Zonta Club of the Pikes Peak Area October 2001 Newsletter Volume I, Issue 10

PONDERINGS FROM THE PREZ!

Hi Ladies,
The conference was fantastic! It was so great to see old friends and meet new Zontians, all dedicated to the goals of improving the status of women worldwide. I wish you all could have been there to get as inspired as we were.

CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS:

*We sold $35 worth of note cards and made $252 on the baskets raffle. Julie Bradley, our District PR Chairman, held the winning ticket for Jennifer Lamb of Denver. Dorothy Swindt, a past governor, won the silver basket. International Director Barbara Fera of Canada pulled the winning tickets.

*Barbara Fera spoke on "Service and Volunteerism." She reminded us that we can't all do great things, but we can do small things in a great way.

*We couldn't sing the Canadian national anthem, even with Barbara singing along.

*Rita spoke on behalf of hairdressers when Sue Windels, State Senator from District 19, Jefferson County, walked us through the steps of how a bill becomes a law. Sue said to send email, better than a call or letter. Be sure to address only one issue in each message. Send a lot of email - they need to hear from us!

*When Governor Betty got on the elevator at 8:31 a.m. on Sunday, the fire alarm went off, they evacuated the building, and two fire trucks appeared.

*Melissa Sampson, an Amelia Earhart Fellow, spoke about her research at CU on loblolly pine trees in space and on earth. The trees are scheduled to accompany a space mission in the spring of 2003.

*Kate used the analogy of knitting in her presentation as Area 4 Director. She said the sticks (needles) represent Zonta International, and the balls of yarn are the individual clubs. Our design could be simple (a sock) or complicated (a sweater), but we all will knit a product to be proud of.

*Susie, our district Web master, gave the first Web (spider web) Pages (yellow paper) Award to the Southern Black Hills Club who was the first to send in their information, and Anita Zastrow got an award as the first to make a change in the addresses.

I could go on and on, but here are a few things I learned:
October 24 is UN Day
November 25 is Anti-Violence Day
December 5 is the International Day of the Volunteer
December 10 celebrates Human Rights Day
The year 2001 is the International Day of the Volunteer.

Volunteering slows down the aging process, according to Barbara Fera.

The international goal is a 10% increase in membership. With our club of 20, we'll need only two new members to reach that goal. We can do it!

Marian de Forest, a journalist and Zonta founder, will be inducted in the National Women's Hall of Fame on October 6, 2001.

Three billion people live on less than $2 a day.

800,000 Nepalese women and children have been helped through our tetanus project which is 90% complete and cost $350,000.

The prevention of violence in India is impacting millions of women at a cost of $395,000.

$350,000 is pledged for the anti-female genital circumcision campaign in Burkina Fasso.

I could go on and on. Mark these dates in your calendars now:

April 6, 2002 is the Area Meeting in Pueblo.

October 4-6, 2002 is the District Conference in Cheyenne, the first city in the U.S. with street lights, Wyoming, "the equality state." At 6,200 ft - Cheyenne is the highest capital in the U.S. and the home of the jackalope.

See you at the October 15 meeting, our international potluck.

Zonta Hugs,
Kris

BITS FROM BETTY

District Conference Reflections

Can't tell you the warm feeling it gave me to have Kris, Susie, and Rita supporting Kate and me at the District Conference. They each contributed to discussions and helped Kate and me whenever asked. As examples, Susie wowed everyone with a report on the web site, Kris displayed the wonderful posters of the messages from around the world concerning the terrorist attacks and spoke about our Zontian of the year - Fran Souchek, and Rita helped Senator Windels out with input into her presentation. Good job, seems like this is worth at least three stickers in our next Zonta Zipper.

Our Kate was selected as our District 12 Zontian of the Year and it is more than deserving. Her willingness to do whatever she can is so helpful and makes my life so easy. Thank you again, Ms. Secretary!

Kate was elected Area 4 Director, and I was selected for the District nominating committee so we both will continue in differing roles in the next biennium beginning next June.

