After subscribing and reading the headlines of our local newspapers, I find what is going on in our townships, counties, states and country exceeds history ever since we became the United States of America on July 4, 1776. Over 200 years ago, if someone robbed a bank, shot an innocent person or stole some cattle, a posse would hunt you down and there would be a public hanging from the nearest tree.

This unorthodox method kept things in check and it didn’t promote criminals to become rampant like our current laws do, all because of our current court system and the power of the all-American dollar. Years ago, if there was a shooting, a bank robbery or a mysterious murder, it was done by a man, not a woman. Does this hold true in today’s world? Not one iota.

In remote Renovo in Clinton County, the headlines stated, “Jailed on drug charges. Renovo woman arrested with $8,000 of crack cocaine, pot and a loaded handgun, and $434 which was seized from a woman’s vehicle.” Here is just another financial burden put on the taxpayers’ shoulders, which include retired senior citizens because we must continue to pay taxes even though we no longer work.

Is there no end to the madness that we working and retired citizens of this country who help pay for the comfort and hand slapping that takes place now-a-days, every time a serious crime is committed by both male and female criminals? Add to this the fact that in today’s edition of the Sun-Gazette, it stated that 34 individuals were sentenced in Lycoming County alone. Nine were sentenced to state prison, 16 were sentenced to county prison, one to intermediate punishment and eight we placed on probation.

I am 86 years of age and most of my generation was born in the 1930s and 1940s during World War II. We smoked cigarettes, which was detrimental to our health, but the nicotine in the tobacco didn’t hallucinate our minds like marijuana and other drugs do to the users of today.

How proud will today’s generation be if they live into their 80s and 90s? Myself and many others in my generation who survived the Korean and Vietnam wars can be proud of the fact that many of us have never been incarcerated or never even received a ticket for speeding on our highways. Call it whatever you wish, but reality is the proven truth, and we are all proud of the life we have and are still living.

Weldon C. Cohick Jr.

Linden