Letters to the Editor Jan. 24, 2010

Questions on re-addressing

EDITOR: I received an e-mail about two weeks ago from a friend in Canton, saying that until further notice, their new address including their business address would be (on) North Center Street. I am currently in Florida for a few months, and I am curious. I had not yet received my notice … it took over another week for that, as it had to be forwarded. (We) were told that we had been changed from 66 N. Minnequa Ave. to 268 N. Minnequa Ave. You can't imagine the things that began popping up in my mind.

My questions are:

- Will everyone be notified of everyone else's change of address in the borough of Canton … or for that matter, in the county? I mail a lot of Christmas cards north to my family and friends every year, as well as mailing a lot of birthday and anniversary, get-well and sympathy cards, thank-you notes and letters, throughout the year. How will I know where to mail these cards in the future? And if this is to happen in all of Bradford County, then it will wreak havoc in every town and municipality which means that when the bigger towns receive their notifications, the angst will only grow. I know that we are reassured that the post office will forward mail to the correct address for up to a year, but what happens to it after that? If each of us are not issued an updated addressing plan for all of Canton, let alone the entire county, you can rest assured that the post office will be losing even more money in the future for postage, because a lot of mailing will end … at least on my part.

- What happens at places like the county offices including the department of public welfare, the tax assessment offices, etc … are they set up with mailing addresses? Will our tax dollars go to pay someone to update all of that information for the whole county? And will there be inevitable errors causing big time problems over re-addressing issues within those offices as well as others?

- How do we go about notifying people that we don't hear from regularly and forget that they need to know … if there doesn't happen to be any correspondence from them within a year's time, will we just never hear from them again?

- Will the post office forgo the cost of postage to notify every single person, business and publication that must be notified? (Ha!) In my case that would be in the hundreds. I realize that this will create a huge headache for the post office as well, but they should see a huge increase in mail flow from this, and will be making money as a result! That is the only advantage I see to turning everyone's life upside down. "Us older folks," who have the information embedded in our brains do not easily retrain!

- In an emergency situation if someone were to ask me where I live, I would invariably give my address that is etched in my memory … not a new and unfamiliar address. I am not talking about calling 911 from a phone … I am talking about being asked to recall my address when away from a phone in an emergency situation, such as a fall on the street or an automobile accident or in an emergency room or in the case of some, who just wander away and then can't make their way back! Can you imagine what happens in situations like these?

- Is the phone company being notified of all of the address changes so that it can update the phone book? That would at least be of some help for us! What happens to businesses who deliver products, provide home services etc.?

- Will the local police be given all of the new addresses?

Is there one single person out there who is happy about all of this?

Susan M. Stull

Canton

More problems with VA care

EDITOR: The problems Mr. Lutz had with the VA Sayre out-patient clinic, is just the tip of the VA problems through out Pa. Long delays and extremely poor service. My on-going story follows.

I took a very bad fall on Sept. 2, this year. I immediately contacted my primary-care doctor for help, and I was sent to the VA Hospital ER in Wilkes-Barre for treatment. As of this date I have not received one minute of treatment for my injuries - shoulder with torn tissue, confirmed by MRI. Over four trips to different VA hospitals, where I am told that the facility does not do shoulders. (I am) still waiting. Other injury is to the right knee, waiting MRI for diagnoses. The pain level got so high that I was blacking out. A friend took me to the Towanda ER where I was admitted and the knee was injected by Dr. Nazar. Finally some relief. The doctors and nurses were excellent and the care was the best. I am still waiting for the VA for treatment. Over the years the VA has been operating for the benefit of the employees and has left behind the patients.

I would appreciate other veterans stories, both good and bad.

Robert Baker

Dushore

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