I was proud to see that Marine Staff Sgt. Matt Ingham received the Bronze Star with valor. This Marine gave the ultimate sacrifice for his country – his life.
Having served 21 years in the Army, I have to ask the question: Why was Ingham not considered for the Congressional Medal of Honor?
The Medal of Honor is awarded for heroism that is considered above and beyond normal duty to our country. Ingham saved 12 fellow Marines while wounded, exposing himself to enemy fire.
I have to question Ingham’s chain of command as to why he was not evaluated for the Medal of Honor. To me and others, his actions warrant the highest award this Marine deserves.
Brian E. Hohman
Johnstown
Home buyers burned by gov’t tax credit
On June 23, my husband and I became proud owners of our house. During our process of buying, everyone kept telling us about the first-time home buyer’s tax credit, including a local mortage company that helped us purchase our house.
It’s now tax time, so we gathered our proper papers and went to see our tax preparer. When it came to the question of buying our home, we were asked, “Did you buy your house from a family member?”
Because we bought our house from a relative, we don’t qualify for a tax credit! If we were going to defraud the government, does anyone think we would pay $3,000 more than our relatives did when they bought it? We are average, working people.
Is this one way for our fine government to show us we really matter? Or is it another way to show us its greed?
I believe what the government tells us is very misleading. So when it advertises this message, is it telling us that there are certain ways it can keep this credit from my husband and me? And there are probably others who have missed this message.
I have learned in life that you don’t get something for nothing.
Andrea Hagans
Central City
Are area drivers subsidizing cheap gas?
Traveling from Pittsburgh to Johnstown on Jan. 26, I noticed that gasoline prices on Route 22 in the Pittsburgh area were $2.59 a gallon at convenience stores owned by a major company. When I reached Johnstown, the price was $2.69 a gallon at the company’s stores.
A week later, on Feb. 2, the price was still $2.69 a gallon locally. I’ll bet it’s cheaper in Altoona and Somerset. From what I’m told, this company sets the gas prices in the area.
We must be subsidizing the lower prices elsewhere.
Rich Hess
Windber
Massachusetts again home of revolution
The Boston Tea Party and the shot heard around the world are two familiarities that people my age grew up with in elementary school history classes. Although they originated in the 1770s, the stories remain in the hearts of Americans today.
Many legislators in Washington and Harrisburg represent the British of the American Revolution, doing what they please and disregarding the voices of the citizens whom they supposedly represent.
Finally, after voters in Massachusetts elected a Republican to take over the Senate seat held by the Kennedys for more than 50 years, the arrogant speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid admitted that the American people were not happy with the government-controlled health-care bill.
State Sen. John Wozniak’s boldness in admitting that he spent more than $38,000 in taxpayer money without feeling the need to show receipts is nothing but arrogance on the state level.
The failure of Democrats in Washington to listen to the concerns of their constituents will lead to their downfall. Hopefully, Wozniak’s boldness will lead to his.
It is ominous that as in the 1770s with the tea party and the infamous “shot,” the revolution against government control of our lives and trillion-dollar bailouts has started in Massachusetts.
There is a simple way to end all of this nonsense – that being a referendum on term limits for all politicians at all levels of state and federal governments.
“Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
John Skubak
Johnstown
Just empty words from administration
For a few days after the State of the Union address, we heard diatribe from the Obama administration that it heard the resounding message of the people that came with the results of the elections of Republican governors in Virginia and New Jersey, and the stunning election of Sen. Scott Brown in Massachusetts.
Yes, for a few days we heard health care is dead, cap and trade is dead, attention will be turned to jobs, and the trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed may be moved from New York.
All just empty words.
The health-care bill is apparently still very much alive. Remember the very words of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, “This bill is good for one year,” and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi saying that if she had to parachute the bill into legislation she would.
Additionally, we now find out that the trial for KSM is still slated for New York, despite even Democratic opposition.
Part of Obama’s new budget that came out Feb. 2 contains revenues from the provisions of the cap-and-trade legislation that has not even been passed. The fiscal state of this country is so precarious with no help in sight.
Even the Chinese have warned us of their concerns with the spending of this administration.
Every incumbent should be voted out in November if these problems are to be addressed. The majority of legislators in Washington are either corrupt or totally out of touch with reality.
We must remember this in November.
Toni M. Merlo
Johnstown
Turnpike commission has outlived usefulness
I was quite pleased to read Nathan Benefield’s column concerning tolling Interstate 80 (“Here are 5 alternatives to tolling I-80,” Feb. 2).
I support each suggestion. In particular, I am strongly in favor of eliminating the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC). I have advocated this for many years. I am opposed to tolling I-80 for a lot of reasons, but my strongest objection is to putting it under the control of the PTC.
If your objective is to raise more money, why increase your costs? Why increase the power and influence of a bureaucracy that already wields an undue amount?
And why does it make sense for that agency to exist in the first place? The answer, of course, is politics.
It makes no managerial sense. It makes no fiscal sense. But it makes political sense. The state government is no longer the well of patronage jobs that it was in days of yore. The PTC is the only significant repository left of those kinds of political favors.
Benefield correctly points out that
PennDOT is “no bastion of efficiency,” but that it is much more efficient than the PTC. The PTC provides a duplication of services. In practice, it provides a bureaucratic and political nightmare.
It is a sinkhole of taxpayer and toll payer dollars. I would like to see a grassroots effort to eliminate the whole mess.
Phil Sutton
Ebensburg
Quarterback’s mom was a risk-taker
The audacity of some people. I’m referring to (University of Florida quarterback) Tim Tebow and his mother, who, with the help of Focus on the Family, will air a commercial during the Super Bowl.
Tebow shouldn’t be alive, because his mom’s doctor said she should abort her baby because of the possibility of birth defects. The audacity of her not listening to her doctor – after all, she already had five children.
Then the audacity of Tim Tebow not only to be born healthy, but of also being an overachiever and winning the Heisman Trophy.
And we all know that Focus on the Family is a radical right-wing extremist group that wants normal, healthy, happy families in America who worship and seek closeness with God. Heaven’s sake, we can’t go back to that – after all this is America.
I applaud the National Organization for Women for standing up to those radicals because the more absurd NOW gets, the more it causes America to wake up.
You may want to get your small children out of the room during the first quarter, until this commercial is over. It may save a life.
Clifford L. Richey III
Ebensburg
Murderer should never be released
I wrote to Catherine C. McVey, chairwoman of the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole.
I agree with Rita Rose Buhek-Marcinek (Jan. 21, “Remarks by judge, former DA disturbing”) in objecting to the probation and parole of Ernie Simmons, the murderer of Anna Knaze.
His murderous actions verify that he does not deserve to be released from prison for the rest of his life.
Matthew Oreskovich
Johnstown
