Letters to the Editor | Dec. 4, 2022

Removing ammunition from personal possession would reduce the gun slaughter that everyone laments but that no one can stop. If the law is hobbled by interpretations of the centuries-old Second Amendment, enacting laws against the sale and possession of bullets would reduce criminals to cobbling their own ammo, and this without repealing that outdated and obsolete amendment. A simultaneous nationwide eminent domain seizure of every bullet from every gun shop would accompany laws restricting manufacturers to supplying police and military exclusively. Preposterous? So was mandating seat belts. Saving lives preempts the enjoyment of target shooting and game hunting while giving police the room they need to protect lives. More enlightened nations doing this now are not moved by the cry that citizens need ammo for self-protection. Let’s stop enabling the carnage.

The Rev. Robert J. Gregorio, Glassboro

While Santa Claus is saying, “Ho, ho, ho,” the Democratic Montgomery County Commissioners are once again saying, “Go, go, go” to higher property taxes. As a consequence, residents will see their 2023 county tax bill soar 8%, marking the fifth rate increase in eight years. Democratic Commissioner Val Arkoosh has supported every one of these money grabs. But it wasn’t without help. The 2016 tax hike was passed with yes votes from now Gov.-elect Josh Shapiro and my Republican predecessor on the Board of Commissioners, Bruce Castor. I’m the only Montgomery County commissioner in over a decade to vote no to a tax increase. And I’ve done so consistently. Facing skyrocketing inflation and shrinking 401(k)s, the last thing families and retirees deserve is the additional burden of higher taxes. I’ll continue to be a voice of sanity in the fight to restore fiscal responsibility to Montgomery County.

Joe Gale, Montgomery County commissioner

Normally, state transportation departments are not associated with historic preservation projects. This year, at the 2022 Pennsylvania Historic Preservation Awards presented by Preservation Pennsylvania, PennDot Engineering District 6-0 — which includes Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia Counties — was involved in two awards. The Main Street Bridge over SEPTA in Sellersville won the award for rehabilitation. The Bryn Mawr Avenue Bridges Rehabilitation Project in Delaware County won the prestigious Ralph Modjeski Award for Excellence in Transportation Design Preservation and Archaeology. The five-county area is lucky to have such dedicated professionals working on their behalf.

Barry Cassidy, Downingtown

Thank you for your unbiased obituary of T. Milton Street Sr. After returning from a war (which we all know was merely a “conflict”), classmate John Street and I settled into the study of life as it is, not life as it was back in the day. It was delightful for me to see and hear Milton laughing and warning everyone in the morning while he sold his food to those who were not afraid. As I followed the ranks up the ladder to city, state, and federal employment, so did Milton follow his own track through the crime and inequity he saw and felt: racism, unemployment, hunger, and dirty government — to mention a few. Milton will always have his detractors, but I am not one of them.

Hon. Stephen Bosch, retired, Elkins Park

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