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Prison-art story
left him feeling blue
I just read Captive Colors, the front page article featured in the March 6 edition about inmates in Philadelphia prisons studying drawing and art as part of their reform.
I also read The Crime Log reported from Northeast Detectives for Feb. 4 through 17. I cannot help but wonder if the victims of the numerous incidents that were reported question why these inmates did not learn to draw in school.
Be that as it may, I find it insulting to see the article at all, let alone featured on the front page. It is probable that these same inmates featured are responsible for crimes previously reported in The Crime Log.
I reserve my opinion on the art program, but feel the article just rubs it in the faces of the victims, past and present.
Tom Nolan
Pennypack
God bless those
who helped Torrie
Words cannot express the gratitude that I have for all that donated for my sick dog, Torrie.
My prayers were answered with each and every angel that answered our plea. Everyone will be in my prayers each night.
I would also like to thank the wonderful staff at Bree’s Animal Hospital for helping us in this difficult time. God bless.
Jennifer Iannaco
Somerton
We have a duty to get rid
of the abusive politicians
In regards to last week’s editorial, Shame on Anna Verna, this type of behavior is pretty much the norm anymore in Philadelphia politics. Mrs. Verna should be ashamed of her actions, which are a blatant slap in the face of veterans in the City of Brotherly Love. What’s even more disgusting is her quote, "People can think what they want. We can’t change people’s way of thinking" in her comments to the Inquirer. Maybe I’m just an optimist, but aren’t elected officials supposed to change the way their constituents think by their actions?
In an election year where the "silly voters" in the First State Senatorial District had — until Vince Fumo dropped his bid for re-election last week — a choice between an incumbent who had been indicted and convicted before and is facing an unrelated corruption case in the fall, and an opponent who shrugs off his federal investigations by saying "I’ve been subpoenaed for fifteen years," wow, now is it me or is that what a candidate wants to say to prospective voters? [Editor’s note: Two other candidates are in the Democratic primary: community activist Anne Dicker and lawyer Larry Farnese].
We have politicians who have abused the city’s early retirement program by retiring one day and saying the next day "I’m not retiring" and amassing huge amounts of cash! In our own neighborhood we have a state representative passing a pay raise in the middle of the night and then he insults the voters with his comments.
How long do the hard-working people of Philadelphia have to put up with these elected officials that continue to mock the very people that elected them?
The Declaration of Independence says, "But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security."
Thomas Jefferson wrote that passage more than 230 years ago! It seems that now more than ever those words ring true for the people of Philadelphia.
Kevin M. Coughlin
Fox Chase
Beware the racists
in their invisible sheets
I wonder if it really surprised Heather Smith that the Rockledge fire hall told her that they "do not do bat mitzvahs" but were more than willing to host the 100-child communion (No room for Jews at Rockledge fire hall?, March 6 letters).
Look at when a Jewish group from New York wanted to buy and build a synagogue and houses on Tomlinson Road up the street from the Klein Branch of the Jewish Community Centers. The neighbors around there went to the City Council to block it because "it would cause too much additional traffic congestion in the area."
Funny how now, a non-Jewish builder is putting up houses on the same land. The people in that area don’t seem to think THAT will cause too much additional traffic now.
A few years ago on Simcha Torah, the holiday celebrating the giving of the Torah, an off-duty cop and his drunken friends tried to run us down outside the Lubavitcher Center on Castor Avenue. They tried not once, but three times before they pulled into the McDonald’s across the street.
How do we know he was an off-duty cop? He stopped the third time, got out of his truck, showed his badge and threatened to arrest people. When on-duty police showed up and went over there, the police came back and said the ones that tried to run us down weren’t there.
After the police left, we watched the SUV with the off-duty cop leave the restaurant parking lot. He was identified when people were shown pictures of policemen, yet nothing was ever done. The city just brushed it under the rug, as usual.
