We enjoy mail—who doesn't?—and appreciate your correspondence. Please send us letters. And photos, good golly photos. We will print anything.

Letters to The New Yinzer should be sent electronically to letters@newyinzer.com or physically through the USPS to: The New Yinzer, 315 Gross Street, Apartment Three, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15224.

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From: B. Clifford
Sent: Fri 11 Oct 02
Subject: Hello from Scotland

Hello to the NYz faithful. I'm currently in a Scottish Tourist Bureau office in Inverness, having just booked a few ferry crossings and nights' accomodation. Having a "bonny" time as they say I suppose, and enjoying many a fine single malt "whisky" (they don't use an "e" over here in that word).

As some of you may or may not know, I planned to grow a beard, mostly since I've never tried, and my occupation frowns on such displays of nature. After a good week and a half, I shaved what passed for my beard this morning. Issue 16 is a smash, so congrats to all those contributors, and to the rest of the gang, Dave, Jenn, Bill, Steve, BJ I., Joe W., Jim, I hope all is well, and I shall be in touch upon my return.

I remain,

B. Clifford

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From: Ray Palermo
Sent: Thu 17 Oct 02
Subject: Deer Accident Avoidance

DEER & CAR SEASON: A BAD COMBINATION How Drivers Can Prevent a Costly Road Accident with a Deer

Meriden, CT - October 17, 2002 - Each year, car collisions with deer account for more than 200 human and 1.4 million deer fatalities. It's no wonder that October through December is the highest season for the accidents, since it's a time for both wandering deer and holiday travelers.

Most collisions with a deer occur during this time of year when deer are mating and migrating. "Drivers need to be particularly cautious with the season's shortened daylight and deer foraging near roadsides ...it's a very dangerous combination," said Ray Palermo, Director of Public Education for Teachers' Insurance Plan, an auto insurance program. "To compound it, more drivers are on the road at dawn and dusk, the very time of day when deer are most active." An adult deer can weigh more than 200 pounds and a car striking one can not only result in the death of the deer, but incur thousands of dollars in damage and may cause the car to veer off the road into even more danger for the driver. Palermo suggested a few basic cautions for drivers:

• Be particularly careful at dawn and dusk and when driving either over a hill or around a curve, where visibility is limited. Use your high beams to give you a greater area of visibility.
• Slow down when approaching a deer standing near the side of a road and be prepared. If startled, it can bolt onto the roadway and into your path. If necessary, honk your horn and flash your lights to try to scare the deer.
• Be alert for more deer than you may see at that moment. Where there's one deer, there are often more nearby.
• Deer Crossing signs are there because it has been determined that this is an area where they congregate and migrate. Take the signs seriously and, obviously, be particularly cautious in wooded and agricultural areas.

Ray Palermo

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From: Jaime Vodvarka
Sent: Fri 25 Oct 02
Subject: cigarette rant

Hello Friend of the Yinzer—
   If our government were really concerned with the health of its citizens it would be more concerned with tobacco additives and not tobacco ads. Recently the state of Pennsylvania has placed yet another "forever" tax on cigarettes, making them at least a buck a pack more. Meanwhile very little of the money raised by smoking tariffs is spent on providing health care to those suffering from lung cancer or who actually request affordable help for their addiction. Sure, many ads warn us about the toxins present cigarettes. I see millions of dollars worth of ineffective advertising urging us to quit smoking, yet the cost of nicotine replacement patches and gums are roughly $50 a pop and climbing. The message on the boards should read: Dammed if you do, dammed if you don't quit.
   What ads don't tell consumers is that since many of these carcinogenic substances are added to the tobacco, paper, and filters, many of the harmful effects of smoking can be avoided by non-traditional smoking methods. A strong trend exists in our culture to manipulate public awareness by fueling our fears with propaganda and misinformation and then reluctantly cough up contradictory evidence that may have provided a more accurate and well-rounded account of a situation. For example, when news broke of a link between cholesterol and heard disease, many of us were reluctant to sacrifice the taste of fat for better health. At first nutritional fanatics preached a diet strictly exempt of fat and cholesterol as the only path to coronary salvation. As research and media coverage increased, we were told that fat itself wasn't necessarily the culprit, but that the type of fat as well as the processing of low cholesterol oils into artery clogging ones was of greater concern. Since then the media has been very helpful in educating consumers on healthier options when indulging in high fat foods. We've switched to olive oil, olestra, and cholesterol lowering spreads and continue to enjoy rich foods in moderation or with a glass of red wine.
   While subsisting solely on junk food isn't healthy, neither is heavy smoking. But just as there are low fat diet options, there are healthier methods for those of us not wishing to go cold turkey. It's the fiberglass in menthol cigarettes that cut and clog the lungs thereby contributing to lung disease. Most cigarette filters, including those used in non-menthol cigarettes, are made out of a synthetic substance called cellulose acetate, which also damages the lungs more than natural cotton filters. Those little grayish stripes on cigarette papers are made out of salt peter, a carcinogenic substance which helps the paper burn more evenly. And as with overly processed foods, a lot of dangerous substances are added to tobacco for flavor, preservation or to otherwise make smoking more addictive. The tar in tobacco clogs the lungs while the heat of the smoke destroys hair like cilia in the lungs that are meant to sweep out debris.
   So what can be done to make smoking safer? Rolling additive free tobacco using natural papers and filters cuts down on the deleterious effects of cigarette smoking. As for removing tar and cooling down the cilia singeing smoke, there is an even better option, one that Pittsburgh lawmakers fervently disbarred from the public before jacking up cigarette prices: water pipes. Yes, history remembers many tactics that eliminated the public's defenses and then went in for the kill. When the city banned head shops and made safer smoking devices unavailable to the public, and then raised taxes on cigarettes, they certainly made a killing in more ways than one.
   As for the disenfranchised merchants who fought to make smoking healthier by providing water pipes, tar filtering devices and natural tobacco, filters and papers, thank you. Your attempt to offer safer smoking options persist despite losing a big part of your business and the mouthpiece which actually informed the public on healthier ways of smoking. To call ensuing theft from victimized smokers "sin taxes" is unforgivable; taxes are meant to provide the public with previously unavailable benefits. The real sinners are those using profits from an unhealthy habit to outlaw providers of healthier smoking options.
   So what can you do when healthier smoking options are outlawed and the only apparent consumer option is to buy a more addictive, over-priced product which levers more funds to the very machine that prohibited healthier smoking? I suggest that every smoker buys additive free tobacco, keeps the change rescued from an ineffectual government and uses it to make something constructive. And just think, every time you publicly indulge in safer smoking, it won't cost you a cent to advertise your sentiments.

Jaime Vodvarka

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