‘the Help’ Wins Three Prizes

Teen pregnancy problem has sensible solutions
 
Teen pre

Writer seeking term-limit vote
If you are in favor of term limits for every elected position in Pennsylvania, I would like to see a referendum on the election ballot. Please send your name, address and phone number on a post card to: P.O. Box 8104, New Castle, PA 16101.

Shirley Sallmen

New Castle
Resident demands open government
 Now that the manner in which the governance of this city is handled has been exposed, what is left to believe? Who gave Wilkes-Barre Mayor Tom Leighton the right to choose what information can be obtained freely by the public he serves? Why does he feel that he has the right to keep certain bits of information from not only the public, but also the city council?
Why does he feel that he alone can decide what goes to the press and what does not?
 Leighton said he makes tough decisions, yet fails to have former city administrator J.J. Murphy reimburse the city taxpayer for the security system. 
Where was our controller when these expenditures were made? Where are the records and/or the minutes of council, which must have approved these expenditures?
When was the last complete and true audit of the city&rsquo;s finances made public? Why did the council not vote on the acquisition of the fire trucks in question, yet had to vote on spending the balance for the Hollenback Fire Station? 
The actions/inactions of both the council and the mayor generate more questions than answers!
The people fighting corruption in city government will be as tenacious as a dog with a bone and continue to expose things that otherwise would never see the light of day. We are fortunate in that we have citizens in our midst with a genuine concern for an honest city government.
With the help of investigative reporting by our two daily newspapers we will continue to expose questionable practices at City Hall. 
We want accountability, transparency, honesty, equality, open records of public concerns, accessibility and a constant reminder to those elected that you work for the taxpayers and not for personal gain.
 Learn from the Luzerne County Council regarding perks for part-time work. The taxpayers of Wilkes-Barre cannot afford the luxuries that council members traditionally have given both themselves and the mayor. It is difficult, at best, to justify when many people in our community can barely afford the taxes.

Ray Arellano

Wilkes-Barre
Taxpayer holds city accountable
It started out as a reasonable &ldquo;right to know&rdquo; request by a Wilkes-Barre taxpayer in June: How many credit cards does the city have, to whom are they issued and what charges are on them? 
Since then, it has been quite an experience that no taxpayer should go through to get to the truth. 
While the Right to Know Office has been very helpful, there is much paperwork and many rules and time restraints that have to be followed. And if a court hearing is necessary, you are on your own. 
Even though the process was grueling, the results were extremely eye-opening and disheartening. 
 It is evident to me that the city officials have a blatant disregard for the taxpayers.
Besides extremely high interest rates, there are hundreds of dollars of late fees, finance charges, charges for &ldquo;working lunches&rdquo; in various restaurants around the city and other frivolous spending. 
It is my opinion that there should be only one credit card issued to the city, and all monthly statements should be able to be viewed by the taxpayers on the city&rsquo;s website. 
The time has come for total transparency and wise fiscal spending in our city. 

Charlotte Raup

Wilkes-Barre
Pursue cleaner sources of energy
President Obama recently denied TransCanada a permit to build a 1,700-mile pipeline from western Canada across six states to oil refineries in Texas, and congressional Republicans are boiling mad.
 Congress had set a February deadline for approving the pipeline project, but President Obama protested that the deadline did not give his administration ample time to study the environmental impact and potential dangers to the health and safety of Americans near where the pipeline would pass. 
The president was between a rock and a hard place. Labor unions want him to approve the pipeline, because it promises more jobs. But environmental organizations objected to the congressional deadline. And President Obama came down on the side of the environmentalists.
You really can&rsquo;t blame the congressional Republicans for being angry. After all, they got millions of dollars from pro-pipeline lobbyists to make it happen. If they can&rsquo;t deliver, it could very well dry up future rivers of revenue from other special-interest groups. Nevertheless, President Obama did the right thing. We really need to protect the environment; it&rsquo;s the only one we have.
But perhaps we&rsquo;d do well to just let Alberta keep her tar sands. The energy required to extract oil from sand is very nearly as much as the energy you&rsquo;d get burning fuel made from that oil.
 In any case, rather than continue our dependency on polluting, non-renewable energy sources such as oil, the United States must develop clean sources of energy, including wind, solar and geothermal.
 And talk about jobs. If the federal government were to offer homeowners a four-figure, income-tax rebate for buying and installing American-made solar panels on housetops from sea to shining sea, just imagine how many jobs we could create!

