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When you have Philly lemons,

make lemonade

I just had to write and tell you about a wonderful thing that happened in favor of our city and especially our neighborhood in Mayfair. We hear so much negativity that it’s nice to hear something positive.
My daughter and her friends decided to sell lemonade and Kool-Aid on the corner of our street and honestly, I hesitated. I thought they could get robbed or forced into a car, etc. After thinking about it, I finally agreed. My son helped them set up their table and chairs and I sat there for a little while with my younger child and waited. Within minutes, our neighbor who lives on the property bought a cup of lemonade. He was happy to do so.
The girls stayed out there selling the cold drinks all afternoon. They were so excited, coming in and out of our house to refill their pitchers and to get more ice. Each time, they would tell me how much more money they made and how a nice lady or nice man bought a cup and one who was riding a bike gave them $5 and wanted no change.
The people I saw were of different races and backgrounds. We should embrace our changing neighborhood and not run from it. There are new faces to befriend and new cultures to learn about. There is kindness in everyone.
I know that our city is not perfect, nor are the suburban areas that so many are flocking to. Yes, my family has been victims of crime: A stolen car, a stolen wallet, etc., but that does not change our spirits that happily live here.
I think that a place where children can still sell lemonade on the street corner is a pretty nice place to live.
Karen Whalen
Mayfair



It’s up to you to clean

your neighborhood

My community is looking different than it used to, and I wish it were an improvement but it is not. Litter, cigarette butts, empty cigarette packages, lollipop sticks, cans, bottles, Burger King, Dunkin’ Donut, McDonald’s, Wawa bags, wrappings, cups, etc., are everywhere.
This week I cleaned up litter on 1) Knights Road along the fence of Shallcross School; 2) Across from Decatur School; 3) on both sides of Deerrun Road and Nanton Drive; and 4) along the woods on the 3600 block of Academy Road across from the homes.
Everyone sees what I see, but how come I am the only one picking up litter? I am not TOO proud to pick up litter if I see it.
I would like to request that everyone on Deerrun Road, Nanton Drive and Academy Road remind their children and family members to hold on to their trash until they get home or see a trash can. If you decide to smoke, please be responsible and PICK UP your cigarette butts and put them in the trash; hold on to the empty cigarette packages and put them in the trash.
Do you realize that the carcinogens in the filter get washed down the sewer and the butts don’t dissolve? There should be a law that everyone who smokes has to pick up their butts.
None of us likes to see litter, and I wish none of us would litter, but I am begging you to do your part to keep the neighborhood looking nice by reminding your family and neighbors to put litter in the trash can, not in the gutter, not along the curb, and especially not in the culvert/sewer.
Thank you so much for working with me to make our community beautiful and neat. If you have any of your own concerns, go to the Web site for Parkwood Civic Association — www.parkwoodcivic.com — and tell them about those issues. You can do something for the community — pick up a piece of litter each day! I’d appreciate that.
Margaret Philippi
Parkwood



City: Let’s team up

to fight graffiti

I am writing to applaud the efforts of Fox Chase and Burholme residents and organizations in their fight against graffiti vandalism.
The city of Philadelphia Anti-Graffiti Network will assist these organizations with free paint, supplies and graffiti remover through the Managing Director’s Office’s paint and supply voucher program. We will also provide free power wash services to homeowners and businesses that have been victims of the graffiti vandal.
The city of Philadelphia has been extremely aggressive in our fight against graffiti vandalism, removing graffiti from more than 110,000 properties in the last year alone, and we have provided more than 500 organizations with paint vouchers for free paint and supplies.
To enlist the city’s support, please call our hotline at 216-685-9556 and request a Take the Challenge packet, which lists organizations willing to partner with you to fight blight in your community.
If you see graffiti, report it by calling 215-686-0000 to have it removed. If you see vandals in action, please call 911. By working together, we can and will make a difference in our neighborhoods.
Thomas Conway
Deputy managing director



What happened to our

concern for human life?

I just finished this week’s issue of the Northeast Times expecting to read a story about a recent event that happened in my neighborhood. Unfortunately, no mention was made of the incident.
On Friday, July 20, at approximately 2:15 a.m., at the corner of Rhawn and Jackson streets, what turned out to be gunshots broke the silence of the early hour. Two suspects felt it necessary to shoot at each other over what turned out to be drugs. One suspect landed in the hospital (and I understand has since died) and the other fled the scene.
Several of my neighbors were left with the unnerving reminders of this crime, i.e., bullets and their damage to their property (one bullet lodged in a second-floor bedroom wall, directly over a bed). The police returned later that evening and raided the house involved and removed drug paraphernalia. This residence is a much-dreaded Section 8 house.
As a longtime resident of this part of the city (I live in the same house my grandparents owned since 1939), these events have caused me to reflect over changes happening where I live and throughout the rest of the city.
It has caused a great deal of anxiety, frustration and disbelief to see what was once a safe, comfortable and pleasant place to live become an area of crime and low-life activity. And the truth of the matter is that it has nothing to do with the housing, whether it be apartments, condos, Section 8, row or single homes.
This is purely a "people" problem. What has turned us into people that have no regard for human life? What has turned us into parents that are content letting computers, televisions and cell phones raise our children? What has turned us into people that put more value on money and possessions over our relationships with family, friends and neighbors?
I don’t have all the answers to these questions but it saddens me and also makes me feel ashamed that we have let it get to this.
For me, personally, I am not selling my house, I am not moving from my home. I am going to ride it out and get more involved with what it takes to try to turn things around. Politicians, police agencies, civic associations, church and youth groups are all at our disposal, and I would encourage my many neighbors to do the same.
"People" have caused the current negative environment and "people" can change it back again.
Susan Grumell
Holmesburg



