Hats off to Bishop McCort students and faculty for your performance of “42nd Street.” I wanted to jump up onto the stage with you and join in the fun.

High school performance participation is a memory that will be cherished always.

I am planning on attending every area school’s musical to support the efforts of these terrific young people.

Joan H. Stofko

Johnstown



American made? Not anymore

What will you tell your grandchildren when they ask you to explain what it was like to drive American automobiles that were produced in the United States, and what it was like for people to go to work in American-owned factories?

I can go less that one mile from my home and see foreign automobiles parked in the driveways of retired steelworkers who paid union dues to the United Steelworkers for more than 30 years. How quickly they forget their bread and butter.

They will tell you that their vehicle was made in the United States.

Who owns the factory and where does the profits go? Not to America. There is a silent takeover going on in this country every day. Never before in history has a country been taken over by simply making products cheaper than we produce them.

Who is to blame for all the factories closing and companies moving overseas?

Your choice in purchases determines what gets manufactured here or in another country. How will you explain the takeover of the United States to the generations that follow us? And can you honestly say that you had nothing to do with it?

Jim Goughnour

Mineral Point



Kitchen needs funds throughout the year

On behalf of the St. Vincent de Paul Family Kitchen, I would like to thank everyone in the community who has donated their food, funds and time in our effort to feed those in need across Cambria, Indiana, Somerset and Bedford counties.

The St. Vincent de Paul Family Kitchen, 231 Bedford St. in Johnstown, serves a free lunch to the public every day, including holidays and weekends. On average, 200 people are fed each day, with numbers reaching up to 260 people per day over the challenging winter months.

Even during this economic recession, when so many people have fallen on hard times, we have received a record number of donations. It is truly amazing to witness the generosity and support of those in our community who are willing to give more as the need rises. It is because of all of the local businesses, churches, schools and individuals who donate that we are able to ensure our neighbors in need do not go hungry each day.

We sincerely thank you all and ask you to please remember us during the summer months, when donations tend to be slim.

Abby Weber

AmeriCorps VISTA

Food For Families, Johnstown



Gov’t ranters aim to destroy America

Look into their sad faces – elderly people living in squalor and starving; little children with swollen bellies, diseased and without hope. You see them on TV crying out to you, an evil, greedy American who has more than you need.

Why is it so?

Not because of “social injustice,” as the lying progressives (socialists/communists) would have you believe.

It’s because of freedom.

Americans threw off tyranny and established a representative republic form of government where the people hold au-thority over elected politicians, rather than live in fear under them. Coupled with a capitalistic economic system where individuals benefit from innovation and hard work, rather than government confiscation of production, the most blessed nation ever came into existence.

There are those who rant continually about the world’s hatred for America.

Much of the media, Hollywood and now those in our own government are the ranters. They hate America, too, and are doing everything in their power to destroy us.

Maybe it’s jealousy for some. For the evil ones, it’s that they believe in those totalitarian systems that created those sad faces and swollen bellies by sucking the life from their people for their own gratification.

Americans better wake up. Whether wars, natural disasters, famine, pestilence, or other human tragedy anywhere in the world, it’s been Americans who have always stood in the gap. Who will help when those sad faces and swollen bellies belong to your grandparents and grandchildren?

Barry Billings

Portage