John Hudanish

Carbondale
Directive violates religious freedom
In recent weeks, the Obama administration finalized regulations that will force all Americans to purchase health care plans that cover all contraceptive methods &ndash; including those that cause abortions. This latest directive disregards the consciences of many religious Americans who view abortion as the taking of an unborn child&rsquo;s life. 
The administration has given religious institutions a year to comply with this unjust directive. Reacting quickly to this intrusion into the faith of many, Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan observed: &ldquo;In effect, President Obama is saying we have a year to figure out how to violate our consciences.&rdquo;
The liberal mindset touts the &ldquo;separation of church and state&rdquo; argument only when it suits its agenda. Liberals conveniently overlook a very fundamental American freedom: the right to worship. The First Amendment guarantees that: &ldquo;Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.&rdquo; Obama, the law professor, should know this.
This totalitarian Obama directive, in essence, squashes the First Amendment rights of religious Americans. It also ties the hands of our religious institutions that seek to provide health care according to their principles and beliefs. The government is forcing citizens to choose between foregoing necessary health care protections or violating their own consciences. Why can&rsquo;t we have health care without forcing all Americans to financially support the destruction of unborn human lives? 
This is an attack on the unborn, the access to health care and the enjoyment of religious liberty.

Victoria M. Gennaro

McAdoo
Column leaves reader indignant
I have long been a regular reader of The Times Leader. The day I read Kevin Blaum&rsquo;s column &ldquo;Pathetic keeping of dirty secret is unforgivable,&rdquo; (Nov. 13) was when I stopped.
I found Kevin&rsquo;s juvenile name-calling of Penn State football coach Joe Paterno (&ldquo;JoePa-thetic&rdquo;) self-righteous, sensational and without foundation. 
I can&rsquo;t imagine why he would write such a biased account of a man who has impacted and contributed more to the Pennsylvania State University than any other individual.
There is no question that the entire situation was mishandled, but blaming the football coach and throwing him under the bus was not the way the board of trustees should have responded.
 Thankfully, staff writer Bill O&rsquo;Boyle&rsquo;s column Monday (&ldquo;Paterno: Penn State to the end&rdquo;) provided a positive, appropriate perspective. I was drawn to the commentary because it obviously was honoring a man who deserved to be venerated after devoting his life to his Penn State family &ndash; which numbers millions!
If Mr. Blaum wants to blame someone for keeping secrets, how about starting with the board of trustees that fired Coach Paterno? Obviously, its members&rsquo; swift action was to appease certain media outlets and hosts of moral high-grounders who wanted a sacrificial lamb. How about looking at our esteemed governor, Tom Corbett, who was attorney general at the time of the first allegations? How about looking at the agencies in charge of responding to the reports of alleged abuse?
 Does anyone really believe that this one man is solely responsible for not doing more?
As a teacher and mandated reporter of child abuse, I know that hearsay is not an acceptable form of reporting. Maybe Joe could have done more, maybe not. But I do believe that others with more authority than Paterno were cognizant of the allegations. If a legitimate investigation is being conducted, the truth about who covered up what will be exposed.
The children who were allegedly abused need justice to be served. 
Joe Paterno deserves to be vindicated. He deserves to be honored as the man who helped the Pennsylvania State University grow to achieve the status it has attained among major universities in this country: academically, athletically and philanthropically. He deserves to be remembered as a man who represented good and honorable actions and deeds. He will be remembered that way by all of those who know this to be true. Millions of us.
Penn State is &ndash; and always will be &ndash; proud. 

Deborah Schuster Zielinski

Wilkes-Barre
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Writer seeking term-limit vote If you are in favor of term limi