Republicans resolve to address climate

U.S. Rep. Chris Gibson has authored, and eleven other Republicans have cosponsored, a resolution on climate change.

They have asked members of Congress to recognize that climate change is occurring and that we must cut carbon emissions. They have acknowledged the science and are leading their party in facing this threat to our economic and environmental health.

We desperately need this leadership. A resolution will not reduce carbon emissions. However, we must recognize the problem before we can address it. Regardless of our political affiliations, regardless of our differing views, we must agree to act to preserve our home. Rep. Gibson is calling us to come together and to act, for the sake of our children’s futures.

Likewise, he is asking his Republican colleagues to take a leap—a leap of faith that the voters will support them. It is up to us to demonstrate to them, and their silent counterparts, that we support rational conservation policies.

Thank you, Rep. Gibson, for recognizing that greater action is required. I urge everyone to thank these 12 representatives and let them know that we support this resolution and the actions that must follow.

We also must now look forward to finding policies that will cut our emissions without crippling our economy. Everyone should consider the revenue-neutral carbon fee and dividend. This places a fee on all carbon as it enters our economy, but none of the money is retained by the government. It is rebated, 100%, to all citizens, equally. It cuts emissions, adds jobs, grows the economy and returns money to individuals to cover increased costs of transitioning to renewables.

Whichever policies we ultimately choose, we must start by resolving to act. Representatives Gibson, Stefanik, Hanna and Reed, of New York, along with nine others, have done just that.

Claire Cortright

MidHudson Valley Citizens’ Climate Lobby

Glen Spey, NY

Pleased with adult care center

Human nature being what it is, we are quick to share a negative experience with others, but not so quick when it is something positive. I want to share our experience at the Sullivan County Adult Care Center (SCACC) in Liberty with other residents.

My husband has been at SCACC for close to a year. He originally transferred from another local facility because they had no available long-term beds. I was upset at having to relocate him to SCACC; however, it proved to be the best thing that could have happened for either of us. He is currently in the “Memory Unit” of SCACC and thriving.

Physical therapy at SCACC successfully got him out of his wheelchair to walk short distances. He is doing quite well and continues to walk farther due to the Restorative Nursing Program that kicks in after Medicare-approved physical therapy runs out. Five days a week, a specially trained staff member on Unit 2 walks with him for as long as he is able. I had real concerns that when physical therapy benefits ended, he may regress back to existing in a wheelchair when in fact his strength, balance and mobility have increased due to these daily walks.

The staff of SCACC (nurses, certified nursing aids, therapy staff, activities staff, dietary department, housekeeping and maintenance, all the way to through administration) are, almost without exception, warm, caring, sincere people. And I stress the word “people,” not just employees. I observe that the staff works with and cares for the residents as you would expect them to treat their own parents or senior family members. I find it difficult to put into words the gratitude I feel when I leave, confident my husband is treated as I would and that he is content.

This has not been the case at two other local facilities where he previously stayed.

During the past year, I have interacted personally several times with the administrator of SCACC, Shennoy Wellington. These occasions were difficult and emotional times for me. Ms. Wellington met with me personally, explained to me why certain changes were necessary for the welfare of my husband. She was correct each time. I left these meetings confident that my husband’s best interests and safety were the primary concerns and feeling respected and valued as a family member.

In conclusion, I recommend that Sullivan County residents faced with the difficult decision of long-term care for a loved one give real consideration to placing their loved one at the Sullivan County Adult Care Center. They will be nearby, and you will not be disappointed at the “Care” they receive at the “Center.”

Lauren Grasso

Cochecton Center, NY

Huge DV population ‘historically underperforming’

At the end of September our state Department of Education released 2015’s PSSA (Pennsylvania System of School Assessment) scores. Highlighted in those results are 48 Delaware Valley (DV) classes flagged as “historically underperforming.” These are precisely the students who benefit most from specialized regimens such as K.I.P.P. (the Knowledge is Power Program), which for 20 years I have been advocating for Delaware Valley. NPR recently reported that previously underperforming students who get through KIPP—no picnic, to be sure, with eight hours of classes six days a week for up to 48 weeks a year—those kids outperform their mainstream peers and are five times more likely to complete four-year colleges than their similarly stigmatized (“historically underperforming”) peers.

I’m for implementing rigorous education at Delaware Valley, as you may have gathered from my letters going back those 20 years. We are already spending the money, not on intensive education but on building little cities in the forest and on diversionary programs. In my years of teaching at DV, because of such entertainments, I never on any day, not once, had all students in all classes. It seems that we have money for everything but intensive education, the kind that engenders education’s highest desired results.

Delaware Valley has never produced a medical doctor, a mathematician, an astronomer, an astrophysicist, a veterinarian, a historian or a college professor. Not a stellar record considering the tens of thousands of graduates who have passed through its doors. To my knowledge, only one current teacher at DV is a graduate of the district.

Again, we are spending as much per student as private schools, the graduates of which fill America’s selective universities, but not getting anywhere near their results. We obviously have and are willing to spend money for education. Through our school board and administration, we are simply and perversely not doing it.

Rather, we accept as normal a huge population of “historically underperforming” students. We don’t need to. Remedies are available, if only we would apply them.

Anthony Splendora

Milford, PA