Road work under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act proved to me that President Obama’s stimulus plan is working with the resultant effect of increased employment.

Normally, when I observe a highway crew, there are three workers leaning on their shovels and one man shoveling.

On Nov. 17, I observed road work along A1A in Ponte Vedra Beach. Four workers were leaning on their shovels and one man was shoveling.

Putting America back to work.

I feel better already!

Theodore F. Bischof

Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.,

formerly of Johnstown



Greedy retailers keep families apart



Thanksgiving is a day set aside to give thanks and to be with family. Not so for the employees of greedy retailers that are open for business on Thanksgiving.

Those stores have gone to the bottom of my list of where to shop because of their disregard for families.

To those of you who plan to go shopping on Thanksgiving, think about those people who will be working for your shopping convenience instead of being at home with their families and enjoying the holiday.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving.

Doreen Svencer

Johnstown



Get back to true spirit of Thanksgiving

A friend of mine tells me that, when she was a child, the most loving and joyous Thanksgiving holiday she and her family ever enjoyed featured a meat loaf instead of a turkey. Due to sickness and loss of work, her family had been through a tough time financially and couldn’t afford a turkey. But they were together, and for that simple fact they were richly thankful.

These days it sometimes seems as if the year-end holidays are a celebration of greed and envy, instead of commemorations of actual historical events. And in this troubling point in history, in this unstable economy, we’ve all been through some tough times financially, and have some more tough times ahead.

It’s not a source of shame to be unable to afford certain things. But a person can almost get the impression nowadays that many people think America owes them a turkey and all the trimmings for Thanksgiving, like they’re mandated by the Constitution or government-issued.

They’re not.

The Thanksgiving holiday originated with people giving thanks to God for the gift of freedom, primarily the freedom to worship their own way, in their own church.

So maybe this year, instead of concentrating on the turkey and the trimmings, we can remember to thank God for our freedom: Our freedom to worship where we want, to be safe, to have friends, to earn our own way, and to live the way we want, where we want.

Even if it means eating meat loaf.

Carl Schultz

Johnstown



For animals’ sake, keep zoo closed

In response to a Nov. 14 letter: It would be a tragedy to have the Forest Zoo reopened, or to have a roadside zoo created in central Pennsylvania. We understand more than we did 20 years ago about animals, and we are so much better for it.

As a private citizen and former shelter director and humane officer for the Cambria County Humane Society, I was in constant contact with the Agriculture Department, the federal licensing bureau for such facilities, and found it very difficult to get changes made concerning the horrible living conditions at the zoo. There were large cats living in tiny concrete cages, a polar bear in a cage with a pool just slightly larger than her body, and local wildlife, including bears, locked in cages just feet away from freedom.

Confining animals for long periods of time is not only immoral but also cruel. It causes behavioral stress, physical harm, and unnecessary discomfort that can lead to immunological consequences and diseases. The animals eventually live on numerous antibiotics and painkillers.

These creatures do not belong in zoos, circuses or breeding factories where humans can gawk. In “Outermost House,” Henry Beston wrote that other living creatures are “our underlings, caught with us in the web of time.” It is up to us to make certain that the web is as peaceful and free of pain as it can possibly be, and that cannot happen in zoos and circuses.

Ruth Cummings

Bedford



Those who hate America should leave

This year, I am ever so grateful for the troops who are bravely fighting the war on terror so we can live in peace. I’m thankful for Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck and the millions of American patriots who are spreading the word to stop President Obama’s socialist plan for our country.

I’m grateful to the Founding Fathers for their genius in the writing of our Constitution. It will save us.

And I thank God I was born in America.

I would be ever so grateful if all who hate America, capitalism, freedom and all the principles we stand for would leave.

They could all go to Venezuela. I’m sure Hugo Chavez would be happy to take their money and give them their appropriate “social justice.” That includes Muslims who don’t want their children “Americanized,” lazy freeloaders who love to complain because they’re not given enough, and the president, who just wants to be a “citizen of the world.”

Please, if you love America, watch Beck at 5 p.m. weekdays on Fox cable news. You will see and hear our president and his radicals telling you how they will “fundamentally transform” America. You will see how the cap-and-trade and health-care reform bills are nothing more than the redistribution of wealth.

The president is purposely trying to collapse our financial system, using the Cloward-Piven strategy in order to replace capitalism with socialism.

Help us save America.

Sharon Nagle

Ebensburg



Thankful for my techno world

This Thanksgiving, in addition to being thankful for family, friends, health, veterans and those serving in our armed forces, I am grateful for technology.

I remember manual typewriters, carbon paper, ditto sheets and stencils (kids, ask your grandmothers) and I am thankful for the wonder of computers and printers, especially my awesome laptop.

I recall circular-dial telephones, party lines and searching for a pay phone in a strange city, and I am thankful for my ever-present cell phone.

After getting lost way too often, I am happy to have my GPS unit and the nice lady whose voice tells me where to go and when to turn. (Never mind the looks I get from other drivers as I talk back to her ... uh, it.)

Growing up with one channel on a black-and-white TV, I appreciate the luxury of cable TV with the digital system and high-definition picture quality, plus being able to tape any program.

For my most recent birthday, I received an iPod. Imagine, having all my favorite music available at any time.

Next, I’m asking for a digital camera.

I am also grateful to the medical profession, for researchers and physicians who bring us body- and brain-scanning equipment and miracle drugs.

For all this and more, I thank the Lord that I am living on this wonderful planet in the year 2009.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

Carol Fris

Johnstown



From hardships, new stronger city emerging

With our national holiday of Thanksgiving on Thursday, I thought it well to share why I’m very thankful.

I’m especially thankful for Johnstown, where its people do care for one another.

We are known as the friendly city. Bump into a stranger and it’s not long before a new friendship is made.

I’m thankful that through many hardships we have become stronger.

Character is always developed through opposition and troubles. Slowly but surely a new city is emerging.

Take a good look at all the new structures that have been built – we are setting an example of what attitude and cooperation can accomplish.

Here are just a few of our accomplishments:

The Roxbury Bandshell, Berkley Hills Golf Course, the “new” Point Stadium and the newly remodeled Greater Johnstown High School.

Old buildings are being removed and new buildings are springing up all over Johnstown.

Our region is known internationally for its tremendous medical technology, including in the Conemaugh Health System and at Windber Medical Center and Windber Research Institute.

Recently, a new kidney center opened on Osborne Street in Johnstown.

It’s not hard to be thankful here in our great city.

Finally, I’m most thankful for my dearest friend since 1959. His name is Jesus Christ. He is not a religion, not a denomination; not a set of do’s or don’ts. But he said, “Whosoever shall call upon me shall be saved.”

In him we live and move and have our being. There is no stability without Jesus Christ. Read John 3:16 and Romans 10:9-10.

David Ed

Upper Yoder Township



Fyodor Dostoyevsky Russian, not Soviet

In the Nov. 13 letter, “Demand ouster of flawed education czar,” Russian writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky is called a “Soviet” novelist.

This is incorrect.

Dostoevsky died in 1881. The first Soviet counsel was organized during the 1905 Russian Revolution. After the 1917 revolution, the counsels evolved under Bolshevik rule, as the main representative units of the State.

One should only apply the adjective “Soviet" to nouns after 1905.

Lou Horvath

Johnstown



Editor’s note: The error to which the writer refers was created in the editing process, and was not an error by the author of the Nov. 13 letter.