The Right Use for Tobacco Funds

* My sister, who died of lung cancer at age 45, did not go to the doctor when she first noticed symptoms because she did not have health insurance.

Now the Orange County Board of Supervisors wants her three children to believe that it’s a good idea to use the tobacco settlement money to pay off bankruptcy debts early so the county can “focus on building jail facilities” (June 2).

California won the settlement, which acknowledged the tobacco-related financial burdens the state suffers, by showing the tremendous costs of health care and loss of life of smokers.

In economically rich Orange County, the reality that so many of our neighbors go without adequate health care is intolerable.

The tobacco settlement funds should not be diverted; they should be preserved for health-care needs as they were intended.

DIANNE E. FARRELL

San Juan Capistrano

* One literal definition of the word “windfall” is something that has been blown down by the wind, such as a ripened fruit. Of course, our current meaning refers to a sudden and unexpected piece of good fortune or financial gain.

The article “Smoking Funds Can Bail County Out, Board Is Told” referred to the national tobacco industry settlement money coming to Orange County as a “windfall” that the Board of Supervisors could use for a variety of projects and debt reduction strategies.

While some of this windfall should benefit the residents of Orange County in these ways, it must be remembered that the settlement with the tobacco companies was over health costs and other issues related to smoking.

The “wind” of millions of smokers over the years has paid for this good fortune. Our health-care system has borne the brunt of the costs that smoking has caused. It has taken the “fall.”

Nowhere in the article were health-care issues related to smoking raised as a consideration, let alone a priority. Nowhere in the article did I see any references to anti-smoking education.

Before our leaders rush to spend that tobacco settlement money on their own priorities, it must be remembered that public health is as much a “protection” strategy as public safety.

We should not forget where that “windfall” came from and why it dropped into our laps.

TIM GEDDES

Huntington Beach

* Please give me and the other Orange County smokers a break.

It makes me angry how easily we can be robbed by those in government who have no sense of decency or conscience when it comes to spending other people’s money.

Why is the extortion money taken from smokers not being used for the purpose intended? I thought the money was to be used to set up programs for children.

Why is this money, which is being robbed from me and other smokers, being used for purposes other than what the population at large was told?

If the supervisors can’t find children’s programs or can’t get beyond their greediness, I can suggest places that the money, which is being robbed from me, can be used.

I can start with the public schools, the public libraries, the health-care programs and after-school programs.

How about scholarships to colleges for deserving students or better music programs in the schools?

YOLANDA COLON

Anaheim

Re “Tobacco Funds Windfall; Medical Services for Indigents” (June 4): Without postulating as to the reasons for our county’s number of medically indigent, the fact is--they live here, they are a public responsibility, and their numbers will continue to expand if our demographics are anywhere near correct. The county’s bankruptcy is also a public responsibility. We elected an incompetent treasurer who was praised for his brilliance by a board of supervisors which we also elected.

Using tobacco money (liability settlement) to pay down unrelated county debt is akin to using proceeds from a medical liability suit to prepay the mortgage on the house rather than to pay unrelated medical bills which are either outstanding or will be incurred. Ms. Mittermeier and the supervisors should be swift enough to figure that out. And, as for receiving more for the same or less (MSI-CalOPTIMA merger): maybe the county’s vendors, creditors and bond holders could be required to accept a 50% reduction of their payments for goods, services, interest and bond redemption value. That’s always a good way to get more for less.

T. EUGENE DAHLGREN

Fullerton