I'm a hearse watcher

| Les Sillars

Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control recently released their 1999 mortality statistics. In Travis County, Texas (pop. 737,000), where I live, 3,873 people died that year. That works out to over 74 deaths per week in the Austin area.

I had no idea that such a stream of hearses flows past my house. News media cover fatal traffic accidents occasionally and murders more often. Newspapers have paid obituary pages, but these only hint at what's going on.

Most people died of disease, the CDC reported: 210 of lung cancer, 78 of colon cancer, 71 of breast cancer, 45 of prostate cancer, 63 of HIV-related illnesses, 11 of malnutrition, eight of obesity, 93 of "unspecified dementia," 33 of Parkinson's, 1,337 of circulatory diseases including 284 heart attacks, 63 of pneumonia ... the list goes on.