Sayso

Monday, January 24, 2000     Page: 10A

I READ IN SUNDAY’S Times Leader Steve Corbett’s article on PFAs. It’s time
Luzerne County does away with the PFA orders; they’re being abused. I have
friends that are in law enforcement and they say, at any given time in Luzerne
County, there are between (7,000) and 9,000 PFA orders issued. People are
getting them not for the rightful reason, as a threat. I’M A JUNIOR at the
Greater Nanticoke Area school and I just want to say something positive for
once in the newspaper. I want to say “thank you” to the whole semi committee
for making the semi the best one we’ve ever had. I HAVE A QUESTION. In the
obituary column when there are veterans that passed away, some have American
flags by them and some don’t. Is there a reason for that? EDITOR’S NOTE: Some
flags were inadvertently omitted. All veterans should receive one. I AM 8
YEARS OLD and I read the paper sometimes. I think the lady who said I should
get a smack is very mean. You should not hit anyone. WE LIVE ON SOUTH
Franklin Street and we receive our mail between 5 and 5:30 at night. This is
ridiculous. The money the postal service receives for postage, can’t they hire
more workers? The rates keep going up, but the service is terrible. IN
RESPONSE TO the Nanticoke reader concerning Adelphia: the office is open 8
a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday and on Saturday from 9 until 6. Should
they call and get a busy signal and wait longer than 3 minutes, hang up and
try again anytime between those hours. The people are there in the office. I
HAVE A COMPLAINT with all of the dog owners. I live over here in Dodson Lane
and in front of me sits Parrish Street. Every morning at 7 or 7:30 I’m woken
up out of bed with barking dogs, and after they get you up it seems as though
they take their dogs in for another half hour, 45 minutes and all I listen to
all day long is barking. Can someone tell me who you can go to, to put a stop
to this nonsense? Senior citizens don’t have to get up at 7 or 7:30 in the
morning. In my home, I have to escape to get out of here for the full day in
order to keep my sanity. SOMETHING WRONG HERE in Hazleton. Monday, Jan. 17,
and Tuesday, Jan. 18, the temperature was below zero both days. As I watched
the morning news, I saw various weather people and professionals warning the
people to stay indoors, even keep your pets indoors. Yet as school delays
scrolled across the TV screen, dozens of schools delayed classes, but Hazleton
Area wasn’t one of them. Why? I WONDER IF people could help me. I’m a senior
citizen recently widowed and I’d like to join some kind of a club. I live in
Buck Township and there’s no social club out here. I’VE CALLED TWO SAYSOS in
regarding the arena’s effect on small businesses in the area and I guess it’s
just not something that you choose to write about. EDITOR’S NOTE: Try again.
We don’t recall the calls. NO SIGNS OF anything being done about a methadone
clinic. What’s going on, did not enough people die lately for it to be an
issue or, as usual, are the politicians tucking it away like they usually do
after an election? HATS OFF TO the Hazleton Area School District and also the
Lake-Lehman School District for giving back their federal-funded grant to slow
down the growth in school population as far as teacher/student ratio. Pittston
Area, on the other hand, will take their $105,000 and hire extra teachers and
then be stuck with it when the federal program dries up. THE GREED OF the
Wilkes-Barre Area School District to accept the funding for more teachers is
obvious. They will hire relatives and once they’re on the list and they get
their tenure, the taxpayers are stuck with paying their salary for life.
Refuse the money and let’s not be burdened with more tax raises because of
such an arrangement. LISTENING TO the Republican candidate for president
Bush, he answered a woman’s question by saying, “a lot of the working people
will not buy health insurance because they don’t want it.” He’s way out on a
limb because a lot of these people that are working can’t afford it, they
don’t make enough money to buy health insurance at the cost it is. He should
research some of this before he spouts off. FOR THE PERSON whose comments
were published on Jan. 15 SAYSO about the Lottery benefits going to the senior
citizens, this is the story. A majority of the men who were employed in the
area worked in the mining industry with many layoffs. To compensate, their
wives worked at menial jobs, many doing housework at very low wages. In order
for their children to have a better life, they struggled to put them through
college paying for their education as there were no subsidized government
programs. So tell me, how could they plan for a cushy retirement? Perhaps you
are one who benefited. At one time, the elderly lived with one of their
married children. Not so today. People in this country do not respect the
elderly. Just for your information, I’m a senior citizen and do not benefit
from any free programs like PACE, tax or fuel rebates. ABOUT THE
STENOGRAPHERS at the Luzerne County Courthouse. They don’t have to copy
anything, they probably type it into a computer and then print it from the
computer to a printer. They’re not photocopying anything these days with all
the technology we have. HOW COME WHEN Wyoming Area passed the law that new
teachers or new hires can’t be related to the School Board, other schools in
the area didn’t follow and pass that same law and why isn’t the Times Leader
following up on this and putting some media pressure on the other school
districts to follow and pass the same law. I’M NOT AN employee of Valley Crest
or a relative of anyone working there, but after reading about how the new
administrator opted not to replace 27 employees after getting a $10,000 raise,
it makes me realize how greedy some people in political positions really are.
All I can say is that she will have her money, but she will feel in other ways
the pain of the 27 employed workers in some form or another. THE MEDICAL
PROFESSION spends a lot of money advertising they’re compassionate,
understanding, considerate, yet a 9 o’clock appointment can become a two- or
three-hour wait. It seems like greed is driving this situation. The doctor
should remember if it wasn’t for the patient they wouldn’t live so high on the
economic plateau. They should have more consideration and understanding. WELL
IT’S NOT the responsibility of the taxpayers to have to take care of the
council people and give them full health benefits and their families. These
councilmen are part-time councilmen, they’re employed by an employer and the
employer should give them the coverage that they need. AS AN EMPLOYEE of the
Social Security Administration, I’d like to state that the roads are
treacherous there. The next snowstorm I hesitate to even drive there. Can you
do something about this through the state or whatever? We don’t want to die. I
WOULD LIKE TO know if your paper could do a front-page article on the dangers
of smoking around children? I see it every day, parents smoking in a car with
rolled-up windows and small children in the car with them. They’re killing
their children by doing this. THE DISPUTE OVER the school board seat in
Crestwood with Mr. Ginochetti. I’m wondering if I interpreted it correctly. He
says he spends some of his time sleeping on his son’s couch and also in an
apartment in Wilkes-Barre. I assume therefore that he’s also eligible for the
Wilkes-Barre school board based on his interpretation. Obviously he shouldn’t
be in there. He’s not a citizen of Crestwood. If everyone who owned a business
could claim residence in the area of the business, politics would be in worse
shambles than it is.