Telecommuting saves money

From: Grace Baltich, Hanover

When are our Wright County Commissioners Pat Sawatzke, Jack Russek, and Dick Mattson going to get into this century?

Other commissioners proposed a pilot project for telecommuting, but Sawatzke, Russek, and Mattson voted it down, despite evidence from other counties that telecommuting saves money and allows human services workers to handle an increased case load.

Shouldn’t the commissioners be pursuing and approving evidence-based best practices and efforts to save the county money? Just because three workers who would pilot this project would not be in the office every day where Sawatzke, Russek, or Mattson could micromanage them, doesn’t mean we should set aside cost savings and efficiency.

With current technology, many public and private employers such as Sherburne and Hennepin Counties and Best Buy have long surpassed Wright County in getting into this century and have employees telecommuting.

Corded phones an important element

From: Bob Trombley, Frontier Communications, Watertown

Since September was National Preparedness Month, as designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and although late, I thought I would use this opportunity to make sure every reader is aware of the risks involved when calling 9-1-1 from a cell phone or other non-traditional landline telephone.

Most people don’t realize that calls placed to 911 from cell phones do not allow an emergency dispatcher to know the exact location of the caller, unlike calls placed from landline phones which display the telephone number and address on the dispatcher’s screen.

As the CEO of the National Emergency Number Association (NENA), Brian Fontes knows about emergency communications and the technological limits of locating a caller on a cell phone. In a recent USA Today article (Aug. 18, 2009), Fontes stated, “Cell phone users almost always assume that they are going to be located (when calling 911) and that’s not a fair assumption.”

The article goes on to cite a tragedy that occurred last month when Darlene Dukes of Atlanta, GA, “struggled to speak as she called 911 from her cell phone.” Since the dispatcher could barely understand her, emergency responders were sent to the wrong address nearly 28 miles away. When paramedics finally reached Dukes, almost an hour after her call, it was too late.

While the detection of cell phone transmissions has come a long way since the days of the first “brick phone,” even the most advanced 911 systems cannot display the specific address of a wireless caller. The latest technology in use in 93 percent of the nation’s 911 centers can only isolate the call down to the location of the cell tower that is routing the call. GPS coordinates that can provide a better location – still 300 meters or 984 feet away – must come from the wireless carrier that operates the tower, further delaying response.

Note that I am not saying people should give up the mobile convenience of their cell phones, but every household should have at least one traditional corded landline phone. These phones work even during power outages, and our nation’s 911 system was built upon the use of landline telephones. While it may not prevent accidents, a traditional corded phone can significantly enhance response time during an emergency and should be part of every homes emergency preparedness kit.

President not social coordinator in chief

From: Joan Neururer, Waverly

An ever-increasing, majority of Americans don’t want a complete overhaul of our health care system. Sixty-eight percent of American voters have health care coverage they rate as good to excellent. Forty-one percent of voters favor health care reform, while 56 percent are opposed to health care reform.

In a falling trend, 49 percent of the voters approve of the job President Obama is doing and 51 percent disapprove of the job he is doing. Thirty percent strongly approve and 39 percent strongly disapprove of the job he is doing. That gives President Obama a presidential index rating of minus nine. All these percentages come from the latest Rasmussen Poll.

When the Herald Journal comes out Oct. 5, it is likely there will be a drop in his approval rating. He gave a sophomoric, anti-America speech at the UN, was soft on Iran, broke treaties with allies, gave up missile defense, and can’t decide what to do in Afghanistan. Our young people are dying over there and he has only talked to the commander of operations once in the last 70 days.

He did, however, find time to golf many times. He did find time to go on vacation and go on the Letterman show a few times. He is finding time to fly to Copenhagen to plead the case for a Chicago hosting of the Olympics. He needs to get his priorities straight. He is commander in chief, not social coordinator in chief.

In the meantime, this president wants to spend money we don’t have on drastically changing a health care system of which 68 percent of American voters are happy. The problem is that this is not about health care reform; it’s about control.

Obama wants to control every facet of our lives. If he were really interested in lowering the cost of health care, he would be calling for Tort reform. He would be calling for an end to frivolous lawsuits. Oh, I forgot, he couldn’t do that because that would anger a big group of his supporters, trial lawyers.

If President Obama and the Democrats really wanted a bi-partisan health care reform they would look at the many health care plans and amendments put forth by Republicans.

There are enough Democrats in the House and Senate to pass any bill put before them. It hasn’t been done because many Democrats know it would be political suicide. They don’t want to take a blame for the health care travesty they are trying to foist on the American people.