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Let’s hear it for
the library’s true Friends
On June 20, the Holmesburg Library celebrated 100 years of service to our community. It was a phenomenal evening captured so nicely in the pages of last week’s Northeast Times by reporter Diane Prokop.
However, since the "Central Free Library of Philadelphia" administration did not find it important to recognize the work of the Friends of Holmesburg Library "volunteer" group that helped to set up, clean up, staff, promote, invite public officials and print media, secure donations of refreshments and contribute financially to the Centennial Celebration, I would like to mention each one of these dedicated community volunteers individually for much deserved praise and public recognition: Anita Briggs, Cathy Costello, Donna Donat, Lisa Kucinskas, Michelle Raisner, Angelina Smith, Tom Waring, Sharon Weiseman and Kathy Wisniewski.
While I had an opportunity to speak and publicly acknowledge these volunteers for their tireless dedication to raising money for the library and giving the most precious gift of their time to staffing library programs including the 100th, it would have been most appropriate for Central Library to extend its gratitude to the folks in the community that support its branch system.
It is with great pride that I salute the important work of our volunteers, and I would encourage library patrons and community to join the Friends team as we support the Holmesburg branch at 215-685-8756.
Karen D. Lash
Friends of Holmesburg Library
Say the secret
word — ‘anarchy’
While bodies have been piling up in the streets, City Council has merely pretended to act like the cast in a Marx Brothers movie.
Their "Monkey Business" includes the banning of trans fats, which may force many local businesses to close (there go the "Animal Crackers" and "Duck Soup"), deny the Boy Scouts their offices when the Scouts offer real hope for 40,000 children at risk, and declare itself a pro-choice city, without ever asking its citizens. What hilarious anarchy!
Councilmen O’Neill and Rizzo are the straight players in this farce, acting all logical and indignant just like Margaret Dumont did with Groucho. Support the Boy Scouts? Pro life? Come on, give them the raspberry.
There surely is a method to the Council’s madness. I think Council intends to give each potential murderer — a pro-life bumper sticker, a Scout uniform and a Big Mac. That way, the thugs will be easy to spot, neighbors will gladly "start snitchin’" and the cops will have these guys relentlessly in their sights.
Richard Iaconelli
Rhawnhurst
Trans fats: To ban,
or not to ban
Laura Walton’s letter in your June 21 edition (Cut the trans-fat ban down to size) states:
"The city thinks that the citizens of Philadelphia are too fat and stupid to decide what to eat and feed our families."
Sadly, if that is what the city thinks, they are absolutely correct. This whole country is filled with irresponsible eaters and undereducated food shoppers. Look at just about everyone in the supermarket filling their carts with empty calories, soda, caffeine, hydrogenated foods, lunch meats, junk cereal, bleached flour products and so on.
Notice on your way to work each morning the lines at Starbucks and McDonald’s. See the kids waiting for the bus in the morning holding liters of carbonated sugar water. You would think everyone was in a race to get heart disease, diabetes and cancer.
That being said, I am not too keen on the trans-fat ban. On special occasions, my family and I enjoy a nice cake from the bakery. Every so often, it is nice to entertain company with pastries from a local bakery. In this case, the sins of some should not result in punishment for all. If the bakers’ claims are true that the trans-fats ban will impact the texture and quality of their products, they should be left alone.
I would rather see more done to reward responsible eaters and more incentives provided for educated food shopping decisions. It’s not cheap eating healthy.
Matthew McGrath
Brookhaven
• • •
First, not all ‘fats’ are trans fats. The trans-fat issue is not to stop producing bakery goods or other items with butter or natural oils, but items that use products that are "industrially created as a side effect of hydrogenation of plant oils." This process was developed in the early 1900s and "first commercialized as Crisco in 1911 (from Wikipedia online).
Again from Wikipedia: "unlike other fats, trans fats are neither required nor beneficial for health. And eating them increases the risk of coronary heart disease."
Go to the library if you don’t have a computer to educate yourself. People cannot "think and make these decisions" for themselves all the time. And even if you believe that it is only the human will that needs to control this, do you not see why health insurance is so high? You are paying the price.
When we have an epidemic of diabetes and of people (children included) that cannot walk up a flight of stairs without getting winded, you have a moral obligation to help your fellow mankind. If you saw someone cutting themselves with a razor blade would you then say it was their choice? Government is supposed to look out for the welfare of its people.
Real choice would be advertising that you bake with trans fats.
Donna McParland
Morrell Park
Shame on City Council for
snubbing the Boy Scouts
In his Guest Opinion last week, Robert Knight covered the recent action by City Council to punish the Boy Scouts by voting 16-1 to break a 79-year-old agreement allowing the Cradle of Liberty Council of the Boy Scouts to occupy a building in a city park.
This writer hit the target — the city has a problem with crime and problems with undisciplined children. And yet, the city seeks to punish the Boy Scouts, a group that offers a chance for undisciplined children to participate in positive activities and have positive adult role models. City Council bowed to the pressure of "gay groups" and decided political correctness was more important.
