Dear Around Wellington Readers,
Happy September! I hope you had a wonderful summer!!
Have I mentioned (lately) that we have given away over $1,000 in fabulous contest prizes to our winners, since launching the online version of the magazine in April? I recommend checking our Contest link right now to see if there’s a contest running. Do you feel lucky today?
Our featured Around Wellington Stories of the Month are a lot of fun! We have a movie review of “Julie & Julia” from writer and Wacky Food Show Host Frannie Sheridan. We’ve also included a 5-minute video segment, so you can have a taste of Frannie’s Wacky Food Show, as presented at Whole Foods Market in Palm Beach Gardens. And Frannie was good enough to include her own recipe for Guilt-Free Chocolate Truffles. Yumm-o!
Are you suffering from Communication Overload? Too many emails, text messages, Facebook requests, Tweets and so forth? Especially if you happen to be a business owner, too much communication can clog up your productivity. Luckily we have super-organizer and productivity coach Claudine Motto with Seven Tips to Help You Manage, also in our AW Stories of the Month.
Writer Wendell Abern takes a walk on the serious side for his annual September 11th “To All the Grandchildren in the World” in “Cantankerously Yours.” If you received the former print version of Around Wellington®, then you might remember this article from the past three years. As editor, I feel that it’s something everyone should read on September 11th, just so we never forget. When he first read it aloud at a writers’ group meeting I attended, I had chills – because of the simple truths that come through in his words.
With “Mommy Moments,” it’s my turn to give my “lousy two cents” when it comes to affordable ways to have family fun this month. If you’re a parent, check it out and find out more about a few great things to do, either for FREE or for very little.
Thanks to Debbie Sanacore, who tells us a little bit more about her neighborhood Stonehaven Estates in our “Neighborhood Scoop” article. BTW, we need a few more writers to cover Banyan Lakes, Bella Terra, Black Diamond and Wellington’s Edge. Email us at: aroundwellington@earthlink.net if you’re interested.
Have you ever wondered how to calculate a cat’s age? Well, it’s trickier than figuring out dog years! And our “Pet Talk” expert Frances Goodman explains how it works for us this month. Thank you, Frances!
Our new columnist Lisa Dawn Wax (aka Lightworker Lisa) brings us her second edition of “Lighten Up with Lisa,” as well as our Poem of the Month. I received a lot of good feedback after her first column and I think you’ll be inspired by her poem this month too.
Every month I look forward to getting to know one of our advertisers a little bit better in the process of bringing you the AW Spotlight article. As a mother of two, I truly enjoyed interviewing Hillary of Hillary’s Heart Children’s Boutique, hanging around in her store and getting to see all of the really fabulous kids’ clothing, gifts and personalized items that she has to offer. If you want to find a very special gift for a child, I highly recommend a visit to Hillary’s Heart in the Marketplace at Wycliffe, Lake Worth Road and State Road 441.
By the way, I don’t yet have a link on my site for Letters to the Editor, so I’m including this recent Letter to the Editor at the end of my comments. As I hope you know, dear readers, you can always email me a Letter to the Editor at aroundwellington@earthlink.net. I’m especially interested in your thoughts on the national health care debate and your thoughts on what is being done (and not being done) about the cancer cluster situation in the Acreage.
I have been inspired, over the last few days, listening to the outpouring of gratitude for Senator Ted Kennedy and all that he did for his family, his friends and his country. His words are both timely and timeless. “The fundamental test of our society is how it treats the least powerful among us.”
Wishing a happy September to all of you! Remember to shop locally and use our AW Coupons when you’re Around Wellington. THANKS to all of you!
Krista Martinelli, Editor
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Letter to the Editor
The “Killer Beds”!
This is in response to the last few weeks of totally irresponsible, and fact of lacking reporting by our national media, as well as The Palm Beach Post (Wednesday, July 29th), suggesting that tanning beds are “as dangerous as arsenic,” or in the “same risk category as cigarettes and plutonium.” I would like to set the record straight with a few solid facts that seem to be omitted recently. The UV rays one receives outside in the natural sunlight are the exact same UV rays you are exposed to in a tanning bed. The difference is that in a bedew filter out some of the bad stuff or “harmful rays.” My grandfather always said “everything in moderation” and with of the misleading, contradictor, and downright false warnings the average consumer has received over the past few years, I understand how one could be confused. My grandfather not only was a doctor, he was right. Humans, like the rest of our planet, need sun exposure (UV’s) to survive and thrive. 
Since 1992, thousands of doctors have recommended moderate exposure to sunlight (UV’s) for a variety of health benefits. Oprah’s guest Dr. Oz Mehmet and Dr. Andrew Weill are two prominent examples. I have at least one dermatologist (that I am aware of) that tans at my salon for the known benefits of Vitamin D. In a tanning bed you are only allowed so much exposure and are required to wear eyewear for your protection. This is not true at Peanut Island, at the beach, or lying out by the pool. The news stories that say things like “tanning is as dangerous as arsenic” are flat-out wrong. The scientists have not made that kind of comparison at all, only reporters looking for a scary headline. The most common misleading statistic” that tanning beds increase the risk of melanoma by 75%, comes from a study with questionable methods. The study’s authors admit that they did not adjust for factors like outside sun exposure and skin sensitivity. Even if the study was accurate, it does not that mean that 75%of tanning bed users will get melanoma; it means that their risk is higher than living under a rock.
Because the issue is relative risk, when the original risk is very small, a percentage increase that looks big actually translates into a very small added risk. To use another example, your annual risk of a fatal car accident is about is about 0.013%. If that risk were increased by 75%, it would be 0.023%, or about 1 in 4,500. To put that number in perspective, the increase is 10 times smaller than the OSHA guideline for “acceptable risk.” Finally, I was always told to “never kick someone when their down.” My industry goes through a natural and expected slow down in business during our steamy South Florida summer months, add to this a dismal economy not experienced since the Great Depression, and you have an indoor tanning industry that is in mood to be kicked. Killer beds? My, over ten thousand happy, clients (and counting), say NOT!
Yes we TAN! David Thorpe/Owner of WellingTAN (7 years voted “Best of the West,” WPBF25 A-List)