On behalf of the Area Agency on Aging, Inc for the Counties of Bradford, Sullivan, Susquehanna  and Tioga, we would like to publicly acknowledge and thank the Susquehanna  County Commissioners for the financial assistance provided to our agency during the state budget impasse. Like many other human service agencies, our local organization was unable to access state funds, was forced to implement a waiting list for services and couldn't reimburse  our Susquehanna County Service Providers for the provision of aging services.

The financial assistance provided by the Susquehanna County Commissioners enabled our agency to reimburse our Susquehanna County Service Providers so that older Susquehanna County residents  could continue to receive critical in-home and community services.  It also allowed us to eliminate our waiting list for aging services.  Approximately 300 older persons receive in-home services with an additional 320 persons receiving community supportive services. These services are crucial to assisting older persons to remain living independently  in their own homes.

We appreciate the ongoing support of our County Commissioners  and their commitment to the residents of Susquehanna County.

Sincerely,

Marlea K. Hoyt

AAA Executive Director

Towanda, PA

Step aboard the Trump Hate Train. Most of the seats were taken months ago by the leaders of the Republican Party, but there's always room for more.

But why should the GOP be leading a kamikaze attack against their party's front-runner? Trump is bowling over the opposition in all the national polls, caucuses, and primaries. Just who are these fifth columnists, in league with the Democrats, who are doing their best to sabotage Trump's campaign and even torpedo a Red Party victory for the presidency?

Nikki Haley's rebuttal to President Obama's State of the Union speech tore off their mask of anonymity. We'll call them the Perfidious Three.

Haley, the governor of South Carolina, was chosen to give the Republican redress to Obama's rosy presentation by the Republican leader of the Senate Mitch McConnell and the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan.

It was quite a rebuttal, but not for Obama's address but for her fellow Republican Donald Trump. It's a given that Haley's speech was not entirely her own but was ghost-drafted with McConnell and Ryan.

Notable quotes from the Haley et al “rebuttal” follow:

• “Some people think that you have to be the loudest voice in the room to make a difference. That is just not true. Often, the best thing we can do is turn down the volume.”

• “It can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices.”

• “No one who is willing to work hard, abide by our laws, and love our traditions who should ever feel unwelcome in this country.”

On NBC's Today show Haley's diatribe continued: “Mr. Trump has definitely contributed to what I think is just irresponsible talk. I will say tone matters, message matters, and responsibility matters.”

Haley, McConnell, and Ryan are in agreement: Trump is loud, angry, xenophobic, has the wrong tone, is off message, and is irresponsible.

But many would reply, Why aren't the accusatory three angry? They should be. For the past forty years, our industries have headed South across the Mexican border while legions of illegals have streamed north to undercut Americans for scarce jobs.

Who among Trump's critics who faulted him for being xenophobic have employed tens of thousands of e-verified immigrants as had Trump?

And if we judge his tone and message by his double-digit poll leads and the overflow crowds at his rallies, then they are right on the mark.

It is not Trump who should be under attack but his attackers. Self-styled conservatives and establishment Republicans have a record of public disservice.

It is they, despite the public outcry, who have allowed the southern border to remain defiantly open. It is they who stood silent while financing for a border fence was suspended.

And it is they, the ossified Republicans and the “genuine” conservatives, who did not contend for lower taxes, reduce the size of a ballooning government, or use the power of Congress' purse to deflate a bloated budget.

Who---Gov. Haley, Sen. McConnell and Rep. Ryan---is being irresponsible?

Should we be surprised that the Democrats were pleased as Punch with Haley's speech as was the White House press secretary who described the governor's “rebuttal” as “courageous”?

The National Review is a conservative magazine with an unimpressive paid circulation of under 138,000. It manages to stay afloat by contributions rather than by an earned income from sales.

Recently NR devoted an entire issue opposing Trump. The cover read, Against Trump. It featured 22 essays by right-of-center authors detailing why they are against the probable Republican winner. (In past issues, NR also lambasted Ronald Reagan and Newt Gingrich.)

NR could with at least equal ease have run an issue with 22 articles written by conservative notables titled, For Triumph. But they chose the negative.

Well, maybe they are right? If the four primaries in February and seven in March tell their tale, then Trump's supporters shall sit to a supper of crow and humble pie.

But if they, the establishment Republicans and the conservative cognoscenti, are wrong, and the outsiders are right, what then?

Either way, politics is no longer a gentleman's game. It's a bare-knuckle brawl, and the winner takes all, all except that meal of crow and humble pie.

Sincerely,

Bob Scroggins

New Milford, PA