Later, Betty E

Zonta/UNIFEM - Reinventing India: Preventing Violence Against Women and Children

India is the world's largest democracy. However, rooted in the myriad of political, economic, social, cultural, legal and traditional structures, gender-based violence is a phenomenon woven into the very fiber of life. To eradicate this violence of women's rights, a diversity of interventions is required that directly confronts the unequal power relations and unequal distribution of resources between men and women. In keeping with Zonta's organizational focus of eradicating violence, "Reinventing India" takes a multi-faceted approach to this pervasive problem. Three distinct project components will address this complex issue:

• the development, publication and dissemination of an Action Oriented Resource Directory with information on violence prevention of use to both victims and practitioners;
• a nationwide film and television publicity campaign to create positive role models for men and boys; and,
• a law enforcement officers' education project to improve the enforcement of existing laws protecting women and girls.

To learn more, visit this web site:
www.zonta.org/Programs/International_Service_programs/India /india.html

Reprinted from the Quaboag Valley Zonta Bog newsletter

UTILITIES BOARD MEETING - FLUORIDE
Information courtesy of Pam Sufak

From: Deborah Merriman
Sent: Wednesday, September 19, 2001 11:11 PM
Subject: What happened at Utilities Board Meeting

Here's my take on what happened today at the Utilities Board Meeting:

Update on the hydrofluosilicic acid situation here in Colorado Springs: Our City council met again today and voted once more to postpone hydrofluosilicic acid fluoridation of the water, this time until November. Councilman Dr. Ted Eastburn suggested that as we have a very unique set of circumstances here, we should appeal to the Center for Disease Control to use this area as a study area for an epidemiological and toxicological research study. We have an area of Colorado Springs which receives natural fluoride - calcium fluoride - from its water source; an area which has very low levels of naturally occurring fluoride; and communities nearby, such as Ft. Collins, which have been adding HSF acid to the water for years. He proposed that Colorado Springs team with Ft. Collins (who has just appointed a task force to determine if they should stop putting HSF in the water) and appeal to the CDC to use this area for the study. If this happens, Colorado Springs will not be putting HSF into our water for some length of time while the study is being done. The current postponement is until November because Dr. Eastburn feels that he should have some answer from the CDC by then.

It appeared that everyone was in favor of the study, but the dissention was about whether to postpone the decision and investigate if the CDC would do the study or whether Council should decide today; and then, if the decision was NO, investigate if the CDC would do the study. Obviously the study would be a moot point if the City decided to put HSF into the water. As often occurs in politics, the minor point of POSTPONE or DECIDE seemed to get in the way. Dr. Eastburn's motion was to POSTPONE and check with CDC. He was asked by a Council member if he would change his motion to DECIDE and check with CDC, but he refused. He wanted the word, POSTPONE, to be in the motion.

The first vote was 5 against Dr. Eastburn's proposal, 4 in favor. This meant that 5 members did not want to POSTPONE, they wanted to VOTE TODAY.

Mayor Makepeace said we would take a short break and then begin hearing discussion on the issue. However, when the council reconvened, Judy Noyes said that she had checked with the City Attorney and if they had not yet begun discussion, she could legally change her vote. She said she was changing her vote to YES, in favor of Dr. Eastburn's motion (which meant she was willing to POSTPONE and check into the CDC study.)

With her change of vote, Dr. Eastburn's motion passed, and there was no need for further discussion today. ( I wonder if the Council just did not want to hear the issue anymore! There were a number of dentists and public health people this time, who were ready to give their two cents worth. Interestingly, they did not get the opportunity to speak!)

I do believe that if the Council had voted today, they would have voted against fluoridation with HSF. Two members, Lionel Rivera and James Null, were clearly FOR fluoridation with HSF; Richard Skorman said that he could not stand before the public and say "this is safe, trust me." Margaret Radford said that water fluoridation was not central to the City's core mission - that the city was to provide "safe, clean water" and the core mission says nothing about providing water for good dental health.

Charles Wingate and Sallie Clark are currently against fluoridation. Dr. Eastburn said that there appear to be major data gaps - that's why he was interested in getting CDC to do this study - so I think it would be hard for him to support HSF after having acknowledged that there are major gaps in the DATA!

AS YOU MAY KNOW, THERE ARE NO CHRONIC TOXICOLOGY STUDIES ON HSF, EVEN THOUGH it is used in 90% of the public water fluoridation programs around the country. It is well marketed by the industries that produce it from their industrial waste and supply it to municipalities: namely the phosphate fertilizer industry and the aluminum industry. Some opponents to HSF as a fluoridating agent have stated that this is the most cleverly designed industrial waste management scheme they could imagine! Industry doesn't have to spend billions on proper disposal, just sell it to the cities to dilute into the public water supply!

