Letters to the Editor Policy

In Response

I am writing this letter in response to the Starrucca Borough Council minutes dated September 2, 2009. Unfortunately, our council and the secretary/treasurer have taken it upon themselves to try to discredit my name, once again. Laura Travis quoted me as saying “I don’t give a damn about Starrucca Borough;” this is totally false.

I do give a damn and here are some reasons why. In the past for years the current council has:

1. Repaired a bridge to nowhere, putting the town in debt about $90,000. The August 4, 2009 Auditor General’s Special Investigation Report shows that members substantially benefited, without regard to other pressing needs of the Borough or costs to citizens of the Borough.

2. They have created two pending lawsuits against themselves in the last four years.

3. They chose to send back over $120,000 that the 2005 council had secured from PEMA for the repair of the Shadigee Creek Wall, which the Borough had constructed in 1996. An April, 07 DEP report states that the Starrucca Borough is the owner of the wall.

4. In 2007 the borough took in $13,600 in taxes and paid out $11,300 to their Attorney. In the past three years they paid over $26,000 in attorney fees over the homemade subpoenas and their so called final findings on people who dared to question them at council meetings.

I never threatened council concerning DEP, or on any other matter. I stated they did not need my permission to fix the Fairmount Road problem, that it would be DEP that they would have to contend with. The hole in the Fairmont Road is at the end of a sluice pipe that empties over a 30 to 40 foot drop, straight down to a small creek ravine. It would be impossible to access this via my property. Tony Palonis, Fred Rhone and Robert Buck stated it would not be fixed if I didn’t give them written permission. I have worked borough roads for thirty years and the Borough has never before required written permission from a land owner to fix a sluice pipe on a borough road. Why now?

Laura Travis stated I exploded at the meeting and once again this is her manipulation of what happens at the meetings. Laura Travis is a paid employee of the Borough. I don’t know of any other secretary who puts her own opinion in official minutes. Maybe this is why, to no avail, she demanded the videos of the council meetings not be used in the Auditor General’s special investigation report.

Once again, “I do give a damn about our town.” This is why Robert Martin, Barbara Glover, Michael Martin and myself are running for Starrucca Borough Council as write ins on November 3, 2009.

Sincerely,

Jack Downton

Starrucca Borough

We Should Not Despise Prophesy

The 93rd anniversary of the miracle of the Sun at Fatima Portugal was celebrated with a rosary rally at the Shops Plaza October 10. It was a good turn out of Catholics truly devoted to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Father Kramer, pastor of St. Lawrence’s St. Johns and St. Martins, volunteered to lead us in giving prayer for the consecration of Russia, that will end abortion, because Mary is the perfect way to God.

“Despise not prophesy,” least of all ignore it, it’s for the good of all. In our acknowledgement of this great public revelation of God, we prayed for those of the faith who do not honor the mother of God and message of Fatima. These rallies are a means of public penance for the sins of our nation. It affords the opportunity to expunge our quiet and heal the scandals in the Church which the tolerance of abortion fosters. We can not lead people to Christ without the Holy Rosary. The rosary is the sign of our intimate connection with the cross of Jesus, our purity of heart and deep hatred of sin. Sin kills body and soul.

We have yet to fulfill the demands of Fatima. The late John Paul, II said, “The message of Fatima imposes an obligation upon the Church.” We must offer our rosaries and 1st Saturday masses in reparation for our brothers and sisters who are hell bent on maintaining their politically accepted tolerance of abortion.

Sincerely,

John Mann

Susquehanna, PA

It Is Inaction

I spoke with a good Catholic the other day who assured me that she would never condone having an abortion, would certainly never have one, and would never encourage anyone to have an abortion. However, she insisted that she felt she had no right to tell others how they should feel about abortion or hamper their acceptance and use of it if they felt it was ok. I could not help but think of the Germans in Germany prior to WWII. Many of them were good people, I am sure, who did not condone killing six million Jews - certainly would never personally kill one - and would not encourage anyone to do so. It was not their actions that allowed this atrocity - it was their inaction.

In 1973 the Supreme Court Roe V. Wade decision began abortion on demand in our country. Today over 50 million pre-born babies have been brutally slaughtered. Certainly their absence represents 50 million possible solutions to our economic, social and political problems. We cannot and must not blame a vast majority of the mothers of these children for it was carefully, systematically instilled into their conscience that this was not the death of a child, but the solution to a problem.

