Letters: Democratic candidates have solutions for rural PA; Penn State doing less to protect community
Democratic candidates have solutions for rural PA
Poverty retreating; means to control COVID; infrastructure coming including connectivity, broadband and cell service (imagine, no more trips to McDonald’s or Walmart parking lots for internet); shots in the arm; cash in your pocket; and help for rural schools and hospitals — all through Democrats working for you, for all of us.
For years we have sent Republicans to Harrisburg and DC to represent us, yet our towns, bridges, roads, schools and hospitals crumble as our way of life falls to the wayside.
Former President Trump may have been right when he asked urban communities that routinely vote Democratic, “what do you have to lose?” We too must ask ourselves, “what do we have to lose by listening to the proposals of our local Democratic candidates?” Nothing, we might even benefit!
Democrats have heard the cries, the sense of abandonment. In 2015, the Pennsylvania Democrats formed the Rural Caucus, focused on rural issues and needs. Its core mission to promote policies for family-sustaining jobs so that our children and grandchildren have the opportunity to stay locally for work, raise their families and enjoy life with quality health care and education, while being good stewards of the environment, keeping our blessed rural Pennsylvania beautiful and healthy.
So, let’s open our hearts and minds just a bit; it’s well past time to lend an ear to each other, see what local Democratic candidates can offer to the problems that confront us. Together we can preserve our way of life in rural PA.
Penn State doing less to protect community
Last August, my husband and I guessed how long our three kids would stay in school in person. Neither of us was pessimistic enough to get close to the right answer: SCASD had 7 days in person before returning PSU students made our local case counts skyrocket and SCASD transitioned to remote learning. It was infuriating to see unmasked PSU students crowding onto front porches while my 8-year-old cried in frustration at his Chromebook.
Penn State did better in February: all students were required to submit a negative test before returning to campus and then were tested again a week after returning.
Now, the delta variant of the coronavirus is causing exponential growth in case numbers across the country and Penn State students prepare to travel back to State College. Bizarrely, PSU is doing much less than they did last February. As an off-campus graduate student, I have heard nothing about pre- or post-arrival testing; there is only the vague assurance that random testing may, at some point, occur. The only students being tested are unvaccinated students who are living in the dorms. Every resident of State College knows that the students who live off-campus will be in Target, in Trader Joe’s, tailgating, at football games ... in short, deeply enmeshed in our community. It is unconscionable and irresponsible for Penn State to neither mandate vaccines nor require testing for all students. Will our local children even get seven days in person before the inevitable spike occurs?