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. Short letters have a better chance of being selected for publication. We do not publish anonymous letters.


Comcast holds

us ransom

Comcast is at it again. Subscribers have been notified that there will be an increase in the maintenance fee charges. Again, we in Philadelphia are being held ransom by this overbearing cable company. Comcast is pure and simple a monopoly of the worst kind. Either subscribers accept all their rate increases (which are constant) or go somewhere else.
In light of the political scams in other parts of the country, it seems likely that somebody should look into their unrelenting monopoly and their influence over city government.
In November we have a chance to put in a new city administration. Hopefully, these newly elected officials will see Comcast for what it is — an overpriced, unethical conglomerate that should not be allowed to continue overpricing its subscribers.
Jack Miller
Rhawnhurst



A wake-up call

for parents

My husband and I were in the Wal-Mart by Grant Avenue and the Boulevard on a recent Monday night.
We noticed something that bothered us — it was after 9:30 at night while we waited in line, and we noticed a large amount of small children and school-age kids as well.
Children need as much if not more sleep than adults. This was a school night. Some of the younger ones were in different stages of crankiness. Could this be why so many suffer from ADD? Perhaps some cases are really just lack of a good night’s sleep!
I know my parents had my brother and I in bed earlier; maybe some folks should start trying this with their children.
Eileen Teti
Castor Gardens



Playground a dishonor

to Officer Boyle

I would like to address the Somerton community and the FOP on the fact that the Daniel Boyle Playground is a disgrace to his memory.
I grew up near the playground and recently returned to the area and brought my 3-year-old granddaughter to play. I was appalled at the condition. The mats are breaking apart, what equipment they do have is outdated and worn and would be considered dangerous by today’s standards.
I am pretty sure those little rocking animals on the huge spring that doesn’t move were there 35 years ago.
You can’t even tell what they are supposed to be, the paint is all gone. It appears some attempt has been made to paint some of the old rusted rails and other equipment — the rails in front of the swings were definitely there when I was a child; the ugly blue paint used in attempts to cover up is splattered on the ground all around.
My father is a retired policeman, my daughter-in-law is in the Police Academy. I was heartbroken to see the wretched condition of what’s supposed to be a haven for children, this place renamed to honor a young police officer whose life was lost in the line of duty.
I did not consider it a safe area for my granddaughter to play after two close calls to injury on this dilapidated ground.
Somerton residents pay premium tax rates to live in that ZIP code. They should be outraged. The FOP should be, too. This place does not honor a fallen hero, it seems more like a faded tribute to a forgotten one.
Perhaps together, the FOP and the community could get the city’s attention. Let some of those Somerton tax dollars actually benefit Somerton children. They deserve better. Danny Boyle deserves better.
Fran Kuhnle
Somerton



Another victim

of Hurricane Debra

Regarding Nanci Miller’s letter last week (Clerk had the spirit of rudeness):
Something must’ve been in the air that night, Nanci! That night my friend and I stopped by there. It was mobbed and to top it off there was blatant disrespect going on in the parking lot! An OBVIOUSLY non-handicapped person pulled into a handicapped spot. No wait, they SPED into the spot. Black car, tinted windows, rap music blaring.
The friend I went to the liquor store with has a paralyzed leg, wears a brace and she does have a handicapped placard. However, we were only running in for ONE thing and didn’t park in the handicapped spot. I walked into the store, complaining about the jerk who parked in the handicapped spot. The jerk was in line in front of me and because I know better to keep my mouth shut, the only thing I did was slam my bottle of Kahlua mix on the counter.
I don’t know if something was in the air that night or people nowadays are just that rude. It seems as though it’s hard to find good customer service. Too often the cashiers or sales people in stores are too bothered to help you when, in fact, it’s their job. If they’re that unhappy — seek other employment.
I feel really bad for those who have come into Debra’s path. I do think she was there that night, too. A manager was apologizing to the cashier about something she said to him. I have no doubt that was Debra.
Heather Steinberg
Bustleton



What about

the unborn babies?

I commend Councilman Jack Kelly for speaking out against Michael Vick’s inhumane treatment of dogs. I agree with him wholeheartedly. I’m glad to hear public officials speak out on inhumanity of any kind.
I do not recall reading any letter of outrage from Mr. Kelly on the horrifying dismemberment of unborn babies. If I missed his statements on this or overlooked them somehow, I stand corrected.
Do we all have our priorities straight?
Mary M. Dalessandro
Holme Circle



The grandparents

deserved a better judge

Regarding the case of grandparents Morris and Mildred Brasovankin:
For the judge to blow it and then to impose a gag order on all participants does not show judicial competence, but judicial cowardice.
If you are confident about your ruling after spending time on considering all the ramifications before writing your ruling down for all to see, then you should not fear public condemnation or praise of your ruling.
It is obvious that the judge was more interested in buffing her name plate than in hearing public opinion of her ruling outside the courtroom.
The issue herein to be considered is the mental competence of the little boy’s father to properly care for his child, not the health of the elderly grandparents who were willing to assume that role. If the boy’s father fails to become a good father then what will happen to the little boy? He will not be returned to his grandparents, but shuttled off to another foster home.
We deserve better in people selected to become judges than the one who ruled against the grandparents.
In exercising a little common sense, the judge should have realized that the grandparents were physically and mentally able to care for their grandson and the only time DHS should have intervened was when one or both of the grandparents became ill and not able to take care of the grandson. Why rush into putting the boy into a foster home while betting the farm that the father will recover his senses to become a better parent, when there is no guarantee of it ever happening?
Faceless bureaucrats at DHS need to get out of the office more often to see what is going on. They need to wean themselves out of the stereotype that the only good parent of a child is the child’s natural parent, who may well be a drug-addicted, unfit parent for the child.
James K. Goodwin
Oxford Circle



Don’t blame us for

the block party brouhaha

I’m writing in response to reporter Diane Prokop’s Sept. 6 article, Keep it in control.
As one of the 3100 block of St. Vincent St. "partiers," I want to set the record straight.
Our block party was in control, the actual block party was over when the police were called, and they were called because some of the neighbors were threatened by a group of kids passing through that said, "better watch out, white boys, we’re coming back with guns," and jumped into a car and sped off. They seemed pretty serious, so that is why the police were called.
As the police were on their way, a group of male neighbors got together and formed a line across the street, and walked down toward Mayfair School, pushing out teenagers that did not belong on our street or to any home on our block.
When they got to the corner, they were met by another group of kids (probably coming from another block party) and a scuffle started.
During this, a 15-year-old girl slapped two 30-plus male neighbors of mine, because she wanted to continue partying and was upset that they made her get off the block. The male neighbors left the whole scene at the end of the block and came back to the other end. That is when the police showed up.
At that point they started yelling at everyone to get back to their homes and did not want to listen to anyone about what had happened. Not one of them asked about the gun threat, they just accused us of the disturbance.
If Capt. Frank Bachmayer and his officers took two minutes to find out what happened, they would have known that we had control of our block party and it wasn’t any of us causing all the problems. The block party was over, the deejay had already left, the dunk tank was closed and put away, and cars had started to park on the street again.
If Capt. Bachmayer is so concerned about the neighborhood, he would have taken two minutes to speak to some of the adults and they would have told him what "really" happened.
Not one officer asked about the original 911 call, to be threatened by a gun. Isn’t that what they want to get off the streets? All they did was yell at good people, my neighbors to shut up and get back on their porches and go to church and pray for a better block. These are the people that are protecting us?
Do not make our block the scapegoat for bad block parties. We did do the right thing. If the police had enforced the curfew rule, half of the kids out there making the trouble would have been home and not disrupting the neighborhood.
In the years that I have lived here we have never had a problem at a block party before, and we would like to continue that.
Sonia Rosen
Mayfair