When is City Council going to wake up and realize that such organizations as the Boy Scouts are just what this city needs? Philadelphia just dropped below Phoenix and is now No. 6 in population. Why? Residents are not seeing any positive movement from city government and are moving out, and this recent vote by City Council is just another example of a step backward the city is taking.
Shame on City Council for this vote. Where is the voice for the Boy Scouts? If you believe this vote was an injustice, contact your Council member and tell them their action was disgraceful.
George J. Weber
Holmesburg
Clearing the record
on the Rhawnhurst delay
In response to Jeanne Dearden’s May 24 letter to the editor, Rhawnhurst has been waiting long enough:
As another proud parent of one Rhawnhurst participant, I am the project manager for the Rhawnhurst Recreation Center project and work for Ernest Bock & Sons. It is true that the recreation center has been in progress for well over two years, and as things look, no end in site.
I am responding to Mrs. Dearden’s comments because it seems that the neighbors are misinformed on this project.
Although we have had our own delays, do the neighbors know that Ernest Bock and Sons NEVER received prompt payment from the city of Philadelphia? In fact, as of late, I cannot even get the city to process the invoices submitted promptly. I would like to know if Mrs. Dearden or anyone else would continue to work if you did not get paid at your job!
Does Mrs. Dearden know that it took the city six months just to process the permit and get proper zoning? We have had minority contractors walk from the project due to these delays costing us hundreds of thousands of dollars. It is easy to say what is occurring from the outside. If you want to get involved, then get involved and force the city to move this project along.
Soon you will see that it is not Bock at all and you will know our frustrations to get the project done for the children of the community. I grew up in this same neighborhood, and my child played for Rhawnhurst AA from 2000-05. Many of these neighbors are our friends. In fact, the Bock family themselves grew up in the neighborhood and know many of the same people. This is an expensive/embarrassing issue with no end in sight. The city’s representatives refuse to give direction on issues and make prompt payment, which frankly ties our hands.
Although the majority of this project was completed with union labor, clearly there is no requirement for the metal siding to be performed by union labor. This is a prevailing rate project. I have never been in the union and have just as much right to work on that or any other prevailing rate project. I do not criticize any union member, of which many are my friends. We have attempted to meet with the board of directors and Councilman Dan Savage, but to no avail. Frankly, we attempted two times and both were canceled by the other party. We welcome your input.
Lastly, as a good faith gesture, Bock offered to provide portable toilets for the kids. That offer was not accepted. The only thing the children are affected by is the use of the new facilities. Frankly, we have continued to have all the existing building used by the association as needed, even though it is not required.
My suggestion is to get involved and know all the facts before you make incorrect accusations.
Bob Marlin
Project manager, EBS
One sign is one
sign too many
May I respectfully suggest that the signs on Roosevelt Boulevard are only a part of the problem of signs on property other than privately owned? Just drive on Holme Avenue from the Boulevard to the circle near Immaculate Mary Nursing Home to note the many signs usually placed in the grass median strip. Who is one of the major violators?
Yes, Nazareth Hospital and usually several organizations soliciting used car donations. Nazareth seems to be advertising a perpetual open house for nurses. However, this effort is just as offensive as political campaign signs. Let’s stop this form of pollution and graffiti and totally ban the use of these signs on all public property.
David W. Campbell
Rhawnhurst
Sicko means
Bush is in charge
In his latest film, Sicko, Michael Moore promotes a complete takeover of our health care system by the federal government. Who does he think will be in charge of such a system if it is enacted now as he calls for? It would be Bush & Cheney and they would get some political hack to run the program.
Does Mr. Moore remember FEMA with Katrina, the Veterans Administration with Walter Reed Medical Center and the budget-busting, complicated Medicare prescription fiasco? Thanks a lot, Michael.
Ross Schriftman
Maple Glen, Pa.
Choice is a
beautiful thing
A letter in the June 14 edition of the Northeast Times attempted to justify the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent abortion ban. The writer supplied false information regarding a 1997 New York Times article, and exploited the survival of a single premature infant to assert that the ban "…has saved thousands of little girls from a terrible death."
The writer discussed the case of Amillia Taylor, who was born last year after 21 weeks’ gestation. She remains alive today. The writer commented that "Ten years ago, Amillia at 21 weeks would not have had a chance." However, the writer omitted an important part of the story.
Amillia’s mother lied about the length of her pregnancy when she went into labor after only 19 weeks. When doctors delivered Amillia nine days later, they believed she was 23 weeks old. Mrs. Taylor knew the hospital would not resuscitate a baby born under 22 weeks’ gestation.
Dr. Phuket Tantavit, a neonataolgist at Baptist Children’s Hospital where Amillia was born, remarked that "Survival of babies less than 22 weeks gestation is close to zero, if not zero." When Amillia’s true age was learned via her parents’ fertility specialist months after the birth, the fact that she had set a world record became clear (http://www.local10.com/print/11053141/detail.html).
