Deer are a problem in Allentown too

Deer are a problem in Allentown too

I sympathize with Mark Lichtenwalner as he states this will be the last year he plants sweet corn. I realize that my concern is minimal in comparison to his but perhaps not as expected because I live in the city of Allentown near the entrance to Lights in the Parkway. I have watched deer cross South Jefferson, some safely and others causing accidents. One morning I awoke to find a dead deer on my lawn (it took three days for the Game Commission to remove it).

In years past, I have had beds of flowers on three sides of my home and even a small vegetable garden. The deer thought my plantings were for them – plants, vegetables, hostas, holly bushes, arborvitae – I plant and they come. I am now reduced to a rock garden. I admit seeing a small herd in the snow of the parkway or just  one on a walk in spring is a thrill, but something definitely has to be done about the increasing deer population in the city and in the rural areas.

Sara Ann Thomas

Allentown

Trump’s actions, words render him unfit for office

No matter how much the MAGA crowd waves their “Trump 2024” signs, it will never be enough to block out the images I saw on Jan. 6, 2021, of Trump supporters violently attacking our Capitol. And no matter how much they shout “the election was stolen,” it will never be loud enough to silence the voice of President Trump badgering Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger “to find 11,780 votes.”

Never has there been a presidential candidate so wrong for the presidency as former President Donald Trump – a man who repeatedly praises Russian President Vladimir Putin, treats our Constitution like toilet paper stuck to his shoe, and now hucksters his mug shot on Trump paraphernalia.

Never have so many voters been duped by Trump into believing he really did win the 2020 election and his criminal charges are simply unjustified witch hunts. And never before has the Republican Party totally abdicated its responsibility to protect our democracy by refusing to stand up to a delusional president who desperately tried to overturn the 2020 election results. Trump for President? Never again.

Barbara Adamcik

Freemansburg 

Reports about abuse allegations are alarming

On Aug. 23, I watched with alarm as dozens of families gave testimony at the Lehigh County commissioners meeting. They described a breakdown in a number of hospital and county systems designed to protect children that, instead, allowed frequent misdiagnosis of child abuse by parents and caretakers. They told stories of how doctors made unsubstantiated claims of child abuse that resulted in their children being placed in foster care, taken off their medication and caused long-lasting trauma to their families. There is a documentary on Netflix, “Take Care of Maya,” that deals with this same scenario.

Lehigh County Controller Mark Pinsley researched and reported that this has happened an inordinate number of times in Lehigh County. I support Pinsley’s request for an immediate, impartial and thorough investigation by the hospital and the county in conjunction with the Service Employees International Union. I also support his recommendation that a second opinion should be mandatory when considering removing a child from their family.

There is a tribe in Africa called Masai whose traditional greeting to each other is “kasserian engeri.” It means, “And how are the children?” We must err on the side of caution from all directions.

Julie Thomases

Allentown

Recall Pennridge School Board over curriculum changes

In its zeal to have rewritten history taught in the Pennridge schools, the far-right school board is actually borrowing a page from the far-left Chinese Communist Chairman Mao. When he returned from a self-imposed exile in the ‘60s Mao launched the Cultural Revolution and dictated that only a pro-Communist curriculum could be taught. Dissenters were exiled or executed. Will the Pennridge School Board follow suit and order their teachers and administrators to scrub toilets and mop floors? The board’s behavior reflects a shocking lack of trust in their professional staff. Surely there are enough sane and sensible Pennridge parents to immediately launch a recall of these board members. Your children are being used for political stunt purposes. Their education and their future demands your action.

William Powers

South Whitehall Township

As seasons turn, appreciate, trust in God

Come September it will feel like the last hurrah of summer, turning over a “new leaf” ( as it were).

As we watch the leaves pirouetting across our lawns and streets, turning from green to red and gold – saying farewell – we look forward to autumn and through the holidays which follow.

However, for some people, the impending season will be joyful and others might encounter more of a melancholy outlook. Ill or grief-stricken individuals will view the upcoming seasons a bit differently.

Whatever our outlook on forthcoming events, hopefully we can remember to bear in mind that God is always with us, will sustain us, and will not leave us comfortless, whatever the season!

Notwithstanding, we need to believe and trust in God – not only with mere words – but feeling it deep in our hearts and souls. And we are grateful for God’s continuing presence as we journey through all the seasons.

Jacqueline L. Quigley

Allentown

Local voters should keep Pennridge lessons in mind

The decision of the Pennridge School District to adopt the Hillsdale (College) social studies curriculum, despite intense opposition from teachers and parents, is very disturbing. What I cannot fathom is the elimination of 19th-century American History from being taught in the district. When will their students learn about westward expansion, the War of 1812, the Civil War, Reconstruction, the Spanish American War? When will they learn of the genius of Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe and Abraham Lincoln?

We are in danger of having a generation of citizens who don’t have knowledge of our nation’s past in understanding what is happening today. Again, it seems that a small group of citizens are forcing the Pennridge School Board to accommodate their narrow beliefs at the expense of others.

With school board elections coming in November, citizens of the Parkland, East Penn and Southern Lehigh should be asking deep, probing questions of candidates, as to curriculum and other issues. If things like this are happening in Pennridge, it could happen here as well. Please be forewarned, get out and vote to continue our tradition of excellence in educating the next generation of students.

Martha Fox

South Whitehall Township

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