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School is back in session — slow down and pay attention

Editorials

School buses are back on the roads across part of the Juniata River Valley, and come Monday, there will be even more of them. Students in the Juniata County School District returned to class Wednesday. Mifflin County students head back Monday, Aug. 31. That means summer driving habits need to change. School buses will once again be stopping along rural roads, borough streets and busy highways. Parents will be dropping off children. Students will be waiting along roadsides. Teenage drivers will be heading to school. For the rest of us, it means leaving a few minutes earlier and ...

Track should honor Coach Scot Sechler

Letters to the Editor

I believe something is missing at the Marcal Paper Field (Mifflin County HS Sports Complex). I don't know how we missed the opportunity to honor and pay our respect to an outstanding track coach, Scot Sechler who lost his battle with cancer at the age of 49. Scot attend Susquehanna University and Penn State, and ran track as a sprinter. He coached HS track at Lewistown HS, Indian Valley HS, and Mifflin County HS. He was the Head Coach of Mifflin County HS. for 9 years. He also helped organize the Juniata Valley Striders Track Program for younger track athletes. The life lessons he ...

God is the one we can trust

Letters to the Editor

To the Editor, We enter into this world at the time appointed by God for our birth to happen. We enter life knowing nothing. We have to learn everything: how to eat, how to talk, how to walk, etc. We learn from those God has placed in our lives to teach us. Our primary learning comes from our parents, and we learn other things from others we have contact with. One very important thing we needed to learn is to trust and who we could put our trust in. Not all of those who become involved in our learning of knowledge teach us what is true and right. So we had to learn how to ...

The US talked itself into failure

Editorials

There are a couple of stories that seem unrelated but are very related. They show the story of a country that used to build things and has decided, without ever quite admitting it, that building is too hard. Start with the missiles. Rep. Mike Turner was on television last week talking about letting Ukraine license our Patriot technology and build the missiles themselves, because the threat is spreading and our defenses must spread with it. He is right. Think how strange that is. The most powerful country in history is handing another nation the recipe for our best defensive weapon ...

Growth begins where our comfort zone ends

Editorials

My son was furious when I picked him up from day camp, slamming the door when he got in the car. He had been downgraded from a "yellow" swimmer to a "red" swimmer. He hadn't forgotten how to swim. The YMCA had simply changed its policy. My son loves to swim. He likes donning goggles and swimming underwater, not to mention perfecting his handstand. But the YMCA had changed its safety rules, and rightfully so. The shallow end reaches 5 feet deep, and campers now have to be at least 5 feet tall to swim there without a life jacket unless they pass the swim test. My son is 4 feet, 10 ...

First responders deserve our thanks

Editorials

People were trapped inside a burning building on Valley Street. Some residents were trying to escape through windows. Others needed help to get out as heavy fire spread through the building late at night. Firefighters arrived knowing people could still be inside. They entered the building while flames moved through the structure and smoke filled the rooms. Other crews worked from outside and above the fire, opening the roof to reach flames hidden in concealed spaces. Commanders called a second alarm. More ambulances were requested. Fire companies from Mifflin, Juniata, and ...