Published: October 13, 2008 01:35 pm            

READERS' FORUM 10/14 | West End complaints fall on deaf ears

In response to Johnstown City Councilman Jack Williams and the empty lot grass issue: I attended a meeting of the West End Improvement Group on blight.

City Manager Curt Davis and other city officials were there.

Davis was asked by Williams if we couldn’t use funds from the sale of the sewage plant to control blight. Davis said that money is invested and the city is earning more than $3,000 in interest.

Davis also was asked if any businesses were being drawn to the West End. No, the West End isn’t marketable, he said.

There is an ordinance on the books regarding empty buildings and high grass, but no one enforces it.

Ron Shomo was hired by former Mayor Don Zucco to oversee these issues. Complaint forms are a waste of taxpayers’ money – you might as well use them and flush them.

Citizens are tired of excuses. We want answers. Council is to represent “we the people,” so why can’t council listen to us, save our city, clear the blight and get the grass cut? Don’t we deserve something for loving this city and sticking it out in hard times?

Please call your council members and the city manager and demand action.

Heads should roll.

Lindy G. Yutzy

Johnstown



Governments putting all citizens in a fix

How many times have you heard someone idly say, “The government should do something?” Well, they’re doing something all right.

Just 100 years ago, immigrants helped to build the greatest nation on earth by their own sweat and tears.

They weren’t looking to the government to fix every problem they faced.

Today, our citizens are encouraged to ask for handouts. You are nothing to our leaders unless you are a victim of something.

Our governments are fat and bloated and thriving on the power we have handed over to them. Now they ignore their Constitutions, socialize our institutions, penalize those who work hard, reward those who have learned how to work the system, and ignore the wishes of their constituencies.

Consider how much could be cut from the federal budget if we had term limits for all representatives and senators. There would be a lot less federal pensions to pay – and you can be sure that they would get their pensions, even if Social Security is gone by the time the baby boomers are ready to retire.

They sit in Washington, take our money to fix a problem they created and then hold hearings to find out who is responsible for the mess.

They pretend to be concerned for us. If they are really concerned they would empty their campaign war chests to fix the problems they created – not continue to bleed us dry.

Karen Sroka

Windber



Catholic Church turns against working class

I write this letter from my heart. As a son of a union steelworker and a World War II veteran; whose mother and father love the church; and whose mother’s two sisters were nuns, I ask: What right does the church have to tell me whom to vote for?

I think the Roman Catholic Church should clean up its own house before it tells someone whom to vote for. Make sure you tell everyone that Roe v. Wade was passed during the Nixon administration.

We have had a Republican administration during the past several years, and what do we have? We have abortion and nothing has changed. The Republican Party has used this every time and look what it has gotten the middle class.

We have the death penalty. In Illinois in 2000, seven men were found not guilty because of DNA. What does the Catholic church do to stop the death penalty? I wonder how many were put to death who were not guilty.

The problem with our young people today is they don’t know their history; so history repeats itself.

It was the Democratic Party that gave us Social Security and gave us unions and a 40-hour work week.

I’ve seen my father walk a picket line, not for himself, but to give me working rights. Rights that I have today; rights that many of us take for granted.

Yes, the church was there for the support of the working class. Now they do everything against the working class.

Rick Costlow

Johnstown



Lawmakers had many opportunities to cut

The Tribune-Democrat published a story Oct. 7 headlined “Top lawmakers predict massive deficit for Pa.”

Sen. Vincent Fumo said, “We’re down to the bone.” Sen. Gibson Armstrong said he didn’t know how we can get going the other way.

In The Tribune-Democrat of Oct. 8, an editorial, “Plenty of talk but little action,” states that Pennsylvania has America’s largest full-time state Legislature, and the largest spending.

For years, lawmakers could have cut the size of and spending by the Legislature by not filling positions when lawmakers retired.

Pennsylvania’s legislators will never vote to “cut their own jobs.”

Ralph Gutshall

Beaverdale



McCain’s platform is troubling

There are two things that worry me about John McCain’s platform:

Everyone would have to pay for his or her own health insurance. If employers don’t have to pay for it anymore, a lot of people won’t have any.

If you earn less than $9 an hour and your yearly earnings are $17,280, your take-home pay is around $1,050 a month after taxes. The cheapest health insurance my daughter found was $550 a month, or $6,600 a year. That leaves about $500 a month for food, rent, utilities, gasoline for her car and school loans. That is not enough.

If you have a family or own a home, there is no way you can get by. Plus, what happens to the people who are retired and have health insurance through their employers? Will they lose that coverage?

McCain said he would not wait for the United Nations to act, that he would send troops if necessary to Iran, Pakistan, Israel and the Ukraine – and keep the wars going in Iraq and Afghanistan. Where is he going to get the troops to send to all of these countries?

President Bush has sent a lot of our troops to Iraq and Afghanistan. Some of them haven’t been home for a long time. Those who have been home have been sent right back.

We don’t have enough National Guard troops now to protect the United States if another country would attack us.

Florence Symosky

St. Benedict



If Obama wins, gridlock will continue

They talk and talk, but don’t ever tell the whole story.

In his campaign ads, Barack Obama says, “This is what I’ll do as president.” He will stop the greed on Wall Street, close the loopholes in the tax code so that companies will pay their fair share, etc.

He will also make sure that pre-existing medical conditions will be covered by an individual’s health insurance – something that was already done during the Reagan administration.

Obama is not going to do any of it – Congress has to do all of these things, and since the Democrats have been in control of Congress, we’ve seen no success to do so.

The Democrats failed to remedy the problems that have led to the current financial meltdown; those problems have been festering since the 1990s.

Instead, lending money to marginal home buyers was encouraged by Congress.

We’ve seen the legislative branch in gridlock for a decade or more, and no matter who you support in this election, these are facts.

If Obama wins the White House, the Republicans will close ranks and gridlock will continue.

John McCain has a reputation for reaching across the aisle successfully, and he is the only candidate who has even a remote chance of ending the stalemate.

That is how “change” will happen.

David Graham

Bon Air

        

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