Letters to the Editor | Jan. 5, 2024

What happened on Jan. 6, 2021, at the U.S. Capitol was an obvious insurrection, and it was instigated by Donald Trump’s actions. The Colorado Supreme Court decided that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution encompasses the office of the president. Of course it does. Therefore, the court held that “it would be a wrongful act under the Election Code for the Colorado Secretary of State to list him as a candidate on the presidential primary ballot.” Pennsylvanians should act accordingly. Of course, none of this would be necessary if Republicans in the U.S. Senate had done their constitutional duty and found Trump guilty in his impeachment trial in February 2021.

Bill Maginnis, North Wales

In response to his crumbling (inherited) family business, Donald Trump has launched a propaganda campaign seeking to oust anyone whose blood is not “pure.” He fails to define what that means, although he is likely to accuse anyone who disagrees with him as lacking in purity. His goals are clear: getting reelected, imposing one-man rule, avoiding criminal convictions, and encouraging more Trump family deals like the $2 billion that the Saudis turned over for his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to “manage.” Trump is a corrupt individual intent on dissolving the representative democracy that is the cornerstone of our great nation. Rational people should recognize him to be an ultra-negative demagogic huckster promoting an autocratic movement to establish a plutocracy. He would mismanage the executive branch just as he has mismanaged the family business. Please vote responsibly in 2024.

Craig McBride, Coatesville

The Dec. 14 article, “A paper bag fee, new protections for building workers, and a send-off for Council President Darrell L. Clarke,” fails to highlight how lawmakers’ efforts to push Philadelphians toward reusable bags would penalize paper bags and hinder the city’s sustainability success. Nylon totes and other reusable shopping bags come with their own environmental and end-of-life impacts. These bags can also pile up and go unused like we have seen in New Jersey.

The 15-cent fee on paper bags in addition to the existing plastic bag ban would cost all Philadelphians, and disproportionately impact low-income families. The paper bag tax also discourages shoppers from using paper bags that are recyclable, compostable, made of recycled material, and reusable.

The paper industry recycles roughly 50 million tons of recovered paper annually. In 2022, the paper recycling rate was nearly 68%. More paper by weight is recovered from municipal solid waste streams than plastic, steel, glass, and aluminum combined. Philadelphia is fortunate that Jim Kenney, in one of his final acts as mayor, rejected this bill. Paper bags are a sustainable product and should be available to shoppers without charge.

Abigail Sztein, American Forest and Paper Association, Washington, D.C.

Julia Terruso and Chris Brennan’s Dec. 11 article headlined, “How Mayor Kenney’s soda tax ignited controversy and impacted Philadelphia,” is a comprehensive examination of the political nature of the Philadelphia soda tax. The article affirmed my curiosity about how accurate it is for the city government to frame the soda tax as a public health initiative. Comments about the tax eventually going unnoticed from former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (“they don’t even notice it”) and John Buhl of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center (“a person might get used to it”) render the narrative of the tax quite contradictory. The conflicting agenda brings into question how impactful a soda tax could be on public health if politicians and lawmakers anticipate that it will go unnoticed. If so, is it ethical to frame the tax as a public health initiative? Or rather another tax that is surely affecting low-income Philadelphians at disproportionate rates.

Annette Ditolvo, Philadelphia

“Medical Examiner’s Office Non-Burial Disposition Regulation Delayed” reads the Philadelphia Public Health Department’s Dec. 22 announcement on the city’s website. The regulation, proposed by departing Chief Medical Examiner Constance DiAngelo, was due to go into effect on Jan. 1. As a physician and former Pennsylvania coroner, I was shocked to learn that the Philadelphia Office of the Medical Examiner does not review cremation requests. State law requires the coroner or medical examiner in every other county in the commonwealth to authorize “non-burial dispositions,” most of them cremations.

Studies have shown that coroners and medical examiners find medicolegal issues and nonnatural causes of death in approximately 1% of cremation requests (not counting coroner cases). With 8,232 cremations in Philadelphia in 2021, it is likely that some accidental or even homicide deaths slipped through this huge crack. Careless and inaccurate death certificates have an impact on families and on public health and safety.

Christina VandePol, West Chester

Given that no meaningful immigration reform has been passed by Congress in decades, it should come as no surprise that the border has been beset with bureaucratic snafus, compounded by refugees fleeing homelands offering no viable futures. The “push” emanates from floundering Central American economies and the “pull” arises from an American destination whose immigration policy is dysfunctional, thereby perceived by many as allowing easier entry. It appears that MAGA Republican leadership prefers the existing, broken system as a political talking point.

With a booming economy (record-high stock markets, low unemployment, rise in wages, lower gas prices), the strengthening of NATO relations, and actively confronting Russian and Hamas aggression, the immigration crisis at the southern border remains the Achilles’ heel for Joe Biden. When immigration applications can be processed in weeks (or even months) instead of four years, a return to normalcy is more likely to follow. Immigration labor is a necessary variable in U.S. economic prosperity. When that human resource is removed or significantly reduced, all Americans will be detrimentally affected, as evidenced by manpower shortages in sectors including agriculture, food service, landscaping, and construction.

Historically, laws are passed to address a current situation. However, over time those situations are likely to change, thus weakening the effectiveness of enacted laws. To remain effective, laws need to be modified (or deleted) based on the factual evidence that pertains to the given situation. Clearly, the time is long overdue for an overhaul of immigration policy and practice. To do nothing is a dereliction of duty.

James L. DeBoy, Lancaster

Pat Deon is stepping down as the chairman of the SEPTA board after 24 years, and he will be missed.

I retired from SEPTA in 2018 after 33 years, and during the time Deon was the chairman, SEPTA experienced a historic degree of productivity and accomplishment, particularly in the area of rehabilitating and modernizing the Regional Rail system.

Old track systems and bridges were rebuilt; electrical transmission and signal control systems that had been in daily operation since the 1930s were replaced; inefficient facilities were overhauled and transformed into more productive workplaces; and numerous other accomplishments that may not have been completed if a different chairman had allowed division and partisan politics to influence SEPTA’s public service mission.

Despite the fact that it would be difficult to find someone more embedded in the regional political landscape, Deon did not allow counterproductive partisanship to impede SEPTA business. And despite being a proud and active Republican, over the years Deon worked and enjoyed very positive relationships with countless Democratic politicians, community leaders, and board members. No finger-pointing, no toxic partisan blame gaming when things didn’t work out, just exemplary leadership with a vision toward the future that benefited the citizens of the five counties and three states SEPTA serves.

Mike Dobson, Albrightsville, medobson328@gmail.com

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