Get used to it, Ms. Smith. The racists may not wear sheets in public, but they are alive and well in the city of "brotherly love." Things haven’t changed that much since the days when I used to see signs in windows of motels that said, "No Jews or dogs allowed." They just smile now and say it behind your back.
Hezakiah Levinson
Rhawnhurst
‘The Crime Log’ is a valuable
tool for the community
Some of my neighbors and I are very happy to see The Crime Log back in the paper.
Some people have negative opinions about it being back in the paper, but I ask: How would you know what is going on in your neighborhood without that information?
In last week’s edition I saw another vehicle was burglarized one block over from my house, which was the same thing that happened to me six weeks ago.
These people who truly would rather believe that there are no petty crimes in Somerton need to open their eyes and understand that there are petty crimes everywhere, and they should be grateful for the opportunity to see this every week in the paper.
It does not matter how petty the crime is — make sure you report it so we all can have a way to be a community and try to stop some petty thugs from taking what we work so hard for.
My crime was petty. They took a leather tan pouch with about $20 to $25 in it. I immediately went to the 7th Police District and put a report in after they told me they do not send a car out on 911 for a report. If that’s the way they want to run things down there, that’s their policy. I am sure for more serious issues they would have sent a car, but do not let that discourage you. Just drive it in. It only takes a minute, plus you get to meet some local authorities while stopping in.
Christopher Duca
Somerton
Swimmers can hold
their heads high
Thanks to sports writer Joe Mason and photographer Matt Godfrey on the article last week about Little Flower’s swim team! (Making new waves).
In only our eighth year, we are continuing to make strides in the Philadelphia Catholic League. I would be remiss if I did not mention some of our other swimmers’ performances at PCL Champs.
Jen Foley finished seventh overall in 100-yard backstroke. Lindsey Holmes finished seventh overall in 100-yard breaststroke. Nina Kauffman set the school record in the 500-yard freestyle. Courtney Kravitz continued her season-long time drops by dropping an amazing nine seconds in 100 breaststroke. Soccer standout Alexa Kajkowski showed that she is also a swimming standout by becoming one of our top sprinters in her first year on the team!
Christine Horn continued to excel at both the 50-yard freestyle and the 100-yard freestyle. Candice McNamee dropped over four seconds in the 100 freestyle, finishing out her swim career in remarkable fashion. Freshman Myah Jusino dropped over four seconds to finish 20th overall in 100 butterfly. Samantha Sheehan showed that hard work does indeed pay off by dropping her 100 backstroke time to a new personal best. Finally, our 400-yard freestyle relay team, consisting of Monica DeNofa, Nashae Charles, Emily Thomas and Jen Foley, finished fifth overall and in the process smashed the previous school record by over five seconds!
All in all, PCL Champs 2008 was a banner event for Little Flower Swimming, as the entire season was a banner year. In more than 70 individual races, time drops and individual bests were recorded in over 60 of them. The hard work, heart and dedication that our girls showed all season paid off tremendously!
Our sixth-place finish this season was a complete team effort. From top to bottom on our team, everyone contributed to making the 2007-08 season the best one yet in Little Flower swimming team history!
Sean Clothier
Little Flower swimming coach
Animals need your love
all of the time
Regarding the article about animal abuse in the March 6 edition, I am just disgusted that human beings would treat animals this way! It has been so commonplace recently that it is just really sad. When did animals become disposable creatures? If you are planning on moving and cannot take your animal "friend" with you, make the appropriate accommodations. Don’t leave your pet to suffer — there are many local shelters, including no-kill shelters (one example is Kitty Cottage in Blue Bell, which I donate to).
The fines and punishment are not stiff enough for animal abuse crimes — maybe people would stop and think if the punishment was more stringent.
I have been a member of the PSPCA for many years and will continue to support them for what they have done in the community; I will certainly be donating my money to the Etana Fund. Please take care of our animals. An animal that you abuse may be someone’s pet and loved one.
