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New Funding

For PGC

To the editor:

Our current funding structure is largely dependent upon hunting and trapping license revenue. The commission's duty, however, extends far beyond managing game and furbearers for sportsmen.

The Game Commission is responsible for managing all of the state's 467 species of wild birds and mammals, and preserving habitat.

Our agency owns a network of State Game Lands totaling 1.4 million acres, where our agency provides nesting and escape cover for wildlife, restores wetlands, makes habitat improvement timber cuts, erects waterfowl nest structures and much more.

For more than 50 years, the commission has owned and operated the Howard Nursery in Centre County and has produced as many as 8 million seedlings per year for wildlife food and cover.

The Game Commission also helps landowners develop and maintain wetlands, riparian areas, old-field shrub/ grasslands, and contiguous blocks of forest. We work hard to develop these areas, mainly through the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP), wherein the commission is currently involved in the establishment of 265,000 acres of wildlife habitat in the Susquehanna and Ohio River Basins.

Another important aspect of the commission's mission is educating our youth about wildlife conservation.

Hunting in Pennsylvania is more than a $3 billion industry and generates more than $214 million in state and local taxes. Wildlife-associated recreation expenditures (including hunting) in 2006 totaled $5.4 billion.

Because wildlife recreation is a significant factor in Pennsylvania's travel and tourism economies, it stands to reason that some of the revenue generated by wildlife recreation should be reinvested in wildlife management and conservation. HB 1676 provides an opportunity to correct this long-standing funding gap.

Changing demographics and interests, and the resulting nationwide downward trend in hunting license sales, have resulted in decreasing revenues for wildlife agencies across the nation.

It is inequitable to expect sportsmen to remain the only source of funding for wildlife conservation and protection in Pennsylvania. HB 1676 will allow the commission to work harder to preserve the things we value as we manage all wildlife on behalf of all citizens.

Michael W. Schmit

Deputy Exec. Dir.

Pa. Game Commission

Smoking ban:

Time to act

To the editor:

Pennsylvania's General Assembly is feeling the heat again as public health organizations and citizens' groups concerned with human rights speak out. It's time for the legislature to join almost two dozen other states that have banned indoor smoking in public places.

No one can argue the facts. The battle now is between the moneyed interests and the people. Who will win? That depends on which side wins the hearts and minds of our lawmakers.

Smoking is a hazard to people's health. Smoking kills more people than alcohol, AIDS, car crashes, illegal drugs, murders, and suicides combined.

Tobacco companies make a product that kills 440,000 Americans a year, or 1,200 Americans a day.

Not only does the tobacco industry produce a lethal substance that kills hundreds of thousands of Americans a year, but it also purposefully spikes tobacco with specific ingredients in order to make tobacco so addictive that people will struggle for years, even their entire lives, to give up the deadly habit.

Unfortunately, smoking doesn't just affect smokers. Secondhand smoke leads to between 25,000 and 73,000 deaths a year, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have concluded that there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke.

As a result, nearly 1,000 cities and more than 20 states have taken action to protect citizens by banning smoking inside of all workplaces, including bars and restaurants.

Pennsylvania's restaurant, bar, and casino workers are most at risk. Many workers can't avoid the secondhand smoke and have to spend eight hours a day breathing in secondhand smoke. In a smoke-filled room for one shift of eight hours, the workers are smoking the equivalent of up to two packs a day.

Smoking a pack a day should not be a condition for employment in Pennsylvania.

That's why PennPIRG is working to ban smoking in all workplaces, including bars and restaurants. Please join us in pressuring the state legislature to pass this logical measure to protect the health of Pennsylvania's workforce.

Our organization, PennPIRG, takes on powerful interests on behalf of Pennsylvania's citizens, working to win concrete results for our health and our well-being.

With a strong network of researchers, advocates, organizers and students across the state, we stand up to powerful special interests on issues to stop identity theft, fight political corruption, provide safe and affordable prescription drugs, and strengthen voting rights.

Learn more at our website, pennpirg.org.

Edward Russell

PennPIRG

Philadelphia

We Teach Children

Their Own Value

To the editor:

First Presbyterian Church Preschool, a nondenominational Christian preschool, has begun accepting registrations for the 2008-09 school year.

Our primary goal is for each child to know that he or she is a person of worth and value. All aspects of the child's development are considered in planning the curriculum.

We provide a safe and healthy environment outside the home in which a child can interact with other children and adults, and engage in age-appropriate activities. The children will experience story time, movement activities, arts and crafts, dramatic play, music, and various other educational activities. They will also make their own snacks. Special events will include field trips, holiday parties, and visits from people in the community. Simple Bible stories, songs and prayers will be used in a nondenominational manner when appropriate and meaningful.

Children must be four by Oct. 15, 2008. Classes are held on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 am to 11:30 am.

To request an application or for more information, please call 486-0705.

Sue Zoschg

Emporium

Submit your letter!

Letters to the editor can be submitted by email to news@zitomedia.net or by mail to 29 E. 4th St. Emporium, PA 15834 or to PO Box 87, Coudersport, PA 16915.

Writers should try to keep their letters brief and focused on one topic. They must be accompanied with a phone number for verification.