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Common sense
took a detour
Recently I had the opportunity to observe the resurfacing of Levick Street at Algon Avenue. There were plenty of workmen around directing the machinery as well as several cones placed around the machinery.
The only problem was when I had already gone through Robbins Avenue, there were about 10 cars in front of me and 10 cars behind me, and then I saw that Levick Street was completely closed off. Traffic stopped dead for about 10 minutes. Luckily, I was able to turn down a driveway and continue on Summerdale Avenue.
This was a serious oversight on someone’s part. It doesn’t take someone with a Ph.D. to realize rerouting the traffic flow should have been done first. Algon should have been closed off at Robbins (except to the homeowners on that block) and traffic diverted to other streets while this took place.
I looked for information regarding a resurfacing schedule on both the city of Philadelphia and PennDOT’s Web sites but found nothing. So, how many workmen does it take to pave a street?
Julie McCole
Fox Chase
Where was Old Glory?
It made us sad as we walked around the area and saw how many houses did not fly the flag on Memorial Day. After 9/11, you could not buy a flag. Many of our fellow Americans have fought and died for this great country of ours. Now, it’s all about family and friends, which is fine, but let’s not forget the flag, which made all this possible.
Mindy Gratman and Bob Kitchen
Somerton
Crimes against police
officers are colorblind
Regarding Anthony J. Porta’s letter (Why are the white cops the ones to die? May 22 edition), obviously Mr. Porta has spent so much time in Sebring, Fla., that he never heard of a policewoman named Lauretha Vaird.
Ms. Vaird was a black policewoman who was killed in the line of duty in 1996 much like Officer Skerski two years ago. She was entering a bank and was shot by bank robbers who ambushed her. She had no knowledge that that would be the day she would never see her children again.
As a black woman living in the Northeast and the wife of a police officer with more than 20 years experience, I am appalled at the racist garbage I see being published in the Northeast Times.
Mr. Porta and others try to insinuate that there is some sort of conspiracy going on because white officers are being killed. A criminal is a criminal regardless of the color of the person’s skin, just like the victim is a victim regardless of the color of their skin.
In response to the ignorant comment about cops listening to rap music while they are working, my husband is too busy running around this city protecting the citizens, including you and every other racist, to have time to listen to "rap music." Furthermore, he dislikes "rap music," so that knocks your stereotype out of the water.
Instead of knocking cops, let us support them all regardless of the color of their skin. So when you, Mr. Porta, and others are thinking about all the white officers who have been killed recently in the city, think also about all the officers regardless of race who give their lives to this city every minute of every day.
I believe you owe the brotherhood an apology for your racist and insensitive comments as well as to the family of Ms. Vaird and the family of every officer who has died in the line of duty.
Sandy Ward
Holmesburg
Her son the nice
guy finished last
I recently submitted a letter regarding my children and the Philadelphia trashmen. A letter published the following week defended the trashmen.
To that writer, I say you are very lucky to have such nice and polite trashmen in your neighborhood. Your comment on my children waking up on the wrong side of the bed is very bothersome to me.
My children were victims of someone else’s anger and did not deserve to be treated in such a violent manner. You say that there are two sides to every story, and you’re right.
If I had attempted to write the way that the trashmen addressed my son in words, my letter would never have been published. Hearing that, I guess you might understand that the language that was used by the trashmen after my son had asked them to "please move their truck" might just make your head spin.
This situation is going to a court hearing and I guess at that time the judge can decide what side of the story seems to be right.
I hope that you continue to have such A+ trashmen. Unfortunately, trying to be kind to people does not always work. My son now suffers a bad injury and is in physical therapy two times a week.
That’s the thanks he got for being nice.
Donna McCorry
Rhawnhurst
Light changes
yield big thank-you
I would like to thank whoever got the ball rolling for the light changes on Bustleton Avenue at Welsh Road.
I always make that left onto Welsh from the southbound lanes of Bustleton and sometimes it’s not always easy, so thank you to whomever is responsible for making that turn so much easier!
Now if only the turns at Grant and the Boulevard were just that easy and cars weren’t stuck in the middle of the road at times!
Heather Steinberg
Bustleton
Cheers for the
Boy Scouts of America
In his letter last week (Keep my tax dollars away from the bigoted Boy Scouts), Raymond J. Dougherty Jr., Esq. exhibits his own agenda-driven bigotry and lack of understanding of law, fairness, and truth. He speaks like a relativist and junk-law attorney extraordinaire.
Our law is designed to prevent discrimination based on race, creed, color, national origin, sex [gender], political affiliation or beliefs. Homosexuality, as the courts have already affirmed, meets none of these tests. There is no comparison in reality whatever to discrimination of blacks, Catholics, et al, in these contexts.
