Category: Spring 2002 Newswire
Smith Introduces Segway Legislation
WASHINGTON, March 20–Sen. Bob Smith (R-NH) Wednesday introduced legislation that allows motorized, scooter-like Segway devices on sidewalks and trails built with federal funds in New Hampshire and across the country.
On February 15 Governor Jeanne Shaheen signed a bill that allows the gyroscope-stabilized, stand-up human transponder machines on sidewalks and roads in the state. Smith’s bill would allow Segways on throughways-but not highways-that were built with federal funds. Dick Lemieux, a Concord-based transportation planning engineer for the Federal Highway Administration, estimates that fewer than 10 percent of sidewalks and paths in the Granite State were built with federal funds.
Smith’s legislation would give states and local governments the authority to allow Segways, which are manufactured in Bedford, on federally financed sidewalks and trails if their use complies with their state and/or local laws.
The measure will be handled by the Environment and Public Works Committee, on which Smith is the senior Republican.
The legislation would allow “any self-balancing, non-tandem wheeled devices designed to transport one individual and powered by an electric propulsion system with a maximum speed of 20 miles per hour,” according to a committee statement.
“I want to see people have the flexibility to use these devices like you would use a bicycle or a wheelchair if people feel they need to use them,” Smith said. Laws that Smith said were written “about 10 years ago” ban most motorized devices from federally financed sidewalks, with exceptions for devices such as motorized wheelchairs.
The Manchester Police Department and the U.S. Postal Service are now testing the Segway for use by police and mail deliverers.
Dean Kamen, a Manchester resident and the inventor of the Segway, said in a visit to Washington last month that widespread use of the battery-operated device would reduce pollution and help conserve gasoline. “This is a real alternative that can reduce inner-city congestion,” he said.
Published in The Union Leader, in Manchester, New Hampshire
U. Mainers Opt for Civil Service Over Tropical Spring Break
WASHINGTON, March 18--With four separate and deliberate strokes of her red magic-marker, Mary Conrad drew the letter "M."
"Great 'M' - good job," an energetic voice chimed in.
Conrad, whose thin hair is blond and whose wrinkled cheek is a rosy pink, had a more difficult time with the letter "A."
"Keep going - good," prodded the young woman sitting beside Conrad.
Two strokes have debilitated Conrad, 77, who sits in a wheelchair and lives at the Washington Home, a long-term care and hospice facility in the nation's capital.
"R" was an even harder letter for the older woman, who maneuvered the marker the way a five-year old would. It took her almost a minute to write the letter.
"Almost done," urged Conrad's supporter.
Then Conrad tried the letter "Y." Oh, how she tried. Her brow tightened. She held her hand to her lips in contemplation. She burned the paper with her eyes.
"One more line, Mary. You need one more line."
Conrad's helper, Lindsey Rice a 21-year-old student from South Portland, reached for a different pen and drew the single line that completed Conrad's first name. "You did it," Lindsey said, gently rubbing Conrad's shoulder.
Like a geyser, Mary erupted in smiles. Her eyes teared. She hid her enormous smile with her hand like a Japanese geisha. She had done it - She had spelled her name.
Lindsey, who spent only 10 minutes with Conrad that day, elicited laughter reminiscent of a child's. That was, among other things, Lindsey's job.
The elementary education major is also the site leader for a group of 11 students from the the University of Maine, Orono, who spent their spring breaks doing volunteer work rather than roaming the sandy beaches of Florida or sipping cocktails in Cancun with many of their college comrades.
In Washington, the students conversed with patients, performed administrative duties and helped with planned activities at the Washington Home for five days from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The University of Maine sponsored what it calls the Alternative Spring Break, which is part of the national Break Away program.
Break Away is a nonprofit organization that promotes social service among college students by sponsoring volunteer programs. The Washington group is one of six from Orono, with the others traveling to Atlanta, Georgetown, S.C., New Orleans, New York City, and Ustes, Fla., for various volunteering programs.
Each of the Orono students was assigned to one of the seven programs. At the beginning of the semester, they met weekly to bond with each other, and raised $20,000 through fundraisers to finance the six trips - including the 18-hour bus ride to Washington and the one-room accommodations at a downtown-Washington hostel.
Lauren Fenney, the long-term care volunteer coordinator at the Washington Home, said she was worried at first because the students did not choose to work at the home. But she called the Orono students "self-motivated, creative and responsible," and in the future, she said, she would ask for 20 students instead of 11.
The students, who all live in Maine, were in the Washington spotlight. A reporter from the Washington Post followed them around for a day, and asked why they chose volunteer work over a tropical spring break. To them, the answer was obvious: Volunteer work is more rewarding.
"You can drink anytime," said Michelle LeClaire, a round-faced 21 year-old senior from Winslow. She devoted past school breaks to the Gay Men's Health Crisis Center in New York City, and the Save Our Sons and Daughters program in Detroit. "This is so much more rewarding than getting drunk on the beaches of Mexico."
