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Letters

Drug problems

A letter was printed in our church bulletin a few weeks ago, written by an unknown concerned citizen. Though I modified it slightly — it expresses the way we were raised in my family. When asked if I ever had any drug problems growing up. “Well, sort of,” I replied. I was drug to church on Sunday, I was drug to weddings, funerals and family reunions. I was drug by my ears when I was disrespectful to adults or other children. I was drug to the “woodshed” when I disobeyed my parents or other family members, or brought home a bad report card from school. If I spoke with ...

The morally corrupt GOP

We have a president who is out of control and a Republican Congress that refuses to do anything about it. We have a president who incites violence, hatred and fear and Congressman Glenn Thompson and Senator David McCormick condone his behavior. We have a president who blew up a Venezuelan boat on the high seas, killing everyone on board, giving no evidence of wrongdoing. According to international law, this is murder, yet Congress does nothing. Murder is a high crime, certainly an impeachable offense. We have a president who was best friends with a convicted sex trafficking, money ...

Another Philadelphia

Why would the City of Williamsport consider the financial corrective action of the Philadelphia based financial consultant? This City has been doing the exact same action for years now! Look at Philadelphia, a sanctuary City, a crime ridden municipality, full of drug addicts who come here in Williamsport for treatment. You can not walks the streets with out being scared. This is nothing more than defund the police! Let's get rid of our fire department too. This person is stealing money from Williamsport and our City Administration is in with him. We are being taken for a ride. City ...

The hidden ‘pink tax’

For women in Williamsport and across Pennsylvania, health care costs do not stop with insurance premiums. Co-pays and out-of-pocket expenses create barriers that fall hardest on women, who are more likely to skip prescriptions or delay care because of cost. This is part of a hidden pink tax in our health system, where women consistently pay more simply to maintain their health. A 2023 Deloitte study found that women with single coverage spend about $266 more per year on out-of-pocket expenses than men. The reasons are structural: women need more preventive screenings, often face ...

How to increase crime

Crime rates have been dropping, but that may change with Trump’s policies. What drives crime is poverty and anger. When people are disrespected, they act out. If they don’t have enough to feed their families, they will steal. The more disparity in wealth, the more likely crime will occur. After all, how would any of us react if we were struggling to buy medicine or food for our family and others were super-rich? Trump’s Big Bill gives tax breaks to the wealthy while taking away food stamps, limiting Medicaid and trying to eliminate Obamacare. His tariffs are causing food and drug ...

Behavior

In past years, Donald Trump railed against what he called the “weaponization” of the Justice Department. He claimed to be the victim of politically motivated investigations, warning that such misuse of federal power threatened the very foundation of our democracy. Now, in his second term, Trump has changed his views. He has fired career prosecutors who refused to pursue flimsy cases against his political adversaries. He has installed loyal sycophants to replace them, publicly demanded indictments, and declared that “justice must be served” against those who opposed him. Trump has ...