Gentlemen:
I am writing this morning to inquire who among you owns a four-wheel-drive vehicle, and who I should call to pick me up in the wee hours of the morning the next time I am unable to traverse North Huntingdons treacherous roads. Have you created a rotation, or is someone simply on call? Does Rich Albert mind his phone ringing at 3 a.m., and will you dispatch him personally the next time my wife or I cannot make it home? Or do you have another suggestion?
As you can tell by the timestamp of this e-mail, its now shortly after 3:30 a.m. I have just enjoyed a 45-minute walk from the parking lot of Gongaware and Parrys garden center to my home in Kerber Farm Estates. Indeed, I am one of the residents of the township that appears to have been inconvenienced by Mr. Alberts cost-saving measure to reduce the clearing and salting of the townships byways this winter. Robbins Station Road was barely passable to the area of Gongawares. Two attempts to continue through the Y on Robbins Station were failures due to the lousy conditions of the roads; an attempt to make it home via Ridge Road failed miserably, too. Instead, I decided to park the car at Gongawares and hoof it home. This comes after finding the Parkway East and Route 30 state roads, I know relatively passable. I am now considering keeping a set of snowshoes or cross-country skis in the trunk for the remainder of the season.
Unfortunately, I am not among the majority of people [who] are home by 9 p.m. I work in Downtown Pittsburgh as an editor at the Post-Gazette, and my schedule often requires that I am on duty until well after midnight not unlike the countless employees of the townships fast-food restaurants, convenience stores, and, during the holiday season, its department stores. Im sure that the good people of the township may also enjoy a late movie, a high school play, a Penguins game or a late dinner at the Waterfront. To suggest that the world shuts down after 9 oclock is, quite simply, archaic and absurd. It harkens back to the day when this township was the farming community that it no longer is.
And, unfortunately, my financial condition does not permit the ownership of TWO four-wheel-drive vehicles, as Mr. Albert, according to press reports, suggests will mitigate the problems that the salt and plowing cutbacks will cause this winter. We do own one 4-wheel-drive Jeep Grand Cherokee, which my wife, with our two daughters, took this evening to a function, fearing that the roads would be impassable and that our children might be at risk. That left me stuck with our front-wheel-drive, 2006 Honda Civic
a very popular small sedan, that Im sure many North Huntingdon residents may find to be similar to their sole means of transport.
Now, I can understand that perhaps the conditions this evening prevented optimal road treatment. I can forgive and overlook one incident. However, this evenings fine experience (it was delightful walking through the snow and communing with the deer at this early hour) follows an experience my wife had in the early hours Sunday morning, when she was returning from doing some Christmas-preparation work at our church. Luckily, she had the Jeep and was able, with great care and much, much fish-tailing, to make it home despite the slick, unsalted roads of the township. Nevertheless, as she pointed out, even a four-wheel-drive vehicle becomes incredibly difficult to bring to a stop on untreated roadways. In four years of living in North Huntingdon, we have driven on many snowy nights, and neither of us has ever experienced the horrendous conditions of this morning or of early Sunday morning.
Simply put, I am no fan of higher taxes and wasteful government, and I understand that fiscal conditions are tight and that salt prices have skyrocketed. But ensuring the public safety is one of the chief responsibilities of a communitys elected officials. God forbid a resident of the township suffers a heart attack and an ambulance is unable to make it up Robbins Station Road, or a fire alarm goes off and a fire truck cannot make it to the burning home on Ridge Road. That would make my experience tonight, well, like a walk in the snow.
I encourage you to reconsider this bone-headed cost-saving measure.
Respectfully yours,
Just popping in to say HELLO! Hope all of your Christmas shopping is going well! 
I've been super busy and haven't had much time for the board these days - but I miss you guys!
*scratches head and wonders which half she belongs in* 
I would just like to give someone the chance to have a child; generally when someone does egg donors that's their last chance.
) to read the thread backwards. 
It took her eight years to finally have me after she got married and yet she's for abortions.... it just makes me ill.