Jacki DiAngelo
Pine Valley
How’s the weather
down there, Officer?
Question: Why does Philly hire cops you can’t see? Shouldn’t they be at least 5 feet 9 inches tall? And please don’t tell me size doesn’t matter, because it does. All this PC junk is going to get cops hurt. This is why all you hear is "Officer needs help."
If you had larger cops, people wouldn’t be so willing to fight/resist them. It’s a sorry sight to see female cops taller than male counterparts.
In the 1950s and ’60s, you had to be 5 feet 9 inches tall. I know this was keeping women out, but it was also keeping little guys out, too, and it was for the better, because you didn’t have to look hard to see a cop, and that made the bad guys think twice and the good folks feel safe.
Anthony J. Porta
Sebring, Fla.
Dead trees, live cancer patients . . .
or the other way around?
Regarding David Carlin’s letter to the editor, Protect Burholme Park now and forever, in the March 6 edition:
Mr. Carlin, because I don’t live in Burholme or work there anymore, I have no right to my opinion? All those people that I cited for trashing up the park and underage drinking and throwing their condoms on the ground was a waste of my time?
Back to the real issue of understanding cancer patients needs, OK? I recently spent 11 days in Fox Chase Cancer Center, and while there I walked the halls of the third floor looking out into the park. I noticed a lot of dead trees near the construction site that have been there a long time and should have been removed for safety reasons.
I think for those of you who are so concerned, go and ask the hospitality department if you can volunteer some of your tree-worrying time to comfort some of the patients during the day — maybe fluff up a pillow, give them a newspaper, tell a joke or try to get a smile.
Walk around during visiting hours and listen to all of the moaning and alarms going off for medication. One man who I will call "Charlie" has been there since November. He would love to be at home (So how were your holidays?).
Since Fox Chase is accused of being here only for the profits, please explain to my son, who tried to visit me on his lunch hour, that the eight levels of the parking garage were completely filled with cars and which he had to leave and not get to see me.
I agree we do need trees and open space areas, but in those 11 days that I spent in the hospital, not one person had a tree on their mind. Mr. Carlin and fellow letter writer Mr. John McDevitt, I pray you never get sick.
Ken Milgrom
Modena Park
Guest Opinions
Plan to increase trash limit
belongs in the dump
By Louis M. Iatarola
On behalf of our board of directors, I would like to thank Diane Prokop for her timely article in the Feb. 28 edition titled U.S. Recycling still looking to expand its facility.
As we anxiously await a final determination by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) regarding the permit expansion for a trash transfer station at 6101 Tacony St., I would like to thank the Mayfair Civic Association, Mayfair CDC, Holmesburg Civic Association and Upper Holmesburg Civic Association for their continued opposition to this dangerous proposal.
Most important I would like to thank state Rep. Mike McGeehan and state Sen. Mike Stack who, since the beginning of this public process at a meeting held at St. Hubert High School in 2006, have expressed continued opposition to this permit expansion.
It is important to note that while a permit exists to process 380 tons of trash per day at this site, currently there are no transfer activities in operation.
Apparently the investment required in building upgrades and monitoring equipment would only be justified by acquiring a permit to increase the allowable tonnage by over 400 percent to 1,500 tons of processed municipal trash per day.
With the proposed Lardner’s Point Park and anticipated conversion of the former Kensington-to-Tacony rail line to a bike path and jogging trail bringing us closer to reclaiming a riverfront long ago severed by industrial and highway development, to grant such a permit would go against all the revitalization plans the developers and our political leaders have been touting for nearly a decade.
If we are to believe what we’ve been told all this time about reconnecting neighborhoods to the Delaware River, the granting of such a permit would clearly defy all logic.
As a participant in these discussions going back to 1995, I can state as fact the understanding that existing industrial users between the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge and Frankford Arsenal were an important component of the riverfront’s future as local employers and responsible business neighbors. It was also understood that any expansion or acceleration of what are considered offensive industrial uses would be discouraged.
