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Working man just needs
a helping hand
These past couple of weeks I have found out firsthand just how difficult it is for a disabled person to find help with funding in this city.
Being disabled, I was fortunate enough to have been given a free electric power chair two weeks ago.
What I didn’t realize was how difficult it would be trying to get funding to build a wheelchair ramp and to find a way to transport my new chair.
Having bad credit, I can’t get a loan from a bank. I can’t even trade in my car, which I have had for a year now because of negative equity. I have e-mailed various city agencies to no avail.
You see on the news all the time people who are helped by other people, but I guess if you are slightly above the poverty level you don’t deserve the same treatment. Obviously it is my own fault I am in this position. My health is failing more these days and I can no longer push my wheelchair. I am afraid I am going to have to quit my part-time job at Wal-Mart because of this problem.
I know this doesn’t sound like much of a problem, but the people I work with are the reason I feel good about myself most days. This job gets me out of the house and interacting with people.
I’m not looking for pity here. I was just hoping for a helping hand.
Jim Wickizer
Lawndale
More jeers for Nutter’s
pick for public safety boss
In the Feb. 7 edition of the Northeast Times Raymond J. Dougherty Jr. Esq. describes letter writer Robert McCann’s position (Don’t blame Nutter appointee for merely doing his job) as being ridiculous and hypocritical because he is unhappy with Mayor Nutter’s selection of Everett Gillison as the new deputy mayor for public safety.
He reminds us every citizen has a right to a defense due to "something called the Constitution" and Mr. McCann is incapable of providing an objective opinion because he is a retired police officer and a "brother" of slain officer Gary Skerski.
Well, Mr. Dougherty, police officers also happen to be citizens and are entitled to the same rights provided in the Constitution you mention. The FOP has consistently defended "bad policemen," but don’t members of the bar association (which I’m sure you are a member of) do the same thing for the criminals (bad citizens) of Philadelphia? Please explain to me why an officer is not entitled to the same rights.
You say the District Attorney’s Office overcharges those who are arrested. Mr. Dougherty, tell me you don’t believe every police officer is guilty of every accusation made against them by a civilian. Surely you don’t believe a person would never make false statements or let the facts get in the way of a good story to make life miserable for an officer.
Also, Mr. Dougherty, how can you say Mr. McCann is unable to provide an objective opinion because he is a former police officer and not be hypocritical yourself. Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t you a member of the same profession as Mr. Gillison? If Mr. McCann is incapable you are also incapable, since your chosen profession is identical to Mr. Gillison’s. Please explain the difference.
Then you say the only time an officer speaks up for a victim is "when it involves one of their own." Police officers speak up for victims every day when they’re giving police radio flash information on a crime that just occurred or asking police radio to expedite rescue because the victim is in bad shape and might not make it. They speak up for the victim when they arrest a burglar entering the home of a person out trying to make an honest buck. They will also speak up in court for the 800-plus murder victims in Philadelphia the last two years.
So Mr. Dougherty, it seems to me most police officers will speak up for more victims than any defense attorneys ever will.
Sgt. Rich Gudknecht
Retired member of Philadelphia Police Department, Feasterville resident
• • •
I agree with retired police officer Robert McCann’s opinion that Mayor Nutter’s pick of Everett Gillison was insensitive to the Philadelphia Police Department, but most of all it was insensitive to Officer Gary Skerski’s family.
Raymond J. Dougherty believes that Mr. Gillison was only doing his job when he represented a cop killer, even though I understand Gillison could pick his assignments.
I don’t believe any police officer would deny that criminals need representation. As stated by the Fraternal Order of Police and other organizations, there has been an issue in the past of Mr. Gillison’s obvious police bias in court cases.
Would you appoint a fox in charge of a chicken coop and tell the chickens that the fox is the liaison? I think we would know what would happen in this situation.
Mr. Dougherty felt it necessary to criticize the District Attorney’s Office for overcharging. As a concerned citizen, I commend their office for overcharging. I believe the public has a right to feel protected.
Mr. Dougherty appears to have a problem with Officer McCann referring to his brother officer Gary Skerski. I don’t think police officers would not deny that there are cultures and subcultures in the PPD. I think police officers are more honest about this issue than you, Mr. Dougherty.
I raise this issue because you felt it necessary to add "esquire" to your name. This indicates to me that you called Officer McCann hypocritical because he defended his fellow officers, but it appears that you have no problem whatsoever with defending a fellow lawyer.
Mayor Nutter apologized for appointing Mr. Gillison as public safety director without consulting the FOP, but he refused to rescind the appointment.
In the long run, I believe there will be no cooperation between these offices.
Anthony J. McLaughlin
Mayfair
The chicken caper:
Much ado about nothing?
Thanks so very much to the Northeast Times for its editorial last week entitled, They have no class. It could not have been more appropriate.
