Doing what’s best for PA

I am tired of all the negativity and mean-spiritedness surrounding the elections. These are the candidates that I am supporting, because they have actually come to Wayne County, where I live, many times, and have listened to what the locals are concerned about.

Josh Shapiro (Governor) was very busy as state attorney general, bringing to justice those who tried to take advantage of children, veterans, seniors and working-class people. He will continue to defend our rights when he is governor. 

John Fetterman (Senator), as mayor of Braddock, turned the town around, reduced crime and made [the town] more livable again. As lieutenant governor, he spoke up for those who were afraid to use their own voices. He will continue to make sure that no one takes away our Social Security, Medicare, voting rights and everyone’s personal right to make his or her own health care decisions. 

Matt Cartwright (Congress) has always represented his constituents and put their needs before the greed of corporate interests. He has worked in a bipartisan way to bring over $52 million in funding to his district, and as Subcommittee Chair of House Appropriations, he will continue to bring money to Wayne County for infrastructure, jobs and health care. He has always worked for legislation that supports children, veterans, seniors and working families. 

Jackie Baker (PA Senate 20th District), Jennifer Shukaitis (PA Senate 40th District) and Meghan Rosenfeld (PA House 139th District) are all tired of politics as usual, and have stepped up to change things in Harrisburg. Their priorities are well-paying jobs, reforming the PA tax system—over 70 percent of large corporations operating in PA pay nothing in taxes, access to affordable healthcare, improving women’s healthcare and bringing more community hospitals to our area, putting a cap on the cost of life-saving prescription medicines, investing in public education, improving infrastructure and bringing broadband to rural areas, protecting and preserving our environment and investing in green energy, and listening to the concerns of working people and families in Pennsylvania. 

These are the things I am concerned about, and I believe these candidates are too. Please vote on November 8.

Joan Russo
Hawley, PA

Supporting Bob Beierle for District 139

So often lately conversations can be heard, to the effect of “Whatever happened to those people elected to our governments?”

The simple answer to such a question is that they’re still out there, but the voters aren’t voting for them, because voters pay more attention to the people who can be called “professional politicians” rather than taking a closer look at the people running for the various offices before voting for them. When such people get elected, they too often become difficult at best to unseat, or have opponents with more funding and backing. 

Such people are not unbeatable if we voters look at those we’re voting for, then pay more attention to the others who are running for the same elected offices, and to what the candidates are saying. 

We voters here in the Pennsylvania’s elective District 139 have the opportunity to elect a candidate for the district who has been giving us honest and truthful information about candidates and the sorry shape so many of them and our various areas of government are in right now. That candidate has given us long information through his publication called “Our Town.” Bob Beierle, with aid from his wife Dorothy, has launched a campaign for District 139 with a write-in campaign. We could be better represented in Harrisburg by someone who has the habit of not just telling us how we should be represented by our current various elected people; he gives us the kind of changes we should be given. His various thoughts and ideas have been proven, and there’s no reason an elected candidate like Bob Beierle wouldn’t represent us in the same way—something too many present and past elected people haven’t done. 

Those pens in our voting booth aren’t there just to blackout a candidate’s block; they also give us an opportunity to write in a candidate’s name, which Bob Beierle is asking us to do. His write-in could well be a good beginning toward a start toward corrective change to the very bad present condition the Biden-Democrats have put the district-state-country in. 

Think about that, and also think hard how easy you can write such a candidate as Bob Beierle on your coming voting ballot!

Thomas Atkinson Sr.
Honesdale, PA 

What the GOP offers isn’t good for America

Here’s what the Republicans are offering: 

Nothing, except no minimum wage increase; breaking the unions; cutting welfare programs, food programs and Social Security; deregulating everything; refusing to ban assault weapons; repealing Obamacare (they failed over 70 times); cutting disability benefits; denying science (climate change); banning books; cutting higher education; banning abortion in all cases; closing down Planned Parenthood; criminalizing miscarriage; anti-contraception; giving power to state governments to overturn elections they don’t like; suppressing voting rights for minorities and on and on and on.

Republicans have voted NO on mostly all the bills Democrats have passed that are beneficial to the country as a whole, but that doesn’t stop many of them for taking credit for their passage. The audacity. They still falsely claim that there was massive voter fraud in the 2020 election, and that Joe Biden is not the duly elected President of the United States.

On top of all this craziness, we have a former (twice impeached) president who has absconded with hundreds of classified documents (caught red-handed by the FBI), instigated the attack on the Capitol to overturn the election results, is under indictment for tax fraud in New York, continues to spread lies about voter fraud and believes in QAnon conspiracy theories. Believe it or not, his diehard followers continue to listen to and believe his hogwash. The Republican party is a non-starter on all levels.

If you don’t want a dictatorship and lose both houses of Congress then you MUST vote for Democrats on November 8, or you will have no one to blame but yourselves. Our rights and freedoms are at stake.

