Letters: Democratic policies

Democratic policies

I wish to respond to a Trump hate letter I received, defending Trump’s draft-dodging status and questioning my military status. I served four years in the Navy. I served on an LSD delivering supplies to Dew Line in Alaska. I also served as a lead radar man on the super tanker Neosho in convoy to the South Atlantic, launching the first nuclear warhead from a ship.

I suggest that the writer called “Lone Ranger” review the 64 laws in the history books enacted by Democrats that have allowed workers to prosper and ask himself what our society would be like without them. For example take away Social Security and Medicare. In five years my health insurance paid out $1 million. Medicare paid out  $4 million. Without Medicare people like me would have been given a death sentence. Without just two laws passed by Democrats (Social Security and Medicare) nearly all workers would be living in poverty. Ninety-five out of the 100 poorest counties in the U.S. are Republican. Democratic policies work.

Hate and disrespect for others is not a virtue. A silver spoon in one’s mouth deters the ability to respect others. I will continue to support Democrat-enacted policies that help workers and the downtrodden consistent with biblical teachings most of us were taught.

Marlin Wagner, Chambersburg

Stealing from graves

To me a graveyard has always been sacred ground.  You enter slowly, and your voice becomes quieter out of deep respect for the residents who reside there.  As you walk around the graves, you admire the uniqueness of each tombstone.  You glance at the names, and you read the engraved messages on each tombstone.  Loved ones are buried here beneath the grass, the trees and the bushes that adorn the graveyard.

You never expect to have someone dishonor a tombstone or a grave.  You select the perfect flowers to adorn a grave saddle.  You eventually have decorations for each season to decorate your loved one’s tombstone.  Each saddle has a paver to provide weight so that the saddle stays firmly in place on the headstone.

Then one day, those decorations are gone.  The tombstone is bare, and your heart shatters as you realize that someone has stolen the saddle that you so carefully selected for your loved ones.  Instead of having a saddle for each season of the year, you have three saddles waiting for placement, but you do not decorate your loved one’s grave.  You wonder if the next saddle will be stolen, so you keep the saddles locked away.

You hear the stories about the person involved with removing and reselling the grave saddles and other grave adornments to earn money for their own benefit.  You hear about the locations where they are selling items from the trunk of a vehicle without even bothering to knock the dirt off an item that they stole from a grave.  You hear that their theory is that the person is dead, and they do not need those flowers or grave saddles.  You consider going to these locations to search for the grave saddle with the artificial pine, the beautiful poinsettias, and the red and gold wired ribbon with the tiny bears on it. 

You wonder what joy someone else gets from stealing from the local graveyards.  There is no time frame for mourning the deceased, and suddenly the family tombstone is bare except for a wooden sailor.  Of course, you made certain to place a family name on that sailor in permanent ink. 

Sandra Ann Kell Kendall, Fayetteville

Candidate endorsement letters

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