Our illustrious Philadelphia City Council, and people like Mr. Dougherty, Esq., know this, yet find no problem flouting the law nor disparaging others’ basic rights of freedoms of assembly, speech or religion when aimed at their activistic targets. They are masters at inverting the meanings of words, and smearing anyone who limits their politically correct utopian plans. If they repeat a lie loud enough and long enough, they believe it will become truth.
Mr. Dougherty probably never was a Boy Scout, for if he was, he would know his representations of hate, bigotry and intolerance by them are totally unfounded. I believe he and his ilk know this already, but need to propagandize public opinion to justify their perverted $200,000 per year punishment they would inflict on the innocent party, on top of their breach of contract — as if that isn’t enough.
Mr. Dougherty further contrasts homosexuals with others, saying they are less likely to commit child molestation than "teachers, coaches, priests" and others (like scoutmasters?) who work with children.
Might I remind the lawyer and readers that the vast, vast, majority of child molestations are man or male-on-boy, and those molesters are homosexual! They are just homosexuals with an affinity for sex with children.
The Boy Scouts attempt to teach boys love of God and country, moral straightness, self-reliance and service toward others. That is the essence of their organization and mission.
Homosexuality, which essentially counters 6,000 years of societal norms of morality, is contrary to the Boy Scouts’ creed and beliefs — which are their absolute right to hold and promote. Homosexuality, on the other hand, is nothing but a sexual preference, like someone might get turned on sexually via a foot fetish. But the good esquire seeks to re-write morality as a matter of law.
Homosexuality is simply an affinity for sex with another of the same gender, and a sexual aversion to sex with the opposite gender (heterophobia) — nothing more, nothing less. Engaging in homosexual sex with a consenting adult in your bedroom, Mr. Dougherty, or forming the Homosexual Scouts is your right, but you have no right to stereotype nor punish others with more stringent personal convictions, values and valid concerns for their children than you possess.
No doubt you’ve likely argued a case or two for the "best interest of the child" and know that it is the right of the parent, not the state, to decide what is in their child’s interest within the law. So, get a life, so we can all pursue our happiness and liberty, with common sense and attendant responsibility toward the rights, and boundaries of those rights, of all Americans.
Give the Boy Scouts their fair market value for the improvements they made to the city property, and let’s move on like reasonable people.
Bill Kitsch
Fox Chase
• • •
As a trained Boy Scout leader and the proud father of three Scouts in Troop 111 at Christ the King Church, I want to set the record straight.
The Boy Scouts, and their leaders, are not a part of a discriminatory organization. Mayor Nutter sets an impossibly high standard for the Boy Scouts. Sexual orientation and sexual training have never been a part of the Boy Scout program.
What the organized gay leadership wants is the right for a gay man or a lesbian woman to be an openly gay Scout leader. I am not permitted to be an openly heterosexual Scout leader. The fact is that there are many gay and lesbian Scout leaders who understand through their training that sexual orientation training is not part of Scouting. They do not talk to the boys and girls about their sexual orientation.
Adults who understand their Scout training know that the Boy Scouts of America reserves sexual and religious training to the child’s parents. Mayor Nutter is telling parents through his actions that he believes that the Scouts are wrong. The parents’ right to train their own children in these important issues does not seem to matter to the mayor. His lack of understanding of basic parent’s-rights issues in this case should be a concern for all of our citizens.
I’ll gladly train your child in leadership, hiking, camping, teamwork and citizenship, but I will not violate my Scout training. The Boy Scouts can’t welcome openly gay or openly heterosexual leaders because it is not part of Scouting. We will not usurp the right of parents to train their own children in sexual and religious training.
Dr. J. Gerard Halloran
Torresdale
• • •
When one reads Raymond J. Dougherty’s screed, it is clear he views the world through the prism of ’60s-style liberalism. And, like a good liberal from that era, he thinks the Boy Scouts, because the organization does not share his views on homosexuality, espouses hate and bigotry, to use his phrase.
While Mr. Dougherty may derive a measure of ideological satisfaction from this name calling, his allegiance to a dying ideology from a bygone era blinds him to a rather remarkable scenario, for amidst the turmoil over the Boy Scouts a quintuple win is possible for the people of the Delaware Valley and the Scouts.
Let me set the stage.
Mr. Dougherty, like many of his followers, carps about equal rights for homosexuals. But what about the rights of parents who do not want their children to go on overnight camping trips with homosexuals?
In place of this name-calling and carping, I propose that Mr. Dougherty and his fellow "progressives" simply join together and use their talents to form their own Scouting organization. In this manner, the children of both "progressive" and traditional parents would be able to enjoy the activities scouting provides.
Moreover, if the city were to sell the property in question to the Scouts, three more wins would result: the city makes money from the sale, the Scouts keep their local headquarters and the youth of the Delaware Valley will continue to benefit from the wholesome activities of the Scouts.
Let’s try it, people. Let’s use some good old-fashioned common sense here and leave ideology aside.
