Letters: Loyalty from PSU coach, player commended; ‘Design flaw’ in casino security

Loyalty from PSU coach, player commended

The 2025 college football season is now officially over. And what a ride it was for Penn State. Truly a trying time, where both good and bad were both present. But one thing was crystal clear. If there would be a “Lion Heart Award” for loyalty from this year’s team, Terry Smith would certainly win on the coaching side and Dani Dennis-Sutton as a player. Smith’s devotion to Penn State is well noted by now, a real role model of responsibility Dennis-Sutton never hesitated for a moment in the midst of chaos and continued to play with the same ferocity and intensity he always has, even when others opted out. He and Smith have earned our undying respect.

David Labovitz, Marblehead, Massachusetts

‘Design flaw’ in casino security

The Happy Valley Casino’s operators have emphasized that roving security patrols in the casino parking lot will help prevent adults from leaving children unattended in vehicles. But this assurance ignores a major design flaw that makes those patrols easy to evade and lessen the risk of being caught. Getting caught by the casino’s security patrol can result in being banned permanently from all casinos in Pennsylvania.

Because the casino includes a direct interior entrance from the Nittany Mall, any adult who leaves a child in a car can simply avoid the casino’s patrolled parking areas altogether. By parking near the existing Entrances A or B to the mall — or outside Dunham’s or Gabe’s — they can walk into the mall like any ordinary shopper and then enter the casino through its mall doorway without ever parking at the casino itself.

This loophole becomes even more tempting when you consider what these adults already know the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board imposes involuntary exclusion from every casino in the state on anyone caught leaving a minor unattended in a vehicle. With a lifetime ban on the line, individuals inclined to take this risk will be even more motivated to park far from the casino’s security patrols and slip in through the mall.

After the mall closes for the night, the casino’s interior mall entrance will be locked. Patrons returning to their cars after dark will simply have to hope the unattended children they left behind are still patiently waiting there. A nefarious risk seldom anticipated before in this college town.

Dan Materna, Howard

Penn State RAs deserve right to unionize

In May 2023, graduate researchers asked President Bendapudi how she’d respond to a union drive. “I have no pushback against that,” she said. “We’re a democracy.”

Three years later, after graduate employees won their union election with 90% in favor, President Bendapudi has chosen to challenge democracy by asking the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board to deny research assistants their right to unionize. Old Main and the trustees must reverse course.

I left State College for the first time in my life to attend graduate school in Connecticut. I came because I knew I’d have a union — UNITE-HERE Local 33 — to back me up. Our contract secures livable pay, good health care, safe workplaces, and protections for workers under threat by the federal government. I knew how transformative unions are because Penn State taught me what unions won for working people across Pennsylvania.

My father has supervised hundreds of physics graduate researchers at Penn State for over three decades. RAs’ labor on projects bringing billions into Penn State’s coffers, push groundbreaking research forward, and produce knowledge that advances the needs of all Pennsylvanians. They deserve respect on the job, safe work environments, and pay that meets the cost of living.

Penn State must drop their union-busting efforts and join the Coalition of Graduate Employees at the bargaining table now. President Bendapudi going back on her word is exactly why graduate workers and teachers are unionizing. You can’t take anything Old Main says to the bank. It’s time to get in writing.

Taran Samarth, New Haven, Connecticut

‘Reckless misuse’ of US military

Roughly 70% of Americans oppose a U.S. war with Venezuela. Even many of Donald Trump’s most loyal supporters do not want to be dragged into another open-ended conflict — especially one launched without Congressional authorization, in direct violation of the Constitution.

Trump’s reckless misuse of the U.S. military would inevitably cost civilian lives, put American service members in harm’s way, and further damage our already diminished credibility abroad. We’ve seen this movie before, and it never ends well.

If protecting Americans from illicit drugs were truly the priority, why did Trump pardon the former President of Honduras who was serving a 45-year U.S. prison sentence for funneling 500 tons of cocaine into the United States while taking millions in bribes from drug traffickers tied to El Chapo? That decision alone shatters any claim of a principled “war on drugs.”

The U.S. invasion of Venezuela also seriously undermined America’s moral authority in confronting the real dangers that our nation faces. Russia’s positioning of nuclear capable missile systems in Belarus and China’s live-fire drills near Taiwan pose far greater threats to our national security than Nicolas Maduro.

Trump’s fixation on Venezuela appears driven by personal grievance, oil interests and self-enrichment — not by America’s safety. Distracting from the Epstein files is a definite bonus.

Invading Venezuela might soothe Trump’s ego and pad his bank account, but it won’t make America safer, more secure or more affordable. Call Senator McCormick and Congressional Republicans to demand they start upholding the Constitution and actually put America first.

George Polycranos, Port Matilda