Improper appeal

Editor: Mary Whisler’s comments (Your Opinion “Beyond Ridiculous,” Oct. 25) are spot-on regarding an attorney “soliciting people to join a lawsuit against law enforcement personnel searching for Eric Frein ...”

Law enforcement is engaged in a dangerous, lengthy, frustrating, daunting and costly mission to prevent an alleged assassin from harming additional innocents.

The searchers stepping into Frein’s woodsy environment are cognizant of their vulnerability at the hands of a suspected sniper who may be lurking nearby.

They are aware they constitute an easy target even while driving or sitting in their vehicles. Yet, every day, they knowingly put their lives on the line in their attempts to locate Frein.

Their loved ones live with the possibility they may not return home safely.

Possible outcomes include capture, surrender, suicide by cop, more innocent victims, additional school closings, loss of hunting access, decreased business income, prosecution, books, movies and theories about cause.

In the meantime, we must fully support all the efforts of all law enforcement personnel involved in this pursuit and not enable the alleged assassin’s endeavors by supporting lawsuits to the contrary.

JOSEPH DILLS

WAYMART

 

Memories of RFK

Editor: The recent death of Frank Mankiewicz, 90, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy’s press secretary, revived memories of a fateful night in June 1968 when I was handling AT&T’s press relations in New York.

The company’s network operating center awakened me after midnight on June 5: “Herb, Senator Kennedy has been shot in Los Angeles. He’s in critical condition in a hospital. Reporters may contact you on calling volumes. We will keep you posted.”

Kennedy had won California’s pivotal Democratic presidential primary hours before. I drove into Manhattan in the predawn hours. I never forgot what I saw en route.

People looked shocked as they talked on street corners. Some hurried to pray at places of worship. An assassin had struck again and a Kennedy brother lay fighting for his life in a hospital.

Reporters — first from the Associated Press, then network radio and TV and major daily papers — wanted to know whether people were calling as news spread about the assassination attempt. AT&T calling volumes domestically and overseas grew by the hour.

Mankiewicz announced in a terse statement 26 hours later that Robert Kennedy, with family and relatives at his side, had died at age 42. Like Nov. 22 1963, when President John F. Kennedy died, it was a convulsive moment in history.

Some insist the events changed the nation’s trajectory.

HERB LINNEN

WASHINGTON, D.C.

 

Different ending

Editor: On Oct. 23, I awoke to see a letter printed in The Times-Tribune with my name attached.

The Times-Tribune changed not only the words of my opening but the words and meaning of my ending.

I did not write a gender-specific criticism of Gov. Tom Corbett’s policies, though some do impact women more egregiously than men. His refusal to raise the minimum wage is one example. I wrote, “When Mr. Wolf is elected on Nov. 4, working men and women will be the ones jumping for joy.” I wrote those words because that’s what I meant.

Obviously, Mr. Corbett has no such reverence for words, as evidenced by his most recent ads about Tom Wolf’s tax proposal, some sarcastic but all duplicitous distortions of the truth.

JOE HANNON

SCRANTON

Flat COLA

Editor: The Times-Tribune last week ran an Associated Press article regarding the Social Security cost- of-living adjustment.

In the article, there is a quote from Jo Ann Jenkins, who heads AARP: “The COLA helps beneficiaries of all ages maintain their standard of living, keeping many from falling into poverty by providing partial protection against inflation.”

I would have expected something better of Ms. Jenkins at a time when the COLA advance was announced at only 1.7 percent.

Ms. Jenkins clearly defined the intent of the COLA and surely not the effect of this latest increase.

The increase means roughly an extra $20 a month for average recipients. Wow.

Her remark about keeping many from poverty also raises eyebrows. I guess that extra $20 will help cover an anticipated property tax increase coming our way, cover the anticipated increase in electrical rates and rising costs of prescription drugs.

It looks like 2015 will be another year of rising costs and less money for the region’s senior citizen community.

RICH LAYTOS

SCRANTON

 

Fight sand facility

Editor: I salute those engaged in the tussle to defeat D&I Silica’s current plan for its sand transfer station in Tunkhannock Twp.

This is a matter of political will, whether our community’s elected officials have the will to protect the Tunkhannock area.

For 20 years or so, Susquehanna County successfully fought against a hazardous waste site in the New Milford area. It cost money to do so. But the board of commissioners in Susquehanna County had the foresight and will to take on the world’s largest waste company against the odds.

That fight even included litigation against the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for issuing a hazardous waste permit.

GERALD C. GRIMAUD

TUNKHANNOCK