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No Intestinal Fortitude To the "citizen" who really cares about Susquehanna County! Since you didn’t have enough intestinal fortitude to sign your name, I chose to answer you this way. I do not think that police and firemen "live off" the public! After 9-11, I don’t think you should even consider such a thing! After reading your letter, I have to ask, "How stable is your mind?" Please let me know who you are, so I may judge you to your face. Sincerely, Mary E. Beavan Oakland Township Put A Fresh Face Downtown Spring is here! The Susquehanna Sesquicentennial Committee is busy getting ready for our town’s 150th birthday. On April 19 (the actual incorporation date) we held a ceremony, complete with a birthday cake. As you may know, we will be celebrating from July 12 through July 19. We have a lot planned for that week, and we have had a lot of response from former residents and people out of the area that will be coming to town to help us celebrate. On the 19th of July, we are planning a big parade, at 6:30 p.m. which will begin at the high school and continue through Main Street to the fire station. The committee has worked diligently for the past two and a half years to make this celebration one to be remembered. You may have noticed recently, some improvements beginning to be made downtown. On the corner of Willow and Main Streets, the committee, along with Shane Lewis, have begun cleaning up the bank by planting trees, new topsoil, shrubs, and mulch; also the Boy Scouts placed new benches and shrubs in front of the boro building; the Parks and Rec. Committee is working on replacing broken stones at Drinker Creek Park; and of course, soon the project to replace the sidewalks will begin, hopefully to be finished before our celebration. With everyone pitching in to put a fresh face on our downtown area, we are hoping that each of the business owners will also look to see what might be needed to give your businesses a good appearance for people coming to Susquehanna for the celebration. We are all proud of our little town and really want to show it off for those coming back and those that have never been here before. Thank you for your hometown spirit! Sincerely, Susquehanna Sesquicentennial Committee Dairy Farmers’ Inequities May Be Addressed By Congress It is apparent some members of both the Unites States Senate and House of Representatives will make a concerted effort to correct many of the inequities facing area dairy farmers. With net prices paid to area dairy farmers still hovering around the late 1979 level, it’s obvious that something must be done. By Senate On the Senate side, Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter is fulfilling a commitment he made to us regarding the lack of the dairy farmers’ cost of production being used to establish prices paid to dairy farmers. Senator Specter submitted a letter to US Secretary of Agriculture, Ann Veneman, urging her to use the dairy farmer’s cost of production in determining the pay price to the dairymen. Sen. Specter feels the 1937 Marketing Act calls for the pricing formula to include the dairy farmers’ cost of production. At this point, eleven other US Senators are signing onto his letter including both senators from Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, New York, and Maryland. One of Rhode Island’s senators is also on the letter. However, one more time, it is disappointing to realize that Pennsylvania's other senator, Rick Santorum has chosen not to sign the letter. If Secretary Veneman fails to adhere to the Senator’s request, I’m sure Senator Specter and others will introduce a new dairy bill calling for the dairy farmers’ cost of production to be used in the pricing formula to determine a fair price to dairy farmers. In addition, Senator Specter is building up a strong coalition to support his bill calling for a national dairy compact. Specter’s compact legislation would allow all the continental United States for form dairy compacts if they chose to. This is a big improvement over former compact legislation. The proposed legislation would also mandate the dairy farmers’ cost of production to be used to determine the compact pay price to dairy farmers. The proposed legislation might call for national pooling. Once again, Senator Specter is standing up for the dairy farmers and the senator strongly favors the dairy farmers’ pay price to totally come from the market place and not partial payments from the US treasury. House of Representatives On the House of Representatives side, Pennsylvania Congressman Don Sherwood and Wisconsin Congressman Dave Obey have introduced legislation to place MPC (Milk Protein Concentrate) under tariff regulations. Nearly 100 Congressmen have signed onto their bill. If this proposed legislation became law, it could lower the amounts of MPC imported into the United States. Congressmen who serve our area are highly interested in using the dairy farmers’ cost of production in the pricing formula for dairy farmers. In addition, Congressman Sherwood still remains committed to having favorable dairy compact legislation enacted. Obey-Sanders Bill In addition, Congressman Dave Obey from Wisconsin and Congressman Bernie Sanders from Vermont are developing a new dairy bill that would place a $14.25 floor price under the Class I mover (which would mean a Class I price in Boston of $17.50 per cwt.). Their bill would also develop five regional supply management districts that would allow each district to develop their own supply management program. Over production in one district would not adversely effect another district. The bill would also call for counter-cyclical payments to dairy farmers for part of the low value on manufactured milk. Working Together Pro Ag had several successful meetings in Washington, DC during 2003. At some of the meetings, we had aides from various parts of the country meet and discuss working together to correct the dairy farmers’ inequities. It appears these meetings are paying off. Our men and women of the armed forces are doing a tremendous job in the Iraq Freedom campaign. These brave men and women came from all sections of the United States with no barrier to race, color or creed. Certainly, all Americans should be proud of the job they are doing. And, those who protest the actions of our servicemen should remember, they are allowed to protect in this country because of the heroic efforts of our present service personnel and the millions of former servicemen who fought and died for all American. I would hope the members of Congress would follow the patterns of our service personnel and work together to solve the inequities facing our dairy farmers and the inequities facing many other Americans as well. Pro Ag can be reached at (570) 833-5776. Sincerely, Arden Tewksbury Pro Ag Manager Finally, Some Relief For years, I have suffered from environmental allergies, and finally I got some relief. Believe it or not, it came from my chiropractor, Dr. Lauretta Clowes Smith. She gave me an allergy/hay fever reliever; all natural with no side effects. Since I began using it, I have felt relieved of swollen, runny eyes, drippy nose and other symptoms. I was never a believer of natural herbs helping such things, but I am now. Thank you, Dr. Lauretta, I can go outside now and not suffer. Sincerely, Jackie Tarbox Susquehanna, PA Misinformed And Confused? This letter is in response to Mr. Scepaniak’s letter to the editor last week. For the readers’ sake I will not bore you with mentioning his name more than once, for you know whom I am referring to throughout my letter. Throughout your letter you mention I am misinformed and confused. In your second paragraph you are stating you are confused? So which is it? As for the children that already signed up, informally for football you’ll have to talk to the head coach about that, as he stated to another board member they have around 30 children signed up for this on the roster. As for the soccer practices in Blue Ridge, yes my time was off by 30 minutes because that is what the administration told me; I believe I have that in writing through an e-mail. Besides, it has never taken me 1/2 an hour to drive to the Blue Ridge School. We do only live 14 miles from there; you must be taking the long way. And yes it will cost the school district money to have children from Blue Ridge play football here, when we have to replace uniforms in the future along with practice uniforms and equipment with no cost to the Blue Ridge School district. Who are you kidding, unless you are picking up the tab for all their replacements and supplies? (Last year’s figures; it cost us over $3,000 just for supplies.) How does money from football fund any other sport? Yes, it does go into a general fund just like every other sport, so how does football pay for other sports? The money collected at the gate for these games are used for the officials, police, timers, scorers and gate people. It costs about $750 a game. Usually the gate receipts covers this; another fact. As for the transportation, I know the children will be driving back and forth to practice either on their own or with their parents; I did state that in my last letter. But if you read the stipulation in the PIAA contract to be realized by the Susquehanna Community School District, it states "The concept of individual transportation may be altered as the program matures and evolves." Again another fact. Yes there were around 235 children from Susquehanna that signed the petition for the co-sponsorship, but then again we have 490 students just in the high school, so the majority of the kids didn’t sign it. As for my article a few weeks ago, thank you for the parents and teachers that called and supported me on this. I did not receive one phone call that was negative or sarcastic to me about my vote. I will not beat the dead horse any more with this subject in this paper, so if you have any more questions call me (you have my number). I think the readers will revolt and I don’t want our local paper to suffer because people do get tired of people repeating themselves, as I just did. As everyone knows by now, the football co-sponsorship was voted in Wednesday night; now it just has to be voted on by the PIAA on May 21. I do want to wish the Susquehanna Saber football players, band, cheerleaders, coaches, and parents a great year. Sincerely, Mary Wescott Oakland Township Should Hang Their Heads I’m writing this letter to bring attention to an unfortunate breakdown and perhaps give caution to others who might take this path. Upon the death of my dear mother, at the age of 90, and actually even before her long, strong battle was over, my siblings started greedily circling her deathbed, looking to grab anything she might have of value, to include money and inanimate objects, even her safe. This was a very sad sight to see. After the will was read, certain wishes of our mother were completely ignored and even usurped by the (supposed) executor of the estate. Through all of this, after having most willingly taken care of my mother’s health and comfort needs for many months, I suffered the wrath of this executor and some of the family/cohorts, because I loudly protested their actions. Not only verbal abuse was dealt to me, but I was also denied my portion of the will that mother had wanted me to have for taking care of her; while the rest of the family had stayed away. Even seeking a lawyer’s assistance with this matter did not change the outcome. I expect nothing will be changed by bringing this shameful behavior by the family to light, but hopefully, this will be read by them and others who know them and by the attorney hired to help and they will recognize themselves and hang their heads! Sincerely, Phyllis (Warner) Smith Montrose, PA LETTERS
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