Sounding off: School taxes should be reduced during pandemic

Since Gov. Tom Wolf has made the decision to close all schools for the remaining school year and with school taxes coming due, we taxpayers should be contacting the governor and our school districts asking for a reduction in our school taxes.

Understanding that the teachers are still working and need paid, along with the skeleton crews working, no buses running and operating expenses being lower or eliminated, all together warrants tax reduction.

If other agencies are giving discounts and refunds, so should the school districts. We should not be paying for services that aren’t being utilized.

Shelia Hanlon, West Deer

Time to consider year-round school

Children have been out of school since early March, and our governor has shut down the schools for the rest of the current school year. Even though some schools have online teaching, there are many school districts that cannot afford to give all children an iPad or computer. Some families cannot afford a computer or an internet connection.

I think a solution would be to restart the current 2019-20 school year in June. School during June, July and August would be the equivalent of the time missed. They would be able to catch up on what was being taught and be ready to start the 2020-21 school year in September. Or perhaps give them a month off and start the next school year in October. Three months is a lot of time to skip the learning process, and six months would be disastrous for some children.

Perhaps a good solution for all schools would be to go onto a year-round school schedule. Three months in school, one month off, etc. I believe that is done in some areas of the country.

Dorothea Cremonese, Greensburg

Government must help keep families fed

I fondly remember Shop ’n Save employees giving me free balloons and lollipops as a kid. I lit up with gratitude and pride when I saw their $10,000 donation to food banks (“Shop ’n Save donates $10,000 to Western Pa. food banks.” ) The donation is needed, as the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank is experiencing demand higher than ever before.

I learned through Girl Scout volunteering that nearly 90 men who reside at the Allegheny YMCA can no longer afford meals because of covid-19 economic fallout. Millions of people across the country are in the same dangerous predicament, suddenly unable to put food on the table.

Our government must take action. I call on Rep. Mike Doyle and Sens. Bob Casey and Pat Toomey to use the next federal relief package to strengthen SNAP by increasing the maximum benefit by 15% and the minimum benefit from $16 to $30 to help people keep their families fed during this economic crisis.

Bridget Hughes, Edgewood

Will we get our rights back after covid-19?

The Centers for Disease Control admits tests for covid-19 sent to states are flawed. The CDC also said the cause of death of those who tested positive for covid-19 is from covid-19 no matter the real cause of death. And that is with a flawed test! Hospitals are being reimbursed for uninsured patients who test positive, so a lot of those patients do test positive for covid-19. Surprise, surprise! Lots of dominoes are falling in our country.

Tyranny hitches a ride on the virus as a way to enter our lives. A young man in California was paddleboarding, not close to anyone, and was arrested for violating the stay-at-home order. Two pastors from Louisiana and Florida were arrested for refusal to cancel church services.

And our own Gov. Tom Wolf: A real wolf in sheep’s clothing. He closed turnpike rest areas but still collected the tolls, only rescinding the order after motorists and truckers protested. Wolf decides — arbitrarily? — what is an essential business to stay open, and makes others apply for waivers.

Dr. Anthony Fauci recommends we could “relax social distancing” once there are “no new cases and no deaths.” Bill Gates says “no large public gatherings” until a vaccine is available to everyone. Gates also proposes a digital certificate for each person who had covid-19 and survived and for those who got the vaccine.

When the virus has finally surrendered, do we get our rights back? To me, the virus lockdown resembles the reasons we are given for bogus wars.

John A. Waite, South Greensburg

If liquor stores can open, why not other Pa. businesses?

The decision to allow some Fine Wine & Good Spirits stores to reopen (“Pennsylvania to reopen some liquor stores for curbside sales”)

is good news. Common sense is prevailing when it comes to this shutdown. Yes, many businesses can open with enhanced procedures in place.

But after it sank in, I realized something. There are thousands of Pennsylvania store owners who had to lay off most of their staffs and see their business revenue plummet because of a shutdown order by Gov. Tom Wolf. Their customers want what they provide, but they cannot open their business to supply them. They petition the administration to reopen, and the vast majority are denied.

How hypocritical is it that when the business in question is run by the state that reasons it was closed in the first place go out the door? It is funny, when the government is the one losing money, stores are miraculously allowed to reopen when thousands of Pennsylvania businesses are not allowed and may never reopen.

Wolf and other leaders in Harrisburg: If Pennsylvania’s Fine Wine & Good Spirits stores can slowly start to open, then most Pennsylvania businesses should be allowed as well.

Michael Tarle, McCandless

Coming together is the American way

Letter-writer Dave Majernik (“Hysteria shouldn’t kill our economy”) asked why we lock down for coronavirus when we don’t lock down for other fatal diseases.

It’s not rocket science. Think contagion. If we all go back to work with some of us infected, 10,000 sick turn into 100,000 sick, and then we have a real problem. ERs and ICUs overflow, health workers succumb and nobody gets care, covid-19 and heart attack patients alike. We must react with calm and medical understanding.

Now let me ask: Why are so many of us abandoning our American principle of acting together as a people? Why are so many, rather, panicking at the idea that if we don’t sacrifice lives of our families and neighbors for an immediate return to work, then our country will collapse? We tell ourselves that we are the richest country in the world, but that we cannot afford to feed, shelter and care for all our people through an emergency? That’s not the American way.

Mr. Majernik, the American way is to get down to the food bank and help out your neighbors.

Joanne Murray, Jeannette

Use your stimulus money to help others

The government stimulus checks are out. This raises the question, “How many of us reality need the money?”

Western Pennsylvania is basically a working-class community both historically and currently. Most of us know what it means to live from paycheck to paycheck and feel nobody really cares. With so many people out of work or having hours cut, it is time for those of us who know how it feels to step up and help.

Many of us, such as my wife and I, are not rich but we have what we need. We are retired and have Social Security. We intend to donate our stimulus money to help others. In my case, half will go to the Westmoreland County Food Bank, and the other half to local people who I know are struggling.

This is a time to share the pain and help one another. We all might want the extra money, but do we really need it? There are those who do!

The Rev. Wayne D. Sautter, Unity