For protection,

we’re on our own

I was disturbed by state Rep. W. Curtis Thomas’ guest opinion that was in last week’s Northeast Times. I am concerned by people who think like him, and who make comments such as: "The right to own a rifle to hunt with has absolutely nothing to do with owning a handgun. Handguns are not used for hunting — unless you’re hunting people."
I am a gun owner and a supporter of the Second Amendment. However, I am reasonable and I agree that there should be limits on the number of gun purchases that an individual can make. The "one handgun a month" idea that I’ve heard from time to time seems like a fair and practical way to prevent straw purchasers from flooding the streets with illegal weapons. I’m not sure why anyone would need to acquire 12 guns in a year, or more guns beyond that — but for the sake of being fair and balanced, and compromising, it seems like a sensible proposal.
My problem with Rep. Thomas’ guest opinion is that he seems to be against handgun ownership in general. When forced to decide between the anti-gun extremists who want to pass laws that will only hinder law-abiding citizens from acquiring guns, or the NRA loons who support unlimited gun purchases — count me in with the loons. In a society where illegal guns are in such unbridled circulation, I would invoke my "archaic" constitutional right to bear arms rather than keep my fingers crossed and hope for the idealistic lawmakers and lobbyists to keep me safe from harm.
Marcquis Walker-Williams (charged in the murder of Kwok Wai Ho), Solomon Montgomery, the convicted murderers of John Cousin, the rapist in Queen Village, and the two paroled felons awaiting trial in Connecticut for slaughtering nearly an entire family — people like this are running amok.
While I fully support and admire the police, we should have limited expectations for the police to actually prevent people like this from committing their heinous deeds. Until idealistic lawmakers and lobbyists are able to assign each law-abiding citizen their own police escort or find a way to bless law enforcement officers with the gift of clairvoyance, they should respect our God-given and constitutional rights to protect our loved ones and ourselves.
Matthew McGrath
Brookhaven



When will we be safe

to walk the streets?

Everyone wonders why the neighborhoods in Northeast Philadelphia are getting worse day by day. Some people may say it’s because of drugs, some may say it’s because of graffiti and vandalism, but I say it’s because of the low number of police officers. If there were more cops we would be able to walk around the corner and not be afraid of being jumped.
I say this because in early March I was walking to my friend’s house right around the corner. I took a shortcut by passing through a football field that still had the lights on. That was when I saw two kids in the distance. They slowly started to approach me and I thought nothing of it. They caught me off guard and started to beat me up and threw me on the ground. Before I knew it, I was being stomped into the ground by seven to 10 kids. When they finally gave up, I was beaten so badly I didn’t even remember how it all stopped.
My friends found me and took me home. They said when they first saw me it looked like I fell off a bridge because of all the bruises and blood on me. I also had an imprint of a shoe on my face from being kicked so hard. They took me home and when my mom heard the story she called the 8th District. The officer that answered the phone said, "Sorry miss, emergencies such as shootings and stabbings have to come first."
That makes you wonder how many people in Northeast Philadelphia were shot or stabbed on that night. They said that they would send a cop to the hospital to ask me questions and have me describe the kids that did this to me. When I got to the hospital they took me right in. The doctor examined me and found that I had a concussion. He also told me I was very lucky and things could have been much worse than they were.
I was at the hospital for nearly three hours and in that time, not one cop showed up. This also was not the only incident that I can refer to.
A little over a year ago when my brother was getting off the bus in broad daylight right around the corner from my house, he was jumped by three kids right on the street. He called the police when he came home to give them a description and it took the cops over an hour to show up to the house.
When the officer finally did show up he gave my brother a solution that was to get off at a different bus stop. This of course is not a solution to the problem of violence. But on the other hand, when my dad’s car was parked and blocking the walkway, a police officer showed up to my house right away to say he had to move it. They’re there for the little things such as telling you it’s almost curfew, but it seems like when someone is in real danger there’s not a cop in sight.
The police continue to say that they are cracking down in the area, but to this day as I walk the streets, I watch my back and always avoid big crowds of kids, because I’ll always have the thought in the back of my head how the cops weren’t there the first time and probably won’t be there if it happens again.
Gerald Torpey



