Link directly to www.bismarcktribune.com

For Immediate Release

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These were printed in the Bismarck Tribune in the Letters to the Editor Section.

(not archived on the internet)

I talked with Dick Wilkie, who incidently is a Native American who aggressively defends his cultural values when they have been misappropriated in the American culture, and he permitted the reprinting of his articles for those who did not receive the Bismarck Tribune. Dick is exclusively responsible for his comments.

Should North Dakota lawmakers provide help for women with breast cancer who can't afford medical insurance? A March 27 Tribune story told of the Senate approving a bill allowing the state Board of Podiatric Medicine to borrow money from the state to pay off attorneys fees.

 Doesn't this sound a little odd- that the people we elect to govern our state are willing to help pay attorney fees but not to help with the health of citizens?

If men had breast cancer, maybe our lawmakers would pay for the higher medical cost that reduce women to begging from our government. We have the funds to pay, so what is the problem? 

I feel North Dakotas have the wrong people in state government, and we can see that special-interest groups are more important to our lawmakers than the people who elected them to office. 

Over the years, we have all read about Aaron Olson, president of the state Board of Podiatric Medicine, and his headhunting for Dr. Brian Gale. It appears that Olson has been chasing his own tail. 

At a cost of about $70,000, he now wants to quit (Tribune, March 21). Stress is the reason. 

I feel the real reason Olson want to leave is that the board itself is now in violation of state law, which says the podiatric board shall not incur debt beyond it's annual license fees of $11,000. 

Now Olson and his cronies want the state to bail out the board, which is a private association funded by its annual license fees. The member doctors and the people of North Dakota didn't run up the cost of $70,000- the board did, and it alone would be responsible for any debt incurred during this personal venture of Olson. 

Since when do we need to a bill passed by the Legislature to allow any board to borrow money from the Bank of North Dakota, and what assets will Olson and his cronies be required put up to secure the amount they might borrow? Olson states that the board is now broke and needs money to protect the people of North Dakota.

Olson and his cronies forget that the state already has protections in place for residents. 

They are called the North Dakota attorney general's office, malpractice insurance and many qualified attorneys in private practice throughout the state.