Dairy farmers across Pennsylvania are facing financial challenges that are threatening their ability to stay in business. A large oversupply of milk has substantially reduced the price farmers receive for the milk they produce. Pennsylvania Farm Bureau has long been an advocate on dairy issues at the state and national level. The dairy industry is an important part of agriculture and contributes to the economic foundation of our state. While dairy farmers have faced tough times in the past, this downward spiral appears to be more severe, because milk prices have been depressed for the past three years and no one is anticipating any immediate relief in 2018.

Some milk buyers have cut off dairy farmers, telling them they need to find another company to market their milk. The problem is, no one wants their milk. Even farmer-owned cooperatives have been unable to find a market for their milk. One farmer-owned milk Co-Op is even offering an incentive for farmers to get out of the business now. In many areas of the state, dairy farmers are an important part of the fabric of the community. Besides providing fresh, wholesome milk, they contribute $6 billion in revenue to the state and support more than 60,000 jobs essential to rural communities.

If people want to help reduce the oversupply, they can buy more milk and dairy products. Milk contains nine essential nutrients and vitamins that boost human health. You can reap those health benefits simply by drinking one glass of milk per day. "Milk" from plant based products, such as almond and cashew drinks do not provide milk's health benefits.

In the future, there may be more opportunities to help dairy farmers, such as supporting the return of low-fat chocolate milk to schools and backing public policies that provide relief for milk producers.

Pennsylvania Farm Bureau members can stay updated on dairy activities by following Country Focus, Farm Bureau Express and their social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Sincerely,

Michelene Klim, Kingsley, PA
SCFB Dairy Committee Chairperson

You recently stated in one of your campaign commercials, blasting the natural gas industry, "What lies underneath the ground belongs to the people of Pennsylvania". What the hell are you thinking? I happen to be a Pennsylvania land owner in the Marcellus Play. You and the rest of PA do not own what is underneath my ground. I do!

I think it is about time that you take a full assessment of what the natural gas industry has done and continues to do for our economy. The only thing you seem to be focused on is how you can tax everything related to the gas industry to the point of driving them out of our commonwealth.

First off, the front lease money is being spent in our PA businesses. The royalties are being spent in our PA businesses. Not only that, they are being taxed by federal, state and local government. The jobs created, the business supported, all paying taxes. The money given to our local charities by the gas industry and royalty owners is beyond anything in history! The impact fees going to our local municipalities have allowed them to upgrade equipment to better serve the communities that have been impacted.

You feel that all of PA should get a piece of the pie by implementing a severance tax! All of PA is feeling the positive effect of the gas industry by low energy costs and tax revenues.

Enough is enough. The natural gas industry and royalty owners are more than handling their part for all of Pennsylvania!

Why don't you try telling the farmers of this State, "What lies beneath the ground belongs to the people of PA"?

Sincerely,

Ivan Burman, Ararat Township

Pope Francis rocked the Catholic Church. A reporter asked the pontiff, is there a Hell?: "There is no Hell: there is the disappearance of sinful souls." What's this? "No Hell"! "The disappearance of sinful souls"! Catholics were aghast. Protestant hellfire-and-damnation preachers were startled.

Pat Buchanan, noted author, syndicated columnist and ardent Catholic was visibly shaken: "If Francis made such a statement, it would be rank heresy. He would be contradicting 2,000 years of Catholic doctrine. He called defined doctrine into question and created confusion throughout the Church he heads."

The picture of Hell as a place of eternal torment for the damned is ingrained in the mass mind of both Catholics and Protestants.

Hell, many believe, is a fiery realm located in the bowels of the Earth. There in a cauldron of fire in which wicked men are tormented eternally in flames that will never be extinguished.

But could families be torn apart by God's judgments, half entering Paradise while the rest are condemned to Hell? And could the God of boundless love and infinite mercy preside over an everlasting torture chamber of horrors?

Some say yes, and cite Scriptural evidence for their belief.

Did not Christ say, "Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting ["eonian" or age lasting] fire, prepared for the devil and his angels," Matthew 25:41.

And again in Luke 16:24, Christ is quoted saying, "And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame."

Surely that speaks of a real Hell, or is it figurative?

The Scripture answers: "And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given," Matthew 13:10,11.

And again in Mathew 13:34, "All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them."

But what about Mark 9:45,46: "And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched."

The Greek word for "Hell" in the above passage is, Gehenna, or "Valley of Hinnom." This valley is situated to the southwest of Jerusalem. In the time of Christ, it was the disposal site for the city's refuse and where executed criminals were cremated.

