Recent editorials from Georgia newspapers:
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Dec. 27
The News of Brunswick on disposing of Christmas trees:
All the toys have been opened, the presents unwrapped,
Family gatherings have ended, it’s time for a nap.
But glance in the window and what do we see?
This year’s edition of the live family Christmas tree.
Where do we toss it? Not by the road,
To the chipper instead. That’s where it goes.
Anyone recognize that classic from Rudyard Kipling? Of course not, because clearly it is not Kipling.
But it does make a point that should be noted.
Despite the proliferation of plastic Christmas trees that go up every holiday season, there are still plenty of folks who buy a real one to decorate. Need a little proof - the Kiwanis Club sold out this year at its annual Christmas tree fundraising sale at Howard Coffin Park.
Live trees, to many, are the way to go. They smell good and have a quality a fake tree just can’t quite match.
Unlike the plastic trees, though, the live trees do not simply fold up and head to the attic for the rest of the year. They have to be disposed of properly. That does not mean trying to stuff it into the trash can, tossing it out by the road or burning it in the backyard and increasing the risk of burning your house down.
Thankfully, we here in the Golden Isles have a solution. After every Christmas, Keep Golden Isles Beautiful sets up drop-off locations throughout the county where live Christmas tree connoisseurs can leave their tree to be chipped into mulch.
The mulch is then used at playgrounds, for government beautification projects and even in some individual yards.
As part of the statewide network, Keep Georgia Beautiful, Keep Golden Isles Beautiful has 11 locations around Glynn County this year to bring a tree for the chipper. Go online and visit www.keepgeorgia beautiful.org/bring_one_for_chipper.asp for locations.
Statewide, the tree-cycling program has chipped up more than 6 million trees since its inception 26 years ago.
So when the Christmas spirit fades and that live tree just isn’t keeping its needles, neatly place the ornaments back in a box for next year, remove the lights and bring it out for the chipper.
It surely beats throwing it out by the street and angering your neighbors, or worse, burning down your house.
Online:
https://goldenisles.news/
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Dec. 25
The Savannah Morning-News on states that have accused drugmakers of colluding:
The next time someone wonders about the steep price of even generic drugs, reply with these words, “State of Connecticut v. Aurobindo Pharma.”
Filed in federal court in Connecticut earlier this month, it’s a civil suit in which that state leads 19 others in accusing six pharmaceutical companies of fixing prices and dividing up markets among themselves. The case says a long-running conspiracy among drugmakers have reduced competition and artificially driven up prices for at least two medications, the diabetes drug, Glyburide, and an antibiotic named Doxycycline Hyclate Delayed Release or Doxy DR. There could be more medications named later, as the investigation continues.
The U.S. Department of Justice is prosecuting two former executives of the company alleged to have led the price-fixing conspiracy, from a company called Heritage Pharmaceuticals, based in New Jersey. The company has said it fired the two executives in August, filed suit against them and is now cooperating with the federal investigation.
Generic drugs, offered to consumers after patents on the original versions expire, should bring medication costs down when they can be substituted for the more expensive, branded drug. The more numerous the generic drug manufacturers producing the drug, the lower the price falls, the merrier the consumer - and the less profitable the competing companies. But, as in other anti-competitive conduct, if generic drugmakers divvy up the territory and agree on what should be charged for their products, they can keep prices higher.
That’s why it looked suspicious when, in recent years, the cost of some generic drugs have skyrocketed, “doubling, tripling or in some cases increased up to 1,000 percent” the suing states allege. And that’s why Connecticut launched its investigation in mid-2014, quickly followed by the Justice Department’s antitrust division and Congress. At hearings, generic drugmakers blamed price hikes on plant closures mandated by the Food and Drug Administration, on industry consolidation, on all sorts of factors other than their own misconduct.
But that’s not the whole story, the states allege. The lawsuit says that executives from top management, including marketing and sales at theoretically competing companies, would collude while attending industry trade shows, conferences and like events. There, and through email, telephone and texting, the executives would say who would get what market and manipulate prices.
And when they got wind of the price-fixing investigation, they deleted written communications, the states say.
If they are correct, if companies that should be competing instead are colluding, all of us pay the price whether we use those drugs or any drugs at all. Government programs like Medicaid and Medicare, not to mention insurers, are forking out far more than they should have to. Take one example, Medicaid, which during 12 months ending in mid-2014 spent more than $500 million on generic drugs whose prices had more than doubled.
If it’s true that executives and the companies where they work have been conspiring to force up the cost of medications that sick people badly need, then they should surely pay.
Georgia is not among the states whose attorneys general decided to join in the suit. The 20 states that are suing are politically diverse and are sited in every region of the country: Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Washington.
In addition to Aurobindo and Heritage, the drug companies accused of conspiring are Citron Pharma, LLC, Mayne Pharma (USA), Inc., Mylan Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. Asked to respond, Mylan and Teva said they knew nothing of price-fixing; Aurobindo declined comment while the others didn’t immediate respond to the Associated Press. Mylan, by the way, also makes the anti-allergy drug EpiPen, whose astronomical price hike triggered a public outrage and Congressional hearings.
As for the executives criminally charged in federal court in Philadelphia, they are Heritage’s former CEO, Jeffrey Glazer, and its former president, Jason Malek. The form of the charges, called an information instead of an indictment, signal they are likely to be pleading guilty and perhaps cooperating with investigators.
In any case, there’s more to come from this investigation. We’ll be looking for a downward spiral on generic drug costs.
Online:
https://savannahnow.com/
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Dec. 23
The Newnan Times-Herald on remembering your newspaper carrier:
As we wind up the year, it’s customary to remember those who have given us loyal and consistent service, from employees to auto mechanics to sanitation workers.
While we offer gratuities to barbers and waitresses when we settle up after each transaction, the process is less automatic for expressing appreciation to long-term services. Indeed, it’s become common to even see suggested tip amounts on restaurant bills.
So, we have to be intentional about remembering some service providers, like those who deliver our daily newspaper. Because they work when the rest of us are sleeping, we see what they deliver, but we don’t see them.
Rest assured they are busy. They arrive at 2:30 a.m. to collect the newspapers as soon as the printer’s truck arrives from Opelika. Then they’ll roll each paper and insert it into protective bags, two on rainy days. Over the course of hours, they’ll drive up and down dark streets making their hundreds of deliveries before school buses and commuters clog the roads.
For our aging subscribers and those with infirmities, they’ll provide extra service by taking the added time to place each day’s paper nearer the house.
If you’ve wondered how to give a tip to your newspaper carrier, here’s a couple of ideas. Many subscribers drop by the newspaper office. They usually don’t know the carrier’s name, but they can give us their address, and we’ll see their carrier gets the envelope or plate of cookies or whatever. Other subscribers will leave a note in their Times-Herald paper tube. Some are pretty creative about making signs, complete with lights or glow-in-the-dark markers alerting the carrier to the tip.
However you choose, please remember your carrier this week. It’s a job few of us would volunteer for, and yet they unfairly get blamed if the printer’s mechanical problems make delivery late. Like any other service provider, your carrier would certainly appreciate knowing you don’t take them for granted.
Online:
https://times-herald.com/
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