We would like to thank all of you who helped make our May weekend Yard and Bake Sale a huge success!

Special thanks to the Monteforte's for allowing us to use their land for the sale, Monteforte Fireworks for the donation of the Sky Lanterns and to Dr. Gerry Evans office for allowing us to sell Sky Lanterns from their location. Thank you also for those who donated items and brought baked goods.

With our profits we will be able to provide others who are less fortunate in Susquehanna County with some extras they might need. The Sky Lantern profits will go to buy toys for the children at Christmas.

It was a pleasure to spread the good word about our Feed My Sheep Ministry and meet so many who came to our sale. Thank you, everyone!

Sincerely,

The Feed My Sheep Committee

First United Methodist Church

69 Pratt Street, New Milford, PA

Here are questions I hope matter to our local leaders who will be deciding if a toxic waste incinerator will be built at the Gibson 81 exit in Susquehanna County. How close will this facility be to the police barracks? Everyone's health deserves to be protected. As a community we have a special concern for the health of those who protect and serve.

What is the health of the environment like in the area of the Gibson 81 exit now? Is the ground water clean? What do comprehensive tests show? I think the water should be checked for arsenic, lead, dioxin, radioactivity, barium and a dozen other toxic elements and compounds as a reasonable place to start. Will the proposed incinerator be burning “low level” radioactive waste? What is back ground radioactivity like now at the Gibson exit?

How would emissions from a liquid toxic waste evaporator/incinerator affect the air quality at the Harford Fair grounds? They are used all summer for a variety of events. Will the Harford Fair suffer economic loss from people avoiding toxic air pollution? What is the health of people now living and working in the area? What chronic health problems do they have? At what rates do they suffer from heart disease, arthritis, asthma and cancer? These are exacerbated by internal inflammation made worse by toxic exposures.

Does the area have abundant butterflies and pollinators? What are the types and numbers? What birds live in the area? What do they die from? What chemicals if any are found in local fish? Are local fish levels in a healthy range? All these can be documented with video and lab reports. Frogs are an excellent indicator species. They can deform when exposed to toxic chemicals in water. Are frogs in the area abundant and normal?

I believe these and other questions deserve honest answers. Any group that can afford to build a toxic waste incinerator should have the resources to fund a study of this nature. The results of the research should be made available to the public.  Then any changes can be recognized, rather than denied. If Susquehanna County falls for this proposal, will Chem-Nuclear Systems Inc. be back? They wasted eight years and a lot of money trying to install a radioactive waste facility last time they were here. I hope our local leaders carefully consider all relevant questions in making this decision.

Our government was founded on the principle of consent of the governed. What this means is that the people are to control the government, not the government the people. Governments betray their charter when they allow unprincipled and dishonest entities to prey on the population.

Sincerely,

Sara Chudleigh

Herrick Twp, PA

A three-year-old boy crawled under a low fence and fell 18 feet onto the concrete floor of a gorilla enclosure. He laid there unconscious while onlookers screamed for help. Soon that help arrived but from the unlikeliest of heroes.

The toddler was rescued by a gorilla, that's right, a gorilla.

An eight-year-old gorilla, Bins Juan, picked up the dazed lad, gently carried him to the zookeeper's door, and protected him from other members of her troop until the keeper came for the boy.

Bins was named Newsweek's Hero of the Year. People magazine voted the primate one of the most intriguing “people” of 1995.

Twenty years later it happened again, only the venue was changed from the Chicago Zoo to the Cincinnati Zoo.

A four-year-old boy ducked under a three-foot high rail barrier, made his way through four feet of bushes roughly equal to his height, then took a step too far and fell 15 feet into a foot-deep water moat that surrounded the gorilla habitat.

Within minutes zookeepers arrived and signaled the troop to retreat. The females complied, but the 450-pound male silverback, named Harambe would not leave the unhurt and fully alert boy.

Nature has endowed the quarter-ton male gorilla with phenomenal size and strength---Harambe could crush a coconut with his hand---to protect the females, babies, and young in his troop. If Harambe had detected the slightest threat to those under his guardianship, the boy would have been instantly dispatched.

“I can tell you what you saw in the video footage is actually a gorilla taking a stance trying to protect the baby [boy],” said Debbie Cobb, primate authority and head of Suncoast Primate Sanctuary.

Harambe, agitated by the manically excited crowd, grabbed the boy by his pants (not ankle or leg) and dragged him to a less visible corner of the moat. With the boy at his back, Harambe turned to face the crowd with a defensive, if not defiant, posture.

“That's not an animal trying to hurt or kill anything,” said Cobb.

Moments later a single shot rang out. Harambe, the unluckiest hero, was dead.

• What went wrong?

The lad was accompanied by his mother. Was she delinquent in not watching her child? No, she was not.

Every mother knows that keeping a constant, watchful eye on a young boy is not possible. This is particularly the case in places such as amusement parks, playgrounds and zoos. There is always that two or three-second lapse in supervision where the child can stray off.

In these public places, the establishment is responsible for the safety of the adults and the children.

• Was the Cincinnati Zoo remiss in its duty to keep its patrons safe? Yes, it was.

The waist-high fence is sufficient for adults. They realize its purpose and it does not impede their view. But for a four-year-old boy, it's only a playground obstacle.

• Shouldn't the animal have been tranquilized rather than shot?

From the time the boy fell into the moat until the gorilla's death was ten minutes. Zoo managers said it takes that long for the drug to become fully effective. But it was not necessary to wait that long. Within a couple of minutes after being darted, the animal would become woozy, disorientated, and incapable of coordinated actions.

If zoo officials had acted promptly, a tranquilizer might have worked.

• But isn't waiting that long endangering the child?

Harambe and the boy were in close contact for ten minutes. During that time, the gorilla did not evince any malicious intent. The boy was not physically harmed by Harambe despite being repeatedly handled and carried about. Rather Harambe seemed focused on protecting the toddler.

This brings to mind another misunderstood giant ape that died trying to protect a woman. Remember the one that climbed to the top of the Empire State Building holding his blonde lady-love only to be machine-gunned to death by biplanes circling the embattled beast?

For whatever Freudian reason this taps into, the shooting of King Kong and Harambe strike a powerful, primordial emotional chord in us. But I digress.

So he, Harambe, was shot.

• Did the zoo act on the side of caution in putting down the animal or did it err in haste?

That no one will ever know. Many witnessing the encounter probably would have approved of the shooting. But should zoo officials, who presumably know more about gorilla behavior, have acted differently?

What we do know is this: the gorilla exhibit should be cordoned-off until an effective, child-proof barrier is in place. And the zoo's directors should consult with an attorney. The boy's mother said she would not sue. But a multi-million-dollar lawsuit filed for her traumatized child can be a mind changer.

Sincerely,

Bob Scroggins

New Milford, PA