Temporary Seat of Government
                                                                          
Good afternoon, Mayor and councilmembers.  It’s refreshing to be addressing you here in this pleasant neighborhood setting.  It’s also most appropriate.  Because water fluoridation, as we know, is implemented largely in the name of minority children.  Yet minority communities suffer disproportionately from fluoride’s damaging health effects, without reaping any of the promised benefits.  So it’s my privilege today to announce a great East Side event coming up in the near future. 

On Tuesday evening, November 9, 7:00 p.m., Dr.. Paul Connett, director of the Fluoride Action Network will speak at the King Seabrook Chapel on the Huston Tillotson campus.  Dr. Connett is THE nation’s foremost authority on water fluoridation.  He’s an environmental chemistry professor, well-versed in toxicology, whose long experience in his field far trumps the very limited understanding of the self-styled “experts” who promote fluoride in drinking water.  Dentists are experts—in repairing teeth—but not in toxicology  The health bureaucrats of various stripes paid to promote community water fluoridation aren’t toxicologists either.  Dr. Connett’s presentation is free and open to the public and he’ll have surprise guests from the community join him on stage.  We hope a lot of people from this neighborhood and others will turn out to hear what he has to say. 

He’ll also be making a number of other Austin appearances between Nov. 4 and Nov.9.  On Thursday, November 4, at 7 p.m., he’ll speak at the UT Thompson Conference Center. Joining him on stage will be a local health and environmental professionals who agree that water fluoridation must be ended.  We’re actively seeking someone to represent the pro-fluoridation side of the debate, and we’ll have to see what comes of that.

We encourage the Council and other city officials to attend one or both of these presentations.  Dr. Connett is also very open to meeting personally with Council members, their staff or other city personnel involved with water management in Austin.  His schedule is posted here:             . 

He’s principal co-author of the recent book, THE CASE AGAINST FLUORIDE:  How Hazardous Waste Ended up in  Our Drinking Water and the Bad Science and Powerful Politics that Keep it There.  That title says it all.  Thank you.  

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Blogger's Note:  The September 30 City Council meeting was held - with little fanfare and at a cost of more than  $6,000 to taxpayers - at the George Washington Carver Museum and Cultural Center.  While the Museum/Center itself is attractive and spacious, the auditorium in which  the meeting was held has a seating capacity below that of Council Chambers and lacks its generous standing room entirely.  Not that it mattered; there were plenty of empty seats.  If a desire to "bring the City Council to the neighborhoods" was behind the move, as I suspect, Council should know that it will take more than a physical change in venue to make government truly accessible to the people.  Nevertheless, we were happy to have a chance to carry our message to the cultural heart of the East Side.