Prominent voices are being raised, calling for the Death Penalty for Penn State Football over Jerry Sandusky's heinous acts. They seem to be persons who like the posture of moral superiority. But before they get what they're braying for, let's examine the morality of this sanction.

To start with, we should ask, "Why not also kill Penn state Basketball?" They'll reply that the Basketball program was not involved in this. Well, neither was today's Football team or its new coach. Sandusky hasn't worked for Penn State in 13 years, and most of his foul deeds were done totally apart from the University. To punish today's team for what they had no part in is a fundamental miscarriage of justice, based solely on guilt by association.

It should be sufficient to punish the actual guilty parties: Sandusky, Curley, Schultz, and Spanier, in descending order of culpability. Anything beyond that is simply punishing the innocent. We should also grant extenuation in that the Football Program itself has been a famously clean one. No recruiting violations, and a very high graduation rate with Academic All-Americans aplenty. That deserves tremendous weight.

Now let's look at what destroying that program would unfold. The cream of Penn State talent, not allowed to play there, would disperse, making their Big Ten rivals even more powerful. When allowed to resume, only with inferior talent, the team would likely go winless, and get their teeth kicked in week after week by teams that badly outmatch them. I'd expect more, and more severe, injuries. Recruiting future talent would be difficult, since no one would want to play for a pathetic loser when they have better options.

It would ruin Coach O'Brien's career. No one would consider him for a head coaching job anywhere given his dismal won-loss record with a patsy. He did nothing to warrant this.

Area businesses that used to do well on football weekends would suffer as well. Previously full motels would be near empty, and once bustling restaurants would be near ghost towns. They will not deserve this either.

And you know, it will not unmolest a single child to do this. So why spread the punishment so indiscriminately? Just to make a statement that "Molesting children is wrong!"? We know that already. The real statement it makes is that collective blame, rejected by all civilized societies, is accepted here.

The moralists should read their Bibles, where it says that people should only be punished for their own sins (Ezekiel 18:20). And if they're not also calling for the death Penalty for the Catholic Church, whose problem in this area is more systemic and exponentially worse, they're total phonies here.

Sincerely,

Stephen Van Eck

Rushville, PA.

While the local Humane Society apparently prides itself on its "no kill policy," in effect this causes nothing but trouble. For months now, no one can take a cat to the Susquehanna County Humane Society.

Apparently, they are keeping alive cats they have had there for months or even years. The result is that people I know and have heard reports of are paying to have stray or unwanted cats neutered, then turning them loose into nature to fend for themselves.

What does this mean? According to The Birdchaser blog cats kill over 1 billion birds each year in the U.S. ABC says "Roaming Cats Pose Big Threat to Bird Populations, Study Finds," and are in fact having population level effects. People who believe they are doing a good thing to neuter a stray cat, then turn it loose, are in fact helping to cause serious damage to the local habitat.

But then what other choice do they have with the current no kill policy at the shelter? What is someone supposed to do who suddenly has to move to a place that doesn't allow pets? People have to move everyday. Older people move to nursing homes or in with their children, young people to different cities to work. It is appalling that people have nowhere to take pets they simply can no longer keep.

Why can't the shelter hold a cat for maybe three months and if no one adopts it and other cats are coming in, then humanely put it down?

Instead of keeping cats in cages for endless time, make room for kittens and younger cats coming in, give the new ones a chance to be adopted. I am sure that my letter will rile up some people, but frankly, I don't care. I love cats, we have three, but we keep them inside. I also like birds very much and do not relish the thought of all the feral and domestic cats roaming out there killing them.

Sincerely,

Margaret Karmazin

Susquehanna, PA

On Friday, July 13th, in McAllen, VA, President Obama said the following: “There are a lot of wealthy, successful Americans who agree with me – because they want to give something back. They know they didn’t – look, if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own. You didn’t get there on your own. I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out there. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something – there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there.

If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in the roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business – you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didn’t get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money offß the Internet.”

The bottom line of the above is that Barack Obama believes that there is no such thing as individual achievement. We owe it all to Government. Therefore, we should be willing to give according to our means (Karl Marx) so that government, in their wisdom, can parcel out the fruits of our labors to those who, according to the bureaucrats, are in need. Got that? QED

Sincerely,

Joe McCann

Elk Lake, PA

The Susquehanna County Commissioners met on July 11, 2012 in the County Courthouse. The meeting was long and arduous, lasting almost two hours.