Soon after Michelle said this, Holly Barter came into the room on the verge of tears. She sat down and cupped her face in both hands.
Referring to a resident who had been dropping in and out of coherence, the 19-year-old sophomore from Brewer said: "From Monday until now, I've seen such a huge difference - he's so brilliant."
Holly's connection with the residents is not much different from most of the other students in the group, who tell stories of playing cards, singing or just chatting with residents.
"We have all connected with one or two residents here," said the group's adviser, Silverio ("Ace") Barrero, 22, of Belfast.
The students stressed the importance of listening to the residents. "You need to learn how to communicate with them - and do it in a way so they don't feel lower," said Misty Smith, 22, a senior psychology major, who also participated in the Detroit program. Misty, from Winslow, said she was trying to overcome her discomfort with some of the residents.
In addition to increasing their listening skills, the program has been beneficial, some students said, because it helped them decide on future plans.
Kristy Townsend, a 22-year-old senior from Orono, said she now intends to study Alzheimer's Disease and pursue a doctorate in neuroscience after graduating with a degree in biochemistry.
At the end of each day, the students discussed their "highs and lows." Many said the same thing: the low was observing an uncomfortable situation, and the high was overcoming the discomfort.
Joe Kilch, 22, said that it's difficult when the residents' physical appearance does not mirror their mental capacity. But he said he respects their tenacity and is glad he can help.
The residents "are totally connected, and we're watching them deteriorate." It is "a transformation with such humility - it's a high and a low."
Published in The Bangor Daily News, in Maine.
FDA Suppors “Antagonist” Idea to Combat OxyContin
WASHINGTON, March 20--The Food and Drug Administration will expedite the review process of a newly formulated version of the painkiller OxyContin if its makers mix in an "antagonist" additive that would deter the abusive use of the prescription drug, Maine Attorney General Steven Rowe said.
At a closed meeting of the National Association of Attorneys General in Washington Tuesday, Rowe and other state attorneys general discussed the process of adding an antagonist to the drug with Dr. Cynthia McCormick, director of the FDA's Division of Anesthetic, Critical Care And Addiction Drug Products. Rowe advocates such an additive, which would offset the potent pain-relieving effects of OxyContin if the pills were crushed.
If the prescription drug's manufacturer, Connecticut-based Purdue Pharma, submits to the FDA a reformulated version that includes an antagonist, the federal agency will - upon submission - spend six months testing the safety and efficacy of the final product. The FDA generally spends about 11 months reviewing new drugs before approving them, FDA spokeswoman Kathleen Kolar said.
There are potentially adverse effects from the addition of the antagonist to OxyContin, Kolar said. Adding the antagonist could make OxyContin less effective for people who need it, she said. Asked if creating a reformulated OxyContin is feasible without such effects, Kolar said: "It's definitely possible."
If the FDA accepts the reformulated OxyContin, it will become the second prescription drug that contains an antagonist. The first is Talwin, another painkiller.
According to Rowe, McCormick, the FDA official at the attorneys general meeting, saw bright prospects for the additive. She "acknowledged the explosion in prescription drug abuse," Rowe said. "This [antagonist] issue that I'm raising, she believes is an important point."
Nevertheless, Rowe said, adding an antagonist would not solve the OxyContin abuse problem - an issue that prompted a Senate committee hearing last month that attracted certified nurse and mid-wife Nancy Green from Calais, a rural Maine community that has suffered from such abuse.
Rowe called the effort to abridge the prescription-drug abuse problem an "ongoing saga," but said, "It is my belief that highly addictive opiates can be made tamper-resistant."
Published in The Bangor Daily News, in Maine.
Stamford Firefighters Push For Federal Funds for Equipment, Personnel
By Justin Hill
WASHINGTON, March 19--Two Stamford firefighters met with Connecticut's congressional delegation yesterday on Capitol Hill to push for federal funds for more equipment and personnel they say they must have to do their jobs.
"[People are] talking about homeland security. Well, we're talking about hometown security. We want to make our town safe," said Brendan Keatley, vice president of Stamford Firefighters Local 786 of the International Association of Firefighters. "We just want to have the tools and the equipment and the number of personnel needed to do the jobáwhether it be extinguishing a house fire or cutting somebody out of a car or responding to a hazardous material incident."
Keatley and Charles Cackowski, Local 786's treasurer, and about two dozen other firefighters from Connecticut met with Sen. Christopher Dodd outside the Democrat's office. The firefighters were in Washington to attend the International Association of Firefighters' annual legislative conference.
Sen. Dodd, in an interview after the meeting in which he fielded questions from the firefighters, said: "Sept. 11 made America much more aware of how important these departments are, the vital services they playá. These are great people, do a tremendous job."
