Letters: Dreyfoos shooting death raises questions
Dreyfoos shooting death raises questions
I am shocked and broken-hearted at the death of Romen Phelps. As a retired Dreyfoos teacher, I remember Romen to have been a kind and invested person in the work at Dreyfoos. He was clearly confused and coming back to a place that was central to his life. Why the need to shoot him in the heart? The policeman said he didn’t know if Romen was armed. He was unarmed. There was no need to shoot. Serve and protect? Not in my mind. Just another unarmed black person is dead.
Jeff Satinoff, North Palm Beach
Lower drug costs needs better Medicare
To lower drug prices for everyone, Congress needs to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices, end monopoly control of drug prices by corporations and help people afford out-of-pocket costs. Lowering prescription drug prices will benefit seniors, families, employers and the thousands of COVID long-haulers now facing chronic conditions.
Comprehensive reform is overwhelmingly popular because Americans across the political spectrum are tired of needing to pay for medication that they need to survive. No one should have to ration medications in a country as rich as ours.
The half-a-trillion dollars in savings that would result from giving Medicare more negotiating power could be used to expand our nation’s healthcare infrastructure and ensure that every person has access to the care they need. Ending the pharmaceutical industry’s monopoly control over drug pricing is beyond overdue.
Maureen Burke, Palm Beach Gardens
Perjury or memory loss, which is it?
In a recent deposition, U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green testified under oath that she did not remember or could not recall her recent actions and statements, many of which were made publicly and available for fact-checking. If she was honest, as she should have been under oath, then she displayed the possibility that she suffers rather severe memory-loss issues. Should she then be disqualified from running for office as a person who is cognitively impaired?
Perhaps, she was not honest and used the cover of memory loss to avoid having to answer for her documented egregious behavior and verbal utterances. If that is the case, and I suspect it is the case, then she perjured herself since she testified under oath to tell the truth. In this scenario, forgetting would not be the truth! Perjury, according to Federal Criminal Law, carries a potential penalty of imprisonment for no more than five years, or, in some cases, no more than eight years. If she did, should she face the possibility of spending time in prison rather than in Congress? I think so!
Geoff Kashdan, Boynton Beach
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This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Shooting of former Dreyfoos student raises deadly force questions
