Is it really such a ‘Wonderful Life?’

I was at first incensed that Perry Block dared to write a derogatory article about a beloved Christmas movie (“Enough already with the most popular Christmas movie ever,” Dec. 15). But I just had to write to tell you that it did give me a very good laugh.

I have already watched "It's a Wonderful Life" once this season, and I plan to watch the remaining times it is shown. Thanks for recounting the several memorable lines in your piece. I could hear the characters’ voices resounding as I read them.

Several years ago, I found a "memory" book that recounts the background of the movie, where the story originated, the actors and actresses who had been originally considered for the various parts, and the telling of scenes that had been cut from the movie. I cherish that book and read it every year as well.

"Merry Christmas, you old Building and Loan.” Have a Merry Christmas and a wonderful life!

Patricia Cove

Chestnut Hill

Deer cull is rational, not criminal

The annual hysteria of deer lovers has resumed. Words or phrases in the most recent letter-to-the-editor included: “unwarranted eviction of deer by death,” “shoot to kill,” “the terminator,” “under attack,” “body count,” “ongoing assault,” and “criminal.”

The alternatives to keep the deer population in check are not attractive: starvation when their numbers increase and the natural vegetation that they need for nourishment decreases, or reintroduction of one of their natural predators - wolves.   If we put it to a vote, my guess is that Chestnut Hillers would not want wolves introduced into the neighborhood.

The hunting of deer is nothing new.  Native Americans hunted deer. European settlers hunted as well. The famed “Kentucky Rifle,” a good many of which were actually produced by gunsmiths here in Pennsylvania, was not a weapon of war.  It was a hunting tool.

Generally ignored in the deer population discussion is the collision of people with deer.  State Farm rates Pennsylvania number 3 in the nation in deer /vehicular accidents.   According to the PA Department of Transportation, there were 3,600 automobile accidents involving deer in 2015.

Besides the unfortunate injury to the deer, property damage and personal injury are not uncommon.  When I lived in Virginia, I had several accidents involving deer.  The most vivid in my memory was a large buck who ran across the road in front of my pickup truck.  He put a sizable dent in the hood of the truck. When I parked the truck next to my car, it was apparent that the deer would have come through the windshield of the lower slung car and I might not be sitting here sharing my perspective with Local readers.

In the years that I have lived in Chestnut Hill, I have seen a number of deer that have been struck by vehicles in places such as Bethlehem Pike, Stenton Avenue and most recently East Willow Grove Avenue.

The use of professional hunters to thin the herds is reassuring.  It would be irresponsible to turn loose hunters with varying degrees of skill in deer habitat bordered by urban or suburban housing.  A poorly aimed shot or one that did not take into consideration trajectory downrange could have tragic consequences to near-neighbors.

The annual reduction of the herd is a humane approach to a problem that we are bound to live with in perpetuity.

Butch Sincock

Chestnut Hill