John Hahn, Chair
Pike County Democratic 
Committee of Shohola

Democracy is at stake

Perhaps there is nothing more frightening than that so few people seem to be convinced that this is truly an existential election—that is, the actual existence of this country as a functioning democracy is at stake. We have an ex- and perhaps future president who tried to overthrow our government, who fomented a violent assault on a basic cornerstone of democracy—the peaceful transfer of power—something that has never ever previously occurred in the 230+ years of the entire history of our country. Yet we have 42 percent of our electorate who simply discount its importance, or actually approve of it. Polling shows that this issue seems to be a major issue for only about 12 percent of the entire electorate.  

Certainly, inflation is an important issue; so is the increase in mass murders which appears to happen on a daily basis; so is the fact that we have a radical Supreme Court, which on one hand gives just about anyone the freedom to possess and use any firearms they want, but also does not recognize that women should have the basic freedom to make decisions about their own health. Crime, the environment, climate change, education, universal health care, maintaining social security, taxes, policing are all important issues, of course, but they all pale before this one issue. 

So please, vote this election, but remember it is not hyperbole to state one simple truth—this election could very well dictate the future of our country as a functioning democracy!  

Robert J. McCallum
Milford, PA

In support of Aileen Gunther

If you live in the 100th NY Assembly District, as I do, you are fortunate to have Aileen Gunther representing you in Albany. Although she has been our representative for many years, she remains diligent about staying in touch with her constituents. 

In this election year, as well as in the off-years past, Aileen has been diligent in being out in the district, attending every community function, supporting every cause, and mingling with and talking to her constituents on a regular basis. 

Trained as a nurse, she is always taking the pulse. Whether it was during the height of COVID, when she made sure everyone had access to vaccines, masks and testing kits, or responding to her constituents’ calls, letters and emails to her office, she has been there for us. 

I have watched elected officials over many years, and can say with certainty that there is no person more diligent in working for the interests of her constituents than Aileen Gunther. Please vote for Aileen Gunther on November 8. No person has worked harder to earn your vote. 

Andrew Boyar 
Eldred, NY

Thanking those who helped the Milford Lions

The Milford Lions Club would like to express its gratitude to the following businesses and individuals who supported our second annual Milford Lions Club Fall Classic, held on October 1. The event was a great success for the community and a fundraiser for both the Milford Lions Club and the Multiple Sclerosis Society. 

All this was made possible because of the generosity of the following: Adriana Vilela and Ed Gragert; Barbara and Frank Tarquino; Biondo Investment Advisors; Brooklyn Boy Pork Store; Chant Realtors; Costas Family Fun Park; Dale and Yama Thatcher; Diana and Benjamin Hissam; Diana and Eric Kudrich; Dimmick Inn; Dingmans Bridge; Doug Manion and Megan Strub; Econo Pack; Ed Nikles Custom Builder; Eileen and Scott Smith; Emily and George Beacon; Gwen and Bill Harkness; Jem Printing; John Carpenter; Key Foods; Kim Aker Reno; Latimore Construction; Lions District Governor Lisa Leon; Maryann and David Ruby; Maureen and Joe Dooley; Melinda Storey; MHE Engineering; Milford Auto Body; Milford Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram; Milford Hospitality Group (Hotel Fauchere, Tom Quick Inn, La Posada, Jive Bar and Lounge, Apple Valley Restaurant); Milford Smoke Shop; Myer & Myer Accountants; the Petersheim Family; Pike County Commissioners: Matt Osterberg, Ron Schmalzle and Tony Waldron; Pocono Mountain Vacation Bureau; Prime Time Meats; Sawmill Power Equipment; Sean Strub and Xavier Morales; Ski Big Bear; Stella and Rich Provenzano; Sue and Fred Weber; Turano Insurance; Waterwheel Cafe; William Lovejoy; and Zimmerman and Ohlinger.

Gretchen Pollack, Secretary, Milford Lions Club
Milford, PA

Cannabis referendum—the people’s choice

At the end of 2021, the Town of Tusten board voted unanimously to “opt out” of allowing cannabis dispensaries and /or on-site consumption establishments in the town. In accordance with New York State law, Tusten voters gathered signatures on legal petitions and submitted them to the town board for a public referendum to be on the November 8, 2022 election ballot. 

The referendum allows the citizens of Tusten to have the final say in the status of cannabis establishments in their town. The town attorney drafted the language for this referendum, and it was placed on the Town of Tusten ballot.

The Tusten Cannabis public referendum will be listed as two separate propositions on the back of the November 8 ballot. Proposition 2 deals with the dispensaries, and Proposition 3 deals with the consumption establishments. Because of the very confusing wording in both these propositions, it is essential that voters look very carefully at Propositions 2 and 3 before they vote.

Ordinarily, people vote no if they don’t support something, and yes if they do. But with the muddled language of Propositions 2 and 3, a yes vote actually keeps the town board’s opt-out decision in place, upholding and continuing the cannabis prohibition in Tusten. 

If Tusten voters want to ALLOW cannabis dispensaries and/or consumption facilities in town, they should vote NO on Propositions 2 and/or 3. A NO vote eliminates the opt-out, and lifts the cannabis ban from Tusten. In any case, the choice on allowing cannabis in Tusten is rightly the decision for the people of Tusten to make.

Star D. Hesse
Narrowsburg, NY