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Petty crime is followed
by a good deed
Every coin has two sides and I experienced them both.
On March 17, I went to a restaurant in the Northeast for an early-bird dinner with two friends of mine.
After a nice meal, the women handed me their share of the bill and I went up to the cashier to pay the bill. I put my check and money, $22, right on the desk next to an elderly man and waited to pay the check. The man in front of me was making conversation with the cashier and then asked for five ones for a five.
Someone asked me a question and that fast, when I turned my head the man and my money were gone. We looked all over and then I realized the man had taken my money with the change of the five. Very upset that an elderly man could be so devious to do this horrible thing, I was very down.
That was the bad side of the coin.
At that point, a gentleman of about 63 tapped me on the shoulder and said, "Miss, may I pay your bill? I had a good day and don’t worry about paying it back."
I was flabbergasted and asked him his name and he gave me a card. When I got home, I looked at the card and saw my benefactor’s name and address. He is a lawyer and his name is Jay S. Gottlieb.
I immediately sent him a check and thanked him for restoring my faith in mankind.
May God bless him and his family. His parents should be very proud of him.
There are good people out there and I was fortunate to find one.
Yetta Shipon
Bustleton
‘Kids Stuff’
is the right stuff
I want to congratulate the Times for the good work by your young columnist William Feldman. My family has read Kids Stuff since he was a young boy on your staff, and he is still going strong as a young man.
We wish him luck in what should be a long journalistic career.
Darlene Finch
Somerton
Subway murder has our
readers quite perturbed
Where is the outrage from people over what happened to Sean Conroy, the man who was murdered in the subway concourse?
I know some people have spoken out against it. Some people say it’s a shame, but I want to know is this: If four or five white males "randomly" approached a minority man, assaulted him and killed him, would we be seeing the Rev. Al Sharptons of the world crying out for that dead man? We would. The media would be inspired to write about how five white male youths assaulted a minority. Screams of racism would be heard all throughout the city. However, the media hardly said anything about race in this instance. I don’t know for sure if it was racially motivated, but my guess would be it was.
I know there is a lot of black-on-black, white-on-white, etc. crimes. I don’t understand how this is always overlooked when it comes to white people, though. It’s a shame for his family. It is a bigger shame that soon enough people will start to feel sympathetic for these teenagers, who wasted this man’s life and their own.
The spin doctors will soon come out and say it isn’t their fault, that they didn’t have all the privileges needed to know right from wrong. I would love to see the hearing, but it will never happen.
Jerry Glanzmann
Castor Gardens
• • •
I am a resident who recently moved back to Northeast Philadelphia from Marlton, N.J., with now so many regrets.
After what happened with the gentleman minding his own business while waiting for the subway, only to be assaulted and murdered by a bunch of punk teens, I realize I live in a trap.
I work in Old City, and with the price of gasoline on the rise I would love to commute by SEPTA. Well, I guess that’s not going to happen, because parents of teens like the punks who murdered that poor man cannot keep a leash on their kids.
Do parents have too much going on that prevents them from raising their kids to be decent human beings? I am a single mother of a 14-year-old and a 10 year old. I work a full- time job. I make it a priority to take the 10 seconds and demand my children tell me where they’re going, who they’re hanging with, what’s their friends’ names, and sum it up with "If I walk or drive by and you’re not where you say you’re gonna be, then there will be hell to pay." Now that’s not so hard, is it?
When you become a parent, life is no longer about you. It is your obligation to raise that child to be decent to you, others and anyone who is simply waiting for the subway. If you cannot do this, don’t torture the rest of society by raising careless punks.
Theresa Joniec
Mayfair
• • •
I woke up this morning and turned on the news. Much to my dismay, I learned of yet another attack that occurred at a SEPTA train stop. Cutting school and roaming the streets in search of people to beat, maim and murder seems to be the thing to do, as far as a certain segment of our city’s youth seem to believe.
As a wake-up call to law-abiding citizens, and as a warning to prowling degenerates, I have just two words for you: Bernhard Goetz!
Matthew McGrath
Brookhaven
He’s a hostage
in his own city
Living in Philadelphia with young children about to enter the school system, I can’t help but feel like I’m being held hostage by a certain segment of our community.
I can’t in good conscience send my kids to public school (that my taxes pay for) because of the riffraff that is bused into our neighborhoods and completely disrupt any sense of civilization that may exist. The Catholic Church knows this and they decide to be extremely helpful by reaching deep into your pockets every year. What is a responsible, hard-working family supposed to do in this God awful city?
Jay Bosak
Pine Valley
Payton volunteer defends
his campaign work
I am writing in response to the March 27 article that ran in the Northeast Times entitled Payton has enough to stay in race.
To be clear, I was never "hired" by state Rep. Tony Payton or his campaign. All of my efforts, including managing his successful 2006 campaign, were donated. That is, I never charged him or his campaign one red cent.
I volunteered to help because I believed at the time that his fresh ideas and energy could revive the 179th Legislative District. Conventional wisdom would suggest that if I was never hired by Rep. Payton, then I could not have been fired by him.
My volunteer efforts during this 2008 campaign involved organizing and mobilizing local citizens of the 179th district to circulate the representative’s nomination petitions using street lists. Next, the petitions were visually inspected for "kitchen table" fraud prior to notarization. During this entire process, one petition was rejected.
Before leaving to work with an out-of-town client, I ensured all petitions were submitted to the representative’s campaign in plenty of time to be re-inspected against the voter file. Of the 300 valid signatures required to be on the ballot, my circulators accounted for more than 250. In the end, the signatures I donated are responsible for Rep. Payton winning his case and remaining on the ballot.
I’m sure there are a number of campaigns that would have appreciated a similar contribution.
On March 14, a meeting was convened that included the representative, his campaign manager David Dix and several others. The discussion centered on campaign activities and updates on the impending court case involving the petitions. Never once during this meeting were the petitions that I contributed called into question.
I am not clear as to why Rep. Payton was inclined to use my name during court testimony as the petition-fraud culprit. Perhaps he wilted under cross-examination, "misspoke" as Sen. Clinton recently did in her "sniper fire" comments, or needed a convenient alibi. Whatever the reason, I felt compelled to address the representative’s attempt to damage my integrity and reputation I have been building over the past 16 years performing exceptional work for more than 60 Democratic candidates in 25 states.
For it was my exceptional work that made it possible for a political novice, housing counselor, and Community College student to become the state representative of the 179th Legislative District.
Blair Talmadge
Two votes against
Phil Kerwick in the 35th Ward
In a recent story (Campaign Bits, March 20) Phil Kerwick, who is fighting to regain his post as Republican leader in the 35th Ward, is quoted as saying "he’s too extreme even for me." Kerwick was referring to Paul Corbett, who distributed leaflets sharply critical of City Councilman Jack Kelly for his vote to end the Boy Scouts’ dollar-a-year lease at its Center City headquarters because the Scouts do not permit homosexual leaders.
Kerwick’s comment is instructive, living as we do in an age of political correctness. What Corbett actually did was stand up for the wholesome and character-building activities of the Boy Scouts and to defend clinically normal human sexual behavior. When a political wannabe like Kerwick refers to that as "too extreme," that shows how far we as a society have fallen in moral terms.
Mr. Kerwick, in an age when our young people need moral clarity, a real leader is someone who can provide it. Sadly, sir, you do not fit the bill. Please retire from public life.
George Tomezsko
Fox Chase
• • •
I am one of the elected Republican committeemen who signed the recall petition of Mr. Kerwick. I also attended the meeting to vote on his recall. Further, after the petition was presented that evening, I voted for the recall of Mr. Kerwick.
Mr. Kerwick stated in the article that the fix was in to oust him. In my opinion, nothing could be further from the truth. He received a fair and impartial hearing from Mr. Meehan and Mr. Canuso.
Over the past few years I have watched as Mr. Kerwick has alienated many of his loyal committeepeople and driven them out of the division. For the past five years or so, Mr. Kerwick’s remaining supporters have been doing the bulk of Mr. Kerwick’s job as ward leader.
In my opinion, what tipped the scales against Mr. Kerwick and forced his recall was during the last election he turned against his most loyal supporters by slandering them, and trying to have some people fired from their city jobs. Further, during this past election Mr. Kerwick did absolutely nothing to prepare the committeepeople for Election Day.
I have nothing personally against Mr. Kerwick, and I wish him every success in any future endeavors. But what we need now in the 35th Ward is a strong leader to rally around, and Agnes Tilley is the ideal leader for the job.
Removing Mr. Kerwick as ward leader was the absolute correct decision. Phil, don’t go away mad, just go away.
Michael D. Powell
Lawndale
Under President Barack Obama,
expect a nanny state
In Lisa G. Ryan’s letter in the March 27 Northeast Times (Barack Obama has what it takes to lead), she gives Barack Obama three "inspires," two "charismas," and an "ability to unite" toward his credentials to lead the United States as president. Unite toward what? Barack certainly is a great and charismatic speaker. He is so good that one must really listen closely to hear the substance of what he is saying, between all the feel-good phrases.
Just yesterday I heard Barack tell us that people are in trouble with mortgages and health care, and when he is president the world will see the generosity of the American people shine forth. Wow! That is inspiring stuff.
As I considered his lofty words, I realized that this man believes that government is the answer to all our woes — not to mention the woes of the rest of the world. Surely the government’s place is to redistribute wealth, and exercise our generosity in proportion when, and to whom it sees fit, whether you like it or not.
Hey, ask any Democrat, we are a democracy, right? That surely gives the majority the right to vote away your paycheck for charities of its choosing — not necessarily yours. Is this the morality Lisa Ryan alludes to? Well, it’s comforting to know that we now have a new Moral Majority to deal with our "moral crisis."
Ah, and there is FDR — the Great White Father — whom Ms. Ryan compares Obama to, and who brought us the New Deal I and II; aka the Welfare State; and the start of our incessant death march away from the constitutional principles of our crumbling republic.
With Obama, the utopian dream of the nanny state is in clear view. Imagine little children, government care from cradle to grave — ah, the American Dream! What vision and inspiration issues forth from our "beloved leader’! (as Marx and Engels smile up upon him.)
With the likes of Sen. Ted Kennedy, Sen. John Kerry, Jesse Jackson, Rep. George Miller, Jeremiah Wright, Louis Farrakhan, (and secretly, Nancy Pelosi and Al Sharpton) supporting, defending and advising Barack Obama, at least we can rest assured he is surrounded by "experts" with "political skill" and "not political hacks — where he is the amateur." (But being very intelligent, Barack learns real fast.) Surely, no other candidate measures up or has the ability to lead us in the Wright direction.
I agree that Abe Lincoln was one of our greatest presidents, Ms. Ryan. I love to recall his immortal words:
Our safety, our liberty, depends upon preserving the Constitution of the United States as our fathers made it inviolate. The people of the United States are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.
William Kitsch
Fox Chase
Despite letter from Rockledge
Fire Co., skepticism remains
Dear board of directors of the Rockledge Volunteer Fire Company:
You state in your letter to the editor in last week’s Northeast Times that the Hook and Ladder Room "does not rent to teen parties where the majority of the guests are teens who are not attending the party with their families."
My children’s bat mitzvah party would have not fallen into this description. If asked by Carol, or as I explained to the steward a few weeks ago, my daughter’s party would have had few children and all would have been with family members or supervising adults.
I asked the steward if they do high school graduations, and "yes" was the answer. So a room full of 18-year-olds would not fall into the ban on teen parties, or is this one of the exceptions the board was talking about in the letter to the editor?
I am sorry to say that my talk with the steward of the fire hall and the letter published in the Northeast Times do not make me feel that the decision to not allow us to have the bat mitzvah at the hall was not a decision solely based on good business sense, but of anti-Semitism.
Yes, this is only my opinion, but when in person I told him that my party was just like the party I was attending — actually, the party I was at had more children then I would have had — I was told the rule for no bat mitzvahs was unbending.
I ask the fire hall to re-think their good business practices and re-talk to the Anti Defamation League about what changes need to be made in the future.
Heather Smith
Castor Garden
Whatever happened to
good old-fashioned relaxation?
Now that the long awaited senior center and gymnasium are about ready to open at Bustleton and Solly avenues, I think it would be nice to step back and see how the entire recreation center fits together.
This one-block square now houses multiple baseball, football and softball fields, a tiny spot for play equipment, and three large buildings. Fields bump up against each other. In spring and summer, there really will be no "quiet place" to just sit and read a book.
In fact, try and walk through most areas, and you risk being "beaned" by a ball or screamed at by players. I’ve even seen many hardballs fly into the streets.
I think this is an important oversight. The neighbors have to put up with all the problems of increased traffic and competitive parking, noise, light pollution and endless trash. This causes stress for everyone. Can’t we have some quiet space, too?
I suppose the idea of a tranquil corner — a place to sit with your thoughts or pets, amid comfortable benches, trees, and even a birdbath or two — is an odd concept in a sports-mad society.
Yet I can’t help think we would all be better off if we played sports a little less, and contemplated life a little more.
Richard Iaconelli
Rhawnhurst
A message for the
testy park visitor
This letter is for the uncouth woman who confronted me at the park on Saturday, March 15, at approximately 9 a.m.
Your ostentatious display was misguided and totally uncalled for. Had you known anything about dogs, you would know that there is nothing inhumane about so-called "choke collars" when used properly. And at no time have I ever been in jeopardy of "breaking [my] dog’s trachea," as you so absurdly implied.
Being the lady that I am, I opted to dismiss your imprudent attack, rather than engage you in a heated exchange in front of your child.
But while I have put your ugly and false reproach behind me, there is one thing I still feel duty-bound to call your attention to: try to keep your composure when carrying conversations with others. You emit projectile saliva from your braces when you get excited.
Kelley McGrath
Brookhaven
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