The executive director of the National Council of Abortion Providers, according to the writer, revealed in a February 26, 1997 article published in The New York Times that intact dilation and extraction procedures (also known as "partial birth abortions" to anti-abortion activists) occurred three to five thousand times annually.
The article, titled An Abortion Advocate Says He Lied About Procedure, is accessible under the archives section on The New York Times Web site (www.nytimes.com). The director did say, "In the vast majority of cases, the procedure is performed on a healthy mother with a healthy fetus that is 20 weeks or more along." Yet, he failed to define what he meant by the terms "vast" and "healthy." Furthermore, the numbers three thousand and five thousand are never mentioned in the article.
In contrast, the May 7, 2007, edition of The Los Angeles Times published a piece titled Partial Birth Abortion: A Closer Look. The author interviewed several physicians, who maintained that "No one knows how often the (intact dilation and extraction) procedure is done because that information is not compiled anywhere." A study of Abortion Surveillance Data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control in 2003 confirms the above statement (www.cdc.org).
Table 8 of the CDC summary lists reported legal abortions by type of procedure and state of occurrence. The intact dilation and extraction method is absent from the list.
In her letter, the writer shared a memory of seeing her daughter sucking her thumb on an ultrasound screen. One can assume she welcomed the pregnancy, considered her resources adequate enough to parent a child and received support from her loved ones. She chose to carry to term, and apparently is quite happy with her decision. No one interfered with her plan for her pregnancy.
Her story illustrates the beauty of choice.
Judilyn Brown, RN, BSN
Mayfair
We don’t need
so many politicians
What could have been: Illegal immigrant enters the U.S., is arrested and returned to his country, refused employment and lodging. Law enforcement is the fence we do need! Lack of farm workers: 30 years ago unemployment was 6 percent. Capitalism = pay for services; higher wages are passed on to the consumer. We have unemployed people and some on welfare (capable of working) that states could pay for their relocation to these areas. We never needed illegals. The same people (politicians) now provide 380 pages of amnesty.
Thirty-five years ago we had an energy problem with oil and gas. Our leaders created an energy czar. Results? Zero. What could have been done? Drill oil fields, build refineries. Alternatives = none. Police officers risk their lives during car stops and confiscate illegal weapons. Most of the suspects have police records. Gun court provides no punishment. Why not? No prison available, per city councilman.
Do we need all these politicians? Lack of long-range planning, talk for years about problems with Social Security, Medicare, energy and crime. Reduce by 50 percent the U.S. Senate, Congress, state and city. Billions of dollars could be saved.
In 1940-50 Philadelphia’s population was 2.3 million with six part-time councilmen. Now, it is 1.6 million with 17 full-time. We the people should have a ballot question and vote for reduction of non-performers.
Jack McCloskey
Pennypack
Gun control
is unconstitutional
Regarding your June 21 editorial, Make them do it:
It’s not the guns. Get it? It’s not the guns. It’s the people pulling the trigger.
The appalling implication in the editorial that pro-life gun owners are hypocritical as such, is downright intellectually dishonest. This artful smear rivals the "McCarthyism" label that was meant to intimidate and silence public discussion of, or any denunciation of, communists or communism — and still does. No, Northeast Times editors, shame on you.
The National Rifle Association is a membership group of citizens — yes, mostly pro-life — free individuals dedicated to the preservation of a basic unalienable natural right of the people, constitutionally proclaimed and protected since the inception of the nation and the commonwealth.
The legislators you accuse of "being in the pocket of the NRA" cannot limit gun purchases by lawful citizens, while upholding their oaths of office. The Pennsylvania Constitution in Section 21, Right to Bear Arms, states, "The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the state shall not be questioned." You can’t get any more literal than that, and our elected officials are sworn to uphold our constitution. As drab and innocuous as a one-gun-per-month law seems, it is unconstitutional. Furthermore, history shows such laws are a steppingstone to more restrictions against honest citizens, and ultimately full prohibition on gun ownership. You want a gun law? Go after straw purchasers that unlawfully sell guns.
The best offense is a strong defense. The NRA and other such groups unapologetically lobby against politicians who flout their oaths of office, and anti-liberty activists who would rob "the citizens" of "the defense of themselves."
Police mostly show up after the crime. You should direct your ire toward the gun control hypocrites who actively promote the wholesale destruction of human life by abortion. (And you wonder why our youth doesn’t respect life . . . sheesh!)
William Kitsch
Fox Chase
Reader’s praise
for Berger is sizzling
I feel impelled to write this note of commendation regarding Stewart J. Berger’s Ask the Lawyer column.
It is the first section of your paper that I turn to each week. I find his comments most informative and insightful.
His advice is fairly and intelligently offered in simple, understandable language. He is the kind of lawyer I would opt for should the need arise.
My thanks and kudos go out to Mr. Berger. He is truly performing a needed public service. Your publication, which I find most worthwhile for other reasons as well, is to be commended for utilizing the expertise of such an exemplary member of the Bar.
Merle S. White
Castor Gardens
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