- November 22, 2024
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Dear Editor:
I would like to clarify a few misstatements that were made by a Bob Jones in a letter you published last week in which I was accused of not being supportive of Sheriff Rick Staly and his great team.
While I was quoted accurately, the quote is taken out of context. Sheriff Staly’s letter wasn’t about “mold,” as Mr. Jones states. It was about the county needing to provide adequate space, and my reply about it being a “turn-up-the-heat” letter was in response to the sheriff reminding the Board of County Commissioners to provide that space. He was not referring to mold, and neither was I.
By the way, the letter also takes my quote from an article on FlaglerLive, not the Palm Coast Observer.
I also want to reiterate that I always have and always will support the sheriff, as well as the men and women of our law enforcement agency. My public record and private record on this are unassailable. Feel free to ask the sheriff or any one of his senior leaders or any of the deputies.
Lastly, to put Mr. Jones’ comments into perspective, I think we should acknowledge that he is my opponent in the upcoming election.
Donald O’Brien
Flagler County Commissioner, District 5
Dear Editor:
Diverse research presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference 2019 in Los Angeles — from clinical trial results to potential new diagnostics to care innovations — offers new insights around Alzheimer’s and dementia.
As a caregiver for one of the more than 5 million Americans, including 560,000 Floridians living with Alzheimer’s, I know how important this research is to improving quality of life of people living with the disease and for someday finding a cure or treatment.
A growing public health crisis, someone new develops Alzheimer’s every 65 seconds. Barring the development of medical breakthroughs the number of Americans living with Alzheimer’s is projected rise to nearly 14 million by 2050.
My mother was diagnosed in April 2013, one day after my father’s funeral. Over the last six years, I have watched this disease slowly take away the person I knew all of my life. When I was younger, my mother worked as a legal secretary. She was hired because she was one of the few women who knew shorthand. Today, my mother can barely form a complete sentence. She no longer knows who I am and has almost zero word recognition. It has been devastating to our family to watch my mother disappear in front of our eyes, all while knowing this disease will one day take her away from us forever.
In recent years Congress has made funding Alzheimer’s and dementia research a priority. As we’ve seen from the research presented at AAIC 2019: when we invest in research we gain valuable insights. That is why the investment must continue.
Please join me and the Alzheimer’s Association and ask Congressman Michael Waltz to support a $350 million increase in Alzheimer’s research funding at the National Institutes of Health in fiscal year 2020 and to cosponsor the Younger-Onset Alzheimer's Disease Act.
Melissa Wos
Palm Coast
