Letters: Respect, tolerance still missing in State College; Definitely not better off four years ago

Respect, tolerance still missing in State College

My wife and I moved to State College in 1971, when I accepted my first teaching position in the (then) Religious Studies Department at Penn State. The next year we purchased a delightful home in Park Forest Village. Within a few days after moving in, we found a huge swastika painted on the rear of our house. How someone learned of our ethnic Jewish background, we do not know. In 2006, following my retirement from Penn State, I was offered an endowed professorship and administrative position at Utah State University, and we moved to the Logan, Utah, community. When our new neighbors knocked on our front door to introduce themselves (and presumably welcome us to our new neighborhood), many of them noticed the “mezuzah” on our front door frame. Most of them never spoke to us again. In 2010, after feeling discriminated against regularly, throughout the community, we retired from USU and returned to State College. How sad it is to see that antisemitism is now worse in State College than it was when we first arrived in 1971. It would surely be a wonder if our community learned some respect, and tolerance, for all members of the State College community, irrespective of their race, religion, or sexual identity.

Charles S. Prebish, State College

Definitely not better off four years ago

In his recent newsletter, Representative Glenn Thompson, citing a Fox News poll, claimed that a majority of Americans believe they’re worse off now than they were four years ago under President Trump. He’s parroting a Republican talking point recently made popular by Trump.

But saying something doesn’t make it so. We don’t all have short or distorted memories. Four years ago, we were in the early stages of a mismanaged pandemic that devastated our economy, upended our lives, and killed more than 1M Americans.

Consider CDT headlines from that time:

• All of Pennsylvania now under orders to stay home

• Centre County construction projects delayed due to the coronavirus

• Dozens of inmates released from Centre County jail … to contain COVID-19 spread

• Pennsylvania reaches 26,490 total cases of COVID-19

• Spring semester in-person classes suspended for Penn State

And these national headlines in April 2020:

• Virus throws millions more out of work, and Washington struggles to keep pace (NY Times)

• U.S. confirmed coronavirus cases top half a million; World coronavirus death toll passes 100,000 (WSJ)

• ‘It’s a sinking ship’: COVID-19 deaths triple at state-run vets nursing home (Philadelphia Inquirer)

• As small businesses sink, some wonder if latest relief package will be enough to save them (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

• The U.S. was beset by denial and dysfunction…and opportunities to mitigate the pandemic were lost (Washington Post)

Does anyone really think we were better off four years ago? Thompson insults our intelligence. We actually lived through the crisis.

Ed Satalia, State College