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Beware the morons’
flying cigarettes
Oh, how I love this time of year. Beautiful weather, the sun shining brightly, rolling my car windows down and enjoying an occasional lighted cigarette flying my way while driving.
Do people have NO sense at all? Sure, they talk on their cell phones while driving, tailgate like maniacs and forget they have a working turn signal, but can someone please explain to me why people spend more than $30,000 for a car without an ashtray!
A few weeks ago I was behind an SUV with two men holding their hands out of the sunroof, lighted cigarettes in hand. Oh no! Don’t get the car filled with smoke, but it was OK when those two jerks flung the cigarettes my way! I have honked at people and yelled at them when they did this while in front of me, but thankfully I was able to get away from these two morons.
I know the idea of the cigarette actually flying into my car is somewhat farfetched, but c’mon people, go to the dollar store. They have neat little portable ashtrays. You spent a ton for your posh vehicle, so I think you can part with a dollar or two.
I just wish that these smokers would have a little more courtesy before they decide to fling their lighted cigarette out into traffic. I will say, though, that I have seen the guys who wait until there’s a red light and kind of drop the cigarette low, so it doesn’t go flying. I’m not saying it’s OK to litter, but at least those people have some sense!
Smoke to your heart’s content while driving. Drink your coffee, talk and text on your cell phone, apply your makeup and drive like a complete moron — but have just a little more sense when it comes to tossing your cigarettes out of your car window! I just might be chewing gum and have to get rid of it, and it might head your way!
Heather Steinberg
Bustleton
Senior citizens deserve
a tax break
Support Pennsylvania House Bill 1600, the Older Pennsylvanians Property Tax Elimination Act, which eliminates the school-tax portion, which is 60 percent of the property tax for Pennsylvania residents age 65 and older earning $40,000 or less per year.
This is not a tax rebate, which may amount to only a few hundred dollars and does little to help seniors on fixed incomes who cannot simply get another job and have burdening medical expenses; these people have paid real estate tax for decades.
This bill does not favor one group. One thing for sure is that everyone will get older, therefore, when anyone reaches 65 and earns $40,000 or less per year, he or she will not have to pay the school-tax portion, which is often the deciding factor as to whether older people can remain in their homes.
The amendment containing the elimination of the school-tax portion for seniors with $40,000 income limitation passed in the House.
The bill including the amendment was voted to be sent to the Finance Committee, where it remains dormant. It has not even been placed on the calendar to be voted on in the future.
Fellow citizens, the only way to get this bill out of the House committee is for you to pressure the majority leader, speaker, your own state representative and especially the chairman of the Finance Committee, David Levdansky.
Call, write, e-mail or do all three. Writing and/or e-mailing are more effective than just calling:
David Levdansky
Finance Committee Chairman
127 Irvis Office Building
Harrisburg, PA 17120
1-717-783-1020
dlevdans@pahouse.net
Bill DeWeese
House Majority Leader
P.O. Box 202050
Harrisburg, PA 17120-2050
1-717-783-3797
wdeweese@pahouse.net
Dennis O’Brien
Speaker of the House
P.O. Box 202169
Harrisburg, PA 17120-2169
215-632-5150
dobrien@pahousegop.com
Tell them you support Bill 1600, the Older Pennsylvanians Property Tax Elimination Act, and to take it out of the Finance Committee, vote on it, pass it on to the Senate to be voted on, and approved there. Check on it once it arrives in the Senate to make sure it is voted on.
Arlene Caruso
Rhawnhurst
Playing the waiting game
in Rhawnhurst
In response to Clara Miles’ letter last week regarding the Rhawnhurst Playground (Safety mats needed at playground):
Ms. Miles, the members of Rhawnhurst Athletic Association completely agree with you that the play area for the children should be the No. 1 priority.
It really is a disgrace that the kids are landing in a pile of rocks instead of the necessary matting that is still not installed. Unfortunately, the new gym is still not officially opened, the tennis courts and the outdoor basketball courts are still not completed and this is after three years of construction work.
The city’s Capital Program Office and the construction company that was hired to do this work are the people that you need to complain to.
As far as the snack stand is concerned, that is being run by the Rhawnhurst Athletic Association, and the funding is used for such. The athletic association has nothing to do with the outdoor play area. We welcome you to contact the appropriate authorities.
Terry Bucher
Rhawnhurst A.A. member
More thoughts on the
Liczbinski murder:
An urgent message
for the killers
This letter is to the killers of Sgt. Liczbinski.
You murdered a good man. Stephen Liczbinski went to school every day, did his homework, studied for his tests and graduated high school.
He applied to the Philadelphia Police Department, went through the Police Academy and became Sgt. Liczbinski — all things you could have done. But instead, you decided on a life of crime. You made your career stealing what others had worked for.
I’m sick of every time one of you animals kills someone, hearing that you were disadvantaged, poor and grew up in a bad neighborhood. No, no more!
Many people who grew up disadvantaged, poor and in bad neighborhoods went on to be good people, many doing great things. Your life is the result of the choices you make. Sadly, those choices affected so many others.
I want you to remember one thing. On the day Sgt. Liczbinski died, a city wept. On the day you die, no one will care.
Peggie Hibner
Tacony
Get it over with:
Off with their heads
I offer my condolences to the Liczbinski family. My prayers are with you and other families who have recently lost loved ones in the line of duty. However, incidents such as this bring to light just how lax our politicians are that make up our liberal-based state and city governments.
They continue to focus on improving and toughing up current gun laws and making assault weapons illegal, as they already should be.
However, at what point does the thought of when choosing a weapon to commit a crime go through the head of a career criminal deciding to use a weapon that is legal or illegal?
If the weapon of choice happens to be an illegal firearm, I highly doubt that the criminal cares.
So, our liberal state and city governments need to stop making empty threats of prosecuting criminals to the fullest extent of the law, because it never happens. Convicted criminals are never put to death in Pennsylvania. The last one executed was in 1999.
Since 1999, Texas has executed more than 225 of their death row inmates. That number would have cleaned out our death row.
Just as our liberal neighbor in New Jersey, Gov. Jon Corzine, has given criminals the OK to do whatever they want without fearing for their lives because of banning capital punishment, our liberal state government in Pennsylvania has allowed 222 condemned inmates to sit on death row, some as long as 20 years, sucking up taxpayer money, instead of executing them and being done with them.
Most importantly, we need to put the fear back into the criminal’s mind and make the threats of full prosecution real.
If at all possible, the families of the fallen should be able to file wrongful death lawsuits against the city and state for not acting to the fullest extent of the law.
The state should be executing convicted cop killers in a timely manner to show criminals that they are not fooling around and give the law back the respect it deserves.
Dennis Ferguson
Bridesburg
Just blame those
liberals and leftists
I am utterly disgusted at the manner in which so many Democrats, liberals and leftists have exploited the travesty that was the murder of Sgt. Liczbinski, using his demise as a means to their ends.
It took Ed Rendell, Michael Nutter and Police Commissioner Ramsey just about two days after Liczbinski’s murder to get up on a podium and call on lawmakers to pass what they call "tough" gun laws, suggesting that anyone who doesn’t see things their way must not support people in the law enforcement community.
Other citizens and editorial writers, whether they are totally misguided or simply making an impulsive plea in the wake of a tragedy, are calling on lawmakers to pass anti-gun laws that will only hinder law-abiding citizens from obtaining guns.
They call for the heads (or impeachment) of lawmakers who are coherent enough to understand that pesky thing we call the Constitution.
Am I to believe that the laws these people are proposing would have prevented the deaths of Sgt. Liczbinski, Officer Cassidy or Officer Skerski?
I have news for you: There are already laws in place that restrict felons from owning firearms.
But I guess Solomon Montgomery, Hakim Glover and Eric Floyd must not have been aware of them. (You are the same imprudent souls who support other useless, feel-good laws like "gun-free school zones."
Apparently, campus mass murderers like Cho Seung-Hui (Virginia Tech), and Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold (Columbine) missed your memos on that one, too.
Ben Franklin said: "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
Instead of lining up to our lawmakers and begging them to strip us of our constitutional rights and civil liberties, maybe we should look at some of the real issues here.
For instance, how many times were Solomon Montgomery, Hakim Glover and Eric Floyd in prison and how many felonies were they convicted of before they eventually took up arms against our police force?
Can anybody say "Three Strikes Law?" Generally, a dog only gets to bite somebody once before it gets put down.
