Through An 'Old Timer's' Eyes
By Howard 'Mac' McDonald

I really like to keep this column on a lighter note, but sometimes my soapbox gets in the way.

I have never supported our position in Iraq and now we see evidence that we were lied to about the nuclear technology in Iran.

Remember how these supposed "weapons of mass destruction" led us to invade Iraq?

How did this mad man get to be our President? His administration has the national debt so high that every man, woman and child owes $30,000. Oh yes, I forgot, they are the conservatives.

CBS's 60 Minutes had a real good report on the Christians in Iraq. The Christians have been in that country since the year 35A.D.. They were led there by St. Thomas, who sat at Jesus's left side at the "Last Supper."

Until we stirred up that pigpen, they had grown to 4.5 million. Now there are less than 2 million.

The Christian leader said conditions for the Christians were 100 times better before our invasion. Now, they do not have one church left. They have to hold their meetings in hidden places. They are under the threat of being killed every minute. Our military is not allowed to help them.

I ask you this question, "Where is the Christian world?"

And in case you think I am not sensitive or supportive of our troops, you are wrong. My grandson just left for his third tour of duty over there.

With Christmas just around the corner, I am glad to see hunting season come to a close. The two seasons just are not compatible.

I hope old Saint Nick isn't looking for some replacements for his team in this neck of the woods. He would have slim pickings.

The Game Commission must think that because of our age, us old-timers are in our second childhood. We are afforded the same extra hunting privileges as the kids.

I'm sorry, but I think I still have most of my marbles left and I can lawfully do the same things I have always done.

It's just another example of how the Game Commission and the DCNR have worked hand in hand with the timber companies to reduce our deer to the lowest that it has been in modern history.

The road that runs from the top of the hill on the Dividing Ridge across to the top of Norwich Hill is open to vehicles. There is a timber access road that breaks off to the left as you head toward Norwich Hill. It winds for a couple miles through one of the most devastating clear-cuts I have ever seen.

A member of the May Hollow Hunting Club told me that the company that owns the land they lease came in and cut every tree that was not oak or cherry and just left them where they fell.

There is enough firewood lying in the woods of Cameron County to heat every home in Pennsylvania for a couple of years. But don't get caught getting any of this wood without a permit.

The absence of trees is not all caused by the deer eating the new shoots, but more by the chainsaw. To me the clear-cuts are as ugly as the spoil piles of open-pit mining. At least when the strip mining is closed, they try to restore the surface land. Not so with the clear-cutters. Greed can be seen sprawled all across our wood lands.

I guess I should have kept that deer I hit with my car back in September. This hunting season, I didn't catch anything but a really bad cold.

There have been some really big bucks taken, but for the number of hunters in the woods the ratio was not all that great.

December 7 is Pearl Harbor Day. If you have picked up your Endeavor News on Friday, please take a couple of moments and remember those who paid the ultimate price.

Japan lost the war, but they won the peace. Look at all their autos Americans are driving.