The article that was ran on our meeting on May 18 has a short summary to some extent of the occurrences that actually took place that night.
I however would like to shed more light on the subject. If trying to look out for our citizens no matter how big or small they are is considered “interfering” then you can bet I will continue to do so.
Mr. Raub said I was not looking out for the community. However, that couldn’t be further from the truth. These citizens seemed to have been wronged by the actions that occurred. They reached out to a person they trusted to look into the issue and see what was going on.
They, like I, have no trust in the system as it has been doing things this way for years before I came along. It was said these individuals were my “friends.” Which, though I know them through either my job or mutual acquaintances, I would not necessarily call them a friend. A friend to me is someone you hang out with constantly and talk to regularly in a capacity outside of work or business.
Me trying to get to the bottom of cases that were brought to me by citizens is in my job description. It was said at the previous meeting in March that I should be looking out for them by many people in attendance, as well as, at least one at the meeting in question.
Now, I agreed and apologized for my part in the trash violation as information given me seemed to be false to an extent.
So, you can go and write letters to someone for garbage buildup and show up at a residence during a pandemic for codes issues but you cannot write a simple letter and attach the rental ordinance to rental owners in the borough? Does anyone else see something wrong here? Is it just me?
Lastly, the violation of the Sunshine Act. I ask you citizens of the borough to look it up and read it for yourselves but, I will say that it is not illegal for me to ask opinions or talk to other council members about borough issues. A quorum is a majority of council. Which means four or more of us cannot sit down and meet together and discuss borough business without it being advertised to the public.
However I can call any of them individually and ask their opinions and discuss it. As long as no decisions are made to make an action. I can state my opinion and them theirs. No law broken.
Again, I say read it for yourself and come to your own conclusions. Do your research and learn the whole truth. I am here for you the people. I will continue to look into wrongdoing and questionable acts.
If you have any issues and you don’t know where else to turn I will gladly help as best I can. Thank you for your support and understanding as well as patience during this time of pandemic.
Chris Schrader
Canton
Dear Editor,
How bad is it, really?
I’ve been trying to understand how ‘bad’ this pandemic is. While personally I’m among the lucky (don’t know anyone who has the virus) I do wonder when and how cautiously I’ll be able to venture further.
Up front, to the families of Covid-19 victims in Bradford County especially, and all the victims elsewhere, I am sorry for your loss. I do NOT mean to diminish that. I have suffered the loss of my most loved one nearly 13 years ago, I still miss him every day, and I KNOW your ONE is one too many.
I will continue wearing my mask when I’m grocery shopping or banking or whatever, I’ll do my part to minimize exposure.
But, I am distressed by how statistics are being used. What IS going on here? I check the PA Dept of Health Covid-19 webpage* daily to get a feel for what’s happening, and it just doesn’t make sense! (*www.health.pa.gov/topics/disease/coronavirus/Pages/Cases.aspx)
After weeks of reporting stats, they suddenly changed their format, added “percent” and “rate” to county death counts (separately, on a new link), without explaining what their numbers are a percent OF, or what the rate means.
I’m fairly good at math, so I tried to figure it out. In Bradford County, our “rate” as of 5/17 was 4.9. The number of deaths in our county is listed as 3. Our county’s population is 60,833. 3 divided by 60,833 = .0000493153. Yep, start with a decimal point, and there are FOUR ZEROS before the rest of the digits. THAT means our county’s “death rate” is 4.9 PER 100,000. By itself, “4.9” sounds big. But it IS NOT 4.9, it is 4.9 people OUT OF ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND people.
Let’s get this into perspective: Less than five 100 thousandths of ONE percent of our friends and neighbors have succumbed to this virus, yet they make it sound far worse. Why? To rule by fear?
I OBJECT to the fear mongering the ‘people in power’ are using with these number games. I have heard some folks express panic at being outside at ALL, even in their own gardens or on their front porches, because they’ve heard the virus is in the air and will kill us all!
Car accidents, alcohol, smoking, cancers, hunger, and varied other causes : EACH of these individually claim FAR more lives in the same time frame as this virus. There isn’t an easy source to find county stats for these, but a look at worldometers.info shows the global death count from covid-19, and global counts for OTHER non-pandemic causes. The comparisons are clear, those other causes of death FAR outpace this virus. It’s likely a similar comparison holds true at state and local levels. Yet none of those death counts have created the opportunity that the government is now using to take away our choices.
PROVIDE PROTECTION FOR THE MOST VULNERABLE, provide HONEST advice, and let us proceed with responsible caution, not government lockdowns and threats.
Laura H Hewitt Sheshequin