Oh, but that’s right, there’s not enough room in our prisons. Besides that, we have a turnstile system of justice where violent criminals are recycled through our communities over and over again, we have a lack of adequate resources to handle criminals, and we have destitute communities where it is the norm to breed children out of wedlock.
But rather than address these problems, people like Gov. Rendell, Mayor Nutter, Commissioner Ramsey and like-minded liberals are taking aim at obedient gun owners.
Matthew McGrath
Brookhaven
Why are the white
cops the ones to die?
First I like to say that I am very sad over the loss of another of Philadelphia’s finest. God bless them all. But one thing that bites at me is that all these fine men in blue were white. How is it that they are always the first to respond?
Last year I visited my old hometown (Philadelphia). I drove by six police patrol cars on the road. Four out of six had the "rap music" on so loud I don’t think they could hear a dispatcher’s call. And the other two were on cell phones with their heads bobbing left to right. Very professional.
Oh, all six were black. I’m not saying I wished the cops that were killed were black, because I am not. But it just seems so strange that all were white.
Also, I viewed that video of the nine cops attempting to restrain the three suspects who were attempting to escape after a shooting.
Maybe the suspects had their music too loud to understand that they were being ordered to stay still to be handcuffed, and they began to "break dance."
Anthony J. Porta
Sebring, Fla.
Editorial
was right on
Regarding your editorial about the Rev. Al Sharpton in last week’s issue (Al, you’re hurting us!):
Thank you, thank you, thank you, for being the first Philadelphia editor brave enough to state that yes, white people can actually be discriminated against, and that yes, a black man can actually be a racist.
Dear Philadelphians, the black vs. white issue is no longer an excuse for crime, drugs, welfare or a free ride in life that certain people feel they are entitled to.
Diane Getley
Morrell Park
For PACS, here’s
a cheer and a jeer:
We see that good
is defeating bad
I would like to thank Richard Junod for his empowering letter regarding the Philadelphia Academy Charter School that appeared in the May 1 edition (Despite its current woes, PACS has a bright future).
His eloquent description of the circumstances at PACS should be an inspiration to the school community to put their fears aside and move toward the path of empowerment. This facility was often described as a "parent driven vehicle." Unfortunately, the parents have not been permitted behind the wheel for quite some time. It was the parental initiative that shaped PACS into a reality.
Now it’s time for the parents to regain their strength and concentrate on bringing PACS back to the educational facility that was intended by its original mission. Parents need to understand that this situation did not occur overnight and it will not heal overnight. It will take time and patience from the PACS community to overcome this hardship and continue on the road of improvement.
As a parent I made the decision to take responsibility and insist that I be heard on behalf of my children. Fortunately, our freedom of speech allows us to have a voice that forces someone to listen. The behavior that this administration portrayed would not be tolerated outside the walls of this school for the very same reason it should not have been tolerated within them. The love for my children and the well being of all the other children was the driving force behind my decision. Like Dr. Junod said, "ultimately, good trumps bad."
If you believe this to be true, you will be able to look ahead and know that there will soon be a place where your children can grow in an environment that provides both challenge and support.
Lisa George
PACS parent
It pays to know
important people
A bright future for who? Since nepotism has been blatantly practiced among its leaders, I can only imagine what takes place during the student lottery. Unfair practices usually have a trickle-down affect.
I am a parent of two young boys. I had put applications in for my older son in hopes that my younger son with autism would have a better chance with their sibling policy. After all, PACS was doing the autism education better than anywhere else. I attended fund-raisers where there were many PACS moms, teachers and administrators. I observed the PACS community at these functions, because as a mother of a child with autism, I wanted him to have the best.
However, what I had observed was an elitism among the PACS group. I thought this is odd. This is not a private institution with a tuition, this is a public school. I trusted my intuition, and stopped begging every politico I knew.
I do not want my children attending any school where there is bad leadership and the only way in is who you know. I am sure if the School Reform Commission investigated the number of applications and the number of students selected that are politically connected, it would prove to be statistically impossible.
Believe me, I know what it is like to be desperately searching for a school in Philadelphia that can meet your autism child’s needs. But when I started feeling like Forrest Gump’s mom, I knew I had to back away from the nepotism and not be a part of a problem that is so unjust.
I took my chances, advocated for my son, worked and communicated with the Philadelphia School District, to ensure that my son has a bright future, and he does, despite the school district’s current woes.
Elizabeth Delaney Dridi
Mayfair
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