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Opinion

Our opinion: State parks a vital resource

Our Opinion

As warmer weather approaches, state officials are reporting a surge in reservations for campsites in state parks and forests. According to an article in Tuesday’s Sun-Gazette, the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources is seeing a nearly 30% increase compared to last year. We can’t say that we find the increase surprising — Pennsylvania’s state parks and forests are some of its under-appreciated gems. Pennsylvania offers residents and visitors 124 state parks, encompassing more than 300,000 acres. The parks offer a wide variety of recreational opportunities ...

Our opinion: State Police security lapses are inexcusable

Our Opinion

There’s a lot to unpack in the days after an arson attack at the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion. We should all be able to agree that security around Gov. Josh Shapiro was inexcusably lax given that one of the most notorious recent acts of political violence had taken place in Butler, Pa., during last year’s presidential campaign. It’s hard to fathom how Cody Balmer was able to climb a fence, smash a window, enter the governor’s mansion, use a Molotov cocktail to start a fire and then escape. Police didn’t catch Balmer - he turned himself in. It’s worth mentioning the ...

Trump talk is more fable than truth

Letters To Editor

Dear Editor, Listening to the President reminds me of the old parlor game of determining which story is true and which story is false but with Trump it is which story is false and which story is half false? Trump’s illusory, self serving rhetoric is as fanciful as children’s fairy tales except children tales have a moral lesson, remember Jack and the Beanstalk? Once upon a time, good son, Jack, and his impoverished, widowed Mother were out of food. Grocery prices were rising, and gasoline was expensive. Their milk selling income was tenuous, at best. Out of desperation, they ...

Trump deals strongly with Houthi militants

Letters To Editor

Dear Editor, Recently, the Houthi terrorists of Yemen were decisively attacked by our military as a warning to stop attacking and disrupting shipping in the Red Sea and Suez Canal. Somehow, attack plans were leaked to Trump-hating Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of the Atlantic magazine. Of course, the attack was a success and no classified information was leaked. Left-wing distortions are expected. Still,the leak shouldn't have happened. National Security Administrator Mike Waltz has accepted responsibility. As this is written, the cause is not clear. To some, it's conceivable ...

View from Hickory Heights: Easters long ago

Local Commentaries

Last Sunday we sang the hymn “Abide with Me”. That took me back to the church I went to in my youth. At Grace Lutheran Church in Dunkirk, we ended all Wednesday night Lenten services with that hymn. I knew the first verse by heart. The lights were dimmed so we had to memorize it. After singing we left the church quietly. It is funny how little things trigger memories. I had not thought about that for years but the hymn brought back my memories clearly. I remember our Good Friday service. Different churches took turns hosting it. It went from noon to three o’clock. We had off ...

Our opinion: Increasing timber production a responsible decision

Our Opinion

A recent executive order by President Donald Trump to streamline regulations and allow more timber to be harvested from U.S. Forest Service lands invites what possibly could be a trivia question: Under which U.S. department’s jurisdiction does the U.S. Forest Service fall? If you answered the U.S. Department of the Interior, which supervises national parks and fulfills a mission of preserving natural areas and sites of note, you would be wrong. If you answered the Environmental Protection Agency, which enforces environmental regulations to curtail pollution and limit environmental ...