- Times Leader

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A senseless shooting in our own backyard

A candlelight vigil was held April 4 on Public Square by the Wilkes-Barre NAACP and the Peace Center in a show of support for the family of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed 17-year-old who was shot and killed on Feb. 26. Trayvon was shot while returning from the store with a bag of Skittles and an iced tea. His parents are seeking that the man who shot their son be brought to justice.

Less than 48 hours after the candlelight vigil, an unarmed 14-year-old boy was shot and murdered near his Wilkes-Barre home – reportedly the victim of a drive-by shooting. I’m deeply disturbed and depressed by this shooting since I know the family of this young boy, Tyler Winstead.

This most recent violent incident occurred right in our own backyard on Hill Street in Wilkes-Barre. My most sincere and deepest sympathies are extended to the family members in their period of mourning.

Scott Richardson, of the Diversity Institute at Misericordia University, made mention of this exact type of violence during the candlelight vigil.

Already, I’ve received a call from a concerned citizen offering support for a public protest of this violent act. However, at this point, I encourage anyone with information that can assist law enforcement in capturing and bringing those responsible to justice to contact the Wilkes-Barre Police Department at (570) 208-4200.

I applaud Mayor Tom Leighton for the urgency and priority he has assigned to this case.

Ronald Felton

Wilkes-Barre unit, National Association

for the Advancement of Colored People

Writer finds contractor to be a man of his word

Last July, after receiving five estimates, we had our roof replaced. One roofer said he wouldn’t replace the roof unless we also changed the skylight in our bathroom. Other contractors didn’t share the same opinion.

The contractor we chose assured us that the skylight didn’t need to be replaced, saying, if it leaked “in the next five years,” he would replace it at his expense. We didn’t have that assurance in writing.

The roof was fine through all the wind and rain from the hurricane and flood last fall. It wasn’t until we had snow and heavy frost that water leaked into our bathroom. I called Ed Gilroy from Gilroy Construction, who had replaced the roof and given us the assurance. He restated his assurance that, as soon as the weather was conducive to changing the skylight, it would be replaced. And this week it was!

Ed Gilroy is certainly a man of his word, which restores my faith in contractors. Everything he promised, he delivered, including replacing the roof in one day – and his price was the lowest. I would highly recommend his work to anyone considering a roof replacement.

Rev. Ann Marie Acacio

Congressmen must work to keep jobs in the U.S.

The trade deals NAFTA and CAFTA cost Northeastern Pennsylvania thousands of jobs, yet our congressmen, Tom Marino and Lou Barletta, voted to pass the most recent trade deals with Colombia, Panama and Korea. These pacts will no doubt cost us more jobs.

Since China joined the World Trade Organization, U.S. employment in the auto-parts sector has dropped by 45 percent, with about 400,000 workers losing their jobs. It’s no coincidence that in a similar period, U.S. imports of Chinese auto parts have skyrocketed by almost 900 percent.

We need to fight to secure and create jobs now more than ever, especially against China’s illegal and predatory trade tactics. Recently, 188 senators and representatives sent a letter to President Obama urging him to act.

Unfortunately, Congressmen Marino and Barletta did not sign. We need them to get involved and help us protect the 1.6 million good-paying U.S. jobs that are at risk.

Call Rep. Marino’s office at (570) 836-8020 or Rep. Barletta’s office at (570) 751-0050. Let them know that addressing Chinese predatory policies in auto parts should be one of the Interagency Trade Enforcement Center’s first and highest priorities.

Bill Herbert

Wilkes-Barre

Acts of domestic violence prove need for funding

Take a look at what happened across Pennsylvania in only one recent five-day period, March 24-29:

• A Philadelphia woman reportedly was stabbed and shot to death by her boyfriend.

• A Chester County woman was fatally stabbed by her estranged husband, police said, leaving her four children motherless.

• An elderly Lehigh County man killed his wife and then himself.

• A pregnant York County woman was fatally stabbed by her boyfriend in front of her 5-year-old daughter, police said.

• The CEO of one of Pennsylvania’s largest insurance companies was charged with assaulting his girlfriend’s husband in Allegheny County, resulting in the downgrading of the company’s credit rating and his firing.

It’s ironic that during those same five days I joined other human services providers visiting state legislators at the Capitol to plead for the preservation of funding for vital programs serving our most vulnerable residents, including domestic violence victims.

What more poignant proof of the dire need for this funding do legislators need than the tragic toll of those five days?

Domestic violence occurs every day, in every community, at all socioeconomic levels and within every age group. Last year 166 Pennsylvanians died because of domestic violence.

This is no time for state leaders to turn their backs on victims.

Peg Dierkers

Executive director

Pennsylvania Coalition

Against Domestic Violence

Unbalanced budgets have left us debt-ridden

The last time the United States government was debt-free was in 1835, when Andrew Jackson, a Democrat, was the president. The problem, of course, is that there have been too many years when the federal budget was not balanced between revenue and spending.

In the last 83 years, there have been only 13 years in which the federal government’s budget didn’t end the year with deficit. The closest thing to a truly balanced budget occurred in 1938, when there was a slight deficit, and it happened again in 1960, when there was a small surplus.

Following the October 1929 stock market crash, President Herbert Hoover’s 1930 budget surplus overtaxed the economy and was one factor that led to the Great Depression. President Harry Truman balanced the budget three years in a row, from 1947 to 1949, and did it again for a fourth time in 1951.

The only president to balance the federal budget four years in a row was Bill Clinton, who did it from 1998 to 2001. Incidentally, Democratic presidents were responsible for nine of the 13 balanced budgets that have occurred over the last 83 years.

The two presidents who increased the present national debt the most were Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, both Republicans.

Republican presidents love to cut taxes, but they also love to spend more money than they collect in taxes. That’s why America is in debt today.

David L. Faust

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