Letters to the Editor | March 6, 2023

I attended Temple University in the late ‘60s. While I was there, a graduate student was murdered during a gang initiation, a student was stabbed during a robbery, and my cousin was robbed. The violence problem at Temple is nothing new. During orientation, we were told not to go outside the campus, but now you have students partying and living off campus. Temple police cannot be expected to do the Philadelphia police’s job in the neighborhood. I think the students have to exercise due diligence when they go outside campus. There is no way to make them perfectly safe once they go off campus.

Timothy Wadas, Philadelphia

Thanks to columnist Will Bunch for the clear view on Temple University president Jason Wingard’s failure to lead the university responsibly or ethically. I’m especially angry at his claim that he and his leadership team had to make “hard decisions.” What they made were the easiest decisions: to double down on abusing graduate workers at the university, whose positions are precarious both structurally — because they’re also students who can be dismissed or have funding taken away — and economically, because they’re compensated so poorly and are often deep in debt to finance their graduate education. Taking your leadership failures out on such vulnerable members of the university community is never a “hard decision.” It’s a cop-out.

Seth Kahn, West Chester

The Feb. 24 editorial cartoon repeats the falsehood that Donald Trump canceling an Obama-era safety rule on train brakes caused the disastrous Feb. 3 East Palestine, Ohio, derailment and fire. In his eagerness to attack Trump once again, cartoonist Darrin Bell, and apparently The Inquirer editors, appears unaware that Jennifer Homendy, head of the National Transportation Safety Board, stated to reporters: “Speculation that a rule mandating electronic control pneumatic (ECP) brakes would have prevented this train derailment is false ... The ECP braking rule applies only to high-hazard flammable trains.” (Defined as trains with at least 70 loaded tank cars containing highly flammable liquids such as crude oil or ethanol.) “The train that derailed in East Palestine was a mixed freight train containing only three Class 3 flammable liquid cars,” she said. “Please stop spreading misinformation.” Nudge, nudge.

Nick O’Dell, Phoenixville, nickodell16@yahoo.com

This grandmother of five applauds efforts to halt the sexualization of children both in Kentucky as well as here in Pennsylvania. However, rather than going after drag queens, I’ve got a couple of other ideas: Stop putting bikinis on 1-year-old babies at the beach. Stop giving your 6-year-old sports bras. Stop sending your daughters to school in a daily parade of fancy dresses, short skirts, high boots, and makeup.

A. Donath, Wallingford

On the heels of the atrocity that took the life of a Temple University police officer, Republican State Sen. Mike Regan, who represents parts of Cumberland and York Counties, has introduced legislation to mandate capital punishment for those who kill law enforcement officers. Regrettably, the state senator’s bill is nothing but a “feel-good” measure that he surely knows will not produce the desired outcome, even if it were somehow to pass both chambers of the General Assembly and be signed into law. Following the same path taken by his predecessor, Gov. Josh Shapiro has stated that no one will be executed during his time in office, and he is pushing for legislation to end capital punishment. Additionally, Pennsylvania has death row prisoners who were sentenced decades ago but have not been executed. They are certain to die in prison, likely in old age. Caring Pennsylvanians are filled with grief and outrage when a police officer hero is slain. The sad reality is that the criminal, who is usually young, will spend decades as a ward of the state, and millions of dollars will be spent on his legal defense, health care, and room and board.

Oren Spiegler, Peters Township

President Joe Biden’s recent trip to Philadelphia to discuss replacing lead service lines in America over the next decade is welcomed news. Safe, clean, affordable, and reliable drinking water keeps life flowing to our communities. U.S. water and sewer pipes average 50 years old, and many homes in this region were built after lead pipe usage in water systems and plumbing was banned in 1986. With the bipartisan infrastructure bill providing billions to remove lead service lines, and the EPA requiring water systems to develop public-facing maps identifying lead and copper lines by 2024, we have an opportunity to make progress.

That’s why I’m “piping up” and encouraging others to join by participating in Pennsylvania American Water’s statewide service line material inventory project. We’re asking customers to share their service line material through a survey to help identify and ultimately remove all lead lines. I’m proud that American Water complies with all lead action levels in water. However, removing lead lines is important for the health, safety, and peace of mind of our 2.4 million Pennsylvania customers.

Justin Ladner, president, Pennsylvania American Water

TikTok has been banned from government- and state-owned devices in Congress, the White House, and in more than half of U.S. states amid concerns that China could “push disinformation or narratives” favoring China. In Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation suit against Fox News, it has come to light that senior figures at Fox News knew that election voter fraud claims were false, yet because they were losing audience numbers (”Getting creamed by CNN,” said Fox owner Rupert Murdoch), Fox News pivoted to embrace and broadcast Donald Trump’s fraudulent claims that the election had been stolen. Fox News made the conscious decision to push disinformation and a false narrative. One that it privately acknowledged to be false, and that favored Trump and its ratings. How are Fox News’ actions any less troublesome or dangerous than those posed by TikTok? Yet TikTok is banned, but Fox News lives on, the tool of conservative MAGA Republicans everywhere pushing disinformation and narratives favorable to themselves. Change the channel, vote them out. Push the truth and the narratives that favor the rest of us.

Deborah DiMicco, Newtown

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