Control pet reproduction

Control pet reproduction

EDITOR:

Much has been written about Cathy Witzman and animal cruelty, but none has addressed the real problem. It’s a very feel good thing to establish a no -kill sanctuary. It is also doomed to fail. Nobody can house and care for every dog that will be dumped by people who refuse the responsibility to care for a homeless dog, but gladly expect someone else to do it. Warehousing animals is not a caring act. Warehousing leads to disease and aggression. Hundreds of unadoptable dogs kept alive without loving human contact is a disaster waiting to happen.

The problem is overpopulation and the answer is compulsory spay/neuter laws. For all the good they do, the Animal Welfare League is wrong to not require that every dog or cat adopted from their shelter be spayed or neutered. They are adding to the overpopulation problem by doing this. Legislation must be passed requiring all non-profit shelters, rescues and pounds to spay/neuter all dogs and cats available for adoption. Then and only then can we reduce the number of homeless animals.

DEBBIE JOHNSON

Liberty

Give public servants their due

EDITOR:

Bertram de Souza’s tirades about those in the public pension system are shortsighted in my view.

He has left out facts about how the current system was developed. Years ago the public service wages were significantly below many of those in the private sector. Many of these pension benefits were offered instead of wage increases. A lot of those on pension today have their benefits based on those low wages.

The type of exposure due to public service would increase benefits in any endeavor. It should not be necessary to mention such incidents as the twin towers tragedy, the various school shootings, the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City and the latest incident of a plane being flown into an IRS office to illustrate that all public service employees can be the target of violence just because of the position they hold. That might not be thought of much, but it still is a fact of their employment.

From the perspective of a public safety officer (police and fire), each one of them knows that a relatively routine incident can become a violent and deadly occurrence in a moment. I personally have been shot at, fought with, helped put down riots, in dangerous high speed chases, had to face armed offenders, made cases against mob members, served on the department’s bomb disposal unit and assisted in the delivery of eight babies.

Admittedly, not many have had to respond to all those types of duties, but many have had to respond to several of those types of duties. I believe all are ready to respond to any of these kinds of emergencies if called upon.

The public pension system was developed over years of negotiations with various administrations and approved by the legislatures concerned. Yes, there have been some who have taken advantage and abused the system. By far, most are just receiving their just due.

I have not heard of Mr. de Souza saying anything about the auto workers union’s demand for wages and benefits that helped cause the companies to need billions of taxpayers’ dollars to stay in business.

If he really wants to take on an area of government excess, waste, and greed, I would suggest he take a long look at our Congress. They only negotiated with themselves. They gave themselves a fabulous wage with an automatic raise every year, the best of medical coverage and an outrageous retirement package, which they cannot lose, even if convicted of a crime in office.

DONALD G. BAKER

Youngstown

X The writer is a retired Youngstown police chief.

Justice takes a peek at Jim

EDITOR:

I recently saw in the news that one of the Mahoning Valleys prominent businessmen is pleading guilty to a federal charge of lying about campaign contributions. I’m sure that he — as well as probably everyone alive — has lied about something at one time or another, and at times has to pay the consequences for those lies.

It amazes me how the law works when this same individual, as well as others, were somehow involved in the Jim Traficant trial and conviction and the only person suffering any consequences was Jim Traficant, who went to prison. How does that work? Especially when some individuals do the same thing Jim Traficant did repeatedly. How many chances to they get?

I was taught years ago that justice was blind; however I think justice is peeking from under the blindfold.

JOSEPH P. HILKO

Hermitage, Pa.

Find a way to fund the parks

EDITOR:

It is unreal to read in The Vindicator that the Youngstown Park Department might not be open this summer due to insufficient funds. Our children need the parks and the playgrounds, ball fields and swimming pools to keep them off the street during the summer vacation. They also need to be active because of the obesity problem.

Officials of all departments need to re-examine the use of city funds to avoid curtailing this entity for the summer months.

NEIL D. FRASCA

Youngstown