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Letters

The state of the Fourth Estate

In the old days, men had the rack. Now they have the Press. That is an improvement, certainly, but still incorrect and demoralizing. Somebody - was it Burke?- called journalism the fourth estate. That was true at the time, no doubt. But at the present moment, it is the only estate. It has eaten up the other three. The Lords Temporal say nothing, the Lords Spiritual have nothing to say, and the House of Commons has nothing to say and says it. We are dominated by Journalism,” Oscar Wilde That bit of sarcasm applies to today’s media. Every day, we are bombarded with what ...

Paving a parking lot

I am a frequent user of the Williamsport side of the River Walk. I park in the Hepburn Dam lot. I was pleasantly surprised to see the potholes in the lot were filled in. This was a much needed improvement. My hope is maybe the agencies that maintain our scenic River Walk can find the resources to pave a small area of the above named parking lot SCOTT RIDER Old Lycoming Township Submitted by mail

Hopes and dreams

It is my hope that the governor and legislature will repeal the state sales and flat-rate income taxes and replace them with a graduated-income tax, based on the ability to pay, for individual taxpayers and small and large corporations. The wealthy just aren’t paying their fair share of taxes. I also hope the state mandates a change in the number of school districts within each of the 67 counties to just one. This has the potential to save millions of dollars a year. It would also save tax money if the school districts, local and county governments could use a graduated-income tax to ...

Affordability is no hoax

Trump constantly repeats blatantly obvious lies knowing that some people will believe anything that’s said often enough; even when it’s not true. This time is different. Everyone knows that affordability is not a “scam” or a “hoax.” Americans get reminded of rising inflation every time they pay their bills or shop for groceries. In addition to not bringing consumer prices down “on day one,” Trump’s economic policies have failed to fulfill his other fake promises. Despite reducing trade with the U.S., China continues to have a record trade surplus with the rest ...

Our Christmas spirit

We are supposed to be a Christian nation….“Love Thy Neighbor”. Christ told us to care for strangers. (Matthew 25:35 and 3 John 1:5-8) Instead we are torturing our neighbors. There are over 66,000 in detention centers. The vast majority, 73%, have no criminal record. They are construction and lawn service workers, farm hands, cooks and domestic workers, jobs most Americans don’t want. These persons are also fathers and mothers, sons and daughters. They are being tortured through overcrowding and unsanitary conditions. In the Stewart Detention Center in Georgia, for example, ...

Good job

I had the pleasure of sitting with the Repasz Band holiday concert and, like the four-star restaurant reviews, I give them a hundred stars. Their theme had to do with bells. They had the stage lined up with bells and one time during the concert, they threw out bells to the band. They really went over the moon with this concert, not to mention video slides about bells and also, A-plus for the bellringers. As I was sitting there watching the crowd come in, I thought to myself, being the oldest band around, it truly is amazing how you drag out not only the old generation but the ...