Resents label
Editor: In reference to the letter by Mike Naylor (Your Opinion, “Cowardly Cops,” Oct. 10), he fits the profile of someone who has had a brush with the law.
He is very bitter toward law enforcement.
As a retired law enforcement officer, I resent Mr. Naylor calling cops cowardly. I worked for 18 years for the police department in Newark, New Jersey, as a patrolman and detective and worked eight years in the Essex County prosecutor’s office in Newark as a sex crimes investigator.
We did our jobs using any tool available to us and we did what we had to do to return home to our families. There isn’t anything cowardly about that.
Cops have the authority to enforce law and order. Get used to it, Mr. Naylor, or go live somewhere else.
GIULIO G. CAVALLARO
CLIFFORD TWP.,
SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY
Fear of Wolf
Editor: Tom Wolf’s Democratic candidacy for governor offers a disturbing paradox.
Any astute businessman would jump at the chance to show us how to provide government services with existing revenue by trimming the waste, fraud and inefficiency we read about every day.
Instead, Mr. Wolf’s progressive tax-and-spend ideology trumps any business acumen he may have.
Most alarming is his plan to marry school funding to a temporary revenue source from Marcellus Shale natural gas tax proceeds. This guarantees that a future generation will face a crisis when this funding source dries up.
If jeopardizing our children’s future is the plan, then Tom Wolf is the right man for the job.
KIRK MATOUSHEK
SIMPSON
Supports Dickson
Editor: Although Laura Dickson is a Democrat running for representative in the 117th District, she is not a “party girl” like Republican Rep. Karen Boback.
Actually, she resembles a Republican before the party was taken over by the corporate movement. She has a business and managerial background to go along with her experience in county government. She realizes that the gas industry is not going away but should be taxed and held accountable for our safety.
She is for property tax relief, but not in favor of raising the state income and sales taxes, which would put more of the burden on low- and middle-income earners. We need a new representative who can look at both sides and make decisions that are best for all of us.
So why shouldn’t you vote for Ms. Boback like you did in the past? If you think Gov. Tom Corbett has done a good job, you should vote for her. She has supported him all the way. Although she gladly accepted all the benefits of working for the Tunkhannock Area School District, she had no problem cutting funding to it. She co-sponsored a bill that would allow large corporations to keep taxes deducted from their employees that should be going to the state. She voted for cutting corporate taxes, co-sponsored expanding wiretapping, voted against a bill to protect certain areas from gas drilling, voted for the gasoline tax and voted for all the Corbett budgets.
I support Laura Dickson not because she is a Democrat, but because she reminds me of the Republicans that I used to vote for. She is an independent thinker who will do her best to represent all of us.
JOHN VAN DYKETUNKHANNOCK
Calling collect
Editor: You cannot make this up. The government has spent billions of dollars on cellphones for the poor and impoverished.
To add insult to injury, some of these people know how to work the system and have three or four phones. The government pays part of their phone bills.
I am tired of hearing about poverty and the poor in this country. When you are among a third generation of your family on welfare, it is your own fault.
FRANK PANE
ELMHURST TWP.
Yield to obvious
Editor: I’m writing in hopes that I can receive a valid response as to why many drivers coming out of “the Notch” in Chinchilla onto the Oak Street exit rarely yield to oncoming traffic from the McDade Expressway. This has been the site of many near misses for me and I can only imagine for countless others as well.
Two things can be done fairly inexpensively.
One: install a stop sign rather than a yield sign. There’s not a single reason someone coming out of Chinchilla needs to be driving at a high rate of speed in a 25 mph merge point.
Two: leave the yield sign, but add rumble strips to the road to alert drivers of the upcoming yield point.
Many of the drivers who blow through the yield sign will not even bat an eye at either of these ideas.
This brings me to my third and final idea. Close the Oak Street on-ramp from U.S. 11. This really isn’t a matter of inconveniencing drivers since they can take U.S. 6 West to the Keyser Avenue exit. Many of the drivers using the Oak Street on-ramp turn right down Oak Street to Keyser Avenue anyway.
Anyone who has dealt with safety can tell you that it’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when the fatality will happen.
RAYMOND CHIPPA
SCRANTON
Viral politics
Editor: Many people, including Democrats, are criticizing President Obama over his handling of the Ebola scare. They accuse him of being inept dealing with the problem and directing the CDC to find solutions.
To show that he was on top of the issue he appointed an Ebola czar to resolve the “hysteria.” Who is this maven that will lead us to the Promised Land? An infectious disease expert with impeccable credentials? A military commander who can direct people and materials to achieve the goal? Well no, we got a political hack.
Ron Klain, Joe Biden’s chief of staff, will be the guy to go to. In a union he would be called the enforcer. His job will be to keep wayward Democrats in line and making Obama look good.
SANDY GRAHAM
LAKEVILLE, WAYNE COUNTY
Only antidote
Editor: Naming an Ebola “czar” is asinine. All the experts won’t amount to a hill of beans if common sense isn’t used.
Little by little the deadly virus is snowballing. As a left-leaning Democrat I never thought I’d see the day when I totally concur with House Speaker John Boehner. Suspending all flights to and from Ebola-infected countries and imposing a visa ban on travelers from those areas is nothing but common sense. It’s the only way to help keep out those infected.
Although if our government continues with its lackadaisical approach — my fear is that the disease will eventually be running rampant in the U.S. as well.
JoANN LEE FRANK
CLEARWATER, FLORIDA