How long will our consciences be numbed to this slaughter? How long will we allow it to continue by being afraid of insulting a person who views this killing as an American right? How long will political correctness reign so that it is wrong to call this slaughter anything but a woman's right? Today we are faced with a Health Care Bill proposal including abortion as a Health Care issue. Those of you who wish to argue that point with me please tell me if that is not so - why were proposed clauses in the bill which would eliminate abortion voted down three times by representatives who wish to appease their pro-abortion constituents? The bill as it now stands will raise the number of abortions drastically. If you have not already done so, please contact your representatives and tell them that you strongly oppose any bill which would force those of us to pay for this atrocity who believe abortion is the killing of a child - not a solution to a health problem.

Sincerely,

Annette Corrigan

Jackson, PA

Shilling The Shot

The dreaded autumnal plague is descending upon us. Some 35,000 will die, so we are told. It's time to queue up for the fall flu shot. Protection is just an injection away.

But what if everything you just read were propaganda and poppycock? What if flu vaccines were a scam based on sham science? What if there were solid evidence showing that flu vaccines are a multi-billion dollar fraud perpetrated annually on a poorly informed and fearful public?

The flu virus is a slippery character, a chameleon that changes every year. Developing a vaccine that anticipates its new guise is guess work. If the immunologists guess wrong, the vaccine and the virus will be a mismatch rendering the vaccine totally ineffective.

In 1968, there was just such a mismatch. Millions were vaccinated with a completely ineffective vaccine. Cases of the flu should have spiked compared to previous years. What happened? Nothing. No spike, not even a blip. The result showed that whether the vaccine was matched or mismatched, there was no protective effect. A fluke perhaps?

In 1997, another mismatch occurred. People were vaccinated for a flu virus that did not exist. Surely, this lack of protection would cause an increase in flu-caused morbidity and mortality. But again, there was no increase in either the flu or in flu-related deaths.

In 2004, the flu vaccine supply fell short by 40 percent. The result: no increase in illnesses or deaths due to the flu.

Could, then, flu vaccines be pure hokum? The 21st century version of snake oil? Again, let's look at the evidence, this time in the early 1980s. About 10 percent of the population over 65 were vaccinated for the flu. Some thirty years later the percentage of the elderly seeking flu immunity had climbed to 65 percent. One would expect a dramatic decline in deaths attributed to the flu. It didn't happen. What did happen was an increase in the number of flu deaths.

Yet everyone is convinced that flu vaccines work. However, there has never been a double blind study to prove this. A double blind study is science's gold standard of efficacy. A large number of people are divided into two evenly matched groups. One group is given a placebo, the other group is given the substance to be tested. The placebo and the substance are coded. No one knows which is fake and which is real.

When testing is completed, the code is revealed and the results of the two groups are compared.

No double blind study on vaccines has ever been conducted. The vaccine industry will not allow it. So on the one hand, there is compelling evidence to show that they do not work. On the other hand, there is no placebo-controlled evidence to show that they do work.

But what about the 35,000 in the U.S. who succumb to the flu every year? More deceit. The scary number lumps together deaths from the flu and pneumonia. Subtracting the pneumonia deaths leaves only 1800.

Of those 1800 flu deaths, the vast majority died because of a preexisting disease condition or as a result of extreme age.

Still, even those with misgivings about vaccination are tempted to get their yearly jab just to play it safe. Is that good sense or superstition? Seems like getting a flu shot is more like wearing a religious amulet or rubbing a rabbit's foot. Fact is, you're better off with a good luck charm; it, at least, is not laced with mercury and other highly toxin ingredients.

Vaccines are dangerous. Big Pharma knows this. That's why they used their financial muscle to protect them from being sued this year as they were after the 1976 swine flu vaccine debacle. Today, they have complete immunity from deaths and injuries stemming from swine flu vaccines.

Big Pharma knows how to protect itself, how about you? Don't get “stuck” by vaccine voodoo, protect yourself. Eat a nutritious diet, get sufficient sleep, take a brisk daily walk. Want extra protection? Consider taking vitamin D-3, the sunshine vitamin. It's no coincidence that viruses strike during the sun-starved months of fall and winter.

Sincerely,

Bob Scroggins

New Milford, PA

Medicare Part D

Like many of you, I am enrolled in Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage. Last year I was tipped off to the Medicare Website www.medicare.gov which, if you select Compare Health and Drug Plans, will allow you to input your drugs, zip code, your current plan selection and then the Website will provide the estimated cost of your current drug plan and many others available to you. I was able to reduce my annual cost of prescription drugs by almost 50% from the prior year. All you have to do is follow the prompts and be willing to, with your doctor's consent, switch to less expensive generic drugs (as I did). I am very pleased with the plan I selected. I don't know about you, but I see no virtue in throwing money at it.

Sincerely,

Joe McCann

Elk Lake, PA

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. 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.

Thank you, Susquehanna County Transcript

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