Some small public service can be big enough to make a difference in our lives. The morning after the storm provided an example worth mentioning.
My wife and I woke up with a big tree straddling our driveway, immobilizing both our cars and us. We had earlier given away our power saw and a few people we thought might have one were unavailable.
Our situation was not dire, and we were well supplied. But our age and the unpredictability of both the storm and my health produced a nagging concern.
A telephone call to the Public Works Department in Cumberland removed our anxiety.
Within an hour and a half city workers left only kindling wood on the edge of the driveway. They also checked the status of numerous other trees on our lot.
My personal needs were miniscule, hardly worth mentioning given the huge storm-related needs elsewhere. What is worth noting and remembering last week (and in the future) is that public service employee sometimes perform vitally important functions.
We saw vivid examples of that. All too often we minimize, and sometimes disparage, the role of city, state, and workers in our lives. What they do may sometimes seem small, even humdrum.
But we never know when our need of them becomes very important. Sandy should surely remind us of this.
We might also be grateful for their less dramatic service to us, day in and day out.
John Wiseman
Cumberland
Letters
City public service workers filled vital role after storm
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‘Forgotten warrior’ not forgotten
The Korean War is often called “The Forgotten War.” My generation remembers the Battle for LZ X-Ray at Ia Drang, The Tet Offensive, and Khe Sahn of the Vietnam War.
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Organization needed to help utilize the Potomac River
I am a committee remember on the Tamiami Trail Scenic Highway which stretches from Palmetto to Venice, Fla.
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Reducing meat consumption can help ease climate change
A review of 12,000 papers on climate change, in the May 15 issue of “Environmental Research Letters,” found that 97 percent of scientists attribute climate change to human activities.
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Maryland has stopped being “The Free State”
I am a lifetime member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Disabled American Veterans and, last but not least, the National Rifle Association. I am a yearly member of the American Legion.
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Save the Bridge Program
Please do not close the Frostburg United Methodist Church Bridge Program. The community and many families need this program. Let me enlighten you about a few things.
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Town of Westernport needs a police force and a curfew
Since the consolidation of Bruce and Valley high schools the town of Westernport rapidly deteriorated from what was once a quite respectable community to a community in a decline in residents, and along with that came a collapse in local government due to lack of knowledge and bad decisions that set the town of Westernport back 60 years.
One bad decision was to give up their police force, and with no constant visual law enforcement it has created an open range for drug dealerss, addicts, thieves, drunks and speeding vehicles that choose to ignore our city laws and speed limits and have totally disregard for the safety of the citizens who are on the streets, especially the children who are like deer, you don’t see them until their in front of you. -
Financial gutting will damage school system
I am writing in response to the Allegany County Commissioners’ efforts to cut local education spending to the lowest possible level allowed under state law.
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Cemetery organization plans events to mark Memorial Day
This upcoming Memorial Day marks the 30th anniversary of the Cumberland Historic Cemetery Organization (CHCO).
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Outside water customers pay for town’s mistakes
The following is the opinion of the individual and in no manner reflects the opinion of any other person or organization.
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We’re twisting the meaning of the Founding Fathers’ words
I really had to chuckle when I read a recent comment someone made in a northeastern publication: “I’d like to suggest that Congress make a tiny change in our Second Amendment that would more accurately reflect the Founding Father’s intent (to wit): “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear muskets, shall not be infringed.”
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‘Forgotten warrior’ not forgotten
