Schreiber Chief: We’re Here To Stay Power Of The Wallet Undermining The Law Spiritual Darkness Magnificent Manor Trail Too Scared To Act [Intelligencer Journal (Lancaster, PA)]

I want to thank the hundreds of people who have reached out to help place Schreiber Pediatric Rehab Center on firmer financial footing after last week's story.

However, there were a few who thought mistakenly that Schreiber was closing.

Let me this say this very clearly, Schreiber is here to stay. We have been a community institution for decades and will continue being so for decades to come.

I also wanted to address the esteemed service of longtime

Schreiber President Bill Jefferson. The article did not make it clear that Bill retired last October after dedicating 16 years of his life to the center. In fact, Bill sought to retire on several prior occasions, but the board requested that he stay. I want to make sure this fact is recognized.

Schreiber's primary challenge has been that we are a medical facility that serves thousands of children where we underwrite the cost of their care. Other medical facilities that offer care for free such as Hershey or St. Jude's were founded with large gifts from major benefactors or have enormous fundraising operations.

Our goal is to increase our financial support in the short term to underwrite our fee services, while launching Schreiber's first- ever major gifts initiative that will allow us to create an endowment that will cover the losses for rightfully putting the care of the children above all else.

James W. DeBord

President

Schreiber Pediatric

Rehab Center

To all those writing in about the wage issues at Walmart and such stores, can we please stop making this a political issue and treat it as it is - a consumer issue?

I believe in this great country and our moral fiber. Using the government to solve our problems is not the answer and certainly not the path that we should be taking. Government in this country already controls too much of our lives.

I do not agree with some of Walmart's policies, so I do not shop there. I could pay a dollar less for prescriptions, but I do not. I could pay about $5 less for my groceries, but I do not.

And the last time I was at a Walmart, the checkout person could not speak English - we had to wait for another person to communicate with this employee.

I will continue to speak my mind with my wallet. Eventually, the Walmarts and others will get the message and start providing a better service with better personnel at a better pay scale.

If everyone would stop whining and start acting, we consumers could fix this issue.

Larry Smith

East Lampeter Township

Although the front-page article about U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts' sympathy for local farmers who are paying higher health insurance premiums is mostly a one-sided puff piece, it does provide us with enough information to appreciate how confused, irrational and purely ideological is our congressman's view of so-called Obamacare.

One needs to read to the end of the article to learn about a study by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation demonstrating that premiums have been "lower than expected" in 17 states that have already bought into the new system. The article also points out that relief for the farmers "could be on the way when an insurance clearinghouse for businesses with fewer than 50 employees goes online in 2015."

Like those clearinghouses, most of the provisions of the Affordable Care Act have not yet gone into effect, so it is impossible to assess the law's overall impact on costs and efficiency.

But Rep. Pitts is not interested in allowing the new law time to alleviate our health care crisis. The first quote from him in the article is, "We need to put the Affordable Care Act on hold - it isn't ready and we need time to get it fixed." Next he says, "I really think the whole thing is going to collapse." And finally, "I am taking a stand against the law and will do everything I can to defund, delay, dismantle or repeal it."

Ah, so he really isn't interested in "getting it fixed" or giving it a fair chance to succeed. He wants to bury it before we even try it.

I suppose this means he wants to go back to skyrocketing health care costs, millions uninsured, enormous insurance company profits and unbounded inefficiency throughout our entire health care system.

Michael Billig

Lancaster

Scott Rhoades'Sept. 23 front-page Intell/New Era remarks sanctioning marriage between members of the same sex are typical of the spiritual darkness that pervades this land.

Mr. Rhoades knows nothing of the teaching of Scripture and is blinded by the god of this age, Satan, who owns and rules the minds of unregenerate man.

But what else can one expect? He speaks out of his own fallen soul because he's never come to born again saving faith and the true light offered through the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Then and only then will Mr. Rhoades understand the path he's been traveling. Until that occurs, he will ultimately pass into eternity, fixed in self-imposed, perpetual darkness.

Homer Snavely

Cleona (Lebanon County)

Many thanks to people of Manor Township for the new section of the Enola Low Grade Trail.

This is a wonderful recreational facility that is conveniently located for Lancaster/York County bike riders, runners, joggers, walkers, hikers, strollers, bird-watchers, manual and motorized wheelchair users and families on picnics.

It is a very well thought out and constructed trail. The views of the river are magnificent. The amenities, including those for the handicapped, are consistent with those on the best of the trails on which we have ridden.

Many thanks to township Manager Barry Smith, Supervisor John May, the workers and those who did not waiver in their nine-year struggle to get the job done. They have reason to take pride in their foresight, tenacity and the final product.

We of the Musser Park Black Dog Outlaw Pirate Bicycle Club are already using and enjoying the trail on a regular basis. We especially like the fact that we will not be hit by a car or truck while riding the trail with its beautiful views of the Susquehanna River.

A comment on the Scribbler's column about the new trail, Aug. 27: We feel it left a negative tone for a very positive addition to the available recreational facilities in the Lancaster County.

Let's give credit for the Norfolk Southern Railroad and its donations/contributions to the trail.

The fence the Scribbler refers to negatively is a chain-link fence on the edge of the trail that separates the rail trail from active railroad tracks below.

The MPBDOP Bike Club understands and supports the legitimate concerns the railroad has about the safety of users wandering onto the active railroad tracks just below the rail trail. No fence, no trail.

Although the bike club would also like an unimpeded view of the river, as your columnist does, we realize that safety is paramount.

A positive column would have been more appropriate for the inauguration of this fine new trail.

Again, thanks to the people of Manor Township for a job well done.

Rich Wakefield

Lancaster

Obamacare might better be called ObamaSCARE. Republicans are trying to scare voters by constantly denouncing Obamacare, often with questionable information. The Democrats are scared to make any improvements to Obamacare because they're scared that will just be an excuse to repeal the law.

Hence, we have an impasse when we should be working together to provide affordable health care to as many people as possible

Frank A. Nickel

Elizabethtown