Letters to the editor MUST be accompanied by your daytime and evening phone numbers for verification purposes. Letters without phone numbers cannot be considered for publication. Letters must include first and last names. We do not publish anonymous letters.


Two views of Tookie

Before you praise the governor of California for choosing murder over clemency, perhaps you should consider the case of the late Stan "Tookie" Williams.
The following information was published by The New Abolitionist:
The Ninth U.S. Circuit judges that tried Tookie admitted that they gained the main evidence used against Tookie from prison informants who were somewhat less than honest and reliable. In fact, all of the evidence taken from the crime scene was never found to have any kind of link or attachment to Tookie. Nevertheless, he was convicted, yet another black man found guilty by a nearly all-white jury. Statistically, Tookie never stood a chance.
But Tookie spent roughly a quarter of a century on death row, and he did not spend his time idly. He renounced his own gang membership and spoke out against gang life in a message heard by children and young adults.
His writings, his books, and his activism from within prison walls earned him several Nobel Prize nominations. The movie Redemption — The Stan Tookie Williams Story is available to rent at your local video store.
Was an innocent man put to death? The facts show that his guilt was anything but certain, and he himself professed his innocence to the end.
But the greater question is, why didn’t Tookie deserve to have his sentence commuted to life in prison? At least that way he could have continued with his influential work.
I hope Gov. Rendell has the guts to reject state-sanctioned murder.
Emilie J. Conroy
Rhawnhurst

• • •

I’ve heard so many people saying that "Tookie" has redeemed himself. It doesn’t matter what the rest of us think, let’s ask the families of Albert Owens, Yen-Yi Yang, Tsai-Shai Lin and Yee-Chen Lin if they believe Stanley Williams has redeemed himself.
Rose Higgins



Call it Philadelphia greedom

Real estate prices in this city have gone through the roof when a house in Mayfair — a rowhome on the 6600 block of Montague St. where I grew up — goes for $140,000.
No, don’t get excited about how much money your house is worth without considering that your property taxes are the next in line to go up.
A lot of these houses need upgrading after purchase, which adds to your cost, and also consider the age of the driveways, sidewalks and steps, which will also make you dig deeper into your pockets and put you into an unwelcome financial situation.
Is this part of the casino gambling that is coming to our city? Is this something our mayor, Dumacrat John the donkey-eared Street, let happen so that higher property taxes can pay down the city debt? Or is this the Realtors’ way of giving themselves a hefty pay raise in the middle of the night, like some state officials we know?
Somebody let this happen, and I would like to know who is to be held accountable for it. The middle class of this city now have to work a hell of a lot of overtime to afford a decent down payment to have a comfortable mortgage so that we can at least enjoy and afford to live our lives other than just for our homes.
The citizens have the right to raise hell on those responsible and to hold them accountable for their greedy insight on what they are doing to our lives.
Let’s not forget Comcast. They don’t want to have to charge people just for the stations they watch so that cable will be more affordable for the families of this city, because they will lose millions of dollars. Well, boo-hoo to you, Comcast.
About 10 years ago, the officials in our state capital proposed a plan to put a cap on the cost of cable. Of course, after greasing a few politicians’ campaigns, the cap was forgotten.
The families of this city have made you, Comcast, and you owe us for everything you own today.
Those CEOs beyond reach need to be held accountable — you robbed us enough!
Richie T. Mauro
Torresdale



House Democratic leader:

I talked the talk

As the leader of the Pennsylvania House Democratic Caucus, I am fully prepared to take the lumps associated with the July 7 pay raise for legislators, the judiciary and cabinet officials. But I am not willing to read in print the editorial license reporter Tom Waring took in his Dec. 1 article, Pressure to nix pay hike came from afar, without responding to his misinformation.
He opined in his news article "House Minority Leader Bill DeWeese punished members who voted against the bill by stripping them of their committee leadership posts."
I have gone on record with this reporter more than once that my decision to shift subcommittee positions stemmed from a frank discussion with my fellow Democratic legislators in caucus, including those who lost their positions.
During that caucus, 12 out of the 15 subcommittee chairmen tacitly approved, basically agreed, acquiesced, and certainly did not protest to this change.
If John Smith was voting no and Mary Doe was voting yes, they thought those who voted yes should get the pay increase. It was agreed to by the majority of my caucus, period.
Now let’s start talking about raising the minimum wage, property tax reform and improving economic conditions for all Pennsylvanians.
Rep. Bill DeWeese
House Minority Leader

Share your opinion by e-mail

Return to this week’s editorial . . .