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Taken to task on rubber dams

As the Altoona Water Authority’s since-retired engineer who was mostly responsible for the decision to contract HTE Engineering of Sandy, Utah, for the fabrication of the rubber dams, I found your pontificating remarks to be quite patronizing, considering you don’t know what you’re talking about. Along with ISO quality assurance certification, HTE met the specifications I had put forth that mirrored our former Bridgestone rubber dams that were manufactured in Japan. Bridgestone was the largest global producer of rubber dams, which were known for their durability. After they ...

County could sell old prison to cut costs

Is the Blair County Commission really interested in building the new prison as economically as possible? Then they will get the best price they can for the stone work that makes up the front of the Hollidaysburg prison. According to the generic AI, Americans spend $15B a year on “hardscape.” Put the building up for bid. The cache and provenance of these stones should be themselves a good head start on reducing the price of the new prison. Do they plan to save the antiquated part of the building for “historical” reasons? Put that idea up for a referendum and watch it get ...

License plate readers enhance public safety

With over 50 years in public safety, I’ve witnessed how innovation and technology have transformed community protection. One such technology is the emergence of License Plate Reader (LPR) technology, which has practical and affordable public safety benefits for communities of all sizes and budgets to use. In fact, the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency has administered grant programs in recent years to support municipal police departments’ integration of this technology into their ongoing operations. Many Pennsylvania municipalities have adopted LPRs, enabling law ...

Are gas price hikes limited to US?

The article on the front-page May 6 about the price of gas in the U.S. had me wondering if it’s gone up that much in other countries. I realize we want to know why we’re paying so much, but I’m really curious if anyone else is or if it’s our capitalistic big businesses cashing in. Nancy Riley Altoona

Take time to think of country, not party

We are about to celebrate the 250th birthday of a country that was great and well respected by most of the world, at least, up until 2020. Since then, one man has succeeded in making this country nothing less than detested by that same world. If the Republican Party doesn’t soon open their eyes, get a backbone, and dump Trump, we’re going to be steadily down spiraling into a dictatorship. It’s already called “The Party of Trump.” He owns our federal law enforcement, the federal court system, the elected representatives and senators, the voting system, etc. He’s ...

Trump’s lawsuit akin to stealing

When Donald Trump was campaigning, he said he wanted to release his tax returns like all previous presidential candidates have done, but that he couldn’t because it was being audited by the IRS. He promised to release his tax returns once the audit was completed. This was a double lie: being audited does not prevent tax returns from being released, and, in any case, he never released his tax returns. Those returns he had promised to release were subsequently leaked, and for that he has sued his own IRS for $10 billion. He is currently president, and it appears he has decided to ...