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Dear Fellow List Members, As promised, I, better late than never, have composed three letters which could possibly be used by you and anyone to whom you might want as samples of letter which could be sent to U. S. Representatives and Senators to release that all important Udall money. This is the first of three, which I am sending one at a time as I don't know how to do more. When I've finished I'm going to write more and more. I'm going to type them for my colleagues if I have to because we can wait no longer for this money and must get that message to Washington. The PAN Forum is just around the corner and we want our legislators to have heard of us and Parkinson's before we get there. With all the talent on this list, I am sure that you can either write your own or customize any of the three of these letters to the point where you are satisfied with them. I've purposely taken a fiscal approach more than an emotional approach because to date they have not wanted to release the money because our community needs it. Maybe they will if they realize the threat to our nation from a fiscal standpoint. Best of luck. Barb Brock 53 cg Art 56/1 year Here comes the first of three. See below. Why has the Udall Act for Parkinson's Research and Education not been funded? As a co-sponsor of the bill, I would hope that you are doing everything in your power to move the Appropriations Committee to fully fund it to the level of $100,000,000 per year, the amount for which it was approved. I do not buy that the concept of "earmarking" should be a reason for the moneys not to be appropriated. Earmarking is being done every day. There is ample precedent for it. There is something terribly wrong with our priorities. When we as a nation spend $34 MILLION for research on a disease which is costing society $25 BILLION in direct and indirect costs with the promise of much much more as the "Baby Boomers" age, plus incalculable human suffering and fund the Pentagon to a level of almost $268 Billion, I am left to wonder what is wrong with our priorities. Who is the enemy anyway? I hope to hear from you soon to let me know what you are doing the rectify this situation which makes absolutely no sense fiscally or in any other way. Thank you.