Dropping calls

Dear Editor,

I was very happy to hear we have some progressive township supervisors, poorly paid my I add, willing to form a partnership with a nonprofit to find a solution to the problem of residents with no access to high speed internet.

If you do a search of the Times Observer you can find dozens of articles covering what paid County Commissioners were doing to bring Broadband to the county. We have been told they were holding $7.5 million dollars of the Counties American Rescue Plan allocation to match broadband state and fed grants. In 2021, they turned down a grant to bring broadband to the Garland Grand Valley area because they said they didn’t want to get in the broadband business. After that they hired their broadband consultant, CTC Technology. What have they done? On Sept. 11, 2023, it was reported seven internet service providers applied for State broadband program grants and the consultants vetted them and recommended three Verizon, Charter, and WestPA. Total project cost was $21.8 million if awarded and the max match from the County ARP Act would be $701,000.

What happened to the remainder of the 7.5 million? A 25% match would have been $5.45 million.

It was reported on May 4, that Verizon was awarded the $4.7 million from the state toward the total project cost of $8.9 million but they would not require a local match to serve 1,200 Warren County homes. Anyone seen any action on this?

Finally it was reported the Commissioners are working with the eight counties of the Northwest Commission to go after a grant to study broadband. The deadline was last Friday, Feb. 7. Do you think they will get it and what will they do with it if they do?

Gregory L. Burkett

Warren

On the attack

Dear Editor,

Chumming, which involves throwing fish parts and blood into the water, creates a feeding frenzy, especially among sharks. It appears that President Donald Trump, simply throwing the chum of government waste overboard, is creating a vicious feeding frenzy among Democrats, and the Leftist Media. Wow, talk about easily triggered. The whining and threats by Congressional Democrats further exposes the weaknesses and fragility of Democrat leadership.

It seems they simply are incapable of coping with the truth or, as the saying goes, “methinks thou doth protest too much.” Is DOGE exposing even the appearance of Democrat complicity in corruption and malfeasance that is creating so much pain? Trump et.al. are bringing to light the rampant rot that seems to run throughout the bureaucracy at multiple Federal agencies. And this in only the first few weeks of Trump 2.0.

Considering the way the world’s “leaders” are squawking it seems as if chicken little has been tasered with 20,000 volts. Trump’s Gaza concept is brilliant when you really think about it. It’s actually a win-win for America and Israel. All that Trump appears to be doing is what is right and best to fulfill his “America First” policy, bring Peace through strength and an accounting of taxpayer dollars.

Democrats seem to think a good strategy is hand wringing, fretting and threatening action “in the streets.” I personally think that is code for “Burn, Loot and Mayhem.” That should work well for 2026 and 2028.

Yet, in all fairness, I must commend U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer for reaching out to the working, middle class concerning the cost-benefit ratio of serving guacamole and beer at your next Super Bowl party. A new slogan may be “Democrats, the party that brings the chips and Bud Light!”

Dennis Atwater,

Russell

The undoing of America

Dear Editor,

Well, this bold American experiment in democracy has had a pretty good run, hasn’t it?

Almost 250 years now, through all the ups and downs, tough times, stumbles, and challenges, but somehow we’ve always managed to regain our balance, learn from our mistakes, and strengthen our resolve to become that “more perfect union” we all wish for. Not bad.

But now, with President Trump and his co-President Elon Musk taking a wrecking ball to the very foundations of our constitutionally-limited democratic republic, and doing all they can to seize and consolidate power with no regard for any constitutional limits or laws (and helped by the silent complicity of his Republican party), things are quickly changing. Clearly the intent is to reshape our democracy into an authoritarian oligarchy, wherein the rich rule without checks or limits, and use the levers of government to increase their already vast wealth at the expense of everyone else, and to shape it into the kind of nation they prefer in every way.

The plan for doing this is clearly laid out in the infamous “Project 2025,” which candidate Trump explicitly disavowed and said he had no knowledge of nor interest in. However, since his election, this plan is being rapidly implemented step-by-step. Do check this out for yourself (a simple internet search is all that’s needed), as it will surely serve as quite a wake-up call by showing what’s coming if they get their way.

So – trashing and severely cutting agencies which provide support and life-saving assistance to everyday Americans and people around the world; purging the FBI and CIA of anyone President Trump deems insufficiently loyal to him; alienating and threatening our neighbors and allies with tariffs (which ultimately raise prices for consumers) and even takeovers of their territories (Greenland, the Panama Canal, Canada, Gaza); mass deportations; mass pardons including even the most violent individuals who assaulted our Capital on that infamous January 6th in an effort to overturn Mr. Trump’s election loss… seriously?! Not to mention allowing Elon Musk, the world’s wealthiest person, to function as a kind of “shadow President” wielding unheard of power to illegally dismantle and slash existing agencies and access government databases with no oversight or accountability.

Did anyone out there vote for Elon Musk? I sure didn’t.

So we all need to start paying attention to what’s happening, and to raise our voices and do whatever we can to somehow push back on this insidious takeover of America.

And we will surely all need to put aside our differences, come together as Americans, and support and help each other out as we all try to find our way through these darkly chaotic times coming our way – and to lift our voices and do whatever else we can to help our imperfect but precious democracy survive this extraordinary challenge now facing it.

Dale E. Buonocore

Warren