The firefighters also met with Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, D-Conn., and later with aides to Rep. Christopher Shays, R-4th, who was out of town.
"In the post-9/11 world, we must do more to make first responders a first priority," Lieberman said in a statement, "and at the federal level that means driving more of the emergency response and anti-terrorism dollars down to the local level where they are most needed and are most effective. I intend to do whatever I can during the debate on the homeland security budget to ensure that we put our money where are hearts are this year."
The firefighters are pushing for passage of the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response Act of 2001, which Dodd introduced in November. The bill would authorize the Labor Department to provide money for as much as 75 percent of the cost of hiring firefighters. It would allow the hiring of 75,000 firefighters over the next seven years.
"[Stamford's fire department] is definitely understaffed," Keatley said. "Equipment's only good if you have somebody to use it. So that's something we're really trying to push here."
Last weekend, 1,400 to 1,500 people took the firefighter entrance exam at Stamford High School to land one of 14 spots with Stamford Fire and Rescue.
The firefighters also want Congress to fully finance the Firefighters Investment and Response Enhancement Act-at a cost of $900 million-for fiscal year 2003, which begins on Oct. 1. The law, which Dodd authored, provides grants to fire departments that can be used for training, protective gear and staffing. The firefighters complained, however, that President Bush included no money in his budget for 2003
"The federal funding," said Matthew Palmer, president of Local 786, "would make a significant impact. [It would give] us the funding we so desperately need."
Stamford's budget for the next fiscal year, proposed on March 8, calls for $263,540 for emergency equipment, uniforms, protective clothing and equipment.
"We understand the city of Stamford's position," Keatley said. "There's only so much money to go around. If the federal government was to assist them and direct money to go through a fire department, I think we'd do a little better."
Palmer is skeptical of the outpouring of support for firefighters by Congressmen in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
"I hope this vigilance after Sept. 11 is never forgotten," Palmer said. "It's time we see action."
Published in The Hour, in Norwalk, Conn.
Christa McAuliffe Fellowship Program Discontinued
WASHINGTON, March 19--The Christa McAuliffe Fellowship program - which in recent years awarded teachers from Wolfeboro, Concord and Claremont more than $30,000 each to improve their skills and advance their schools' standards - has been discontinued by the Education Department, much to the surprise of previous recipients.
The national teacher fellowship program was created in 1996 to honor the Concord teacher who died 16 years ago in the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger.
"The Department of Education has done a refocusing of priorities, and this unfortunately was not one of them," said Jon Quam, the director of the Council of Chief State School Officers in Washington, which has administrated the fellowship for the past six years.
The program has allowed teachers to take sabbaticals, conduct research and undertake projects that increase standards-based educational reform in their schools. The recipients have used the money, which is based on teachers' average salaries in their states, to supplement their salaries while away from the classroom or to purchase materials while remaining on the job.
The federal government last year distributed $1.8 million in McAuliffe fellowship grants to 59 states and territories, according to Quam. The states awarded fellowships to K-12 teachers with eight or more years of experience who presented project proposals that jive with their standards-based school reform priorities. Quam said New Hampshire's priorities were to improve early literacy development, purchase educational technology and increase the performance of all students.
A McAuliffe fellowship helped Jade Warfield, a language arts teacher for kindergarten through fourth-grade students at the Eastman and Broken Ground Schools in Concord, purchase "thousands upon thousands" of books for struggling readers in 1998. Terry Hayward, a seventh-grade mathematics teacher at Claremont Middle School in Claremont, used her fellowship funds in 2000 to buy mathematics software and hardware and to train teachers in how to use them to raise students' aptitude. Both teachers also took time off to pursue advanced degrees in education.
The current fellow, Joanne Parise, is using the money to develop an interactive computer program that teaches students at seven schools in Wolfeboro about global community, habitats, oceans, birds and plants.
"It will help kids learn about science in a variety of ways," Parise said, "through music, movement, paper pencil books, graphs and diagrams."
Parise, whose fellowship ends in June, says the program's elimination is "very surprising." The McAuliffe fellowship is unique, she said, because it focuses solely on teachers and allows them to use the money, if they choose, to purchase thousands of dollars worth of materials for their schools - something most teachers only dream of doing.
She is using some of her grant to supplement her income because she reduced to part-time her hours as a gifted-education adviser to K-8 teachers at the Crescent Lake School in Wolfeboro. She has used the remainder to purchase costly supplies, including an incubator to hatch chicken eggs and a kiln.
"This program worked so well because the projects have to show that they have an impact on students' lives," Parise said. "I'm working in my community but have outreach efforts so that my project will reach the whole state."
She admitted, however, that the program was not administered very well in New Hampshire. "The politics have been frustrating," she said. "It was hard to find people at the state level to talk to."
