On March 25 we learned the Assistant Election Director had tendered her resignation, "Motion to accept the resignation of Lori Raub, Voter Registration, effective close of business on April 7, 2015, per the recommendation of the Susquehanna County Commissioners." This follows on the heels of the notice of resignation of the Voter Registrar, two weeks earlier, "Motion to ratify the acceptance of the resignation of Laura A. Watts, Voter Registrar, effective close of business on March 4, 2015, per the recommendation of the County Commissioners."

Susquehanna County is now without a seasoned Voter Registrar or an Assistant Election Director.  It is also without an experienced Election Board - with the recusal of the Commissioners (two by Statute, one by personal choice).    

Whoever steps into the job of Voter Registrar or Assistant Election Director has a huge job ahead of him.  Pennsylvania's system is separate and distinct from every other state's.  Pennsylvania paid a contractor to develop the system years ago and it was set up with intricacies that one will find nowhere else.  

No one but voter registrars or their assistants ever see the inside of this system.  It's a discrete system with limited access, so the new voter registrar must apply for access to the system and establish a password-protected account.  Just navigating through the system is itself an accomplishment. Given the learning curve necessary to master the system, the lack of time to do so, and given the election schedule we now face, there are big problems ahead for any new registrar. Learning and navigating the system will be a long haul for a new person. 

Thirty days prior to the May 19th Primary Election, the Voter Registrar must close out the voter rolls and make formal certification to the Department of State.  (The same thing happens in the fall before the November election.)  Closing out the voter rolls and accounting for discrepancies is no small accomplishment.  For someone unaccustomed to this process, it's monumental.

The new Voter Registrar will also have to conduct Election Day Training for election workers on April 14 and 15.  These dates are cast in stone.  It will take much more than the standard training 'slide presentation' to answer the questions presented during this training, and there will be no one able or available to answer them.

We need to ask why the County finds itself in this predicament.

Sincerely,

Edna K. Paskoff

Montrose, PA

Let's take a clear look at recent developments in US-Israel relations.

Locked in a close struggle for re-election, Benjamin Netanyahu threw a Hail Mary pass (if you'll excuse the expression): he abandoned the two-state solution for the Palestinian problem. And it worked. Netanyahu won a surprisingly strong victory, one that will enable him to bypass any even slightly left-of-center party in forming a new governing coalition. But we must note what this portends: Without shedding surplus Palestinians in a separate state, Israel will have a growing Palestinian population within their own. This will mean they cannot be both a Jewish state and a Democracy, as Palestinians could eventually vote them out of existence. In order to preserve Israel as a Jewish state, they must disenfranchise their Palestinian citizens-- Israel must become an Apartheid state, and that's not tenable. (Either that, or implement a Final Solution, which would be the most supreme irony imaginable.) So a separate Palestinian state is essential, no matter what Netanyahu said as a cheap electoral ploy. (And is now shamefully denying he even did!)

Netanyahu previously offended our own Administration by accepting an invitation from John Boehner, one that violated protocol and undermined ongoing anti-nuclear negotiations, to speak before Congress. This invitation was a gesture of contempt for our own President by Congress, and, in part another electoral ploy by Netanyahu. It was embarrassing to see the acclaim given him, with standing ovations. It was as if our Congress was swearing fealty to a foreign government. This was done to gratify those constituents who have been taught a religious sentimentality for Israel that is completely uncritical. Their effusive display was also to impress AIPAC, who funds a lot of their own re-election efforts. Not to mention the free-spending casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson, who's planning to finance opposition to any Congressman who dared skip the Netanyahu address and the mandatory obeisance.

Sincerely,

Stephen Van Eck

921 Gage Road

Rushville, PA 18828

Will Judas, the one who betrayed the Christ go to hell? Indeed he will, but so will you, and most certainly I, we shall all go to hell. In fact, I have already been to hell and back.

But before this outrageous statement is explained, we must begin with . . . .

What is hell? Hell, as most Christians understand it, is a place where unrepentant sinners are imprisoned to suffer the agony of a fiery torment.

Scenes from Dante's Divine Comedy come to mind. In his epic poem, Dante leads the reader through the nine regions of hell. Their sufferings are worse than any that could be inflicted on Earth.

Think of the horrors of Stalin's gulags, Hitler's concentration camps, Mao's re-education centers; they pale before what awaits evildoers in hell. And who is more sadistic than all these monsters? Is it not God, Himself, who made hell? Surely, this can't be. Could an all merciful God also be the master of misery?

The explanation for this contradiction lies in the translation of one English word, hell, for three Greek words: Tartarus, Hades, and Gehenna. We'll explain each.

Tartarus occurs only once in the New Testament: “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell [Tartarus], putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment,” (2 Peter 2:4). We see that hell is a place for fallen angels where they are not restrained forever but for a time of judgment.

It is misleading to explain hell or Tartarus using pagan mythology or Dante's poem as expositors. Hell (Tartarus) is a place for fallen angels not for sinful men, nor is there any Scriptural reference to Tartarus being a place of eternal torment.

Hades is the second Greek word translated as hell. It is composed of two roots meaning “not” and “to see,” hence hell means, “not to be seen.” That is why the word English word, “hell,” is used for the Greek word, “Hades.” Hell is Old English meaning, “to cover.”

Our Lord said of hell, “And thou Capernaum, shalt thou be exalted unto heaven? Thou shalt go down to Hell [Hades],” (Luke 10:15). Christ meant that Capernaum, a great city, would disappear, “not to be seen,” “to be covered,” leaving no trace of its former greatness. And so it is.

Hades, like Tartarus, has its origin in heathen superstition not in Scripture.

Last, Gehenna. Gehenna is the Greek word for the Hebrew, Himmon. In the Old Testament, Himmon, or the “Valley of Himmon,” is southwest of Jerusalem. It was here that many years ago a young man walked into hell (Gehenna), looked up at nearby Jerusalem, and left as he came.

But two thousand years ago, this valley was the place where the offal of Jerusalem and the bodies of criminals were thrown to be burned.

The Christ, who died the death of a criminal, was destined to be cast into Gehenna (hell). However, He was prophesied to be buried with the rich: “And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death,” (Isaiah 53:9). And so it came to be. The Messiah was buried in the rock-hewed sepulcher of Joseph, “a rich man from Arimathea.”

But on the third day, as He prophesied, he would rise: “They will condemn him to death. On the third day he will be raised to life,” (Matthew 20: 18, 19; quote condensed.). And so He was.

Now the good news of that empty tomb is this: “Since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive,” (1 Corinthians 15:22).

Will the mercy of the God, without limits reach out to Judas and to those who had Him put to death? Will those, who were essential instruments in God's plan, be beyond His mercy? Or is the God of infinite love also the God of infinite anguish?

Christians look beyond this era and see by faith's eye another Easter. An Easter when all who died will be resurrected and “made alive in Christ.” That Easter, when the glorious fruits of the Christ's sacrificial death will revealed, will be the last Easter.

Sincerely,

Bob Scroggins

New Milford, PA