Sounding off: Schools should stay open

Everyone is familiar with the joke about the drunk looking for his keys under the streetlight, because that is where the light is best, even though he dropped his keys elsewhere. I feel there is something similar going on with the notion that closing schools will somehow affect the spread of the coronavirus in Westmoreland County.

How many of the current cases are in the schools vs. outside the schools? Can anyone point to any evidence that having schools open leads to a higher level of community spread, either locally or in general? Or that closing the schools has a meaningful effect on decreasing the spread?

Public health involves more than just coronavirus; depression, anxiety and drug use are also relevant factors, and closing the schools puts a lot of stress on students, parents and teachers, potentially exacerbating these problems. Not to mention the negative effects on students’ education.

Absent clear and compelling evidence that closing schools will significantly decrease the spread of the virus, the schools should stay open.

Michael Sierk, Greensburg

Questioning covid-19 death numbers

I keep reading about all the deaths that covid-19 has caused, and it is a staggering number of deaths in this country. My concern is whether these deaths are being reported accurately.

I’ve dealt in the past with deaths of family members and how death certificates are completed. I have questioned three death certificates of family members. This is what the Centers for Disease Control uses for its statistics: only the immediate cause of death. It is not concerned with the contributing factors that led to a person’s death.

When a doctor, medical examiner or coroner notes an immediate cause of death, it is almost impossible to correct that information, even based on medical records. I have to wonder if a number of these deaths occurred due to other medical conditions where covid-19 was a contributing factor. In that case, the underlying condition would have been the actual cause of death and would not be added into the daily covid-19 total.

Most people probably do not look closely at death certificates and compare them to medical records, but this is how the pandemic numbers could look higher and cause more alarm than is necessary.

Ann Stanton, Baden

Columbus statue removal is not erasing history

On Columbus Day I was thoroughly amused by Larry Richert’s interview on KDKA Radio with Italian Sons and Daughters of America President Basil Russo, during which both host and guest expressed the belief that by removing the Christopher Columbus statue in Schenley Park, the city is erasing history and depriving people of the opportunity to learn that history.

Maybe it has been so long since these men were in school that they have forgotten how learning happens: People learn history from teachers, textbooks and museums, not statues. No students are taking class field trips to the Columbus statue, Columbus isn’t hopping down off his plinth to sing an educational tune about the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria, and Columbus was presumably not forgotten between 1492 and 1958 when the statue was erected.

Statues are not history; statues are peoples’ attempt to honor someone of historical significance. So, what would future generations possibly learn from this statue, other than the date upon which Columbus “discovered” a land already full of inhabitants? They would learn that Columbus was someone who deserves to be honored with a statue, and that is about it.

If you think Columbus should still be afforded a place of honor in our public spaces, then by all means argue that point with actual historical evidence. Do not, however, confuse a societal token of historical reverence for actual history, or insinuate that taking down a statue will somehow deprive people of the opportunity to learn this history.

Albert Anderson, Aspinwall

Enough is enough with political ads

I’m so glad that this election is over. I’m fed up with getting at least five political ads a day in the mail — wish I could put “return to sender” and mail them all back, plus the annoying phone calls and TV ads. Enough is enough.

Keith J. Piecka, New Kensington

Why the media can’t be believed

In a recent news clip about protesters, a reporter said at 2 a.m. that “the protesters were out but not as many as earlier in the day.” After watching them smash windows, take items and run, he said, “It looks like the protesters are going to have a long night.”

What got me was the reporter called them “protesters” but they were protesters turned looters. He should have called them “looters.” Since then I’ve seen numerous times reporters do the same thing, calling them “protesters” while they loot and smash police cars, etc. Are these reporters changing the meaning of “protesters” to equal looters and rioters? No wonder people are saying “shoot the protesters.”

You would think protesters could get their message across between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Why are they out at 2 a.m.? The answer is simple: They are going to be looters or rioters, and maybe they’re going to be arrested.

Maybe, just maybe, the reporters can call them what they really are: criminals. Maybe this is why a lot of people don’t believe what the news media says. If they would tell us the truth and not what they want us to believe, maybe they would be credible, and maybe we could believe them.

Cliff Long, Unity

Pipeline safety is in the spotlight

A recent series by Spotlight PA detailed pipeline safety in the commonwealth through the eyes of the statewide Mariner East pipeline system, which cuts through this region (“Along Mariner East pipelines, secrecy and a patchwork of emergency plans leave many at risk and in the dark”). So often with this project, especially when it comes to emergency response, people approach and digest any new information from a preconceived place — this is especially true for pipeline opponents who want to shut down the project.

As a union leader whose members work on Mariner East and who train in Westmoreland County specifically for pipeline-related work, I have seen all angles of these projects. And, as with most things, the nuances of the Spotlight PA series were the most impactful and informative, especially with respect to safety.

As outlines by a number of commentators, including several in Western Pennsylvania, first responders and emergency service personnel repeatedly said they feel prepared to deal with any pipeline incident that may occur. The series reiterated again and again that pipeline incidents are few and far between, especially relative to other energy transport means. More to the point: Not only have incident risks been minimized, but first responders have been trained to exceed industry standards.

Opponents to Pennsylvania’s energy and natural gas industries peddle fear rather than on-the-ground realities. Facing facts head on, as this series does when it comes to safety training on the ground does a lot more good than living in hysteric hypotheticals.

James T. Kunz Jr., O’Hara

Pope’s redefinition of family is an outrage

Every born-again, blood-bought Christian must be in an outrage over Pope Francis’ recent decree concerning the sacred institution of marriage and his attempt to redefine “family” for a segment of society, in his own eyes.

Perhaps the pope should read and apply the Book of Genesis to learn the truth, that the Lord created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve. The truth sets us free from the twisted perversion of men who want to justify their sinful behavior and gain acceptance by the broader society of their sin and even promote sin.

As recorded in Acts, the Ethiopian eunuch learned to respond by repenting and being baptized from the sin of homosexuality and all sin and become a true Christian and join the global family of God.

Is this redefinition of “family” by the Argentine pontiff of Rome “part and parcel” of the global socialist agenda? Now is the time for the true remnant to arise.

George Karpacs, South Park Township