Claremont's Hayward acknowledged little recognition for her fellowship in New Hampshire. "Other states made a much bigger deal out of it," she said. "They got to meet their governor and do lots of things. Not here."
Dr. Joanne Baker, the director of the Division of Instruction at the New Hampshire Department of Education in Concord, which handles the McAuliffe scholarship on the state level, was not available for comment.
Warfield, who said she is "really saddened" to hear that the program is being ended, said she saw projects by teachers in other states at an annual conference in Washington that were "just outstanding." "There were people doing science projects and dropout prevention projects, drug prevention," she said. "I couldn't be more impressed with their level of dedication and professionalism."
"I think it's really too bad for the money to be reallocated," Parise said. "My guess is that it is going to be reallocated in a way that won't help teachers like this one does"
While Hayward suspects that interest in the program may have waned at the national level because of the push to put more money into testing initiatives, Quam said the program was cut simply because of shifting priorities.
"This is the reality in a government-run and funded program," he said. "The funding was last approved under the old administration. New people in new positions have new ideas."
Published in The Union Leader, in Manchester, New Hampshire
Maloney To Seek Funds For Hospital Project
WASHINGTON, March 18--U.S. Rep. James H. Maloney, D-Conn., announced Monday he will request about $2 million from the next federal budget for St. Mary's Hospital in downtown Waterbury. The money would be used for a renovation project to expand and modernize the hospital's emergency facilities.
Maloney noted that St. Mary's currently treats nearly 65,000 patients annually at a facility that was originally built for a capacity of 35,000.
"There are limits on privacy," Maloney said. "The staff gets so busy during the course of the day that they are forced to put patients on gurneys in the hallways as they try to make room for [more] people."
Maloney toured St. Mary's Hospital Monday. He said that the $2 million in federal assistance, which he will request from the House Appropriations health subcommittee, will help the hospital reduce patient overcrowding.
"They are really doing an amazing job with very constrained resources," Maloney said. "I will begin to put together a formal appropriations request for this facility for the new budget that is under consideration this year."
According to Martin G. Morrissey, the interim president-CEO of St. Mary's Hospital, the application process for federal finding started "in earnest" last Wednesday when several hospital administrators discussed their preliminary plans with Maloney in a meeting at his Washington office.
St. Mary's Hospital had asked Maloney during that meeting to support its initiative to increase the number of adult and pediatric patient rooms from 16 to 24 in addition to constructing a central core nursing station, "so that all of the nurses can literally have an eye on all of the patients' rooms," Maloney said.
The hospital would also expand its waiting area, trauma facility, and psychiatric and surgical rooms, Morrissey said. The renovation project would also construct more space for large radiation equipment as well as the ambulance arrival area.
"There are parallel needs," Maloney noted. "[St. Mary's Hospital] is right around the corner from the police department, which frequently uses it. It is also in the middle of a cluster of senior housing."
Captain P.M. Bruce, spokesperson for the Waterbury Police Department, said that although Waterbury Hospital is also in the area, approximately 10 to 15 prisoners are brought to the emergency room of St. Mary's Hospital on a weekly basis due to its close proximity to police headquarters.
In addition to prisoners, many elderly patients are often brought to St. Mary's Hospital as well, according to Scott M. Ziegler, chief operating officer of Creative Management and Realty, which houses more than 650 seniors at three of its downtown elderly apartment communities.
"Unless a resident requests to go to another hospital, they go down to St. Mary's," said Zeigler, who also serves as an Emergency Medical Technician for the Southbury Ambulance Association.
"From my experience as an EMT, I have seen it overcrowded many times. Any expansion will help not only the elderly population, but any population going to the facility," Zeigler said.
Morrissey said the hospital will try to match the $2 million appropriations request through philanthropy and other fundraising sources.
If the monetary goal is achieved, Morrissey said, the hospital would phase in the construction over time in order to avoid denying patient access to medical attention.
"We're grateful for Congressman Maloney's support and we look forward to helping him gain success in this endeavor in whatever ways we can," Morrissey said.
Published in The Waterbury Republican-American, in Waterbury, Connecticut.
Interest Groups Look for “Party-Building” Alternatives
WASHINGTON, March 17--Campaign finance reform is to campaign contributors what a dam is to a river: If you dam the river, it will eventually find a way around the dam.
The latest dam is the House-passed Shays-Meehan campaign finance bill that would ban "soft money" - the unregulated contributions to national political parties. The reform measures now await debate in the Senate, which passed a largely identical bill last year.
Politically persuasive interest groups, along with corporations and wealthy people, have been the principal donors of soft money to the parties because they could give large sums of money to try to influence lawmakers without being limited by regulations surrounding direct contributions - or "hard money" - to those lawmakers, which are given through political action committees (PACs).
If Shays-Meehan becomes law, they will either prowl for loopholes or enjoy the prospects of politics without the cash incentives.
