Letters: Wear a mask to protect others; Remembering a sports journalist

Editor’s note:The Centre Daily Times welcomes letters endorsing candidates in the June 2 primary election and will accept letters that are received by May 22. Election letters will be published through May 29. Letters are subject to editing, must be based on facts and should avoid attacks on other candidates. Letters of 250 words or fewer can be sent to cdtletters@centredaily.com.

Wear a mask to protect others

I see the numbers of coronavirus cases keep going up in Centre County. Maybe you don’t care about yourself by not wearing a mask. Stop and think about folks in nursing homes and personal care homes — people who are restricted by not being able to have family or friends visit.

So please wear masks, wash hands and do whatever you are to do so that we can enjoy the freedoms you have — fresh air, seeing family and friends.

Remembering a sports journalist

Tom Berner’s remembrance of sports journalist Dennis Gildea recalled for me my Penn State grad school days with Dennis in a couple of my English classes where I learned that he had roomed at Villanova with my wife’s close cousin Tom Byrnes, who considered him a great guy.

When Dennis dropped out of his graduate work, Berner met him on the local journalism scene. But Dennis had retained his literary inclinations, and Berner seems to have missed the story of where Dennis acquired his nom de plume, T. Wes Brillik, with the girlfriend Mimsy Borogroves. If one reads (or rereads) Lewis Carroll’s classic nonsense poem “Jabberwocky,” one hears: “Twas brillig and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe/ All mimsy were the borogroves. ...”

When Dennis finally returned to complete his journalism doctorate, our daughter Becky found herself, by another coincidence, his classmate, and they became friends. Like Tom Berner, we remember Dennis as a genuinely engaging character hereabouts and beyond.

A solution to stagnant fair districts legislation?

I changed my mind. I used to want to end gerrymandering in Pennsylvania. The concept: Fair districts would create more competitive elections, candidates would need support from all constituents to get elected. Less polarization, less partisanship, more gets done hopefully. Next year after census data is compiled the legislature sets up new districts. Current rules in Pennsylvania: The majority and minority leaders in the two house chambers (two Democrats, two Republicans) decide on a fifth person. These five decide the new districts. If they can’t decide on a fifth (usually the case), the Supreme Court picks that individual. Democrats hold the advantage in the Supreme Court so most likely they pick one that sides with Democrats.

However HB 22, 23 and Senate Bills 1022, 1023 would create an independent commission that would set new districts. The commission would be comprised of four Democrats, four Republicans and three members registered with neither party. Commission members can’t have (for the previous five years) ties to lobbyists, have a state or federal job, or have been elected to political office. It’s not perfect, yet it is quite an improvement. These bills are stuck in committee preventing a vote. Since there hasn’t been a groundswell of support from the public or legislators for this upgrade, I say let the Democrats take advantage. Let’s not strive to have competitive elections, where hopefuls need to appeal to all constituents. Anyway, there are more registered Democrats in Pennsylvania. So don’t contact your representatives to support the bills.

Customers should always hear ‘thank you’

Perhaps I’m just showing my age, but being told “have a nice day,” or “have a good one” does not substitute for saying “thank you.” When I go to a store and purchase something, the least I should get is a thank you. As a young person working in my father’s store, I was taught to always say “thank you” to a customer. It is basic manners. Is no one being taught this anymore? Employers: Please start making this rudimentary form of politeness a part of your training. Hearing “thank you” from a clerk makes me want to return to the store. Thank You!