Letters: Corrections to veterans monument overdue; Steps in the right direction
Corrections to veterans monument overdue
Why won’t the township listen to veterans’ requests? Ever since the town of Rebersburg replaced a pillar on its veterans monument and left off the star beside the names of those who served in Vietnam and won the Vietnam Service Medal and the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Award and for some the Vietnam Gallantry Cross with palm, over seven veterans that I personally know of have ask the Miles Township supervisors to replace the etched stars. This is the only way that future generations can identify if their ancestors named on that monument were actually a Vietnam veteran, one who actually served in combat and in a war zone, or if they were a Vietnam era veteran, one who was in the military during the period the Vietnam War was going on but never served in harm’s way. The last person to ask was the Vietnam veteran that was in charge of the monument for the township. He took the time and explained to the board why it was important and the difference between an era veteran and a Vietnam veteran.
Veterans Day is here. Think how you would feel if you served in combat and had your name on a monument and the information was incorrect and didn’t show that you actually served in combat? If the people in Miles Township really care about their Vietnam veterans who were there, they will correct this!
Steps in the right direction
A year ago, more Americans voted for Joe Biden than any president in history. Among President Biden’s goals were: treat COVID and the pandemic as a serious problem, make the government more responsive to the people’s needs while improving the economy, and restore our position as the leader of the free world. People’s votes indicated they agreed.
Notwithstanding the junk science of anti-vaxxers (even though former President Trump was one of the first people to be vaccinated) and selfish people who think they’re more important than the rest of us, signs are beginning that we’re turning the corner on fighting this disease.
On Friday, most of the Democrats and some of the Republicans passed an infrastructure bill, and almost 2 million people have left long-term joblessness since March 2021, the pandemic-era peak.
Even our Republican Senator Toomey described a deal the Biden Administration made with the European Union on steel and aluminum tariffs as a step in the right direction.
Contrast this with a Senate where a handful of self-important Senators are holding up significant number of President Biden’s ambassador and other nominations with enjoy bipartisan support for spiteful reasons unrelated to qualifications, and a House where our Representatives seem more interested in disenfranchising of voters who might vote against them than in advancing the goals the people elected Joe Biden to accomplish.
It’s time for our elected officials like Fred Keller to lead, follow or get out of the way!
Rural Pennsylvania deserves better
You would think that someone elected to represent you in Washington would not vote against your interest. Yet that’s what U.S.Representatives Fred Keller of Middleburg and Glenn Thompson of Howard, who supposedly represent Centre County, did recently when they gave a thumbs down to the bipartisan infrastructure bill.
Congress has ignored infrastructure for so long that an entire generation doesn’t even know about the federal government’s obligation to maintain our bridges, highways, and other services we depend on daily.
Keller and Thompson represent rural districts, which have suffered during the pandemic because their broadband infrastructure was weak. Limited to online learning, many children missed at least a year of education because they had trouble getting connected. Ironically, the infrastructure bill provides $65 billion nationally to improve broadband service in rural and low-income areas.
Rural Pennsylvania deserves better. Better broadband. Better representatives.