This letter is in response to the BCS bowl selection program that aired on Sunday, Dec. 7. As with most commentators, the cast was, for the most part, neutral.
Mark May, however, made no attempt to hide his bias on the part of the Southern Cal. Alluded to by May's comments, Penn State should not even bother boarding the airplane.
Although Carroll is heading to his fourth straight while Penn State is traveling to just its third-ever Rose Bowl, the assumption that the "granddaddy of them all" belongs to Carroll could not be further from the truth.
Perhaps May should take a page out of Kirk Herbstreit's book and be more hesitant to count out the Nittany Lions.
I, like many other Penn State fans, was rooting for USC to win the Pac-10 for this very opportunity. This is the chance, which we need, to show the country that we have a solid football team and the Big Ten is for real.
We're here, because we never left. We are!
Chris Edmiston
University Park
Hunting season facts confused
Recently I read an opinion of an individual in this section about the correlation between vehicle accidents and deer hunting, especially the first day of rifle season.
I was disturbed that the facts were so off that it wasn't even funny.
The Pennsylvania Game Commission and the insurance companies work together to inhibit this problem. That is why the season is the way it is, and that is why so many doe tags are allotted for each county and management unit.
It was an insult to me as a hunter to hear these lies about deer hunting. Deer hunting does not intensify vehicle collisions with the deer, period. I think that people should thank hunters for harvesting deer during the two-week season.
If you don't like hunting, that is fine. But please don't make the people that do like to hunt out to be the bad guys.
If it weren't for us hunters, you may hit a deer pulling out of your driveway.
Josh Shultz
Altoona
Young sends mixed message
This letter is in response to Walt Young's column in last Sunday's Altoona Mirror.
I have read Young's articles about his deer hunting seasons for quite some time, and I have remained silent. But I can remain silent no longer.
Young seems to be a sportsman in the highest order, and when he goes fishing he practices catch and release to the point that he has become a crusader for it and has criticized other anglers in his column on more than one occasion for killing fish. It puzzles me that he would kill does with reckless abandon when he goes deer hunting.
He states in his article that he ''filled some doe tags.'' How many deer did he kill, and why would a person that feels so strongly about killing fish, kill more than one deer?
It is no secret that times are very tough right now for the whitetail deer herd due to the overmanaging by the Pennsylvania Game Commission and coyotes as many sportsmen have chosen to not kill their limit but to limit their kill.
Young has a platform to spread this word, but he chooses to kill more than one deer and brag about it almost every year for reasons not yet specified.
Bob Beckel
Altoona
'Elusive creatures' not fictional
The article written over the summer by Walt Young about mountain lions being pure fiction in Pennsylvania is totally wrong. I have seen tracks and heard cougar calls while living in Dyberry, Pa.
My son and a neighbor saw the cougar. And yes, I myself, my daughter and my mom have seen a real live cougar an hour away in Newton-Ransom, Pa. Also, a neighbor has seen a cougar where I reside now in Rileyville, Pa., six miles from Dyberry.
So don't tell me that they are fictional just because you have not had the pleasure of seeing such an elusive creature in the wilds of Pennsylvannia.
Get the facts straight! There have been many sightings around here. We are not talking Big Foot. We are seeing the Eastern Cougar that has roamed these woods for centuries and still roams them today. What do you think the Penn State Nittany Lions are named after?
Gina Miletta
Honesdale
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