More likely the new law will prompt interest groups to raise more money and spend it on their own advocacy advertising rather than contribute to the national parties. And it might cause them to increase their contributions to state parties, which would not be barred from accepting soft-money contributions under the proposed reform provisions.
What reform measures will finally emerge this session remains uncertain, but some argue that no matter the outcome, tenacious campaign donors will find a way around the reform dam.
"People won't lay down and play dead," said Jeff Weinstein, president of the Maine chapter of the National Rifle Association.
If the bill passes, groups such as the NRA, Sierra Club and AFL-CIO, all of which are active in Maine, are expected to look for alternative ways to influence public affairs, including raising and spending more on their own advertising and giving substantial sums of soft money to state political parties. The result could be massive interest-group fundraising, undisclosed contributions and First Amendment court battles.
The NRA, which opposes the proposed reform provisions, is already developing ways to get around the soft-money restrictions.
"People like us will likely reconfigure our fundraising and direct mail in light of more restrictions on soft money and less restrictions on hard money," NRA chief Washington lobbyist James J. Baker told National Journal, a Washington based weekly focused on federal policy and politics.
The AFL-CIO is also increasing its PAC activity. "I think this will force us to get more union members to contribute to their union PACs," political director Steve Rosenthal said in the in the same magazine article.
Currently, individual donators are restricted to giving $1,000 to a congressional candidate for each primary and general election, and PACs are restricted to giving $5,000 per election. These numbers would double if the pending campaign reform bill becomes law.
Hard-money contributors already use a loophole in the system called bundling, which allows individual contributors to pool their regulated donations and send them to a candidate at the same time. Bundling is effective because a block of contributions makes a larger impression on a candidate than single contributions from individuals and PACs.
American University history professor Allan J. Lichtman said bundling is a viable tool for interests groups. He added, "You may see interest groups doing more independent advocacy and spending their own money rather than giving it to parties."
Independent advocacy occurs when interest groups, who are not affiliated with candidates but support them, pay for their own ads instead of donating the money to national parties. The national parties are officially limited to using this soft money for party-building activities such as get-out the vote campaigns and issue advertising that supports or attacks congressional candidates without mentioning the candidates' names.
If interest groups were to replace national parties in these activities, they could become the new receptacles for large - and unregulated - individual and corporate donations.
Steven Weiss of the Center for Responsive Politics, contends, however, that banning soft-money would reduce the pressure on potential donors to give large amounts of money to influence legislation. Soft-money contributions totaled more than $500 million in the 1999-2000 election cycle.
"A lot of interest groups and corporations want to ban soft money because they're being shut down by politicians" if they don't give a lot of money, said Celia Wexler, a senior policy analyst at Common Cause, a nonprofit, nonpartisan lobbying organization.
On the other hand, if interest groups become the new receptacles for issue-ad donations, donors would no longer have to be identified.
Campaign finance reform would "create an interest in activism, quietly," the Maine NRA's Weinstein said, adding that he Some interest groups that support campaign finance reform say they won't necessarily look to its passing as a way to increase issue advertising.
"Issue ads are a small part of what we do here," said Dianna White, the Sierra Club's deputy political director. "We'll continue to do our grassroots activities," such as marshaling its members to urge action on Congress through e-mail messages, mailings, posters and door-to-door visits.
In the past, soft money donated to national parties have financed issue ads, which are used partially to attack other candidates or policies. But because the Sierra Club depends more on grassroots activities to promote its cause rather than issue-ads, it sees no problem with another question that the Shays-Meehan bill and the companion McCain-Feingold bill in the Senate raises: whether restrictions on such advertising infringes on the First Amendment.
One of the provisions would bar issue ads 60 days before an election and 30 days before a primary. Interest groups, who object that this provision impedes their right to express their views on issues, plan to sue. American University's Lichtman calls this "the most vulnerable part of the bill."
"The courts have obviously, in many ways, intertwined the spending of money with free speech," he said. "Depending upon how the court interprets the First Amendment, it could limit aspects of this bill - particularly ... any attempt to control the content of advertising, which this bill does."
Finally, while national parties would be barred from accepting soft-money contributions, state parties would not. The rationale is that soft-money contributions were originally intended for such party-building activities as encouraging people to vote. Soft money would play the same role on a state level if the campaign finance reform bill passes. Interest groups, therefore, could be expected to contribute soft-money to the state parties.
But even this also has its problems. The state parties that receive soft-money contributions from interest groups could turn around and give it right back to the national parties.
"The DNC [Democratic National Committee] practice is to transfer money to the state parties, and, within a matter of days, the state parties make payments to the DNC's media consultants, usually in exactly the amount of the DNC's transfer," wrote Lisa Rosenberg in an essay written for the Center for Responsive Politics.
