Letters: Centre County will need Gambler Anonymous group; GOP Reps should embarrass, frighten us
Centre County will need Gambler Anonymous group
With the approval of the Nittany Mall casino’s license application, Centre County will need a local Gamblers Anonymous (GA) group in Happy Valley. Is it needed in 2023 or 2024? Probably not yet. We’ll all watch the licensing delay continue on for the remainder of this year while an appeal by the non-winning bidder languishes on slowly at the PA Supreme Court. As we all know by now, the casino’s license was approved on Jan. 25 by the PA Gaming Control Board (PGCB). However, as all casino supporters here refuse to accept, the PGCB cannot issue the license until all appeals are resolved. Even if the license is eventually issued, 2024 will be the entire time for the 12-month estimated construction process of the casino to be completed.
Calendar year 2025 is probably the earliest estimate for when GA starts up a local meeting in the State College area. When I looked at GA’s meeting locator on the website, it now shows the nearest GA meetings to Centre County to be the weekly meetings in Williamsport, Harrisburg or Camp Hill. Hopefully, those will be sufficient for now especially since many problem gamblers in our area are already driving about that same distance to gamble in the Pennsylvania casinos already open and providing that 24/7 entertainment the casino supporters here all anxiously await.
GOP Reps should embarrass, frighten us
The Republican membership in the new Congress should embarrass and frighten every American.
Here’s the reason: 147 of the current Republican Representatives voted to overturn the 2020 presidential election results the same day as the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. That’s right, these 147 Republicans were reelected despite being traitors to the Constitution.
Most, of course, are from “safe districts.” So they weren’t worried that having zero evidence of voter fraud would cost them their seats when they voted against the certified Electoral College votes that confirmed Joe Biden as our duly elected president.
To date, not one of those 147 Republicans has produced any evidence of voter fraud. And they never will because there isn’t any. They just want you to forget that they were cowards and swallowed Trump’s lies on January 6, 2021.
Even sadder for Pennsylvanians, seven of the sitting Congressmen who voted to overturn the election — after the violent insurrection was quelled and resulted in the death of five Americans — represent us. Say hello to Pennsylvania’s own home-grown sedition caucus: John Joyce, Mike Kelly, Dan Meuser, Scott Perry, Guy Reschenthaler, Lloyd Smucker and Glenn Thompson.
So far, more than 800 of the insurrectionists who attacked the Capitol have been arrested, with nearly all found guilty and sentenced. Yet Joyce, Kelly, Meuser, Perry, Reschenthaler, Smucker and Thompson are free and cashing paychecks from the government they tried to overthrow.
Having such men as our representatives should embarrass and frighten all of us.
Rater has right qualities for judge
As a practicing attorney for 40 years, and one who has worked on many cases with judge candidate Julia Rater, I would like to draw everyone’s attention to some of her most significant qualities. Years ago, Julia and I co-counseled a client who was in the midst of a separation and possible criminal allegations from his estranged wife. The client was asked to leave his residence on very short notice. What happened after spoke volumes to me about Julia’s character and compassion toward the client — and others — facing very rough times. After court, Julia followed the client home, and helped him move his personal belongings into their cars so that he could meet the moving deadline he faced. Not everyone, let alone one’s lawyer, would be as caring and compassionate toward someone in need. I believe that such a selfless act — among many others of hers that I know of — is an example of the kind of character Julia possesses. Julia is the person I want as our next judge because she demonstrates a truthful understanding of people, their problems in the legal system, and those who are similarly affected. Such judgment only comes from hard work with clients, an understanding from experience of what a judge needs to be, and not what is written in a text book or taught in a law school setting. Julia possesses real, practical knowledge of human problems — something that Centre County really needs in our next judge.