Letters to the Editor Policy

Numbers Don’t Add Up

Sounds to me like Mr. Jurista is again stretching facts a bit in order to make his point. He stated in his letter to the editor, printed in the January 12 issue of the Transcript, that there was a 28% tax increase at the beginning of the current Commissioners’ terms. After reviewing my tax receipts for the past several years, I find that the following appears to indicate the correct amount of tax increases for County purposes for the years 2001 thru 2006: 2001 increase was 17.81%; 2002 increase was 0.05%; 2003 increase was 0.00%; 2004 increase was 4.76%; 2005 increase was 19.59%; and 2006 increase was 0.00%.

The actual, total increase from 2001 to 2006 was actually 23.45%. Now since the current Commissioners didn't take office until 2004, one can readily see that there was only a 4.76% increase their first year in office, and a total increase from 2004 through 2006 of only 23.41%, and that most of that increase was during their second year in office, not the first year, nor the 28% claimed by Mr. Jurista.

Sincerely,

Harry Biesecker,

Susquehanna, PA

Only One Choice

George Bush threatens to veto stem cell research because he opposes "the use of federal money, taxpayers' money, to promote science which destroys life in order to save life". Meanwhile, he proposes to use that same money to increase military expenditures to destroy life in order to save life.

George Bush uses the religious or spiritual argument when it is advantageous to promote his agenda and disregards it when it conflicts with his agenda. Martin Luther King Jr. states that "a nation that continues, year after year, to spend money on military defense rather than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death".

Diverting funds from the U.S. Treasury to meaningless war is profiting the defense and oil industries, while issues of real homeland security including securing our ports and borders, developing clean domestic energy programs, shoring up Social Security and Medicare go unaddressed. Is this a coincidence?

In November, the electorate voted in a new congress because it did not like the direction this country is heading in. The vast majority oppose the war and want our troops brought home. Congress has the ability to change the direction we are heading in. They have two choices. They can vote to eliminate funding for the war. There seems to be an unwillingness to go this route. They do not want to appear unsupportive of out troops. Besides, the same group that is now in power did an end run around the will of Congress and the people who pressured them to end funding for the contras in the eighties. The results were a domestic and foreign policy nightmare that haunts us to this day.

That leaves only one choice to confront a belligerent, out of control executive branch; impeachment.

Sincerely,

Jay Sweeney

Falls Township

Pray For Change

On a visit to the United States Mother Teresa once warned us of the effects of abortion. She told us legal abortion was destroying the soul of our nation. She said that if it continued, it would make a tear in the fabric of creation, for it was an especially heinous crime against God.

Today we seem to have lost our compass. Corporate leaders do not know how to lead, and are only out for their own enrichment and aggrandizement. United Nations leaders give us little more than scandal. Our country’s citizens are divided and split down the middle in vicious hatred, having lost the difference between honest debate and disagreement and close to treasonous actions in the time of war. Our judicial system releases child sex molesters and jails honest men who are trying to protect our borders when they shoot a drug dealer in the buttocks who is entering our country, illegally. Instead of making laws to allow more legal immigration and proper access to our great country, through misplaced compassion, we work toward legalizing millions who have ignored our laws, stolen our identities and threaten our social systems. Many of our schools have lost the ability to teach due to a lack of discipline; you only have to watch “The Nanny” show on TV once to see how the ability to raise children in a secure home, where they learn discipline and self control, has been all but lost in one generation. Only a few years ago, the age when children began to use the computer for pornography was 13; today it is 8. Addiction to pornography and other sex addictions are rampant. Child abduction and even death by sex predators no longer shocks us, although we still weep, and vicious child abuse is everyday news.

January 22, 2007 marks the 34th anniversary of the infamous Roe V. Wade Supreme Court decision. Since that time, 48 million babies have been slaughtered in the womb of their mothers in the U.S. alone. This is not, and never has been in the history of the world, a right. This is a huge business whereby Planned Parenthood and doctors become very rich. A business which leaves so many of our women destroyed after accepting society’s quick fix for their problem pregnancy.

I am not writing this to argue with those of you who feel they must defend women’s rights. I am writing this to ask people who accept what I have said to join me in praying that our Supreme Court take at least a tiny step and outlaw Partial Birth Abortion, the procedure which brings an often fully mature child into the birth canal and then stops the birth process to kill the child. This is not just a moral disgrace – it is a civil disgrace. No one recognizes the rights of these children. And pray with me that our nation will hear Mother Teresa’s warning and stop this senseless slaughter. For help with a problem pregnancy call 1-800-982-4310. For help for those regretting their abortion, contact www.rachelsvineyard.org.

Sincerely,

Annette Corrigan

Jackson, PA

Reward Offered

On January 15, 2007 I filed a report (incident #1205-0638448) with the Pennsylvania State Police, Gibson Barracks, Susquehanna County. Some time between mid-December and mid-January, a 2001 Carry-on 20-foot utility trailer was stolen from my farm on Rte. 247, Clifford Township. The trailer was in an open field, approximately 150 yards from the road, about 150 feet behind my barn.

The thieves knocked down and removed two steel posts holding a barbed wire fence, with a No Trespassing sign, blocking a lower driveway to the property. The lower driveway is never used because of deep ruts and extremely wet ground. The thieves must have had a substantial 4-wheel drive truck or tractor to traverse this route.

The trailer's hitch had a lock on it, but no broken or cut remnants were found at the site. The trailer has two axles, a steel frame and 16-foot long by 6-foot wide deck of 2x6 pressure treated lumber, 16-inch steel frame side walls, and two reinforced gates/ramps for loading from the rear. The gates also had plywood installed to aid loading.

The trailer was primarily used to haul a tractor and other farm equipment from my parents' farm in Pleasant Mount to my farm in Clifford. The estimated value of the trailer is $1,800. I am offering a $500 reward for information that will lead to the recovery of the trailer. I may be reached via cell phone at (973) 579–5077.

Sincerely,

George Matreyek

Clifford, PA

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR POLICY
Letters To The Editor MUST BE SIGNED. They MUST INCLUDE a phone number for "daytime" contact. Letters MUST BE CONFIRMED VERBALLY with the author, before printing. At that time you may request to withhold your name. Letters should be as concise as possible, to keep both Readers' and Editors' interest alike. Your opinions are important to us, but you must follow these guidelines to help assure their publishing.

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