Shays-Meehan advocates, such as the Sierra Club's White, admit that while the legislation is "an important first" step in reforming campaign finance, "it's not a perfect bill, and it won't be the end of reform."
Published in The Bangor Daily News, in Maine.
Wounded NH Soldier Reunites with Family, Recalls Al-Qaida Shootout
WASHINGTON, March 16--Like many 21 year-olds, Army Pvt. Kyle McGovern of Merrimack likes to watch television sitcoms, smoke cigarettes and play basketball; but he has something few his age can boast: a Purple Heart medal for the injuries he sustained on March 2 in Operation Anaconda, the massive 12-day offensive that drove al-Qaida operatives from Afghanistan's Shahikot Valley.
Sitting in his hospital bed in the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. on Saturday with his parents and 23 year-old sister Keely by his side, McGovern relived the battle during which he was hit by shrapnel that severed two of his toes on his right foot.
"It happened pretty fast," he said about the first eighteen-hours of Operation Anaconda's first battle, when the U.S. Army's 10th Mountain Division inadvertently landed in an al-Qaida stronghold.
"We landed on the first morning, when it was dark," he said. "Even though [al-Qaida fighters] like to blow up helicopters, they let the helicopters leave. Then they started firing on us pretty heavy."
"We were on really, really big mountains with snow" near the Shahikot village in southwestern Afghanistan, he said. "Under it was hard, packed dirt, like clay. The whole time we were on a slant and all we had for cover were hard plants that look like tumbleweed in the ground."
After only about three hours of fighting off rocket-propelled grenades, McGovern was hit by shrapnel from mortar that fell two feet behind him.
"I was lifted up and put on my stomach," he said, as he leaned forward in his hospital bed to scratch around the soft cast on his right leg with a metal grabbing device. "It was just like in the movies - my eardrums were blasted, my vision was blurry and it seemed like everything was going slow mo. My finger was covered in blood and my legs were hurting. My squad leader said to move and I ran over to get assessed. Then the mortar tube next to us was destroyed. We had to keep moving because of the mortar, before I finally got to the helicopter."
McGovern did not know the seven U.S. soldiers who died in the battle. His platoon of 26 people was a part of a large company of approximately 100 people.
Standing next to her son in his snug single hospital room flanked with flowers, fruit baskets and honorary coins delivered by dignitaries including Bob Dole, Debbie McGovern, Kyle's mother, said she's happy to see her son for the first time in five months.
"We got here yesterday and stayed the evening with him," she said. "We had to buy him clothes, because all of his stuff is still in Uzbekistan and Afghanistan."
McGovern, a former soccer and basketball player, said the doctors have assured him he'll eventually walk normally on his right foot, which is missing two toes and had to be screwed together. "They showed me an x-ray and the foot bones weren't all together but spread apart," he said. "But I didn't loose my big toe or end toes, so that's good."
Doctors are discussing whether to give McGovern prosthetic toes or removable foam to put in his shoes. In the meantime he does physical therapy to strengthen his leg and occupational therapy to return movement to his right index finger, which has two gashes, for one hour a day. He hopes to soon put weight on his left leg, which is now in a brace.
McGovern went from a field hospital in Afghanistan to hospitals in Uzbekistan, Turkey and Germany before arriving at Walter Reed on March 8.
McGovern does not know if he'll be given a medical discharge or return to duty in a non-combat role. Though has not decided if he will reenlist when his military contract expires in two years, he takes pride in how his platoon performed.
"My platoon sergeant and my platoon leader got hit at the same time and then the squad leaders just took right over," he said. "I had to do some stuff with the radio as I was getting fired at, so I thought I did a good job with that."
McGovern enlisted in 2001, two years after graduating from high school, because he "wasn't doing much of anything," he said. Now that he's been overseas and seen battle, he said, he likes the military "even better."
"I got to meet a lot of interesting generals," he said.
"As soon as Kyle was here I called Rep. Sununu," said Jack McGovern, Kyle's father, "and the congressman called right back."
"We contacted him because we wanted more recognition," said Debbie McGovern. "It wasn't so much about Kyle, but we wanted all of the wounded to get recognition."
McGovern said he's looking forward to going home to Merrimack, where he has an 18 year-old brother named Kelly.
Pointing his gripper at the small TV attached to his bed that receives basic cable, McGovern grinned, "I can't wait to go home and watch satellite TV."
Published in The Union Leader, in Manchester, New Hampshire
A Clash of Concerns Over Keene Bypass
WASHINGTON, March 14--Deliberations on the redesign of highway intersections along the Route 101 east-west corridor have stalled several construction projects, according to New Hampshire Department of Transportation officials.
Citizens groups and conservationists have been debating with highway engineers over the design of a number of intersections in the $60 million Keene-Swanzey Bypass Expansion Project, citing environmental and aesthetic problems with the current designs for the intersections along Route 101 south of Keene.
