Letters to the Editor Policy

It’s A Shame

The price of food has skyrocketed. For once in my lifetime, dairy farmers can breathe. Sort of like getting a new job, or just a new look on life.

Not for long will the dairy farmers’ price stay high, but you all don't know it yet, but your food price will never come back down. Maybe a penny here and a nickel there; the futures markets say so. What is happening is, the milk industry is already saying, "Your milk price will be lower by spring."

That's where the con comes in. The milk industry says so! The dairy farmers do the work, you pay the higher price but the futures are already predicting lower prices paid to the farmer.

The thing that's wrong here is, the farmer should be telling the milk industry to back off and mind your own business and to shut up with predictions. Putting all your eggs in one basket is wrong.

The farmers are told that everyone else is producing so much more milk now that the price went up to the farmers, and they believe it. Competing against one another once again.

Dairy farmers across the country better just call their bluff already, and plant fencepost to fencepost with corn or goldenrod, sell the cows the same time your first ethanol crop comes ready. Farmers don't have to be dairy farmers, and the milk industry needs to understand that for a fact!

You, the editors and congressmen who read this, need to understand that your safe, wholesome food is in jeopardy: step back and look. The rich get richer, and the poor have to stay poor to make the rich richer. 'Tis a shame!

Sincerely,

Peter A. Seman

Thompson, PA

When In Rome...

I would like to comment on the letters written by John Drann.

It is my understanding that you do not live anywhere near the stone quarry in New Milford, nor are you familiar with the regulations, laws, etc. that govern the industry. It does surprise me to notice that you have stone from that quarry on your spillway from your pond. You know, the one that could very easily spill over and cause a great deal of environmental damage to the folks living below you, and on Main St. in New Milford. So I wonder, are stone quarry operators good neighbors when a stone product is delivered to you, and not a good neighbor when you are following the RESCUE group? As far as the activists are concerned, someone should tell them that the reasons they are complaining about are the same reasons everyone complains about. I personally feel that the real problem is not necessarily that there is a stone quarry operation there, but seems to be a personal issue with the individual who is creating jobs, making money, and not responding to the neighbors who want a public swimming pool.

I could be as misinformed on this issue as you appear to be on the regulations of the mining industry. As for your knowledge of the coal industry, I wonder if you realize what a mine subsidence is. That won’t happen in a stone quarry. Something else occurs to me; the regulations of the coal industry effectively killed the industry itself. The operators have spent millions of dollars in new technology to improve not only the health of its men and women, they have made vast improvements in how minerals are extracted. If you read any trade magazines like “Pit & Quarry” you would be simply astonished at how savvy operators are these days.

The fact of the matter is, there is a huge misconception on what the permitting process is. You have listened to a small group of malcontents who, having not worked in the stone industry, are fully prepared to loudly, and to whomever they can get to listen, decide that much more money should be spent by the operator, to ensure what? Nothing bad will ever happen, even to good people? As for your comments on the Indians, history has proven time and again, white people convert others by fear and ignorance. If you do not act the way of the white man, we starve you and put you on reservations where not even beavers and muskrats live. We should be more tolerant of the ways of the locals. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. The mining industry is really very cool, if you like minerals. And the minerals found here are estimated to be 370-400 million years old. That is something to be proud of.

Perhaps instead of trying to convert the locals, you might want to meet some of them in the industry and let them give you a real idea of the art and science behind mining. You might be converted yourself.

Sincerely,

Cynthia Allen

Summerville, PA

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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. 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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