Watching TV coverage of the chickens at Northeast High School was like watching a comedy show. These "professional" reporters seemed to think that 85 hens being brought into a closed school was funny, or at least nothing to be overly concerned about. I beg to differ.
How is it funny that these vandals were able to break into a school in a highly populated neighborhood without being seen? Then, after entering the school with 85 hens in hand, were able to walk them into the building and scatter them inside?
Nobody saw anything, no security alarm was activated to alert police, and they were able to leave with only a security camera catching an image? This is funny? In my opinion it is not funny, it is actually frightening that they were able to perform this act of complete disrespect for property without being seen or heard.
Perhaps next time some computers or other expensive equipment will be damaged. Will that be taken more seriously, or just another prank or reason for an extra day off?
One other issue comes to mind. Has anyone taken even a minute to consider the ordeal that these hens went through during this prank? I have contacted the Fox Chase farm to inquire about sending these unfortunate animals to a sanctuary but have received no reply. It’s my understanding that some will be kept at the farm for students’ use, while others will be sent to be used as egg-laying hens. So most will go from being a pawn in an immature game, to a life of misery at an egg farm.
For more information about egg laying hens, please visit this site from United Poultry Concerns: http://www.upc-online.org/chickens/chickensbro.html and scroll down to the section on hens.
Once again, thanks to the Northeast Times for putting this crime into its proper perspective. I hope that if these criminals are caught, that all of the charges suggested by the Times, including animal cruelty, are enforced.
George W. Wilson Jr.
Burholme
• • •
While driving my daughter to school on Tuesday, Feb. 12, I heard the DJs on WMMR (93.3) laughing and congratulating the individuals that released the chickens at Northeast High School as a senior prank.
If WMMR thinks this act of vandalism was so spectacular, then maybe they should consider paying for the cleanup. They could write off the cost as a publicity expense. Grow up!
Mary Quindlen
Parkwood
• • •
My god, relax a little. I understand the children who are responsible for this "mess" should be held liable. Community service is humbling. But come on, don’t let them graduate? Throw the book at them? A little harsh, aren’t we??
Bernardine A. Leto
Bristol
• • •
I read your editorial moments after hearing of the massacre at a college in Northern Illinois, which only made your plea for punishing the Northeast students even more ridiculous.
I am a father of six children in the murder capital of the nation and I pray every day that my daughter in college and my two daughters in a Philadelphia high school come home to me alive at the end of the day. Do the events of Columbine, Virginia Tech, the Amish school shootings, Appalachian Law School, San Diego State University — I could go on — ring a bell to you?
What the students at Northeast High did was wrong, no doubt. But let’s take it for what it was — a practical joke.
A sense of humor is dearly needed in this country. What this was, was a practical joke of historic proportions. And damn funny. These kids did not plan and carry out an attack on their fellow classmates, taking lives and creating carnage as so often happens in our world.
Decades ago, those kids would have been made to apologize, clean up the mess themselves, been suspended and prevented from graduating with their class. Maybe even double secret probation.
Does it need to be taken seriously by the school? Of course. But to "throw the book at them"? And a conviction?! And this was an "attack on society"?! Get a grip.
Perhaps you should call for — no, demand — every school have poultry patrols and feather detectors at every door. I guarantee when every parent heard the news of something happening in a local high school, they held their breaths, listened for a moment, exhaled. And laughed like hell.
Brian Smith
Burholme
• • •
I thought fish got together in schools, but somehow this time it was chickens. I wonder which birdbrain hatched this crazy idea?
I think kids are cooped up for too many hours for their own good.
Whatever dodo bird laid the foundation for this featherbrained idea will most likely shell out more than just chickenfeed to help clean up the mess. The prank will surely backfire, and the culprits will end up with egg on their faces.
Although a lot of parents are squawking over this incident, they need to come out of their shell and take action about this problem. How can we expect our kids to spread their wings if we continually put all our eggs in one basket?
Rich Weiss
Bensalem
Teach Krajewski
a civics lesson
It has been said that Joan Krajewski’s "skirting" the rules of the DROP program was not illegal. I disagree.
The rule is clear: Those who collect the buyout are to retire. Will the arrogant Krajewski hyperliteralize yet a second windfall the next time she "retires"? After all, it will be a "new" event; a new retirement.
That our corrupt City Council and government turns a blind eye and allows the torturing of the text for their cronies to circumvent the law (no doubt so they too may someday take their turn), makes the act no less illegal. It only make them co-conspirators. Beside the blatant illegality, the intent of the structure of the program has been ignored.
My proof for the above is that the civil service workers for whom the program was intended cannot perpetrate the same fraud upon the taxpayers as our untouchable governing elite.
Yet, more than 19,000 self-serving voters re-elected that tyrant, because like Krajewski, they place their own perceived self-interests above the general welfare. But then, birds of a feather do actually flock together. In fact, this is unfortunately a microcosm of our entire political system: "To hell with the general welfare, our posterity, and integrity; I’m taking what I can grab." Slaves!
