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Mailbag: PSA screening could save a life

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Prostate cancer has been called the most common way men over the age of 40 develop potentially life-threatening tumors and, as I discovered just in time last October, early detection makes all the difference.

Having been strong, athletic and healthy all my life I gave little thought to being statistically in danger of developing prostate cancer and only made an appointment with my doctor for a PSA screening at the urging of a friend my age who was being treated for the disease. When my tests came back with a high probability that I had a cancerous tumor in my prostate I began a months-long series of tests, followed by surgery, and luckily I was able to have it removed before it could spread and was then declared cancer free with no further treatments necessary.

I am writing this letter to “pay forward” the good advice given to me by my friend to all men over the age of 40 to get yearly PSA screenings, which can indicate the possibility of prostate cancer, and take seriously the results and advice of their doctors. Your lives may literally depend on it.

Doug Weiskopf
Burbank

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A Trump voter speaks out

In response to Ray Richmond’s opinion column in the Burbank Leader “We live in a divided nation,” I first want to say that I’ve voted almost equally for Democratic and Republican candidates over the past decades, probably something I’d bet Ray Richmond can’t claim. In the recent presidential election I did cast my vote for Trump, and it was my silent vote against the many years of being condemned, criticized and hated for daring to even think about voting for a Republican.

When Ray Richmond claims Trump supporters are the “enemy,” he should stand in front of a mirror because he, along with the many liberal protesters who preach peace and love while they go on violent rampages against Trump supporters claiming they are racists, anarchists and hate mongers, are the real “enemy.”

Over the decades I, along with some of my conservative friends, have been the victim of personal-property damage when we dared display “Vote Republican” stickers on our cars or have had similar signs posted in our frontyards. I understand that Los Angeles is 90% liberal, but where is the peace, love and understanding from the liberals toward those who voice their opposing views on politics? To Ray Richmond, before Trump was elected, America used to be the “land of the free” and “home of the brave,” but only provided everyone agreed with their political viewpoints.

So for me, the Trump victory was a silent victory over the liberals who have forced me to follow in their footsteps or be humiliated, criticized, hated, labeled and rejected as a racist, anarchist and a hater. I am none of these, and I take great exception to anyone claiming I am based on the fact that I voted for Trump.

Dan Filice
Burbank

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The nation was already split

Trump divided the country? What a crock. After eight years of Obama, it’s rich against poor, men against women, black against white, Democrats against Republicans, immigrants in the country illegally against citizens, and the list goes on. It will take President Trump a while to straighten out the mess Obama left him, but he’s certainly the man who can do it.

Steve Urbanovich
Burbank

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IKEA has ruined area parking

I have been a Burbank voting resident since 2008. While I commend city officials on IKEA’s grand opening this week, it has caused nothing but gridlock and stress for most of the neighborhood surrounding the new store. I live near Cedar Avenue and San Fernando Boulevard and in less than a week of IKEA’s new store opening, there are minimal street parking spots available on Valencia, Elmwood, Cedar or Providencia avenues, not to mention anywhere on San Fernando. There are apartment buildings directly across from IKEA. These Burbank residents have a need for street parking. None can be found because shoppers don’t have the patience to sit and wait a long time in order to get into IKEA’s parking structure.

This has been an occasional headache whenever Arbat Banquet Hall on San Fernando has an event/party and those attendees don’t use the valet and instead use street parking. I can only imagine the traffic jam/parking nightmare when Arbat Banquet Hall has an event and weekends shoppers try to go to IKEA. Who loses out? We Burbank dwellers.

If I may provide a simple solution that other cities use: parking placards or stickers and stricter parking enforcement. I commute to Santa Monica for work, and in the neighborhood surrounding St. John’s Hospital, only residents’ cars are allowed to park on the street to discourage outsiders from taking up all the spaces for locals with no parking availability for their apartment buildings. Each street is assigned a different colored placard/sticker to easily identify for traffic enforcement officers. If need be, I’m sure residents in the neighborhood south of Glenoaks Boulevard, west of Alameda Avenue, and east of Providencia would be willing to sign a petition asking for the reinstatement of assigned parking placards such as we had when we first moved into Burbank.

Carlos Nunez
Burbank

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Advisory Council schedules meeting

The Burbank Advisory Council on Disabilities is asking for people to come forward and bring your opinions and observations. We are working to build a more accessible city for everyone — those with and without disabilities. To do this, we need your input!

But there are stumbling blocks — no sidewalks, no curb cuts, a need for talking street signs, street parking obstacles, and much, much more. Please come to our meeting at the Community Service Building, 150 N. 3rd Street, Room 104, at 1 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 27, to discuss solutions and issues.

Those who have questions ahead of the meeting are invited to call Janet at (818) 216-9377.

Albert Schloegel
Burbank
Editor’s Note: The writer is president of the Burbank Advisory Council on Disabilities.

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