"To stay it's stalled right now is probably accurate," said Bill Boynton, a spokesman for the Department of Transportation. "We need to hear from the leadership of the city of Keene."
Concerned Cheshire Citizens, a local advocacy group for highway reform, has touted the merits of using circular traffic intersections, known as roundabouts, to contend with the highway's increasing traffic flow.
"I looked at the New Hampshire Department of Transportation's design for the highway around Keene, and it seemed to me to be way over-built and over-designed," said Rebecca Todd, an environmental lawyer who became active with the group several years ago.
Annie Faulkner, the group's president, agrees that the department's designs "tend to be big and expensive."
"They want to have a free-flow system, yet the system they've designed has lots of stops. They say it's a hybrid system, but I would think that in a hybrid system roundabouts would be compatible," she said.
According to Todd, roundabouts work well because they "move people safely and have a smaller environmental and aesthetic impact" than traditional traffic light intersections.
"Roundabouts don't need bridges, and they move traffic more efficiently and quickly than traffic signals," Todd said. Furthermore, concerns that Keene drivers may not be ready for roundabouts would be irrelevant because "a well designed roundabout will teach you how to drive it."
Jeff Porter, a senior planner with the Southwest Region Planning Commission, said the views of many planners toward roundabouts have warmed with time.
"Most of us who weren't highway engineers didn't realize how roundabouts are useful for suburban applications," he said. "They work really well in those circumstances."
Roundabouts have also received a thumbs-up from Mayor Michael E. J. Blastos, who endorsed them for being aesthetically superior, for being "user-friendly" once drivers become accustomed to them and for providing "greater flexibility and maneuverability."
"I think the Council as well as myself have ascertained that we favor the use of them wherever possible and whenever possible," Blastos said.
The proposal by the Department of Transportation that probably garnered the least support is for the intersection of Interstate 101 and Routes 9, 10 and 12. The T-shaped, or "trumpet," design would take up a much larger area than a roundabout, the Concerned Cheshire Citizens argue. However, Gil Rogers, assistant commissioner for the department, said that a roundabout "wouldn't work there," arguing that the intersection "deserves a flow of traffic similar to the other end of Keene," which is built with the trumpet design.
The Conservation Law Foundation, a New Hampshire environmental group, filed an appeal last year to nullify a construction permit obtained by the Department of Transportation from the wetlands bureau of the state's Department of Environmental Services. The permit would allow for highway development on thirty acres of wetlands, including at least one acre of vernal and seasonal pools that serve as breeding grounds for wildlife. The appeal was intended to criticize the issuance of a wetlands permit without the Department of Transportation adequately assessing its environmental impact. The case was heard in Merrimack County Superior Court on February 20 and 21, and the judge is expected to hand down a verdict by the end of next month.
The current design for the Keene bypass would require filling at least twenty-five acres of vegetative wetlands, which transportation officials say could easily be replaced elsewhere.
Tom Irwin, a staff attorney for the Conservation Law Foundation, disagrees. "We don't think it's a proper solution. The Department of Transportation did not do an adequate job to assess the impact to wetlands before jumping to the assumption that they can go out and recreate wetlands on their own. The extent to which they can artificially replicate existing wetlands is certainly arguable."
Not so, Rogers maintained. "We've done a couple that turned out magnificently, along Route 101 at Brentwood and at Exeter" as part of efforts by the Department "to minimize the footprint where possible," Rogers said.
A large and expansive highway intersection could also be "out of scale with the character and needs of a local community," according to the Conservation Law Foundation's website.
"I'm concerned that this big project would forever change the character of the region," Faulkner said. "Like many other citizens, I saw the need to protect what I love about living here,"
The prospect of incorporating roundabouts into the highway design has received widespread support from Keene residents and businesses, and a resolution in favor of roundabouts received unanimous approval of the Keene City Council in November. The Department of Transportation has reconsidered placing roundabouts at several intersections, including one at Optical Avenue.
"Our appeal had the unintended consequence of delaying the project and allowed for more local input into the project," said Irwin.
"There's a tendency to trust that the Department of Transportation knows what's best for us, but state agencies aren't always up on the latest technologies, and citizens need to be involved to make sure that the best alternatives are chosen," Faulkner said.
If the appeal to revoke the wetlands permit is approved, transportation officials will need to redesign the intersection with oversight from the Department of Environmental Services, according to Ken Kettenring, until recently the administrator for the department's wetlands bureau.
Though federal highway guidelines do not include recommendations for multi-lane roundabouts, transportation officials have opposed them, contending that they are not addressed because of a lack of documentation on their safety in this country.
"The Department of Transportation in New Hampshire has a design philosophy that we will support single-lane roundabouts, we will look at two-lane roundabouts but we will not look at three-lane roundabouts," Keith Cota, the department's project manager for the Keene bypass, said. "In the future, if they're proven to be safe and can move the traffic capacity, then it's possible [we will consider them]."
The three-lane roundabout issue has been used as a "red herring" to deter support for roundabouts, Irwin argues. According to traffic specialists, a two-lane roundabout would be sufficient for Route 101 at least until the year 2030.
Senator Judd Gregg, R-N.H., offered his assistance at the federal level to Keene residents who might seek increased federal funds for roundabouts.
"If I hear from the City Council of Keene, or the city planner of Keene, that this is the way they'd like to do this, and that's the consensus position, then I will do everything I can to get language in the transportation bill to accomplish it," Gregg said. "I haven't heard that from people in Keene or their representatives, and if that's the way they want to go, we'll do everything we can to accomplish it."
Published in The Keene Sentinel, in New Hampshire
Maloney Discusses Biodefense Capacity With DOH Commissioner
WASHINGTON, March 14--The unsettling spate of anthrax attacks last fall has prompted U.S. Rep. James H. Maloney, D-Conn., to focus on the challenges Connecticut faces in guarding its residents from a bioterrorist attack.
Maloney met yesterday with the state's Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Joxel Garcia to discuss how Connecticut would spend federal funds to enhance its readiness to deal with a biological threat or attack.
"We had two separate conversations," Maloney said. "There are two pots of money that Connecticut is getting."
Some of the expected $14 million in federal grants would be used for new centers to coordinate responses to bioterrorist attacks, but the larger portion would be spent on improving existing facilities and technologies.
The meeting was one of a series between Maloney and Garcia since the death of 94-year-old Oxford resident Ottilie W. Lundgren on Nov. 21 at Griffin Hospital in Derby. Lundgren was the fifth American to die of an anthrax infection linked to one of the anthrax-laced envelopes sent through the mail since last autumn.
Griffin Hospital Vice President Bill Powanda said that her death put Connecticut on high alert for future biological disasters.
"Clearly the lessons learned were to expect the unexpected," he said. "This was another dramatic reinforcement that you will never know what could happen at the local community hospital."
Because people are likelier to be treated at a local community hospital than at large urban or university hospitals, legislators should reconsider how federal funds are doled out to states that want to upgrade their equipment and overall preparedness.
"Congress needs to rethink allocating resources to community hospitals around the country versus the urban tertiary-care [specialized] hospitals," Powanda said in a telephone interview. "Griffin's experience of handling the case should build the confidence in their local community hospitals' abilities to diagnose and treat illnesses like Lundgren's."
On the other hand, urban areas also need to focus on potential threats, which is why the Connecticut Department of Public Health is applying for two federal grants that would provide the state with more than $14 million to improve its public health infrastructure, said William Gerrish, the department's spokesman.
Gerrish said the state wants to use a small part of that money for two "centers of excellence" that would be used for planning regional coordination, education, clinical care and research on bioterrorism. The centers, he said, would "take a leadership role in response to a large-scale bioterroism event."
He pointed out, however, that more than $12.5 million of the funds would be used to augment the state's approach toward broader areas, including education and training, laboratory capacity, surveillance and disease studies as well as preparedness planning based on the guidelines posted by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"Everybody is on a learning curve, and we are still attempting to get something in order," said Dr. Roberto Ferraro, the acting director of Waterbury's Department of Public Health.
Although a lot of the potential improvements depend on federal funds, Ferraro said that Waterbury learned how to gear up to deal with emergency situations during the Y2K scare several years ago and is therefore already prepared to cope with life-threatening biological agents. He added that the city continues to seek out better alternatives to safeguard its residents.
Waterbury has an active Local Emergency Planning Committee, which includes representatives of the city health agency, Waterbury's hazardous materials (HazMat) team, the police and fire departments, the city's two hospitals, ambulance services, emergency medical services, emergency radio communications services, the Red Cross and the Salvation Army.
The committee also recently installed a computer data base listing the street location of every Waterbury facility that stores or manufactures a chemical on site so that the Public Health Department, the fire department and HazMat units can refer to it if an explosion occurred that would require immediate evacuation of that area.
"Remember the Waterbury Health Department's motto," Ferraro said. " 'We are as near to you as you are to your telephone.' Sometimes we can help, sometimes we can't, but we will be able to put people in the right direction."
"People are frightened by all of this," he added. "If we can at least calm them down, then that is of value."
In addition to the Maloney-Garcia meeting, bioterrorism was on the agenda as several biodefense experts gathered yesterday at the Capitol to discuss pilot programs that are trying to address inadequate public health infrastructures, including the Rapid Syndrome Validation Project, an Internet-based software program that lets doctors update information on their patients' symptoms and that alerts local public health officials if the data point toward a possible biological infection.
Published in The Waterbury Republican-American, in Waterbury, Connecticut.
