"Every day teens are bombarded with messages about sex and sexuality, but oftentimes, these are not the messages we want them to hear," (Diane Luby, "Teens need facts, candor about sexual health," April 16, 2008). If you or I, as parents, wrote that statement, it would be true. Perhaps Ms. Luby was putting herself in our shoes, but in her shoes, as president and CEO of Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts, those words ring hollow.

Sense of community has been in decline over the last decade. Community members may know who they live near and make small talk in the summer at block parties, but they have no connection to their community at large. This problem is plaguing small towns as well as large metropolitan cities.

Good use of CPA money

Have you ever had trouble communicating with a bank teller or an employee at your local supermarket? This is a barrier that is causing a rift in Waltham because it is so welcoming to people for all counties and cultures. However, there is an organization that has been established to fix this very problem: The Power Program, which provides adult immigrants with ESOL, GED and citizenship classes. The program is working to help those in need to learn to speak English and get established in their new country.

You may not know what it feels like to have a family member or close friend who is mentally ill or unstable. It's painful, sometimes heartbreaking, when your efforts seem helpless and your advice useless. That is why it's so great to know when they are receiving the help they need, from people who care.

Waltham is a multi-generational community, a multi-ethnic community, and a multi-cultural community. The selection of a new superintendent of schools will have an effect on every resident of the city. It is imperative that we have a wide ranging of qualified candidates from which to make the selection. The Superintendent Search Committee has asked members of the community to help establish criteria for the selection process.

When the issue of a four-year term for City Council was first proposed by Councilor Paul Brasco, I thought I would wait until the public hearing to speak out on the issue. However, based on what I have been reading, I thought it important to put forth an opposing view. This is one issue that probably should die in committee.

I am a parent of three children in the Waltham Public School system and I strongly disagree with the Expanded Learning Time (ELT) initiative at the MacArthur and Northeast schools. Although my children do not go to either of these schools, this initiative, if successful, may be pushed through the school system some time in the future.

Recently, on the fifth anniversary of the war in Iraq, there were many pictures on the front page of most newspapers and on all three major TV networks of people protesting the war. Yet on Jan. 22, 2008, nearly 400,000 young and old people came from as far away as Missouri to Washington, D.C., to pray and protest the nearly 48 million helpless pre-born babies whose lives were terminated by abortion. No media covered this magnificent display of love for the gift of live.

Recently I attended state Rep. Tom Stanley's St. Patrick's Day corned beef and cabbage celebration held at the American Legion.