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Dear Friends, I am sure that each of us, although concerned for the total well-being of all persons with Parkinson's, subscribers to PARKINSN, and caretakers, has a niche of a special interest. Recently I have learned how little is known about Parkinson's. I was surprised to know that there is evidence pointing to possible Parkinson's connections to unknown environmental factors, and possibly in conjunction with genetic factors. In my introductory post, I expressed my interest in the 'cluster' of Parkinson's, around the school which my brother and I attended. I am aged 63 and my brother is 74. He was diagnosed about 12 years ago with PD. The school, built about 1930, is small; there were 12 in my 1947 graduating class. One of my classmates, and his younger brother, has Parkinson's. I noted in my post that the one thing that was different about this school was its sewer disposal system (drainfield) and its proximity to the well. I estimated the distance between the two to be about 100 yds., but I was not sure exactly where the well was located. Now, the school is on the county-wide water supply. Last week I visited the County school maintenance office and asked the supervisor if I might see the early building plans of the school. (I had decided before I arrived that I would fully inform him of my interest in these plans.) After detailing my interest, the supervisor said that he could not permit me to see the plans without the permission of the county school superintendent! I will await that permission, but only for a short time. I visited the school grounds later in the day for a walk-through, but could not determine the location of the well. I visited and talked at length with two people with PD; and in the course of our conversation we talked about a common friend, now deceased. An interesting factor was that each of the three had suffered a head injury in their early years. I was reminded that there was an abandoned copper mine less than a half-mile from the school, also that the custodian heavily oiled the floors in the school. I look forward to visiting other PD friends in the area soon. I need to do this because, as students, we once had much in common but have communicated little in the past 45 years. NOW FOR THE MOST IMPORTANT POINT: HOW MANY PROFESSIONAL PARKINSON'S RESEARCHERS ARE SUBSCRIBERS TO PARKINSN? ARE YOU TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THE INFORMATION AVAILABLE HERE? INFORMATION CAN BE GLEANED THROUGH PRIVATE- CHANNEL COMMUNICATIONS FROM YOUR DESK! If there is little, or no response to the preceding paragraph, I suggest that we enlist the major research facilities to participate. Can we enlist our research organizations to use this Information Super-highway? PARKINSN subscribers! Let's have your opinions! Will you participate in this undertaking? Thanks. Alvis ([log in to unmask])