Wednesday, January 7, 2009
To Fluoridate, or Not to Fluoridate - Is that the Question?
Recently, an article appeared in the Dexter Leader regarding the lack of fluoride in the Village water supply. Basic summary: Local dentist notices high incidence of cavities in area (specifically the Village), remembers a few decades ago when she was told Village water was fluoridated, runs tests of water and finds it low in fluoride (.3 ppm vs. recommended .7 - 1.0 ppm), calls paper regarding issue, paper publishes “expose” on the Village water system with local dentist recommending fluoride tablets and other measures to increase fluoride.
A flurry of emails were traded between activists in the “anti-fluoridation” movement, the newspaper, and Council members. On the pro side, there is a reduced number of cavities in communities with fluoridated water. The cost / benefit ratio is very high as the cost to add fluoride to the water system is relatively low. It is the easiest way to ensure fluoride is getting to people in the community. On the con side, excess fluoride can cause issues with fluoridosis and cosmetic issues with teeth in some percentage of the population. The FDA has come out and said infants should not have their formula prepared with fluoridated water until further studies are completed. There is also some contention that topical application (toothpaste with fluoride) is more effective than fluoridated water as a very small percentage of water is actually consumed (much more is used in showers, toilets, and watering lawns), but it is still cost effective for people if the water consumed is from the tap. Some European countries have stopped fluoridating and still seen an improvement in reducing the number of cavities, which is believed to be due to toothpaste with fluroide.
So the question is, “Should the Village fluoridate the water system or not?” Or is that the question? I have two major issues with this story and the surrounding issue:
1) The dentist in the story reports that children in the Village have a higher incidence of tooth decay than those children outside the Village. She attributes this fact to the water not being fluoridated. However, the water outside the Village is the same as the water inside the Village - from wells and NOT fluoridated! Why would children in the Village have a higher incidence of tooth decay? It should be the same as the surrounding areas since the water is essentially the same. If there is a higher incidence in the Village, it follows it is not due to the lack of fluoridation, but due to some other factor.
2) If the biggest concern was the fluoridation of the water, wouldn’t the most direct route to get that implemented in the Village be to talk directly to the Village manager or members of the Village Council? I personally have met the dentist that contacted the paper regarding this issue. My children go to this dentist for their examinations. Why not call a Council trustee directly? I find the cynical side of myself wondering if maybe it is better advertising to have an article in the paper than to get the issue resolved as quickly and directly as possible. My hope is this was not the case, but it does make me wonder.
Regardless, we have ended up in the middle of the discussion. No doubt, Council will discuss the issue and we will need to make a decision, based on the information available. I am not sure it will rate a front page article in the Leader, but we will come to a conclusion that is best for the community.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
“…and thank you for your support.”
OK - got my first complaint this hadn’t been updated in a while. What can I tell you? Things were busy!
I am very happy and honored the people of the Village have decided to re-elect me to the Village Council for another four years. I’ll have to do some serious soul searching at the end of this term (if I make it) and consider if 10+ years is enough.
Anyways, that’s a decision left for another day - right now I’m glad the election is over and we can get on to the issues we have in front of us. In the immortal words of those guys from the Bartle’s and James’ commercials, “thank you for your support.”
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Do Good Fences Make Good Neighbors?
Last night a meeting was held with “stakeholders” in the Mill Creek Park planning process. The intent of the meeting was to invite the people with an interest and adjacent to the Mill Creek Park project to meet with the team and give feedback on important issues related to the development. Among the organizations invited to send representatives to the meeting included, to name a few, Dexter Community Schools, Downtown Development Authority, the Chamber of Commerce, the Fire Department and Sheriff, the Knights of Columbus, the Scio Township Board, Mill Creek Sporting Goods, the Dexter Village Planning and Parks Commissions, and the Village Council.
All in all, we had a pretty good turn out. There were a number of people from each of the different organizations that were present. There was one group, though, that was overrepresented. The Bates Farms Homeowners Association was invited to send representatives about 10 people decided to attend the meeting of 40 people. Normally this would not be a huge concern, but in this case it did present a dynamic that influenced the meeting results. It was obvious from the outcome of the meeting that the group came in with an agenda to minimize the amount of activity or development that might happen anywhere near the neighborhood. There were comments like, “Leave the area as it is,” or, “How will people be kept from leaving garbage in the area or holding parties?” This was a typical NIMBY (not in my back yard) response, which is very discouraging. The entire point of the process was to include people and their ideas about how the area could best be used for the betterment of the entire community at large. The groups invited to the meeting were from within and outside the Village and the entire process has been funded by the Village. No one talks about the fact that Bates Farms other owners have much more land due to the Village removing the dam, nor that the flooding that has been a concern along the creek in the past will likely be eliminated, nor that fish are already migrating back up the stream as it has started to return to its original condition.
There were no questions such as, “How can we connect to the park?” which would add a way for the Bates Farms neighborhood to walk to the downtown area of the Village and could make the neighborhood a more desirable place to live. Residents in my neighborhood have been asking for access similar to this since I have lived in the Village. “How do we control invasive species on both sides of the creek so it remains a beautiful place for everyone to enjoy?” was never raised as an issue from the ecology study group. One person in the group went so far as to offer up a suggestion there should be a 300 foot wall built to separate the park from the Bates Farms neighborhood. One item that did come out was the request to keep the lines of communication open, which the Village and planning committee has done, to the extent that we contacted the local residents ourselves for their input.
Some people have said to me this should not be a concern, that we would like to have input from our neighbors, but ultimately how the land in a Village park is utilized is up to the Village. I have heard people tell me that some of those voices should be ignored, that they are nonsensical and irrational. The idea of a fence or a wall just strikes me as so unfriendly and so unlike the people I have come to know in and around Dexter that I was extremely surprised to even hear it mentioned, even if it was offered in jest. I want to see us be good neighbors and, I think, in general the Village has been a good neighbor. How do we get to a point where we can work together and build a better community for everyone? How do we avoid not making the most of this community because we are too afraid to trust? We must find a way to get to common ground, to live together side by side, and understand that neither of us is going anywhere any time soon. I think in some cases, like this one, a fence just won’t work.