For only the second time - the first being the Commissioners’ meeting of June 27- the entire meeting was audio and videotaped by the public. Since the commissioners have deemed fit to exclude discussion, public comment and ‘official testimony’ from meeting minutes, these electronic recordings will serve in their place. (To view the videos, go to YouTube.com and type in “Susquehanna County Commissioners Meeting–7-11-2012 Part I” and “Susquehanna County Commissioners’ Meeting-Part II”)

Public safety was totally disregarded as the meeting began with the commissioners refusing to change the venue for the meeting. Attendees were crammed into the tiny meeting room in the courthouse, with 25 people left standing and sweating (there being chairs for only 15) without even so much as one window being opened. (1:34) A window was finally opened ten minutes before the meeting was adjourned.

The Retirement Board meeting was first on the agenda. The County Treasurer advocated on behalf of the county taxpayers and protested the change in the investment house that handles the county’s Retirement funds. After her protests, the commissioners decided to table the issue until further discussion takes place at a later date. (5:30) The Salary Board meeting lasted less than a minute and only corrected a typographical error.

The Commissioners meeting began in the usual way. Days after a 30-year employee in Agriculture Extension received her termination notice by the Commissioners, she was publicly recognized for her 30 years of service! Lengthy and impassioned discussion ensued, but not one word of what was said will appear in the minutes of this meeting. The meeting continued, with acceptance of ‘resignations,’ hirings and appointments. There was testimony from Richard Mackey from Penn State Extension regarding county support for 4H and the continuance of the program in Susquehanna County. Statements and promises made during this time to residents (and Mr. Mackey) will not appear in any official record or be included in the meeting minutes, because public comment and ‘public’ or ‘official testimony’ has not been included in official minutes in more than four and a half years.

Attendees sat and listened to ‘public comment’ and learned from people in attendance that we might be in more danger and at greater risk than we know if there is an emergency due to gas drilling. We heard from an informed individual that in the event of an emergency/catastrophe, county emergency workers have been told to ‘stay away’ and that responders from the gas industry would “bring the bodies to you.” (1:17:00) Again, not one word of this, or what the commissioners said, will be recorded in the minutes.

Once again, the chairman managed to insult an attendee, this time questioning her ability to “understand big words” after she asked a question. (1:10:00) He also brushed off other attendees’ questions and comments with remarks indicating that he didn’t want to hear from them, no matter what they had to say. It will be noted that when running for office, he sang a different tune.

Viewing the videotape of this past meeting is time consuming. So is physically attending a meeting. However, it is more comfortable viewing it at your convenience, in your own well-ventilated, perhaps air-conditioned living room, than in a stuffy, cramped, air-starved meeting room in the courthouse at 9:00 in the morning. Videotaping the meetings captures the expressions, gestures and body language, all conveying a greater story. There are some, however, who criticize efforts to let ‘Sunshine’ in by reporting and recording these meetings. View the tapes and judge for yourself.

The commissioners are on the county payroll, paid by your tax money. They were elected to serve in the best interests of the people. Suffice it to say that if you are not outraged after seeing these videos, then you should be.

Sincerely,

Edna K. Paskoff

Montrose, PA

Kudos to Kerri Ellen Wilder. Myself and many others are saddened to hear the reason she must leave her love of writing for the Transcript.

We wish you the best and look forward to hearing from you in the future.

Reading your articles was eye opening and knowlegable at the same time.

You wrote the truth and the facts and made us privy to much information we other wise would not have known.

You didn’t pull any punches or play favorites in any instance. You gave credit when due, but nothing was candy coated.

You are a reporter with great integrity of which we need more.

We wish for a full recovery for you – and await your return.

Sincerely,

Barb Doran

New Milford, Pa.

Hydrofracking's most crucial question: Can deeply buried subterranean brine travel upward through thousands of feet of rock and soil to contaminate aquifers and well water? The natural gas (NG) companies have long said this is impossible. Opponents have contended that it is possible. Now for the first time scientists settle the question.

Not only is it possible, say the scientists, for brine located thousands of feet below the Marcellus Shale to migrate up and pollute aquifers and private wells, it's happening now.

The study was conducted by researchers at Duke University and California State Polytechnic University. They collected 426 samples of well water from northeastern Pennsylvania.

These samples were compared with 83 specimens of wastewater from the Marcellus. Almost 17 percent of the 426 samples contained brine nearly identical to brine in the Marcellus.

“The biggest implication is the apparent presence of connections from deep underground to the surface,” said Robert Jackson, a Duke professor and one of the study's authors.

However, the researchers readily admit a central question remains unanswered: “There is a real time uncertainty,” said Jackson. “We don't know if this happens over a couple of years or over millennium.”

This raises the question, if brine from far below the Marcellus layer can surface, then can fracking fluid located above the brine also surface? There is ample reason for caution.