In the Streets of Philly

Screams all around me
The blood of the innocent
Forever surrounds me
Sirens and lights coming my way
Another statistic
Added to another murderous day
In the streets of Philly
There’s a war that’s being raged
In the streets of Philly
Can any of us really be saved
In the streets of Philly
Our lives are not the only things taken
’Cause in the streets of Philly
If you think you’re safe, you’re mistaken
We watch them all die together
The young and the old
Their voices remain silent forever
Names we know and ones that we don’t
We search to find an answer
But you and I both know that we won’t
’Cause in the streets of Philly
There’s a war that’s being raged
In the streets of Philly
Can any of us really be saved
In the streets of Philly
Our lives are not the only things taken
’Cause in the streets of Philly
If you think you’re safe, you’re mistaken
As another violent day in Philly comes to a merciful end
We hear about someone else who’s lost a child or a friend
And we all stand together waiting for the next victim to arrive
Not knowing how much longer any of us can hope to survive
In the streets of Philly
— John J. Ruppert
Mayfair



Some food for thought

about dietitians

I commend William Feldman on his Kids Stuff column last week informing readers of the importance of cholesterol. He did an excellent job of presenting the facts.
He wrote that a retired school nurse advised that parents should consult their children’s doctors before making any dietary modifications. While this seems like good advice, the fact is that the great majority of physicians do not have an opportunity to receive formal nutrition training, thus many are not the best sources of dietary advice.
The registered dietitian (RD) is the expert on food and nutrition. RDs have extensive training: a minimum of a baccalaureate degree, completion of a dietetic internship and a comprehensive national examination, and RDs are required to maintain credentials through ongoing continuing education. RDs practicing in healthcare institutions in Pennsylvania are mandated to be licensed by the commonwealth.
In contrast, anyone can use the term "nutritionist" without meeting these stringent standards.
The American Dietetic Association is the nation’s largest organization of food and nutrition professionals, with nearly 70,000 members. Log on to www.eatright.org to learn more about reliable sources of nutrition information and to locate a registered dietitian.
Joan Metzner
Registered dietitian
Licensed dietitian/nutritionist
Certified diabetes educator



Five steps to a

“greener” car

It doesn’t matter if the car you’re driving is new or old, big or small. There are preventive maintenance steps every vehicle owner can take to make sure their car is as "green" or environmentally friendly as possible, according to the Car Care Council.
By following five simple preventive maintenance steps, you can help protect the environment by improving gas mileage, which in turn saves money at the pump.
1. The first step is to keep your car properly tuned for optimum performance. A well-tuned engine delivers the best balance of power and fuel economy and produces the lowest level of emissions. A 21st century tuneup for modern vehicles includes the following system checks: battery, charging and starting; engine mechanical; powertrain control (including onboard diagnostic checks); fuel; ignition; and emissions. A 21st century tuneup can improve gas mileage by an average of 4 percent. Fixing a serious maintenance problem, such as a faulty oxygen sensor, can improve gas mileage by as much as 40 percent.
2. The second step is to regularly check and replace dirty air filters. An air filter that is clogged with dirt, dust and bugs chokes off the air and creates a "rich" mixture — too much gas being burned for the amount of air — that wastes gas and causes the engine to lose power. Replacing a clogged air filter can improve gas mileage by as much as 10 percent, saving about 15 cents a gallon.
3. The third step is have the spark plugs checked — if they haven’t already been checked as part of the tuneup — and replaced if necessary. A vehicle can have four, six or eight spark plugs, which fire as many as 3 million times every 1,000 miles. This results in a lot of heat, electrical, and chemical erosion. A dirty spark plug also causes misfiring, which wastes fuel.
4. The fourth step is to maintain the cooling system of your vehicle. A cooling system thermostat that causes the engine to run too cold will lower the fuel efficiency of a car by as much as one or two mpg. There also are improved radiator caps on the market today that allow the cooling system to operate at a higher temperature before boiling over, increasing the system’s efficiency and reducing emissions.
5. The last step toward keeping a "green" car is to properly maintain and repair your car as outlined in the council’s Car Care Guide. The guide helps drivers understand their car, the care it needs, and when it needs it and why. Single copies of the free guide may be ordered on the Car Care Council Web site, www.carcare.org
In addition to proper vehicle maintenance, vehicles can be more fuel-efficient if tires are properly inflated and if drivers observe the speed limit, avoid aggressive driving and excessive idling, and adhere to an errand list to eliminate extra trips to the store for forgotten items. For a free copy of the council’s Car Care Guide or to learn more about how to maintain your vehicle, visit www.carcare.org
Rich White
Executive director,
Car Care Council

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