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First Posted: 7/2/2013

Eckley Village volunteer

disheartened by director

I was very distressed when I heard the news of the fire that destroyed a historic home at Eckley Miners Village. I was further distressed when I learned it was the home of George Gera, an 86-year-old man who has lived in the village his entire life, and with whom I have had personal conversations, including after the fire.

While looking at the smoldering remains of his home, I felt compelled to have my voice be heard.

I have been associated with Eckley since 1999. I began there as an intern, worked as part of the Pennsylvania Conservation Corps curatorial crew stationed there, and since 2002 have volunteered there numerous times a year, despite residing three states away.

I love Eckley, and am grateful that such a place exists for the betterment of the public in showcasing Pennsylvania’s rich heritage. However, in the past year, I have seen several changes at the museum which greatly disturb me. In June 2012 Eckley’s long-serving director, David Dubick, retired. Since The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission named a new director, morale among the majority of the staff has dropped to an all-time low. Several volunteers have quit promising to never return.

The president of the Eckley Associates board, a long-time volunteer who has put in several thousand hours at Eckley, retired following the new director’s reprimand of him midway through an interview with the press. Eckley has already acutely felt the loss of this individual’s volunteer efforts, and with others leaving, such losses may become immeasurable. The fact these events have occurred since the installment of the new director is not merely coincidental.

I am also puzzled by the PHMC’s choice. One would believe that among the 12.8 million people who reside in Pennsylvania there must be some who are qualified to serve as an administrator of a museum; however, the PHMC chose a man who is originally from Michigan and most recently lived in Canada. With the unemployment rate in Northeastern Pennsylvania hovering around 9% why was someone from outside the state chosen to serve as site administrator for Eckley? I feel that new director’s lack of any connection to Pennsylvania, specifically the coal region, is part of the development of problems at Eckley.

I hope to be able to visit Eckley for years to come. However, if the trends I have described continue, I fear there soon will not be an Eckley for me to visit. I strongly advise PHMC to take a hard look at events occurring at Eckley, so as to not have this great site pass into the history that it currently so richly showcases.

Peter Malak

Newport News, Va.

Resident asks legislators

to back property tax bill

To the honorable Mike Turzari, Kerry Benninghoff, John Blake, John Gordner, Mike Carroll, Sid Kavulich, Phyllis Mundy, Eddie Pashinski, regarding Property Tax Independence Act HB SB 76:

I (We) are asking you to sponsor and support HB SB 76 bills. As of this writing, as a taxpayer, home, business owner and retiree, I haven’t read or heard that you would support these bills.

I am a member and one of the many voices of 78 PTCC groups in Pennsylvania that support the elimination of school property tax. Many retirees, widows/widowers, farmers, disabled workers and unemployed are losing their homes — 10,000 each year; 350,000 foreclosures — because they can’t afford to pay their school property taxes.

I, and others in my area, are getting petitions signed for the elimination of school property tax. One example in my travels, a widow who owns a home in Scranton has a total annual income of $7,000. Her property tax for 2013 was $5,000. She will lose her home because of insufficient income.

We now have 89 co-sponsors, Republicans and Democrats, who support these bills. Please, I ask for compassion and sympathy for those, especially the elderly and low-wage earners who struggle from paycheck to paycheck.

Frank Chest and I have collected hundreds of signed petitions in support for these bills from Luzerne, Lackawanna, Monroe, Carbon, and Columbia counties.

We ask for a reply from you: yes or no. No excuses. This is a people’s bill and we the people are the government. Let’s get these bills on the floor for a vote.

If you fail to support or listen to your constituents, we will take measures to make changes come next election.

Thomas Gow

Nanticoke

Letter writer cuts no slack

for Obama or his supporters

Many of the voters who put Obama in power for his first term are truly remorseful. They have been taken for a one-way, unbridled tour through the fields of acrimony and indifference, and have been given a vivid perception of tyranny.

For those who voted him in the first time, I have no pity or sorrow as there were plenty of alarms flashing. Those people who voted him in twice truly are gullible. I show you no pity; when this man’s term is finished so will we be.

Each passing day brings more scandals. You can be sure this trend will continue and don’t look to your government watchdogs to fix it or intervene. They won’t fix it because they are part of the problem. They have no backbone, no gumption, and no initiative to face the seemingly faceless.

Why does the search for answers to all these scandals go so far then die? Simple: somebody read the book on Hitler who did not leave a paper trail when he laid out his plans to eliminate all the Jews and anyone else who got in his way. “No mia culpa” if there is no paper trail.

To those who ply their shoddy and worn cliche that because the president is black is the reason why he’s taking constant flack, I say forget it, as people see him as he presides over existing law. And if he has mismanaged almost five years of his tenure then he should be chided. Martin Luther King said we don’t see the color of a man’s skin, but only the actions of the heart. Those who continue to profess that when Obama’s screws up and we object, it’s because he’s black. To those I say: stuff it. You will also pay the price the same as we jokers who at least complain.

Vincent Calaman

Powell, Pa

Remember the Golden Rule

and treat everyone with dignity

As the country debates the pros and cons of the immigration reform proposal before the U.S. Senate, I ask others to view the issue with a focus on human dignity and the Golden Rule.

Almost every religion has some version of the Golden Rule and whether it’s “do unto others” or “Love thy neighbor as yourself.” We are taught to treat everyone with the same dignity and compassion we would want for ourselves. Regardless of whether you were raised Christian, Muslim, or Jewish, we have all been taught that human life deserves respect.

I support the immigration reform proposal before the senate because I believe that it addresses the delicate issue of undocumented residents with appropriate dignity and respect. Many of these residents have been living here and contributing to our society for decades and to mistreat them or severely punish them for a mistake made many years ago would be a poor reflection on our values as a people. After all, “to give is divine.”

Mary Spano

Scranton