As the Aug. 10 deadline for filing claims over toxic water at Camp Lejeune arrives, the system is failing those it was designed to protect.
Persistent issues with the Navy’s claim-filing software and the exclusion of groups such as the estates of infants born off the North Carolina base to contaminated Marines make it imperative for Congress to extend the deadline. Many claims are not uploaded efficiently, leaving veterans and families in limbo. One law firm reports that 2,200 of 9,000 clients have died waiting for resolution.
The portal blocks claims for infants born off-base due to an error code involving a contamination start date. The contamination at Camp Lejeune did not respect boundaries and neither should the claims process.
Marine veterans, some married to each other, faced double exposure, and the resultant health issues passed to their offspring whether born on-base or off. The latency period of toxic exposure effects, as seen with Agent Orange in Vietnam, spans generations. Damage does not stop with initial exposure; it reverberates through families and communities.
Congress must extend the deadline to address these issues and ensure justice for all affected. Extending the deadline is a moral imperative, plus passing H.R. 8545, the Camp Lejuene Justice Act of 2024.
Paula Twitty Bushman, BAS, MBA, Fort Lauderdale
The writer is a U.S. Marine Corps veteran.
Trump and Jewish voters
Donald Trump asks how any Jewish voter could vote for Kamala Harris. What an absurd statement. Trump invited known antisemites to Mar-a-Lago, sent his enablers to the Capitol bearing swastikas, and downplayed the role of white supremacists at Charlottesville.
Any Jew who votes for Trump is a disgrace to the Jewish community.
Philip Berman, Boca Raton
(Editor’s Note: On Fox News Wednesday, Trump said: “Any Jewish person who votes for a Democrat should have their head examined.”)
Vance and childless adults
I wonder if JD Vance considered this when he said parents deserve more rights than childless adults: Many kids are in foster homes because of irresponsible, unfit parents.
Not every parent deserves to be one, it appears, and many mothers and fathers who were loving parents had children who were murdered in mass shootings, but Vance doesn’t seem to care about them. Where’s his gun safety policy to help parents remain parents?
Scott Benarde, West Palm Beach
Fear as a guiding principle
Fear commands respect. Ideas draw yawns. Guns earn esteem because they elicit fear.
In Florida, we value guns more than books. We permit the banning of books, while we liberalize gun laws. Fort Lauderdale police officers earn between $49,000 and $155,000 a year carrying guns, while the average teacher earns $52,000 a year packing books.
I do not suggest that police deserve less money. They do not. I’m comparing one public servant to another. Teachers don’t often face the threat of violence, but in Florida, they face the fear of having their union repressed and their books and ideas controlled, while school boards are politicized.
If fear is respected and thought is controlled, what kind of community are we creating when fear becomes the organizing principle?
And how can guns protect us from propaganda, disinformation and artificial intelligence, where ideas are weaponized, manipulating our choices, cultivated by our favorite electronic devices, as addictive as heroin?
Phil Beasley, Plantation
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