researchers analyzed data on 148,942 people older than 50. During a 15-year period, 13,556 of them sustained a broken hip. Taking proton-pump inhibitors for more than a year was found to increase the likelihood of a hip fracture by 44 percent, compared with never taking them. As the dose and length of treatment increased, so did the risk, especially among men.
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