Letters: Responsible contractor ordinance a big step forward; Donors should be thanked, not attacked

Responsible contractor ordinance a big step forward

Over the past few years, Centre County has seen too many worker deaths. Since 2018, five workers have died on the job in Centre County, including a 19-year-old in Penns Valley who died on the job.

As a longtime Centre County resident and Millheim Borough Council president, knowing how high our county ranks in workplace fatalities hits home. That’s why Millheim Borough passed a resolution in April recognizing Workers’ Memorial Day, and why I support the county’s proposed responsible contracting ordinance. One of the most important pieces of the responsible contractor ordinance, a requirement that workers receive OSHA safety training, will help make sure that job sites for county capital projects are safe and that workers are protected.

I’ve lived here most of my life, and I know our community. Centre County residents want safe communities and good government, and responsible contracting helps promote both. Passing an ordinance would be a huge step forward for Centre County, joining the many counties and local governments across Pennsylvania that have taken concrete steps to protect worker safety.

We live in a county that makes good government a priority. Let’s continue that, and make sure that more workers are safe on the job, by supporting the passage of the proposed responsible contractor ordinance.

Donors should be thanked, not attacked

In response to Mr. McCarthy’s recent letter to the editor regarding the State College Area school board race; it concerns me that Mr. McCarthy endorses disenfranchising local voters who are concerned about our school district but don’t currently have a child enrolled. Mr. McCarthy, what do you fear? Why are you advocating for intimidation of local supporters who don’t subscribe to your extreme partisan ideology? These are your neighbors, who have deep roots in our community. They donate generously — have you been to Memorial Field? Do your kids play Little League? They should be thanked for their non-partisan support, not attacked. I am glad that all State College Area School District voters will have a real choice of candidates in November. Join us in moving on from tired, partisan politics. Meet us in the middle.

Thompson’s student loan vote hurts constituents

For those of you who might have been busy picnicking on Monday and missed the “How They Voted” feature in the CDT, you missed seeing that our representative voted to disapprove of the student loan suspension/cancellation of student debt issued by the Department of Education last year. Just some facts from the Education Data Initiative: 55% of Americans support cancellation of up to $10,000 per borrower in federal student loans; 47% support cancellation of up to $50,000 per borrower; the average public university student borrows $31,410 to attain a bachelor’s degree; middle-income students are most likely to take out federal loans at 58.4%. If our society continues to want qualified, dedicated individuals to work in nonprofit, low-paying fields such as social work and rural school districts such as those in PA 13 and 15, we need to do more to support them. In addition, economists believe loan forgiveness would stimulate the economy as those loan payments could be used to buy durable goods and services. Just add this to the list of times GT voted with his party and against his constituents’ best interests. I find it hard to believe there are none in the Northern Tier who might be burdened with student debt or know those who are, yet voted for him just because that’s what they’ve always done. So sad. When will we learn? When will we say enough?