(Some time ago I walked through this valley or "Hell" without being the least singed.)

Surely Christ is not advising the amputation of an offending foot or revealing the existence of immortal worms or a fire that cannot be extinguished. It is obviously figurative---all parables are, by definition figurative.

But why didn't Christ speak plainly to the crowds? "And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables," Mark 4:11.

If we are to believe Christ, He spoke in parables to conceal the truth not to reveal it. It is the opposite of what many think about Christ's parables as well as the conventional understanding of Hell.

So then, What is Hell? The New Testament uses three Greek words that are translated as Hell:

(1) Tartarus, a place where fallen angels, not men are imprisoned for a time. They are not tormented, only restrained for a period.

Hades in the New Testament is translated as Hell and in the Old Testament as Sheol. Hades and Sheol have the same meaning, a grave or a pit where the dead are buried. They do not refer to a place of eternal punishment. Hell is an old Anglo-Saxon word meaning to cover up. Farmers would bury their potatoes or "hell" them during the winter.

(3) Gehenna was previously discussed.

Tartarus, Hades, Sheol, Gehenna, and Hell are not places of sadistic torment, but a grave prepared for the dead. There they rest in a timeless, dreamless sleep waiting in death as they waited in life for the Savor's call to come home.

Could it be that Francis is on to something?

Sincerely,

Bob Scroggins, New Milford, PA

I attended the Forest City Borough Council meeting on April 2, 2018. The amount of disrespect among council members was unbelievable. As Mayor Tami Rogalski was speaking, one member was "mouthing" something to Officer Rowan, who was standing outside the door. If Officer Rowan had something to say, he should've come in and addressed council himself instead of distracting members to push his agenda. Mayor Rogalski walked out and I don't blame her. There are two new council members that are promoting the blog " Forest City's Problem", every time they like or comment on it. This is a public blog, on Face Book that criticizes and harasses the Forest City Police Department. It is posted by Brian Karwowski after Jimmy Johnson was voted in as chief of police. As members of council, they should be supporting their police department. There is no excuse for a council member to antagonize or disrespect another. This blog posts pictures of where the police are doing speed control, asking that others share it. I think it puts both the officers and the public at risk. Mr. Karwowski posted a text message from the previous mayor, Pauline Wilcox, after his continual harassment of her and the police department. He has even gone as low as to post the article from the Forest City News when Chief Johnson was voted into his position, replacing Chief Johnson's face with a pig head. Now, do these two council members or any others support this type of behavior? If so, they don't belong on council and they should resign! One council member commented on this blog that she was hung over. Do we, the public have to worry about her decision making ability because she's hung over?

Council members should not be commenting on a public blog that bashes and harasses their own police department. It shows disrespect to Mayor Rogalski, Chief Johnson and all the officers. It also shows very little class. These council members should remember they are there to represent the people, not their own agendas. Chief Johnson was voted in as the best man to fill the position. Mayor Rogalski was  voted in by the people of Forest City. Like it or not, the public holds them all to a higher standard of behavior. This "attack" and disrespect toward the police department by certain council members needs to stop. How can the police department get any kind of respect or cooperation on the street when their own council members are attacking them?

Those few members of council with their own agenda need to put it to rest. Stop the blatant disrespect of the police department. Don't continue to disappoint the people who put you there.

Sincerely,

Karen Ligus, Vandling, PA

I don't care what anybody says. This goes double for anyone who graduated from Laurel Hill Academy  any year before or after. There was something magical about the class of 1958. When members of that class were walking and talking in the halls of Laurel Hill, I and members of the class of 1961 were doing so also. About the only guys in my class that any of 1958 class girls spoke to, on occasion, played on the school's basketball team. The classes were so small that Freshman boys were drafted to play alongside Seniors.

Here's what sparked this particular missive. The good people at classmates.com returned the copy of the 1958 Laurel Hill yearbook (The Laurels). Because I'm in a peculiar romantic mood, I want to recall the memory of Lorraine a/k/a "Pokie". She and the young man, known as "U.G". were one magnetic couple. Although I remember that, when she went away to Penn State, they broke up. Oh, well, stuff like that happened, and still happens.

Anyway, I took it upon myself to donate the copy that I had lent classmates.com to the Susquehanna Branch Library, located in the SHOPS plaza.

If anybody cares, either to remember or get any idea of what "idealized" life was like back then, they're invited to visit the library.

Those people wanting to do some research can go to either Bing or Google. I got nice results with "Laurel Hill Academy Susquehanna Depot".

Sincerely,

A. Alexander Stella, Susquehanna, PA