Ambulance fee article gave readers wrong impression

Re: "Montgomery County ambulance fees to begin in January," Aug. 13

Rachel Baye's article about the agreement between Montgomery County and the Montgomery County Volunteer Fire-Rescue Association should have been titled "False Alarm" because it gives the impression that, starting in January, everyone will have to pay for an ambulance ride in Montgomery County. Nothing is further from the truth.

County residents who call for an ambulance will never be billed, never pay a cent, and never pay a co-pay or deductible. If they have insurance, their insurer will be billed. If not, the ride is covered because they are county taxpayers.

The county's insurance reimbursement law simply gives the county the authority to bill insurers for ambulance transports. That's it, plain and simple.

Residents, don't be alarmed. You should never be afraid to call for an ambulance if you need one because of cost. There won't be any.

Richard Bowers

Fire chief,

Montgomery County

Egypt likely to turn from moderate to radical

Re: "Egypt's president seizes power back from military," Aug. 13

There is no doubt that Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi is playing the same game as Tayyip Erdogan did in Turkey in 2002, by first ousting top military commanders, thenputting them on trial and finally reducing the power of the military -- which had protected minorities. The end result is obvious and may come much sooner in Egypt than it did in Turkey, namely the turn from a secular to an Islamic state.

This could spell the end of Egypt as a mainly secular nation joining the ranks of moderate Islamic republics, and becoming a more radical version controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood.

Except for essentially cutting all ties to Israel, Erdogan has pursued policies that made Turkey an Islamic, but not radical, nation. As a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, Morsi is more likely to put Egypt under Islamic law, to the detriment of the large Christian Coptic population. If this occurs, there will be a mass exodus of Egypt's Christian population looking for religious tolerance elsewhere.

U.S. policy toward the new government of Egypt should follow these developments closely to see if Morsi eventually not only consents to the persecution of Egypt's Christian population, but also to the abrogation of the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty.

Nelson Marans

Silver Spring

What about Serena Williams?

Re: "For U.S., London Olympics was all about the ladies," Aug. 13

I was surprised one morning to see that a not-so-flattering photo of Serena Williams made The Examiner's cover after she was bounced out during the first round of the French Open. I wondered if an equally sprawling shot of her would grace your cover the morning after her victory at Wimbledon.

I noticed the glaring omission of Williams again in Brian McNally's article on America's female Olympic stars.Maybe he can't number the "too many brilliant [women's] performances," but there was no reason to omit Serena's dominant gold medal win on the tennis court over top Russia's Maria Sharapova.

Tamara Brown

Clinton

Editors note: The cover of our July 8th edition featured Serena Williams holding her Wimbledon trophy. She was also featured in our Aug. 13 "Faces of the 2012 London Games."