Mice may be our partners

To the editor:

With regard to your editorial on gypsy moths, I thought it might be of interest to note that, in stacking some older firewood this year, I found large caches of white wings. I’m hoping that mice have been collecting and feeding on the female gypsy moths. The moths are not much good at flying, and I would suppose they’re easy prey. This would indeed make these mice a blessing. All help in the gypsy moth fight, if it does no harm, is so welcome.

The St. Patrick’s Day non-parade

To the editor:

The 2009 Yulan St. Patrick’s Day Non-Parade will not be gathering at the Yulan Four Corners at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, March 15. All those wishing to not march, not to have fun and not to welcome Spring with Irish good cheer should remember to not show up. After all, what are traditions for if not to be broken? Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

The best school board candidates

To the editor:

Five seats on the Delaware Valley School Board will be up for election this May. The five candidates who will best serve our community and our students are Fisher, Greenlaw, Lutfy, Pike and Schor.

Jack Fisher and Chuck Pike have both served on the board before. Jack and Chuck are active volunteers in our community and our schools.

Bill Greenlaw regularly attends school board meetings. With a wealth of policy knowledge, Bill has been tirelessly pushing for better communication between our schools and the community.

Pam Lutfy and Sue Schor currently serve as school board directors and committee chairs with distinction.

This team for economic and educational balance will serve all of us well—taxpayers, parents and students alike.

As a 13-year student at Delaware Valley and lifetime member of our community, I endorse Fisher, Greenlaw, Lutfy, Pike and Schor. They are the best candidates to efficiently improve education in our community.

Following the dictates of conscience

To the editor:

I usually agree with most “pro-choice” positions, up to the time of fetal viability (see Gen. 2:7). But I am writing specifically to support the so-called “conscience rules” that say medical professionals should not be forced to provide services that contradict their religious or moral beliefs.

This is a simple issue of religious freedom. Perhaps people holding such beliefs should not place themselves in positions involving such choices, but if an employer has hired someone knowing of those beliefs, they should be respected.

This general principle—that one should not be compelled by legal sanction to act in contradiction to one’s moral or religious beliefs—has broader applications, some of which deserve contemplation as we approach the tax filing deadline of April 15.

Specifically, citizens should be able to direct their individual tax revenues away from government activities that contradict or violate their beliefs. This would simply require the implementation of appropriate bookkeeping procedures. Catholics, for example, or others whose faith condemns family planning, should be able to direct their funds accordingly; similarly, Quakers and other members of the traditional “peace churches” should be able to have their contributions devoted to non-military expenditures.

I call on our elected and appointed officials to enact policies that would save Americans from having to choose—at tax time or any other time—between violating their consciences and violating the law.

Letters to the Pike County Commissioners on the Emergency Training Center

Reconsider the facility

The Lackawaxen Township Supervisors are very disappointed to find out that the Emergency Services Training Facility will not be funded by the gaming money available for such a project. We currently have four volunteer fire departments and two ambulance stations in our township. It is disheartening that a decision could be made not to support this much-needed facility.

There is much demand put on the volunteers to get adequate training by our government, yet they decide that a training facility is not a priority.

We would appreciate your reconsideration of this facility and of providing the funding so that we can move forward in protecting the volunteers of our township and the citizens of our community.

Thank you for your prompt attention to the above-mentioned matter.

Help the volunteers help us

Volunteers give a great deal of time to their communities to keep them safe and reduce the cost to all constituents. They raise money through fund-raising events like pancake breakfasts, spaghetti dinners, flea markets etc.

The administration and line officers of the emergency services of Lackawaxen Township have put in countless hours in assisting the design of a new training center where our dedicated volunteers could have proper training. We have promoted this training center to our people and now have been told that the state does not care enough to protect those who protect so many, considering their income and their dedication and their lives and safety that they put on the line every day.

It is with deep regret that we get this news from our political hierarchy that they make a decision not to support our need for this facility to continue to protect. I have heard some volunteers comment that if they do not care about us, then it may be time for us to stop volunteering our time. That would be a very sad day indeed.

The Federal and state government are demanding that our volunteers get more training, but then do something like this to say they don’t care. Pennsylvania has had the highest death rate of firefighters for the last four years. Wake up —and help us continue to help others.