But such caution is evidently lacking under Gov. Tom Corbett who received $1.6 million from NG companies. Said Corbett, “I want to make Pennsylvania the hub of this [drilling] boom.”

It's no surprise, then, that the Corbett administration is more lenient with drilling violations than was his predecessor, Ed Randell. Under the former administration, 60 percent of reported drilling violations were subject to enforcement actions. To date, during Corbett's administration only 12 percent of violations have incurred enforcement actions.

Likewise, the attitude of the Keystone's State legislators is, damn the consequences, full speed ahead. NG lobbying dollars greased the way for Act 13. This legislation gives the drillers carte blanche to drill anywhere, overturn local zoning laws, seize private property, and prevents physicians from informing patients that fracking chemicals have compromised their health.

Even down to the local level of the Susquehanna County commissioners, prudence is trumped by an enthusiasm for drilling.

Four years ago, when the drilling frenzy began, the commissioners did away with recording public comments in the minutes of their semi-weekly meetings. The expressed concerns of citizens about the environment, safety, and personal impacts of NG drilling, are nowhere to be found in the records of the meetings.

So who's watching the store? The drillers are. They self-report violations. That seems analogous to motorists self-reporting their traffic violations. However, some drilling violations are so egregious and so numerous that the state's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) was forced to take action.

The DEP levied fines on Cabot Oil and Gas totaling $4.1 million for contaminating the water wells of 18 families in Dimock. Cabot has the distinction of racking up the most violations, 412.

Last month the DEP fined Chesapeake Energy a record $1 million for contaminating the water wells of 16 families in Bradford County. Chesapeake is the second worst drilling company with 393 violations.

These botched wells are an indication of more to come. How many more, when, and where, are unknowns. Nevertheless, for some, drilling is a chance worth taking, to others it's not.

But what is more disturbing is not what is happening above ground in Dimock and in Bradford County, but what is transpiring below ground. These plumes of contaminated water in aquifers are not static but dynamic. In time, the plumes will spread to other wells. How much time and to how many wells are yet more unknowns (view YouTube: Wilma Subra: Human Health and Shale Gas).

Couple this with the discovery of Duke and California State researchers concerning brine migration from as far down as 15,000 feet to the surface. If this is so, then, in time, might frack fluids trapped in the Marcellus only 10,000 feet underground also find their way to the surface? Maybe not.

Or maybe tomorrow. Like bread tossed on the water, the befouled water might one day return to the surface, this time through our spigots.

Sincerely,

Bob Scroggins

New Milford, PA

I was reading where the City of Scranton, in order to pay anything to its employees, paid them the current minimum wage of $7.25/hr. That did my heart good. I feel it’s entirely fair to pay the governments standard wage, particularly since they are employees of government.

Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that the high taxes the “people” pay, goes for a benefit package. So for $7.25 /hr and a life time benefit package, they will still get a better deal than the “people” they serve.

I totally get the fire and police protection. Out here in Summersville, Pa. our Fire Department is called volunteer. We, the people, eat chicken bbq, and go to the fundraising events the fire dept. sponsors to support them. The police protection here is usually the fire police, maybe a municipal officer, and then maybe the state.

I think these men and women do it for free, and do not need to be unionized to help another. These volunteers are some of the best you will meet, as the benefits they receive are more heart-felt, so the package is better.

I almost feel sorry for the Judge; he has to set a ruling against common sense. I’m sure he realizes it doesn’t make sense to order the politician to bounce checks to meet a payroll, that can’t be funded, and pay the benefit package that somehow became law. Yes, something is wrong here.

It’s not just the City of Scranton either. Just look at the budgets the school boards have. In order to keep benefits, they struggle to keep taxes down, cut programs for the students, just to pay wages and benefits for the teachers union. I may seem cross with the small town politician, which by the way, they all are, yet I do feel very sorry for the ones who go into the political arena thinking they will be the one who can change things. Things won’t change until the NAFTA trade agreement is repealed.

I feel then the working man and the unions will be able to compete in the global market. Only then will we the people be able to have the work, to pay the taxes to fund the benefit package, that somewhere along the line, became law.

Yes it does the heart good, when I think we are all in this together. I can’t wait for my benefit package. Maybe it will make me feel rich, when I cash my check for minimun wage, after taxes. Until then, I would say to the government employee, welcome to the world outside the government building, and count your blessings. You won’t be paying the fine for not having Obamacare. There is only so much minimum wage can pay for, and you have the rare experience to understand both sides now.

Sincerely,

Cynthia Allen

Summersville, Pa