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Applications rolling in for Luzerne County Council seat

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Murphy buries four 3-pointers as Berwick girls basketball team beat Sem

We don&#8217;t know how it got there, but an interesting sign recently popped up at the base of an interstate bridge in the Drums area of Butler Township.It offers this sage observation to passing motorists: &#8220;Questioning Authority. An American Thing Since 1776.&#8221;How fitting a message in light of recent events.Know what we&#8217;re talking about?That&#8217;s right, the still-unfolding saga of the unpopular stormwater fee rolled out recently by the seemingly well-intentioned folks at the Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority.The public was slow to react to this one, as the fee had been in the works for quite some time and had garnered a fair amount of publicity, including a string of reports in our pages.But when people got their first bill for the new levy, you saw a lot of them get interested really quickly.They kept asking questions.They pointed out apparent inconsistencies in how other states are handling the federal mandate to help clean up the Chesapeake Bay.And they made their voices heard at public meetings.Guess what happened?Officials got the message, loud and clear.Now, the leaders of the WVSA are themselves questioning the fee and its implementation. Last Friday, they announced they have asked a local law firm to explore legal options that could reduce or perhaps even completely eliminate the controversial fee.&#8220;Everyone is saying &#8216;Why am I paying when other areas are not?&#8217; We want to know that too,&#8221; said WVSA board chairman Sam Guesto.As for the outcry over the bills, he noted: &#8220;We hear you.&#8221;So, like the sign on the bridge observed: If you have the ability to question authority (in this case the sanitary authority), you might just get results.And, indeed, it is a very American thing to do.In fact, it&#8217;s at the very heart of our political system, enshrined in the First Amendment as the right &#8220;to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.&#8221;People can&#8217;t do that very effectively in many other parts of the world, such as Putin&#8217;s Russia or Erdogan&#8217;s Turkey or Xi&#8217;s China.In those places, if you question authority, you might find yourself in prison or be in store for an even worse fate.America, however, encourages public debate and the ability to challenge our leaders.On the national level, it happens again and again.Remember the health care fight? Republicans at the time controlled both legislative chambers, plus the Oval Office. Seemingly nothing stood in their way of scrapping Obamacare for a scaled-down public health offering.Then, many people spoke up &#8212; loudly &#8212; and were able to derail the process. Obamacare remains in place and appears relatively safe for now with the Democrats in power in the U.S. House.Meanwhile, in the country&#8217;s second-largest school district in Los Angeles, teachers are currently protesting low pay and working conditions. Teachers in West Virginia took up the same fight last year and won a 5 percent pay raise. (Those folks were making much less than the average teacher in Pennsylvania.)So, although we are in the middle of a partial government shutdown and many have pointed out how extreme partisanship is threatening the democratic process, you still cannot say our system is totally broken.The power still rests with the people.And as long as we possess the right to challenge and question those in charge, the average person has a fighting chance to make a real difference.An American thing since 1776. &#8212; Times Leader<style>
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<div class="neCaption">This sign recently showed up at the base of an interstate bridge in Butler Township. Its message is a powerful one and forms the crux of our democratic system. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/web1_FullSizeRender-13-.jpg</photo0><caption0>This sign recently showed up at the base of an interstate bridge in Butler Township. Its message is a powerful one and forms the crux of our democratic system. </caption0><photoCredit0>Michael Reich | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div></div>

Our View: WVSA fee fight shows power still rests with people