Support wildlife, restore habitat
What do COVID- 19, SARS, West Nile virus and Lyme disease have in common? They all originated in wildlife, and, while they’re also all diseases we fear getting, we humans have played a part in their spread.
As our increasing population expands, roads and development cut wild animals off from places they need to access food, water, mates, migratory destinations and escape routes from natural disasters. As a consequence, an alarming number of species are going extinct. Loss of biodiversity caused by habitat fragmentation has been linked to an increase in infectious disease spread and the risk of diseases passing from wildlife to people.
Pennsylvania House Resolution 670, now in committee, would connect existing and restored habitat with highway overpasses and culverts to allow wildlife safe passage. These conservation corridors could prevent species from going extinct and, so, boost biodiversity and limit disease transmission. For the sake of people, as well as wildlife, urge your legislators to support H. R. 670.
KATHRYN LEZENBY
Philadelphia
The writer is a volunteer for the Endangered Species Coalition Mid- Atlantic Region.
Vote early
I just called the Allegheny County elections office wanting to pick up my mail- in ballot, which my wife and I requested over a month ago.
The person I spoke with informed me that the ballot has not been printed yet and should be ready by the end of September or beginning of October.
I find this unbelievable! With the whole country urging to get your mail- in ballots and vote early, Allegheny County doesn’t have one yet? Maybe Mayor Bill Peduto or Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald can look into this.
JEFF WEINBERG
Squirrel Hill
Current divisions
In the Sept. 6 column by Keith C. Burris, “Two Countries,” he fails to understand or admit a simple fact. As in previous columns, he tries to describe our current divisions in terms of past political differences.
The simple fact he ignores is that Donald Trump, as a president and a person, is unprecedented in American history. There has never been a president as rude, crude and blatantly selfish as Mr. Trump. More important, there has never been one to actively and constantly attempt to divide the country for his own political gain. When a candidate wins an election, he usually tries to unify and be the leader for everyone. Not Mr. Trump. Also, his willful ignorance about nearly any subject and his intellectual laziness are unprecedented.
Mr. Burris’ reference to a spirited conversation about Richard Nixon and Eugene McCarthy is an attempt to create another false equivalency.
Even Nixon was not as unabashedly a white supremacist as Mr. Trump. And no other president has ever been accused of disparaging members of the military who died in war as “losers” and “suckers.” Even the few who don’t believe he said these things will have to admit that it certainly sounds like something he’d say. And what does that say about Mr. Trump? RICHARD RESTIVO
North Fayette
Financial hypocrite
Cal Thomas is a first- class hypocrite. He claims to care about the deficit in his Sept. 9 op- ed “Another Day Deeper and Older in Debt.” But, in 2017, at a time the U. S. was already running a large deficit, he irresponsibly supported a massive tax cut.
The result was, predictably, a $ 1 trillion deficit before pandemic spending made matters even worse. Mr. Thomas cares only about low taxes, which is his right, but he should not actually show those crocodile tears about the deficit.
BRUCE LEDEWITZ
North Side