Public Safety

The AP has found that water for approximatley 41 million Americans is tainted with drugs:

A vast array of pharmaceuticals - including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones - have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans, an Associated Press investigation shows.

To be sure, the concentrations of these pharmaceuticals are tiny, measured in quantities of parts per billion or trillion, far below the levels of a medical dose. Also, utilities insist their water is safe.

But the presence of so many prescription drugs - and over-the-counter medicines like acetaminophen and ibuprofen - in so much of our drinking water is heightening worries among scientists of long-term consequences to human health.

Third world nation? Yes we are there.

I have had some questions and comments about my post the other night regarding the radio frequencies that were utilized by emergency services. While most have just been wondering why this change in FCC rules ever came to being, I have had a couple emails telling me I am wrong, as well as go further and blame Clinton for it.

I want to go into more details of the downfalls of the new radio systems used by public safety. I was on a local fire department in the 80's and early 90's. Our town had a Motorola office located in our district, so we were one of the first fire departments in the nation to use this new system. I also had the convenience of growing up with a father who is a radio/electronic genius (he was offered to head up the FBI's communication division in the 1980's, but turned it down), so I have learned a lot about radio frequencies over the years, as well as worked in electronics repair. This put me in a key position when our fire department made the change in the 1980's.

First off, I have dug into NewsBank to get an article regarding the changes. This article is from the January 12, 1987 edition of the Lexington Herald: