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The grinch who stole
Christmas dinner
My father is a 77-year-old widower who lives alone at Sheffield Avenue and Cottage Street. Every now and then he orders a Christmas dinner that’s shipped to him, and it isn’t cheap.
He was going to have Christmas dinner with someone special he just met. He waited for the dinner to be delivered, and when it never came he called the company he ordered it from, and they said it was delivered at 5 p.m. on Christmas Eve.
He then realized that some low-life had stolen it off his front step. It was too late to replace the order in time for Christmas dinner.
Needless to say, the actions of one did affect many. My father raised 12 children, and I’m sure not one would stoop so low as to steal someone’s Christmas dinner, especially a senior citizen’s.
Remember, we all answer to someone for our misdeeds some time or another. Hopefully, yours comes sooner rather than later, so that you won’t ruin someone else’s holiday.
Steven Higgins
Holmesburg
A job just perfect
for the first gentleman
Perhaps the New York senator, Socialist, anti-military, marriage counselor and pro-Marxist Hillary Clinton will permit her husband Bill to interview the female interns in the Lincoln bedroom.
Bill Stout
Fox Chase
Where have all
my taxes gone?
I started working for a clothing manufacturer in 1981 for $4 an hour. Over the 26 years that I was employed there, I watched my children, my taxes and my aches and pains grow. I am now 48 years old and have been let go because imports have devastated this industry.
I am not playing the blame game, because my employer had to do what was best for himself and the company. I am not looking for loyalty, because in some cases you have to do what you have to do regardless. What completely baffles me is that I have worked probably since I was 12 or 13 years of age. In all of that time I have paid a ridiculous amount of taxes. I have even given up my summers to work in the Philadelphia summer work programs. In all of those 30 some odd years, I have never resorted to using the excuse I cannot find a job so I am going on welfare. I have never and will never allow this to happen.
The one thing that bothered me more than anything else is that over these years my taxes have helped convicted felons to receive three meals a day. Or someone who chose not to work receives medical and food stamps every month.
I did not have a job that afforded me a retirement fund. The savings that I did have have all but been used. I will eventually find work in order to survive. I guess in a perfect world I would have been given training or some kind of opportunity so that I could continue paying for the prisoners, the welfare cheats and the skyrocketing gas bills.
James Brennan
Torresdale
A warning for
the mail interloper
I was furious to see my mail has been opened by someone who wasn’t supposed to open it since it wasn’t addressed to them.
It has happened a number of times and I’m getting tired of seeing my mail being opened by a busybody. If you see my mail in your mailbox, please return it since your address isn’t on the envelope and it’s none of your business to see what’s inside.
P.S. There’s a penalty for opening other people’s mail, and that means a fine and time in jail.
Marlene Schaffer
Far Northeast
Thank you for
the improvements
Thanks to Citizens Bank, Delta School, Fairmount Park Commission, Friends of Poquessing Creek, Parkwood Civic Association and Pennsylvania Horticultural Society for being part of the effort to make improvements in our community.
The recent work done at Academy and Torrey roads — the boulders, bench, shrubs, trees, and two game tables (one is handicapped-accessible) — have improved this area and made it a special place.
The Parkwood community has a beautiful location to enjoy and a welcoming place to stop and sit or spend some time. What a wonderful present to the community. Thank you very much!
Margaret Philippi
Parkwood
Ex-councilman: Tenure
was short, but I did a lot
Last March the football field at Frankford’s Gambrel Recreation Center was a mess of mud and broken glass. The goalposts were falling down. The sidelines and end zones were barely visible. Today, it is a masterpiece. New Astroturf bears the logo of the legendary Frankford Chargers football team. New bleachers host proud parents and friends.
In a little more than two months, an amazing $1.5 million was poured into a revitalization project the whole community can share. It was the centerpiece of Fox Sports Net’s nationally televised show, Operation: Field Rescue, which debuted on Thanksgiving.
The revitalization of Gambrel Field is an example of Philadelphia’s public sector working with the private sector to accomplish great things for our community. Only a fraction of that cost came at the expense of city taxpayers. In the end, $1.3 million worth of material and time was donated to Frankford’s Gambrel Recreation Center.
The Gambrel success story is an example of how I tried to represent the 7th district in my 13 months as city councilman. This summer we partnered with the Phillies Rookie League to bring organized baseball back to Deni Playground for the first time in 20 years. In November, at Towey Playground, we converted an unused hockey court into a handball court, creating a place where as many kids as possible can now play a sport whose popularity is growing throughout the city.
In each case, we presented a vision to the private sector, and companies came through for Philadelphia. I am proud of what we accomplished in just one year. I believe our work in the 7th is a blueprint for how the city can move forward by forging a working relationship between the private and public sectors.
I am confident Michael Nutter is the man to make that partnership flourish. If the hundreds of people attending the Aug. 18 dedication ceremony at Gambrel Field were any indication, it is a partnership that matters to the people who matter most.
Daniel Savage
7th Councilmanic District
Editor’s note: Mr. Savage completed former Councilman Rick Mariano’s term on Monday, when fellow Democrat Maria Quinones-Sanchez, who defeated Mr. Savage in last year’s primary election, was sworn in for a full term.
Judge’s election makes
a mockery of justice
For the many people tired of the same old tainted Philadelphia Democratic City Committee, Michael Nutter’s election as mayor represents a promise of a "new day" and a "new way" — a refreshing change and a new hope for a city that was lacking in both.
The election of Maria Quinones-Sanchez to the 7th Councilmanic District seat has similarly brought excitement and hope to a community that really needs it. The swearing-in ceremonies on Monday represent a celebration of that excitement and hope for not just their supporters, but for all of Philadelphia.
However, while throwing out some old articles, I found some about newly elected Traffic Court Judge Willie Singletary that would evoke frowns of disgust from the supporters of Nutter and Quinones Sanchez.
Singletary ran for Traffic Court when he owed more than $11,000 in traffic fines for 55 violations, including reckless driving, careless driving, driving without a license, driving with a suspended license, driving without insurance, and driving an unregistered vehicle. There was even a bench warrant out for his arrest. His driver’s license is suspended until 2011.
When this news broke last summer, after he had already won the primary election, Singletary’s dad quickly paid off the fines. He was subsequently elected in November by people who don’t read the news, or who just push the straight "D" button without thinking.
Now, as he is being sworn in as Traffic Court judge, it is still hard to accept that we would make such a mockery of the judicial system by electing a traffic scofflaw to serve on traffic court. On what should be a day of renewed hope for Philadelphia, Willie Singletary’s swearing-in as Traffic Court judge is the rain on the "new day, new way" parade.
Robert S. Nix
Fox Chase
There are plenty of places
in which to fight cancer . . .
Michael Nunes’ letter, Expansion foes should put victims first (Dec. 20 edition), and Kevin M. Coughlin’s letter, Lives are worth saving (Dec. 27 edition), are presenting a false dilemma: to save lives or to save the park. The proponents of the park destruction would like the community to believe that these are the only choices that we have. Well, this is not true.
First, FCCC is not a unique entity doing cancer research and treatment. There are hundreds of cancer centers in this country (three of them are located in Philadelphia), which save lives as efficiently as FCCC does, and could utilize the federal grant without destroying park property and breaking a Robert Waln Ryerss’ will.
Second, there are a number of alternate sites in the city where the FCCC could build, including the old Women’s Medical College and Eastern Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute site. The argument that they need to have doctors and scientists at one location to ensure the exchange of ideas is laughable to anybody who is familiar with modern scientific research.
I am doing cancer research at the University of Pennsylvania. The head of my laboratory, Dr. Mark I. Greene, a very successful scientist, co-inventor of a potent breast cancer drug Herceptin, collaborates with multiple research scientists, clinical scientists and entrepreneurs from all over the country and world. Long distances between them do not interfere with their exchange of ideas. Means of communication are plentiful in the modern world.
And last, but not the least, we rely too much on drugs and miraculous treatments in this country, while forgetting about prevention. Breathing clean air and exercising may help to prevent not only cancer but also a vast array of pulmonary and cardiac diseases. And the park is indispensable for that.
The main point is that the FCCC can expand very easily elsewhere and achieve equally as good results in treatment and research. Potential alternate sites abound in Philadelphia and the suburbs.
Natalie Minkovsky
Bustleton
. . . Fox Chase
is the best
When I read about the controversy over the expansion of Fox Chase Cancer Center, I get sick to my stomach.
I have a 7-year-old child who loves a park. I can take him a few minutes away from Burholme Park and he’ll enjoy it as well as any park.
I have cancer and he can enjoy the fact that my trip to the hospital allows me to come home for dinner because I don’t have to travel to New York for the best care. I get that at Fox Chase.
Is there not a brain in the Fox Chase area that can understand the importance of that hospital to your community? If there isn’t, woe to you all. I hope our city government is smart enough to disregard such ignorance.
Thank goodness I’m not alone in my opinion of your community. As they say, "If the shoe fits!"
Claire Cohen
Huntingdon Valley
Alumni board:
Archbishop Ryan is a class act
The recent publicity regarding the actions of Father Charles Newman has brought the institution of Archbishop Ryan High School and Catholic education into public scrutiny.
While the indictment of Father Newman and some of the grand jury findings are new and sensational revelations to the general public, most of the story of what occurred during his brief tenure as president of the school has been a matter of public record since 2003.
The diocese and the legal system will sort out the issues. Ryan is moving forward in a new year and readies another group of young men and women for graduation while recruiting the next class of freshmen for the fall of 2008.
We would like to emphatically state that Ryan is not a building on Academy Road, Ryan is a community of fellowship that has been growing for over 40 years. Ryan is a spirit that is evident by its 32,000 graduates, over 2,000 students, their families and a dedicated faculty of men and women (both lay and religious). Ryan can be felt in every neighborhood in Philadelphia, throughout the state and in many parts of the country.
The school has proudly produced Christian men and women who can be found working as police and fire public servants, accountants, doctors, nurses, mothers, fathers, union members and teachers. Ryan has produced a space shuttle commander, professional athletes, the current speaker of the House of Pennsylvania and a U.S. congressman.
What is underpublicized in our view is that the BVM Province of the Franciscan Friars has restored all funds that were affected by Newman’s actions and was done so in 2005.
The Archbishop Ryan alumni board, which serves the 32,000 plus graduates from the former separate boys and girls divisions and the current co-educational institution would like its graduates to know that the school is fiscally sound and that all funds that were donated to the school or earned by grant have been properly used for its betterment. This includes improvements to the physical plant and sports facilities as well as tuition aid to those in need and students of outstanding academic achievement. The alumni funds were never compromised and are being used for the work they were intended.
Everyone associated with Ryan has learned from this situation and collectively we are better and stronger than ever. The current administration is doing an outstanding job creating a school that has high academic and extracurricular standards, promotes social justice and teaches the good news of Jesus Christ in a remarkably positive environment.
Archbishop Ryan remains the largest (and we’ll say best) Catholic school in the state because of this and one other major reason — its faculty. The faculty continues to mold and develop the future leaders of our society and has done a tremendous job.
It is unfortunate that the actions of one man would create such sensational publicity for the school and for Catholic education. Please be assured that Archbishop Ryan is a great school that continues to thrive in a very competitive age of open enrollment. The parents of over 2,000 students send their sons and daughters from all over the Philadelphia area to experience Ryan.
The Archbishop Ryan alumni board is proud of our school, fully endorses the administration and faculty and looks forward to an exciting future.
In Vite Mane (remain on the Vine).
Dave Bontempo
Ryan 1975, Ryan alumni advisory board member
• • •
Regarding your Dec. 27 editorial Never again, the solution to pedophilia is not marriage. Although we find what some priests do horrible, you can’t dictate what the church has had since the birth of Jesus. If the solution to the problem is marriage, then every person who works with children has to be married.
We believe your hidden agenda was for priests to be married.
Jeff and Joanne Magras
Burholme
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