U.S. Recycling’s revision to their permit application, available for public review at Tacony Library, raised as many questions as the initial application.
No requested projections were made to reflect the increased traffic expected over the next decade as approved residential, commercial, institutional and recreational improvements take hold in the immediate area.
No clarification was made of which type of "commercial/industrial masking agent" would be used to control odor emissions. Most important, there appear to be no safeguards in place to protect the local communities from airborne toxins relating to the transfer of municipal trash, which is known to potentially include fluorescent bulbs, mercury thermometers and building materials.
It is generally accepted that mercury vapor loss occurs during trash transfer operations, and mercury emissions have been reported to cause increased risks of cancer, respiratory disease and autism.
The revised application could prove no real benefits to the surrounding communities but enumerated 17 ways the permit could benefit the city, state and the applicant. The increasing enrollment at Franklin Towne Charter School and anticipated shifts in nearby land uses to reflect cleaner recreational and residential uses should be reasons enough for the PADEP to decline this permit.
With the diligence of multiple community organizations and the support of our state leaders, we remain confident that the permit to store, process and ship out by truck 1,500 tons of trash daily on a small piece of land at 6101 Tacony St. will be denied after thorough review by the PADEP. ••
Mr. Iatarola is president of the Tacony Civic Association.
Congressional hopeful
opposes tax increase
By Marina Kats
As major financial institutions like Bear Stearns crumble and gas prices are expected to reach $4 per gallon, Congress last week did something unconscionable. Allyson Schwartz and the congressional leadership in Washington voted to pass the largest tax increase in American history.
You must be just as surprised as I was to learn that instead of reducing taxes in light of our nation’s economic condition, Congress did just the opposite. It raised taxes.
Actions like this are what have compelled me to run for Congress. I am running because our government is no longer rational or reasonable. I want to restore sanity back to Washington.
To understand precisely how insane Congress is operating, just look at the numbers associated with its budget.
Schwartz voted to increase taxes $683 billion, which will cost Montgomery County and Philadelphia taxpayers an additional $3,030 per year! Over 70,000 households, or nearly one-third of the 13th Congressional District, do not earn $3,030 per month.
Despite campaign promises to rein in debt and wasteful spending, the Democrats last year passed more than 11,000 earmarks at a cost of $16 billion. Allyson Schwartz strongly supported the Democrats’ budget, which will pass on an additional $14 trillion in debt to future generations, because it fails to address the fiscal crisis facing Social Security and Medicare programs.
Allyson Schwartz’s historic and destructive vote for the Democrats’ budget would impose a crippling tax increase for every single taxpayer in Montgomery County and Philadelphia, including married couples, families with children, senior citizens, small-business owners and farmers.
Throughout the United States, nearly 48 million married couples will get a $3,000 tax increase. Low-income families will be hit when the child tax credit is cut by $500 per child. Almost 18 million senior citizens will have to pay an extra $2,100 in taxes. About 27 million small-business owners will be strapped with a $4,000 tax increase. Finally, the reinstatement of the "death tax" will cost taxpayers an additional $180.6 billion.
All of it was done under false pretenses, by stating that they are not increasing taxes but merely allowing the tax cut of 2001 to expire, which in fact has the same effect.
Once again, the absurd logic of Washington rears its ugly head. They intend to tell the American people that even though their tax bills will go up, they’re really not getting a tax increase. What’s next? They’re going to tell us they were for it before they voted against it?
Using more smoke and mirrors, the Democratic congressional majority promised Pay As You Go (PAYGO) budgeting that would prevent new deficit spending.
Yet, last year, according to the Heritage Foundation, Congress used gimmicks, such as false sunsets and shifting payment dates to pass: S-CHIP legislation adding $55 billion to the budget deficit; a farm bill adding $7 billion to the budget deficit despite record-high farm incomes; a student loan bill with $15 billion in new deficit spending; and terrorism risk insurance legislation adding $8.4 billion to the budget deficit.