As it is, our City Council has postponed the decision until November, when they hope to have information from the CDC as to whether this area could be used for a study. There are questions as to whether the study would be conclusive - as there are reams and reams of studies on both sides of this issue, but the fact that the CDC has expressed some interest is promising. Though the CDC does not admit that Masters and Copeland's Dartmouth study showing increased blood lead levels in children who drink HSF water is conclusive, they do admit that it is provocative and should be further looked into. Lionel Rivera said he supports the idea of the study, but he thinks in the end, people will still choose to believe what they want to believe.

I'm pleased with today's outcome, however the POSTPONEMENT, rather than a DECIDED "NO" means that we have to continue our efforts to increase public awareness of this matter as it will come around again. Council noted that there was a "pretty good outcry" against fluoridation. I thank all of you for participating in that "outcry".

Personally - I think we need to continue to tell our friends about this issue, and express our views to City Council, so that if the CDC study is not granted, we will already have an even greater "outcry" to City Council - asking them to preserve our freedom to choose whether we want to ingest fluoride or not (in any form), and to provide conclusive long term toxicology studies or NOT put HSF into our water.

for more information, check out our website: www.InfoGroupSite.com and check out www.nofluoride.com

Remember: It's Not Fluoride Only!
Deborah Merriman

***

IT'S NOT FLUORIDE ONLY (INFO)

INFO SPEAKS OUT ON CITY COUNCIL DECISION POSTPONING THE ADDITION OF HYDROFLUOSILICIC ACID TO THE COLORADO SPRINGS PUBLIC WATER SUPPLY.

We support the postponement of the public water fluoridation proposal and the City Council's call for a chronic toxicology (long-term safety) study on the untested, industrial waste byproduct, hydrofluosilicic acid.

Hydrofluosilicic acid is an industrial waste byproduct that contains lead, arsenic and mercury, as well as silico-fluoride compounds which have never been tested for safety.

Colorado Springs is the city where water fluoridation with naturally occuring calcium fluoride was discovered decades ago. Early safety studies by the U.S. Public Health Service were done with sodium fluoride. No safety studies have ever been done on hydrofluosilicic acid. The Union of Scientists and Professionals at E.P.A. headquarters in Washington D.C. has asked for a national moratorium on the use of hydrofluosilicic acid until safety studies have been done (Congressional Testimony, June 2000). Hydrofluosilicic acid is not officially endorsed by the AMA, ADA, or FDA. Nothing should be added to the Colorado Springs public water supply that hasn't been proven safe for long-term consumption by the residents of our community.

Lisa McLaughlin and Dr. Thomas E. Levy, M.D.

Message from Adrian Lauren Davis

Date: Sun, 23 Sep 2001 12:11:10 -0400
From: ald00@netscape.net
Subject: Adrian Lauren Davis-Update

Dear Friends,

I hope you all have been doing well and had a wonderful summer. I am back in school at the Colorado College. This summer I travelled to Peru and Bali with the help of a scholarship from the Sachs foundation. I learned a tremendous amount about the Peruvian and Balinese cultures and extended my studies on the effect of media in different cultures and examined majority/minority relationships. I hope to create my own major on this subject. I am applying to attend the Associated Colleges of the Midwest semester program in London and Florence for this spring. I am also applying for a scholarship from the Colorado College so I can attend the ACM program and continue my studies. Classes are going very well. I am really maximizing all available opportunities at this college and in life.

Thank you so much for all of your help and support,

Adrian Lauren Davis

U S Flag Pins

As we look around we notice that people everywhere are expressing their patriotic feelings by wearing our flag in one form or another. We have access now to some very attractive American Flag tie tacs. They are full color, 13/16" soft enameled, or photo-etched and can be ordered from Pam by phone or email and can be picked up at the October 15th meeting. Order yours singly or in quantity for $1.95/each or 6 for $10.00. We will earn more than $1.00 for every pin sold. Think about any international friends you may have, college students, coworkers, etc.

Contact Pam Sufak - Sufak1@aol.com - for further information.

Dates to Remember . . .

**Please send comments and suggested information for the newsletter to Sufak1@aol.com or nulty@money.org or betlow@aol.com.