Education is investment in future

I am a retiree and plan to live another 20 to 30 years. During that time, I am counting on advances in health and medicine, as well as care, from recent graduates, and even people who have not even been born yet.

Indeed, my niece, a product of public education, is achieving her doctorate at Harvard researching the impact of specific elements on the mitosis of cancer cells. I want a high-quality life for myself and my wife and need people with strong elementary and secondary experience to enable their post-secondary health education.

As I continue to get older, I rely on others to help with projects in the maintenance and enhancement of my home and my vehicles. I want, need, and demand that these people have a strong elementary and secondary education as the foundation to their craft training. They need to fully understand all the math necessary for their trade and running a business as well as strong verbal and written communication skills.

As a retiree, my current and future income is and will be derived from investments, Social Security, and part-time work. I want, need and demand a strong economy for the next 20 to 30 years. I need educated people to invent and discover new technologies, new products and new businesses during that time to drive not only my local economy, but the U.S. economy. Some of the people who will deliver these are not yet even born but will be educated through our elementary and secondary schools.

I want, need and demand an educated community delivered through strong public schools. This requires dollars that I really consider a great investment on my quality of life. While I desire more efficiencies in education, more bang for the buck, and the application of lean manufacturing processes to my local school district as well as the Pennsylvania Department of Education, quite honestly and emphatically, paying for public education is a most selfish act. Bob Weidenmuller

Landenberg

Pipeline hazards

Residents in Chester and Delaware Counties are tired of local legislatures and emergency coordinators playing kick the can when it comes to emergency preparedness and emergency response under the new hazard known as Mariner East. We want to talk about how they plan on mitigating loss of life and property under the confines of law.

We do not want to talk about emergency response capabilities and mass casualty plans. School code, municipal code, and PEMA regulations dictate that legislatures at all levels of government are required to perform an expert led hazard analysis that includes a mitigation plan and vulnerability impacts.

Since local officials have colossally let us down, we the residents, are now appealing directly to the Governor! Title 35 the Health and Safety statue gives the power and authority to Governor Wolf to direct commonwealth agencies to identify steps that would prevent or reduce harmful consequences in a disaster. Mariner 1 has been operational for nearly 3 years and in the last 12 months has leaked 3 times.

September is national preparedness month, according to PEMA, it is the duty of each and every citizen to protect the lives and property of those that depend on us through awareness and careful planning. None of the 105,000 Pennsylvanians that live in the blast zone are able to fulfill this basic need because no hazard assessment has been performed. Emergencies are chaotic by nature, residents and the 40 schools along the Mariner East Pipeline have the right, under state code, to know the risks as they exist. Now is the time we should be asking questions and securing our ability to act fast and with purpose in a disaster. We should be compelled to protect our children, our communities, and our public spaces. We should be ensuring our first responders have the training and equipment to operate safely under this new hazard.

Pennsylvanians are not prepared for colorless, odorless, heavier than air combustibles. In the lower 48 states PA is the only one without a siting agency and because of this we are the only state that has allowed high capacity, high pressure, NGL pipelines so close to homes and schools. This is the first time a hazard assessment of this nature has ever been needed.

The residents who live, work, or send their children to the schools in the blast zone ask that you sign our petition. Ask Governor Wolf to fulfill his duty to protect the health, welfare, and safety of residents. Infrastructure, private industry and job growth should never come at the expense of safety. Rebecca Britton

Uwchlan