Everyone is gouging us
As a retired engineer with stints at Exxon and Amoco, I was very interested in Dan Smith's Land Lines comments on oil company price gouging in the March 8 edition of Hometown News.
As a senior citizen, I can recall when regular gasoline was 10 cents a gallon and I recall a double-decker ice cream cone was also 10 cents. Now they both cost about $4.
It appears the ice cream cartel is also gouging us. In fact, Coke, gold and other prices also are rising.
When Dan says our presidents cannot control gasoline prices, he is not completely correct. He ignores the inflation that results from the Federal Reserve's printing of dollars that it has and is producing because of our government's uncontrolled spending. Presidents have some influence on spending.
It is too bad gasoline has a short shelf life and is dangerous to store. Otherwise we could hoard it before it gets to the $10 a gallon the Europeans pay.
I believe it was Lenin who told us the quickest way to ruin a nation was to destroy its currency.
Pat Hegarty, Ormond Beach
School lunches should be more nutritious
Is the government funded lunch program and schools partially to blame for our children being obese?
According to the National Association of School Nurses, 32 percent of our youth are overweight or obese. It also states in the L.A. Times "that girls who participate in the National School Lunch Program gain weight at a faster rate than other girls from low-income families who don't get subsidized lunches."
If you go on the WIC website, they give you a list of foods you should eat less of and foods you should eat more of. According to the Women, Infants and Children nutrition program, these foods should be chosen more often: low-fat milk, water, turkey sandwiches with vegetables, plain burger with vegetables, grilled or broiled chicken sandwich, baked potato, cheese pizza, fresh fruits and vegetables, low-fat frozen yogurt, and low-fat or fat-free salad dressing.
These foods should be chosen less often: soda, sweet tea, fruit drinks, sausages, pepperoni, hot dogs, bacon, fried chicken, chicken nuggets, fried fish, French fries and biscuits just to name a few of the foods named on the school menu.
On a sample of the school menu for the month, they served sausage five times, biscuits seven times, and hot dogs, chicken nuggets and fried fish were served at least eight times in addition to the foods mentioned above. Also when the menu says it serves fruit, sometimes it is canned fruit that is in syrup that takes away from the nutrients of the fruit.
"Over 95 percent of Americans ages 5-17 attend school regularly and most of these children eat breakfast and lunch at school. So it appears that school is the best place to undertake the prevention of obesity." (Smith, 1999 sec. Don't Schools Teach Students about Nutrition and Other Subjects).
Social influences play a major role in affecting the children's eating habits which include the schools. The children can only eat what is available at school so more healthy foods need to be available.
Betty Anthony-Stokes, Daytona Beach