As per Mr. Moorhead’s letter of May 29 (“A Simple Way of Living”), his feathers evidently got ruffled by this writer’s comments made the week before on marriage equality. Mr. Moorhead, no one is tying you down and forcing you to have either oral or anal intercourse with another male. Unless you want that. Otherwise, why would same-sex activities concern you so fervently? Do it. Don’t do it. It’s a personal decision among adults. Also, if you have only had sex in your entire life for the sole purpose of procreating, as you preach, then you better have 30 or 40 children that represent your puritanical triumphs in fertilizing a womb.

The point is that in the United States of America the Bible does not trump the Constitution. Just because one elects not to farsightedly focus on Hell, Satan and eternal damnation, preferring to live in this world’s wonderful and diverse present does not mean one cannot have the freedom to enjoy the rights all Americans deserve and for which our veterans fought and died. And that includes marriage equality. Unfortunately in Susquehanna County and elsewhere, many people use the Bible and God as a shield for their hatred and intolerance. Mr. Moorhead’s place in the universe is not to judge what other people do. At the end of the road, only one entity can judge each of us and that is God.

Christianity is not based on rejection and condemnation. As far as Biblical scholars can surmise, Jesus Christ was silent on the subject of homosexuality. Note, however, that nothing exists in Scripture to prove that Jesus was ever married – to either woman or a man. Da Vinci’s great painting The Last Supper depicts Jesus sitting at a table surrounded by a lot of other dudes. Should we interpret the image to imply something deviant? No. That masterpiece illustrates the first celebration of the Eucharist, a ritual still performed.

Jesus was less about discrimination, marginalization, and demonization and more about peace, love, and understanding. Mr. Moorhead, you sound as though you are superior to people who are not identical to you. One might wonder whether your hypercritical views extend beyond gays to include blacks, Jews, Hispanics, Asians, and, for that matter, women. Sounds like someone needs to relax and have a great big chocolate sundae, with whipped cream and a cherry on top! Lighten up and enjoy what’s left of your life.

Sincerely,

Dr. Ron Gasbarro

New Milford, PA

Have you ever wondered about the significance of Flag Day? Have you ever had an old American Flag and not known what to do with it? Did you know that there is a particular way to respectfully destroy an old American Flag?

Flag Day is June 14th, a Friday this year. So if you would like to learn about Flag Day and the protocols associated with proper handling of our national flag, come to the Flag Day Ceremony, at 7pm, June 14 at the Susquehanna Fire Station.

If you have an old American Flag, bring it with you to the ceremony, jointly sponsored by the American Legion and the Boy Scouts. If you cannot attend, and have an old flag to dispose of, bring it the the American Legion, Main St, Susquehanna prior to June 14.

Thank you for your support.

Sincerely,

Lauretta Clowes, Susquehanna American Legion and The Boy Scouts

It started slowly, imperceptibly. When we finally became aware of what was happening, they were gone. What happened in our yard was a microcosm of what is occurring in tens of thousands of yards and farms across the globe. And no one knows why.

Back some thirty years ago, it was a common sight to see an apple tree enveloped by a cloud of bees. When they had finished their business on one tree, they would go to another until every blossom on every tree was pollinated.

By fall the flowers had ripened into apples. Every branch was bent low, heavy with fruit. At evening we watched the bats fly out from between the boards in our board-and-batten house. Dozens of them, 38 to be exact, going about their appointed task of devouring insects.

Now they are gone. The few bees that remain are the lonely stragglers of bygone colonies. And the bats? They disappeared, too.

No one knows when the bee population began to wane. Like the hour hand on a clock, the decline was too slow to be perceived. But sometime in the early '50s commercial beekeepers began to notice a yearly loss of 5 percent of their hives. But that was easily absorbed.

Then the loss increased to 10 percent. By 2006 it tripled to an annual 30 percent of their hives. It was now serious enough to earn a name, colony collapse disorder, or CCD. Something was causing the bees to leave their hives en mass, never to return; the colonies collapsed.

In 1995, Pennsylvania beekeepers lost 53 percent of their hives. We were ahead of the curve. This year the nationwide losses averaged between 40 percent to 50 percent. The hour hand is now the minute hand.

Why? What was causing the accelerating decrease of the planet's most important pollinator? There are a number of candidates: mites, bacteria, viruses, electromagnetic radiation, an artificial diet of sucrose and corn syrup.

Maybe the stress of thousands of hives being transported by 18-wheelers across the country to pollinate orchards and farms. Or could it be the residues of 150 chemicals found in pollen and wax gathered from beehives?

Currently the leading first-place contender in the bee kill-off is a new kind of pesticide, neonicotinoids or as they are popularly called, neoics.

Neoics are a nicotine-derived class of pesticides that since its introduction in 2006 have roughly paralleled the growing death toll in bees. Today, it is the most widely used insecticide in the world. And that is troubling.

France, Germany, and Switzerland prohibited its use because of the pesticides' effect on beneficial insects.

This was followed by a two-year suspension passed last April by the European Food Safety Authority. The ban was based on a peer reviewed study that concluded that neoics may be the primary cause of CCD.

Industry push-back by Bayer, a pharmaceutical giant and manufacturer of neoics, was predictable. Bayer pointed to a number of studies that established the safety of this insecticide.

The European Food Safety Authority responded saying those studies were flawed: they were not independent but commissioned by Bayer, were short-term and neoics persist for months, and were based on mammals not insects.

The European approach is policy by precaution: neoics are guilty until proven innocent.

But the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency tap danced around the issue. The agencies blamed a number of factors as well as pesticides for the dwindling numbers of bee colonies. No mention or action was taken against the neoics.

The American approach is a policy of imprudence: neoics are innocent until proven guilty.

Europe and the U.S. are engaged in an experiment. If the Europeans are wrong, no harm will be done. If the U.S. is wrong, things could go badly.

However, there is hope---of sorts. The EPA promised a review of some---not all---of the neoics in 2017. But how many bees will be left in 2017, 30 percent? 20 percent? Even today, commercial beekeepers must import bees to meet the demand.

Bees pollinate one-third of the nation's food supply, less bees equate to higher, much higher prices, if, indeed, some foods are available at all.

Sincerely,

Bob Scroggins

New Milford, PA