- Times Leader
First Posted:
Pestered resident wants noise law in Pittston
I support the new Pittston noise ordinance.
With the sound equipment available today, having the wrong kind of neighbor can be a living hell. This is something I have experienced firsthand and, believe me, it is rough when you cannot open your windows in the summertime.
People need to have some control.
Dogs and cats also are a problem. Some residents have two or more dogs and multiple cats. Barking dogs can be a noise problem, but multiple cats running free can be a serious health problem. They can carry fleas and disease, potentially making them a danger to humans and other cats. Pittston has a good ordinance for this problem, but it must be enforced.
We also need some type of construction ordinance. There are people who hammer and run a power saw, especially on Sundays, for projects lasting five or more years. We must be able to have peace and quiet sometime. There must be a time limit, especially in a residential area.
I urge the Pittston council to pass the noise ordinance. Other communities have noise ordinances, why not Pittston?
J. Ross
Writer praises Mundy for real ideas, solutions
The following statement on the website of state Rep. Phyllis Mundy’s election opponent tells voters all they need to know about him: “Pennsylvania state legislators receive $163 a day – on top of their salaries – just for showing up to work.”
Anybody who has traveled on employer-related business knows that per diems are not bonuses for “showing up to work,” but flat reimbursements for reasonable and necessary lodging, meals and similar expenses. Their purpose is to save the employer the expense of processing itemized receipts, which would on average probably equal the per diem. It is therefore impossible to “misuse” a per diem, despite what this Web page says.
The fact that Mundy’s opponent needs to insult the intelligence of voters with arguments of this nature suggests that he has little to offer the 120th District or Pennsylvania in terms of genuine ideas or constructive solutions. Thoughts on genuine health care reform are, for example, conspicuously absent from his website.
Mundy has, in contrast, played a leading role in developing and introducing nonpartisan and science-based legislation to address the root causes of rising health care costs. The effect of this legislation is to encourage health care providers to implement quality management systems, which would in turn reduce health care costs by 30 to 60 percent while eliminating 80 percent or more of all medical errors, hospital-acquired infections and other harm to patients. Both the American Society for Quality and the Automotive Industry Action Group have advocated this approach.
Mundy approaches issues from an impartial and scientific, rather than a partisan or ideological, perspective. This is a characteristic that is far too rare among legislators, although state Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski (121st District) is another example.
This is why both of these legislators deserve our votes in November.
William A. Levinson
Wilkes-Barre
Dems use dirty tactics to misrepresent Romney
Letter writer Patricia Snyder, I feel badly that you apparently have been so misinformed (“Reader has bad feeling about Romney’s bid,” Aug. 20). I don’t blame you, as I might believe the same if I had not researched further, and if I still believed everything the mainstream media report.
If I demanded that you show me your financial records and you refused, I then could proclaim: “Patricia must be hiding something sinister. She cannot be trusted.” That’s based solely on the fact that you refused to show me something that you were within your rights not to show me.
No, you are not running for president, but the point is that I would have given the “illusion” that you are hiding something when you are only protecting your rights. I would simply be a bully who wanted to disparage your name and used dirty tactics to do that.
President Barack Obama knows that Romney has shown everything that he is required to show, but because he has almost totally destroyed our economy, these dirty tactics are all he has left. And it’s sad that his tactics seemingly have worked on unsuspecting people.
What do we actually know about Obama? Very little! I am also a senior citizen, far from wealthy, and I used to be a Democrat until I caught on to their lies, deception and manipulation – using fear to make us believe that the opposition will hurt us, when it is they who are hurting us.
Mitt Romney is an honest man who is simply trying to save our country, our Social Security, our Medicare and our freedoms.
Nina Roppa
Lawmakers needn’t worry about benefits
I read the article “System fixable, but choices tough” (Aug. 21) by Associated Press writer Stephen Ohlemacher with a great deal of interest. This letter will address only one of the many concerns that I have had for years about the Social Security fix.
Why do our legislators and hopefuls always talk about saving a system that is funded by the people who will receive this money upon retirement? The folks who pay in have never “raided” the fund for pet projects. Left alone, the system can and will work.
What I found missing or lacking in the statements by the current and contending legislators is that there is no mention of their retirement benefits. In fact, I have never heard mention that these benefits might run out or “evaporate.” So I pose this question to all who seek to retain or gain public office: Who do you think pays for your benefits?
The sad part, America, is that these folks need to serve only six years to qualify for lifetime benefits, again, without the fear of the fund becoming bankrupt. That’s one senatorial term or three terms in the House.
Can we have Ohlemacher or one of The Times Leader’s reporters follow up with these concerns?
Emory Guffrovich
Reader chides center for failing to keep doctor
It is a great sadness that The Henry Cancer Center at Geisinger Wyoming Valley has let a prestigious oncologist such as Dr. Rodrigo Erlich slip through its fingers.
He brought to our area a wealth of knowledge and expertise. Many patients traveled out of state to seek his unique methods of treatment.
My husband was diagnosed three years ago with pancreatic cancer – told by his physician to get his affairs in order. Today he is doing very well, only one of many examples.
Dr. Erlich apparently is more vocal than most at the center in protecting his patients’ regimens of treatments and too often criticized for it. Shame on the non-expert “suits” for not putting their differences aside.
Rosalie Popeck
Hunlock Creek
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