The closing of any

Catholic school is devastating

I read Charles Tschopp’s response last week (Blame St. Leo’s woes on registration) to my letter in the Northeast Times the week before (A message of faith for the St. Leo kids) about the charter school that opened up at the former St. Leo’s School, and I am truly grieved that you misinterpreted my letter.
I believe the headline that it was given was misleading and I wanted to write again to further clarify my position.
Mr. Tschopp, upon hearing of St. Leo’s closing a few years ago, I was greatly saddened. Believe me, the closing of any Catholic school is devastating to the community. As teachers, our purpose was and still is to first evangelize and second to teach.
For many years, St. Josaphat School and St. Leo School coexisted and shared the same mission with full enrollment. Since St. Josaphat School teaches the Eastern Rite of the Catholic faith, I never saw our two schools as being in competition — rather, working together to evangelize the community with perhaps a few differences.
Mr. Tschopp, my issue was with the decision to place a non-faith based school in what was once a school whose mission was Christ-centered. You would not have read my first letter in the Northeast Times had a faith-based school been given the opportunity to lease the facility, because I would not have written it.
I would have rather the facility been used for, let’s say, a bank or perhaps some kind of a store, or even condos, which would have had no evangelistic purpose. But to take down the crosses from every wall in that school and set up a new school that does not share the message of the Gospel in what was once a Catholic school is disheartening at best and smacks at the school’s founders. They must be spinning in their graves.
Mr. Tschopp, I fully understand your sense of loss and I grieve with you. You sound as though you are truly missing your calling and I appreciate your response. I meant no offense to you or any of your former colleagues. You are all true heroes, as is anyone who teaches or has taught in a Catholic school.
You are right when you say that this should not happen to any educator, and I pray that you can once again answer the call. You sound truly committed to St. Leo School and to your faith, and God will surely bless you for it. I pray that He does! And know that I will partner with you to further advance our faith in our community. Blessings to you and to all those who once taught at St. Leo School. My prayers are with you.
Mrs. Jeanette Scally
First grade teacher, St. Josaphat School



Don’t prosecute

Officer Barclay’s assailant

I cannot imagine the various forms of pain and heartache suffered by Officer Walter Barclay and his family for 41 years — caused by William Barnes. We all have our fears, and the thought of being paralyzed is one of mine. I’d like to think that Officer Barclay is in a place where he is free from that bondage and pain, and running free like a child at play.
The murder charge against Officer Barclay’s assailant, 71-year-old William Barnes, and the furor surrounding the action has really caused me to evaluate the situation. I should mention here, that I support the death penalty. (Fry Mumia!)
I wonder if the conditions that Officer Barclay endured since 1966 embittered him? I wonder what he would have to say about murder charges being brought against William Barnes at this time, under these premises?
As I try to look past the injustice of the officer’s suffering, and the egregious nature of the original crime with its inherent flouting of authority, and assess the facts and the law, I am troubled at this murder charge. Most troubling is the DA’s and news media’s attempts to create consensus. There is the smell of "mob" in the air. The rattle of pitchforks and torches faintly echo.
It appears to me that our District Attorney, Lynne Abraham ("one tough cookie") is legacy-building with her attempt to set legal precedent on her way out of office. She is clear, that despite any sentence served, or any attempt to turn one’s life around, nor remorse, nor the passing of time, there can be no forgiveness, hence, no redemption.
Is this our system of justice? DA Abraham’s fervor to find what meaning might be squeezed out of the text of the law or invented against it to make her case, appears vindictive on its face. The spirit and intent of the law seem not to be being taken into consideration in this case. I think Frank Rizzo’s "one tough cookie" title assumed a predisposition toward fairness in the law, and honest use of power.
On the law, William Barnes’ re-prosecution raises a clear estoppel issue. Furthermore, that a medical examiner found that "complications from the attack contributed to" Officer Barclay’s death is in a broad sense obvious. It is ambiguous at best. For instance, what was the exact percentage of Barnes’ contribution?
Should Lynne Abraham prevail in this misguided prosecution, unlikely as that is, and that it survive on appeal (even more unlikely) she will have opened a legal Pandora’s box. All sorts of ridiculous criminal prosecutions will ensue, championed by overzealous prosecutors hankering to cut new notches in their belts on their climbs up the ladder of power and success.
Imagine a reckless, or even a drunken driver paralyzing someone in a collision, and 40 years later prosecuted for manslaughter or murder based on contributory elements of that victim’s demise. Or tobacco industry personnel, having concealed information and artificially increased nicotine levels, convicted of murder based on contribution to cancer deaths. Maybe you got in a fistfight as a teen, and someone has a brain hemorrhage 40 years later, and it is decided you contributed.
Any injury in the commission of any crime, and even perhaps civil issue, might be hyperliteralized into murder at any time. Is this what serves the interests of the people, and of justice, and of the state? Is this the meaning and intent of our laws? Does a perpetrator ever get to have a second chance? Do we teach our children forgiveness in vain?
Some things in life are not fair. Some things should be left to rest. Sometimes final judgment is left to God, with the assurance that nobody really ever gets away with anything in His courtroom. Lynne Abraham should relent and drop these murder charges against William Barnes, as they do not represent our system under the rule of law, nor the nature of our society.
William Kitsch
Fox Chase
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Share your opinion by e-mail

Click here to return to this week's editorial . . .