George Tomezsko
Fox Chase
• • •
Regarding Raymond Dougherty’s Boy Scout bashing, it must be great to have that "Esq." after your name so you can force your will on everyone and tell them how to live their lives.
You just don’t get it. If the Scouts would drop their Supreme Court-given right to deny homosexuals in their organization, and a young Scout was molested by a homosexual, YOU and your attorney friends would be the first to jump on the wagon to sue the Scouts for millions. Now do you get it? You can’t have it both ways, Mr. Dougherty.
I know lots of people who will be more than happy and willing to help the Scouts pay that blood money to the city should they decide to stay. But know this: if the Scouts pay this rent, untold hundreds of young men will be denied the wholesome experience that Scouting is.
Keep your tax money, Mr. Dougherty. I’d rather not have you support the Scouts. I can tell you feel you’re above us all anyway. Scouts are lots of things, but bigots is not one of them. I’ll gladly pay your share to keep Scouting alive in Philadelphia.
John F. Bielicki
Rhawnhurst
Proud father of an Eagle Scout
• • •
Thank you so much for your editorial about the Boy Scouts of America (Let’s hear it for the Boys, May 29 edition). I totally agree with you that our mayor is doing the wrong thing by penalizing the Scouts because they are sticking to their morals and principles.
As a proud grandmother of two Scouts (who are fortunate enough not to be living in the City of Brotherly Love), I appeal to Mayor Nutter to reverse his decision and allow the BSA to continue the use of the facility at 22nd and Arch streets.
Mary C. Webb
Modena Park
Kill the animals
that killed Liczbinski
In response to Edward Huber’s letter in the May 29 edition, Policeman’s killers are still people:
I would have to wholeheartedly agree with the previous week’s letter by Peggie Hibner, An urgent message for the killers.
Thankfully, one of the three "people" responsible for the murder of Sgt. Liczbinski is dead (Good job, Officer!)
I believe that I speak for many others when I say that not only do I not care but I am actually relieved that Howard Cain is dead. I also believe it is a travesty that there are still two cold-blooded murderers still breathing the same air that they have so callously taken from Sgt. Liczbinski.
I guess I am not a good Judeo-Christian but I think I am a rational human being that believes in justice. These three men completely and utterly relinquished the title of "human being" on May 3. Judging by their arrest history, they didn’t really amount to humans to begin with, they were animals. I am wrong. Animals can be tamed; these three are savages. Keeping these savages alive is a mockery of all that is decent and right.
Unfortunately, Mumia is still alive and look at the circus his name creates. Had his justice been served swiftly his name would have been long forgotten and no one would care! We cannot allow the same circus to be created for these three. Keeping them alive is a slap in the face not only to law enforcement but to all those who follow the law and respect their fellow man.
Jesus was a stronger man than I am, because to me, these men are neither forgivable nor "children of God." In the Bible, Christ says "Forgive your enemies." Doesn’t the Bible also state that God gave man domain over the animals? Prevent these animals from committing further acts of aggression. Put them down.
Tim Linahan
East Torresdale
• • •
Edward Huber is desperately trying to be politically correct. These individuals are no longer "children of God."
The killers of Sgt. Liczbinski and others who commit the crime of cold-blooded murder are nothing but rabid animals left to terrorize our cities over and over again because of liberal judges and an overwhelmed parole system as highlighted by state Reps. John Perzel (R-172nd dist.), George Kenney (R-170th dist.) and John Taylor (R-177th dist.) at a news conference on May 22.
It is not only police officers these animals kill, but children and other God-fearing men and women. As with a rabid animal, they should be segregated from society and at times even put down.
A dictionary description describes rabies as "the virus. In many cases the infected animal is exceptionally aggressive, may attack without provocation, and exhibits otherwise uncharacteristic behavior." (Wikipedia)
And as far as being "committed to forgiving those who have done harm...," it is not yours or ours to forgive them for this very personal crime of murder. Perhaps it makes you feel better that you can forgive them, but for the families of all the murder victims in this city, I doubt that many, if any, can forgive the killer or killers of their loved one.
George Listner
Bustleton
Letter writer
was off base
In her May 29 letter, Kenya Hunter must be living in her own little piece of the world. She expresses the view that you are bigoted if you disagree with her point of view. First of all, all white citizens are discriminated against when applying for Civil Service positions at the local, state and federal levels because of a racist and unconstitutional practice known as affirmative action, a policy where higher scoring white applicants are denied jobs and promotions to lower scoring African-Americans.
She should ride through the Swampoodle section of North Philly and see how the neighborhood was ruined by the influx of African-Americans.
There are many other such areas that are destroyed by this group. The bottom line is that the majority of white citizens are fed up with African-Americans claiming they want to be judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin, when reality proves the opposite. Also, leave a forwarding address when your people ruin another neighborhood.
Bill Gibbons
Mayfair
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