Dear Editor: As I read the editorial in the Daily Courier titled “Act 9 Hurts Poor School Districts,” I have to ask what is the Courier’s definition of the word “poor?” Surely, the editorial’s reference to Mount Pleasant Area School District was in error. I also have to wonder if Bill Gates and his wife are familiar with the meaning of “poor?” Recently they donated four computers to the Mount Pleasant Public Library with the assumption that our community was one of 5,000 and some that had a poverty rate above 10 percent. Or does a once profitable glass factory closing its doors, throwing the last remnants of a once proud workforce into the chaotic state of unemployment and uncertain futures qualify a district as “poor,” or have they merely become another statistic? A letter I recently received from the Pennsylvania Department of Education states the definition of “poor” has many tentacles and referred me to a Web site. Since I am B.C. (before computers) and have no desire to become a Web head, I was unable to ascertain their definition of the word “poor.” Does $105,000 relate to “poor?” This amount is the starting salary of the recently hired superintendent of the MPASD• Or perhaps, the starting salary of around $30,000 for newly hired teachers proves how our district really is. According to “U.S. News and World Report,” Pennsylvania teachers’ salaries are in the upper category in the U.S. along with some other states. The average for these states is $45,000 and up. As stated in this article that between the years 1991 and 2001, this figure when adjusted for inflation, hardly kept pace with prices. The article failed to mention if the employer of these teachers, the taxpayers’ salaries, kept pace with teachers’ salaries. School districts are always crying “poor mouth.” If an industry faces a financial crunch, they either downsize, make cuts to adjust to the situation, or close their doors. But the word “cut” does not exist in a school board’s vocabulary. Their budget is based on the money they spend, not on the amount available. Unlike other industries that have to live within their means, school districts raise taxes to live in a style that they have become accustomed. When was the last time the MPASD didn’t raise taxes• It was amusing that the one board member stated (in another paper), we only hire the best. Strange, isn’t it, that in our not too distant past, in some cases, it wasn’t “what you know, but who you know.” Plato, an ancient Grecian philosopher, if alive today, would have to alter his statement of “Education determines your future” for the taxpayer public to “Education determines your taxes.” Loye Eberhart, Mount Pleasant The terrorist decade In retrospect over the past decade, it is obvious that as long as we never again allow another Clinton-Gore administration to captivate the nation, we will be safe from future calamities such as Sept. 11, 2001, in New York City. From the first disaster at the World Trade Center, through the series of bombings of American properties abroad, the Washington leadership failed miserably to respond promptly and effectively. The total effect was to convince the terrorists that we were a hollow shell incapable of defending ourselves. Emboldened by Clinton’s whining about the bombings, the terrorists entered our country at will, were educated and trained in our schools, while the INS remained asleep at the switch. The administration talked about INS reform but did nothing. When the destroyer U.S. Cole was almost sent to the bottom of Yemen Bay, killing 17 young men and wounding 39 other sailors, President Clinton should have been outraged. He should have declared war upon the international terrorists and those who support them. By then, he knew all about Osama bin Laden and the terrorist training camps in Afghanistan. We were prostrated before the terrorists. Three planes accomplished their evil intentions. But the passengers of the fourth plane over Pennsylvania knew what had happened in New York and Washington through their cell phones. They finally expressed America’s real courage. “Let’s roll!” changed a nonchalant official atmosphere of our country to that of an enraged American eagle. From there on, the terrorists realized that they had underestimated America’s ability to fight back. They had concluded mistakenly that the Clinton-Gore administration represented the American people who would roll over and finally die. The purpose of evil people can never be ignored or appeased. We have learned an expensive and deadly lesson; character, integrity and morality matters. God Bless America. Al Hopfer, Greensburg Thanks for the free lunch Dear Editor: I would like to commend the board of directors of the community center for changing their decision about the free lunch program. It is a vital service for the kids of this community. And also Mayor Judy Reed should be commended for going the extra mile for the kids. Hopefully, with the extra eyes and ears this year, there won’t be any problems with vandalism. Thank you. Kathy Zook, Connellsville

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