Letters to the Editor category, Page 264

In the past month I have become a rebel and an outcast because I can’t obey the mandate to wear a mask in public. I feel this is a violation of my constitutional rights as a citizen of a free democracy, not a dictatorship. The government can give advice. Advice...

I just read the article “Religious freedom bill proposed in Pennsylvania as churches navigate reopening” (May 19, TribLIVE). Really? Don’t we already have a law covering that freedom? We do. It’s called the First Amendment to the Constitution. Wake up, people, and take our lives and country back, today! Al...

Common sense is now an uncommon virtue. In statistics it is important to understand that figures can lie and liars can figure. Statisticians can have a bias, and the numbers may be unreliable and not relevant. Political polls predicted Thomas Dewey would win the 1948 presidential election. Most polls were...

Recently, when opening the bag with my refilled prescription from The Medicine Shoppe in Latrobe, I was pleasantly surprised. Inside was a packet of honeybee-friendly wildflower seeds. Such a nice gesture. It’s the little things. Evelynne M. Majernik Latrobe...

On May 11, Reps. Valerie Gaydos, R-Allegheny, and Daryl Metcalfe, R-Butler, joined in signing a GOP letter calling for district attorneys across Pennsylvania to not enforce the governor’s covid-19 business closure orders. Since when did our politicians get so brazen to put their expertise in disease infections above health care...

Once again Donald Trump has tried to deflect responsibility for his slow response to the pandemic to someone else. In this case, China. Why would he praise President Xi for the good job he was doing and then try to blame him? Why would he believe a communist regime in...

In Patrick Varine’s article “Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald calls for primary election to be conducted by mail” (April 13, TribLIVE), Fitzgerald asserts “Holding an in-person election in the midst of the covid-19 pandemic would be, in and of itself, a disaster.” The real disaster would be holding any election...

I have been an early child care educator and advocate for 28 years. I have owned and operated Helping Hands Childcare & Learning Center in Imperial for 21 years. On March 16 my doors closed to the 65 families the center serves and the 14 educators I employ. The abrupt...

Tampa Bay Rays’ player Blake Snell reacted to a plan whereby Major League Baseball owners proposed a 50-50 split of revenues if only half of the games are played by announcing that he wasn’t about to give up anything in his five-year, $50-million contract. He flatly stated, “I’m not playing...

The editorial “Penguins miss shot with arena development project in Lower Hill District” (May 15, TribLIVE) missed the mark. This is not about the Penguins or Stanley Cups, rather a broken agreement. The saga began with owner Mario Lemieux’s threat to move the team to Kansas City if he didn’t...

The slugs, the nonconformist, wasted potheads of the ’60s, appear to have won. Now in 2020 thanks mostly to the liberal states, it is OK to smoke pot but against the law to get a haircut. Was this the objective all along? One has to wonder. Oh and by the...

As the late President Ronald Reagan might have said, “There you go again, Mr. Trump!” The president began touting the benefits he believes would ensue to fight the coronavirus from the widespread use of hydroxychloroquine, a drug used to treat malaria. We have since learned from doctors, including the esteemed...

Gov. Wolf: On March 16, you ordered us to close our businesses and schools and to stay at home. You told us that this was necessary to “flatten the curve” so our hospitals wouldn’t be overwhelmed. Not only have Pittsburgh’s covid-19 ICUs never been overwhelmed, they’ve never even been full....

The U.S. House and Speaker Nancy Pelosi passed a $3 trillion package to help save the economy during the covid-19 pandemic. It is titled the Heroes Act. Certainly there are many still suffering, and we can acknowledge there have been heroes all around us. But in a bill to help...

Allegheny County has announced that polling locations are being consolidated due to coronavirus (“Allegheny County votes to consolidate primary polling locations”). Monroeville’s one polling location will be at the Monroeville Convention Center. I believe the proposed consolidation plan is counterproductive from the perspective of both public health and voters’ rights....

The criticism of Gov. Tom Wolf by legislators, district attorneys and state representatives exposes the hypocrisy behind their “live free or die” recommendations that counties open businesses earlier than considered safe. We need to support leaders of courage who risk threats when they make unpopular, necessarily restrictive decisions. This virus...

Fellow taxpayers: I find it particularly insensitive and even downright vulgar to allow our exalted ruler of the state, Gov. Tom Wolf, to be able to give a “pep talk” in TV ads. He talks about the resolve of the people of Pennsylvania, and yadda, yadda, yadda, during this crisis....

What is the big deal about wearing a mask when you are out in public? No one is asking you to storm the beaches of Normandy, or fight in southeast Asia or the Middle East. All that is being asked of you is to wear a mask in public because...

The Franklin Regional budget for 2020-21 confirms the coming school district’s financial implosion, to be precipitated by the Sloan campus debt. Current operations and growing debt payments are producing massive deficits that will consume all general funds within four years, even with annual Pennsylvania maximum tax increases. This follows the...

The produce stands, roadside fruit markets and grocery stores both large and small are now open for business. But I thought we could live on love alone. John Greco Cheswick...

Not all Trump supporters are moonshine-swilling hillbillies or white evangelicals who have left their consciences in the vestibule. They are joined by those who are simply satisfied with full bellies and crammed wallets. Add to their number the spineless Republican senators, who, after the president was impeached — and, yes,...

With the dismissal of the “perjury trap” prosecution of Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, the real “Crossfire Hurricane” has landed. Let the destruction begin. The unfiltered data just declassified by the acting director of national intelligence seems to support my personal opinion that Barack Obama was a heinously corrupt president. It’s...

“Operation Warp Speed” could be the new Trumpian slogan that ought to do the trick. That will show the pesky covid-19 who’s boss. We’ll simply ignore the raging pandemic and go back to normal. Vaccine by year’s end? Sure! It has been ordered. Miracle cures, silver bullets, magical thinking …...

Because of the diverse opinions on business closures while we deal with the coronavirus, I believe most of us know that the heart of American industry is small business. Therefore, I call on Gov. Tom Wolf to use a bit of common sense. I simply cannot understand why businesses such...

Gov. Tom Wolf is expected to veto House Bills 2506 and 2513, which are aimed at getting restaurants and liquor-licensed establishments open and appear to be bipartisan. Will Wolf once again leave the service industry in limbo? A third bill, HB327, which is an attempt to give liquor-licensed establishments the...