Ask yourself: Is this what you would teach children in civics class? Well, this is what they learn. Joan Krajewski’s actions are now history, and her legacy is damaging your children, our posterity, and our once fair city.
Unfortunately, tar and feathering is outlawed, but this protest can be considered The Tar and Feathering of Joan Krajewski in Effigy!
I call upon the city fathers to police themselves, recall Krajewski or seize the ill-gotten $300K back unto The People of Philadelphia.
I call upon the FBI and law enforcement to investigate this corruption, as they would if these shenanigans were played upon a corporate pension plan.
I call upon Joan Krajewski to repent and set an example for future generations, redeem her character and integrity before it’s too late, by taking a lesson from our history. (Pride comes before the fall.)
His Example is now complete, and it will teach wisdom and virtue to magistrates, citizens, and men, not only in the present age, but in future generations, as long as our history shall be read.
— John Adams (speaking of George Washington to the U.S. Senate, 19 December 1799)
Lastly, I call upon our Philadelphia public schools to return to teaching civics as I was taught in Crossan Elementary and Northeast High, taking example from our founders and framers. (Austin Meehan, Philadelphia sure needs you now)
William Kitsch
Fox Chase
Judge rowers deserve
better treatment
Thank you so much for the wonderful and timely article on our crew team and their current situation (Canoe clubbed, Feb. 7 edition). I believe that this story has remained out of major media attention because of a serious misconception of crew and its participants. I believe that rowers at the high school level are perceived as a bunch of "elitist blue-bloods."
This may be the case at certain universities and institutions, but not at Judge. As your article pointed out, our kids are sons of cops and firemen, not doctors and lawyers. Our kids work part-time jobs to help pay their own tuition. Our kids ranked higher academically than any other team in the school. When it comes down to it, crew is the last pure sport.
Go to any gymnasium or athletic field, featuring athletes 10 to 13 years of age, and the stands and sidelines are almost assuredly populated with high school coaches, looking for the ace-in-the-hole, who will put their program over the top.
Crew’s purity is unmatched. Our kids arrive at Judge without any knowledge of rowing. They are introduced to the sport by our staff, and within two and a half years, they compete for national championships. We have had two in the last four years. Again, thank you.
Jason M. Budd
Athletic director, Father Judge High School
• • •
Thanks for your attention to this disturbing issue. Two of my brothers raced on the U.S. Junior Team in Europe in the 1980s when they were Judge students. Oarsmen are some of the hardest working athletes anywhere. It is a travesty to see them thrown out with no notice by faceless bureaucrats. Homeless people and convicted felons get more support and better treatment from the city.
I hope that Councilwoman Krajewski and Mayor Nutter will intervene with a common sense solution, which avoids destroying a rowing season for hundreds of dedicated athletes. Years ago, La Salle High School was thrown out of Plaisted Hall when they were reigning national champions. John Street was the district’s councilman at the time. He wanted and got a $5 million basketball court on the river, at taxpayers’ expense.
Jack Galgon
Medford, N.J.
A prescription
for Sen. Stack
In response to Diane Prokop’s article Addressing the maternity care crisis (Feb. 7 edition): Where has state Sen. Mike Stack been? The delivery crisis has been escalating under his watch as our senator. In the past two years maternity care at Frankford Torresdale and Jeanes Hospital has ended, leaving expectant mothers of our community to fend for themselves. Enough of the scare tactic blaming malpractice; focus on the real issue: revenue.
According to the 2006 financial analysis of the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council annual report on the financial health of Pennsylvania’s hospitals, Frankford Hospital had $394 million in net patient revenue; 13.98 percent of this is medical assistance and a total margin of 7.92 percent with 3.32 percent uncompensated care. Jeanes Hospital had $1.374 million in net patient revenue, 7.15 percent medical assistance share and a total operating margin of 2.15 percent with 0.56 percent of uncompensated care.
I have two suggestions for Mike Stack, since these hospitals want to be run as a business in creating/expanding cardiology services to capitalize on a growing demographic of guaranteed reimbursement by Medicare patients. Withdraw their state funding. Since these hospitals have deliberately chosen to remove maternity care for a specific demographic, the hospitals lose the safety net reimbursement through medical assistance. This safety net for low-income people should be withheld until the hospitals in the Northeast provide access of care for all members of our community.
Second, file for decertification of these institutions that do not provide the quality of care intended within their mission to benefit the needs of our community.
The article states Sen. Stack would like to have a birthing center up and running within a year. I am sure you have attended enough meetings to know this problems will not be solved by "birthing centers." What about prenatal care and potential delivery complications? Over the past few years, you have done just enough to say you did something, but this is an election year. Stop posturing or be replaced.
Elmer Money
Morrell Park
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