Published: August 04, 2009 01:24 pm      

READERS' FORUM 8-5 | Pirates’ problem management, not players

I have been a Pittsburgh Pirates fan for more than 50 years. Trading infielders Freddie Sanchez and Jack Wilson was the last straw.

As of today, I’m shopping for a new team. If the fans were wise, they’d stop supporting them and maybe then the owners would realize that instead of trading good players, they should trade for some smarter management.

I don’t foresee the Pirates staying in Pittsburgh much longer.

Management’s reasoning for the trades is that they’re building a competitive team.

The only thing they’re building is a road out of Pittsburgh.

Helen Mangos

Johnstown



Shop around for banks with higher rates

Ever since World War II, we have had low or high inflation almost every year. This has wrecked retired people’s pensions. Savings usually lose value after interest earned.

The government and some businesses have benefited by paying back loans and bonds with cheaper money. There was some equality in the past due to high interest rates.

Now, interest is usually between one- half and 1 percent on checking accounts.

At this rate, any depositor is guaranteed to lose funds over a year due to inflation and taxes. I have found local banks with higher rates. So shop around. You will probably still lose funds, but it will be less.

The value to keeping your funds in banks is safety.

Stocking up on canned goods for two to six months is a good way to avoid inflation.

Ken Gates

Johnstown



Touting peace among people of all lifestyles

In response to John DeBartola’s letter on July 29, “There are different types of love”:

The Cumberland Chapter of the Keystone Alliance has looked deeply at this. It has met with its large membership and has concluded that we support the efforts of all those who want to work toward ending discrimination and creating an opportunity for true peace among all segments of the community.

We would hope that all of us would become more accepting of the various lifestyles within our gay and lesbian communities, and that we would accept each other as we ask the straight world to accept us.

Wade Bowers

President of Cumberland Chapter

of the Keystone Alliance



Free Choice Act would benefit women

In the time of crisis, what the nation needs is a support system for healthy families. This, more than anything, is what our government should be striving for. And, as we all know, it is the women of this nation that form the crux of families.

Often they take on the majority of the responsibility of caring for the sick, the young and the elderly in family units.

As the fight proceeds in Congress for a better system of health care in this nation of 46 million entirely uninsured citizens, women need to look for other options to ensure their own and their family’s healthy futures.

One sure way for women to increase their chances of having health insurance and a brighter future for their families is to join a union.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, women in unions make an average of 32 percent higher wages than their nonunion counterparts. This is a 9 percent increase over the advantage that unionization provides for men, whose average hike of 23 percent is by no means insignificant of itself.

Congress finds itself conflicted and is in a difficult position while attempting to solve the health-care crisis in this country.

However, the very least that it can do for women and families is pass the Employee Free Choice Act, which would give workers everywhere, and particularly working women, the opportunity to bargain for better wages, health care, benefits and equality.

Kay Woodling

Ebensburg



Where are the jobs to keep people here?

A lot of people in this town talk about the “brain drain,” where a lot of young, qualified workers leave this town because there are not enough jobs.

Well, not every young person has that option. Some of us are stuck here, and being discouraged every time we look at the classified ads and see only filler ads put in by some eager-beaver military recruiter, comic strips, telemarketing jobs that you know have no job security whatsoever, and car ads in what is supposed to be the help-wanted section.

That being said, why don’t some of the employers in this town advertise that they’re hiring?

It seems like they already have someone in mind for a job before the position becomes available.

I guess the old saying fits here: It’s not what you know, or what you can do, but it’s who you know.

After constantly looking in the help- wanted ads and letting out sigh after sigh of disappointment, I have to agree with that saying.

I now understand why so many people such as me, in their mid-20s, are packing up and leaving town. No one wants us to succeed here. If only I were in my 50s.

Justin Perreault

Johnstown



Places Obama doesn’t need to attend

Ten places President Obama doesn’t need to attend:

1. Republican convention.

2. Right to Life march.

3. Any NASCAR race.

4. NRA convention.

5. Rush Limbaugh birthday party.

6. Libertarian convention.

7. Hunting with former vice president Dick Cheney.

8. Bowling.

9. Any freedom concert.

10. A Mark Levin book signing.

God bless the United States.

Joseph J. Boburchuk

Windber



Governor should lead state or step aside

Hey, Governor, if you don’t want this state, hand it over to someone who can run it right. No governor we’ve ever had knew anything west of Harrisburg.

Raise the sales tax and don’t give it to the horsemen. Where’s the slots money?

Gone or what?

Bonny Chervenic

Johnstown