Another trick used by Congress has been to abuse the "emergency" spending designation where they can hide their additional 9.4 percent increase in discretionary spending. Despite pledges of fiscal restraint and deficit reduction, Congress has done anything but reduce the deficit. Based on this year’s budget, there is no reason to believe things will be any different.
We can no longer stand by and watch our government careen out of control with reckless spending. We need a change in Washington now more than ever to bring rational leadership back to Congress.
As Allyson Schwartz gets ready to head out of Washington for a two-week spring break, she should be prepared to answer questions from the voters as to why she chose to raise taxes and increase government spending at our expense.
I encourage you to join me in asking the questions. ••
Marina Kats is the Republican candidate for the 13th Congressional District, which includes much of Northeast Philadelphia and portions of Montgomery County. She is running unopposed in the April 22 primary and will face Rep. Schwartz in the Nov. 4 general election.
Start acting your age,
attorney tells the FOP
By Raymond J. Dougherty Jr.
In his March 6 letter to the editor, Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5’s legal services plan administrator, John R. McGrody, Esq., felt compelled to respond to my earlier rebuttal, Taking exceptions to ex-cops’ letters.
Apparently some compulsion drives him and the FOP; certainly it is not facts. In his letter, Mr. McGrody splits hairs, stating I was partially correct as the FOP did once contract with law firms, but apparently now contracts services of "attorneys," including, I understand, murder defenders.
Partially correct, as Mr. McGrody admits FOP members have been represented by Peruto and Peruto, but he claims that has not happened in almost 20 years, although the law firm actually formed only 17 years ago.
Aside from taking exception to Mr. McGrody’s pseudo-math, I also take exception to Mr. McGrody’s pseudo-logical conclusion that he somehow reveals my ignorance to the issues, simply a poor attempt to obfuscate the issues and take personal attack.
While possibly innocently perceived as simple revelation of ignorance that Mr. McGrody and the FOP actually believe their pseudo-fact that Mr. Gillison CHOSE to defend Officer Skerski’s killer, I find it nearly impossible to accept, as they must know Mr. Gillison was appointed to this case rather than chose it as suggested — a fact I personally verified with sources at the Public Defender’s Office.
FACT: Both Mr. Gillison and Mr. Stevenson were appointed. More likely, this issue is a sinister FOP spin designed to mislead the public and FOP members, as is the claim of Mr. Gillison’s alleged bias.
Likely these claims stem from fear of potential liability, as clearly Mr. Gillison must have intimate knowledge of the historical racial bias and systemic deficiencies among the police, the FOP, district attorney and police internal affairs offices, and has not been afraid to address it when necessary, making him a most excellent choice by Mayor Nutter, as those issues are central to public safety.
While I certainly have sympathy for, and express my condolences to, the Skerski family, the awful tragedy and memory of slain Officer Skerski should not be stained by the FOP’s pursuit of politics.
Police take an oath to protect and serve. The FOP has been "crystal clear and consistent" in suggesting members violate that oath by not interacting with Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Gillison for trumped-up reasons.
The FOP needs to stop acting like children and do the right thing. I always believed the FOP gets much more attention than deserved, but in misleading the public and encouraging police members to act contrary to the interests of public safety, every citizen should feel compelled to give the FOP attention, as the position and protection of bad cops is completely contrary to the interests of public safety, the citizens and government that serves them, and oath-upholding FOP members.
But citizens may get a chance to give it attention if former FOP president Rich Costello actually makes it to the general election ballot and then attempts to unseat state Rep. John Perzel. Then, citizens can ask themselves if they are satisfied with the current and long-standing state of affairs of FOP interference with public safety.
Good luck, Costello, you will need it. ••
Raymond J. Dougherty, Jr., is a lawyer from the Pine Valley section of Bustleton.
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