To the Editor:
My name is Robert K. Otto and I currently live in San Antonio, Texas.
I have read that the boroughs of Coal Center and California are considering merging because of several things. I was raised in Coal Center and left when I joined the U. S. Marine Corps in 1961 due to the employment conditions at the time.
My brother, Gerald Otto, from Orlando, Fla., and I were in Coal Center this pat July and talked to Mrs. Sarpolis
and she mentioned that the merging of the two boroughs may be coming up.I hate to see it, but I think that it is for the betterment of all in Coal Center.
The town has lost many people since the 1960s and many homes have simply disappeared. It takes a lot of money to run the town and it just isn't there anymore. I can understand how Donna Lincavage feels, our families have been in Coal Center many years and we grew up together.
I try to walk around both Coal Center and California each time I can make it to Pennsylvania. I am proud that I lived there and tell everyone that the people of both Coal Center and California are what what made me proud to be an American. The spirit of all the different nationalities living together as a community and raising their children to be better citizens is what holds them together.
Many people from Coal Center are now gone and to them and those that are still there; Mrs. Sarpolis, Mr. Zibel, Donna Lincavage and others I say thank you.
Robert K. Otto
San Antonio
