Bill White\u2019s May 2 Town Square piece on Sen. Fetterman\u2019s odd support of Trump\u2019s views<\/a>. Reaching across the aisle is commendable if you\u2019re dealing with reasonable people led by a generally principled leader. Unfortunately, we live in Trump times when reaching across the aisle comes with the risk of losing a limb. To make this strategy safe and effective, you need more Charlie Dents. Mr. Dent was my congressman. I recall reading about his door-knocking expedition to learn more about his new constituents. Although I disagreed with many of his votes in Congress, I never feared his motives or questioned his ethics. I even called his office to express my gratitude after one of his votes in opposition to the will of Trump. Unfortunately, today\u2019s Charlie Dents are an endangered species, if not extinct.<\/p>\n\u2014 Louis Juran, Nazareth<\/p>\n
Name the surcharges for Trump<\/p>\n
Amazon, UPS, FedEx, USPS recently added temporary fuel surcharges to offset extra costs caused in part by the Iran war. Don\u2019t be surprised to see similar charges on other products if oil and gas prices continue to rise. Since President Trump has been making his name prominent on landmarks, institutions, currency and just about anything that promotes his legacy, I am proposing that all receipts for purchases that are impacted by fuel prices change the surcharge nomenclature to Trump Surcharge.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Alan Bevevino, Allentown<\/p>\n
Vaccines save lives<\/p>\n
It is nothing less than insanity. The world faces so many problems yet to be solved. We have found solutions to many of them through dogged research based on facts and on science. Yet in 2026, we are told by members of the Trump administration that the science behind these solutions is unfounded. We are told that vaccines that have been proven wildly successful against diseases aren\u2019t necessary. Yet, 1,700 cases of measles have been reported this year, in contrast to 70 early in the 2000s, when vaccination rates were significantly higher. As the New York Times remarks, \u201cthe most maddening aspect of this situation is that it was almost certainly avoidable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Herd immunity, defined as a vaccination threshold of 95%, has fallen in many communities, meaning that the most vulnerable, including infants too young to be vaccinated, are more susceptible to preventable diseases.<\/p>\n
Studies have shown again and again that vaccines do not cause autism, and, indeed, prevent 3 to 5 million deaths globally every year. However, as long as Robert Kennedy Jr. remains health secretary, it will be incumbent on local governments to issue clear messages about the power of vaccines to save Iives.<\/p>\n
\u2014Marianne Phillips, Allentown<\/p>\n
Allentown Fairgrounds should host jazz festival<\/p>\n
My wife and I just returned from the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. It was spectacular. Two 4-day weekends, 14 stages, 40 headliners, over 400 total performances, and all for the price of just one (or daily) ticket. That\u2019s right; your ticket allows you to see as many headliners as you want. People bring their lawn chairs and carry them from one stage to another. The key to its success is the 145-acre gated New Orleans Fairgrounds Race Course. I started to think that perhaps a similar style festival might be an option at the Allentown Fairgrounds. Understandably, the Allentown facility is only 45 acres, but its gated aspect would make a festival of this type entirely possible. I believe this would be a wonderful use of an asset that Allentown already has available. In addition, having the farmers market located in the middle would be an added feature. Come on, Allentown, think about it. You have the perfect venue to host a knockout event.<\/p>\n
\u2014Patrick A. Fioriglio, Bethlehem<\/p>\n
Too much political hatred in the Lehigh Valley<\/p>\n
Some people these days say there\u2019s no rhetoric, hatred, bias or Trump Derangement Syndrome in our Lehigh Valley. If ever there was fake news, that\u2019s it. So what does it mean? It means for some that Donald Trump is a tyrant, king and a threat to society. It means for others that the three attempts on his life were faked, staged or possibly deserved. When did the Lehigh Valley become this unrecognizable part of Pennsylvania? Where did the Christmas City go? Where did the All American City go? They are buried in this valley somewhere. Look around the cities and states in this country. They are only as successful as their leaders. We should stop the rhetoric before we\u2019re a statistic of failure instead of a success. Our county leaders should be first if either one will listen.<\/p>\n
\u2014Mary E. Wozniak, East Allen Township<\/p>\n
The Morning Call publishes letters from readers online and in print several times a week. Submit a letter to the editor at letters@mcall.com<\/a>. The views expressed in this piece are those of its individual author(s), and should not be interpreted as reflecting the views of this publication.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"County Council made wrong decision I was very disappointed by the Northampton County Council\u2019s decision May 7 not…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":194806,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154,1559],"class_list":["post-194805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news","tag-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194805"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194805\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}