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Readers up in arms
over handicapped spots
What could be more ignorant than calling every single customer at the Wawa on the 7700 block of Frankford Avenue ignorant, as Pamela Kahney does in her rant last week (Don’t hog those handicapped spots!)
I never park in a handicapped spot but I watch people who do, and most of them seem just as able as I am to walk an extra 10 yards to enter a Wawa. The whole handicapped thing is completely abused. It is way too easy to get a handicapped tag or placard.
Ronald Kall
Bustleton
• • •
Although it’s true people use handicapped parking spots when they are not handicapped, I’ll tell you what is worse. The thousands of people who have handicapped tags and are not so handicapped. It’s my opinion that if you’re not in a wheelchair, you’re not handicapped.
How many times do you see people using handicapped tags who look in good shape? Also, it seems after you reach a certain age, you are entitled to handicapped tags no matter your physical condition. That’s ridiculous.
These are the people who are inconsiderate and have no respect for anyone but themselves. Maybe we able-bodied people park in handicapped parking spots because of how much fraud we see.
Wayne Puro
Torresdale
Please be kind to man’s
best friend all year round
Once again the summer season is upon us, and while most of us are getting ready for the weekends at the shore or trips to the neighborhood pools, I would like to take the time to stress the importance of a very delicate subject for me.
That is the safety of our pets, and not just in the summer season, but all year round.
I see so many careless and negligent acts among our animals that it is heartbreaking.
First, make sure all of your pets have proper identification tags around their collar at all times, especially your animals that are outside a good part of the day. It is absolutely heartbreaking when our animals go astray.
I see so many dogs running around the neighborhoods from time to time, and I am one of those caring dog lovers who will go out of my way and return your pet to you. I get very aggravated when those dogs do not have an ID tag. I have yet to master the ability of dog language, so please take the time to ID your animal. Petco and Petsmart have ID stations where you can have your ID tags made by you. This is a fun thing for the kids to do.
When the weather is warm, please make sure your animal has enough fresh water to drink, and if they must be outside, make sure they have either a large enough doghouse to lie down in, or ample amount of shade to cover their body. Remember, they cannot take off their fur coat to cool down.
Most importantly, never leave your animal inside a parked car for any amount of time during the warm seasons.
Car temperatures can skyrocket after just a few minutes on an 85-degree day to 102 degrees with the windows opened slightly.
After 30 minutes the temperature will reach 120 to 130 degrees. At 105 degrees, pets are in grave danger of heatstroke.
Remember to spay and neuter your animals to help stop the reproduction of unwanted animals.
Never abuse your animal in any way. Please respect their feelings. If you know of anyone abusing any animal, please contact the Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society at 267-385-3800. Animals have rights, and if you’re caught abusing any animal, you will be prosecuted with jail time.
Do not let your animal roam the streets freely. This isn’t fair to us or our lawns, and it isn’t fair to your animal.
Last, before you decide to choose a pet for your family, please consider a few things. Animals are a lot of hard work. So, if you do not have the time nor patience, and a few extra dollars for feedings, walks, trips to the vet and a handful of medications that an animal will need on a monthly basis, please weigh all your options first, then decide if the time is right for an animal.
Pets are a wonderful addition to any family. Please consider adoption from your local shelter. Do not support puppy mills in any way.
And most of all, please love your animal with all your heart and bask in the unconditional love you will receive in return.
A great Web site to check out is PAWS Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society at www.phillypaws.org
Kerensa Antonelli
Port Richmond
Truants don’t deserve
free SEPTA pass
Only in this city would a free TransPass be provided to a "student" who does not attend school. This taxpayer-provided perk should absolutely be tied to a prescribed attendance requirement.
There are those who feel that to do so would be detrimental to school attendance. Baffling logic. If a "student" is not attending, why are they being given the privilege of a free TransPass to attend school?
A bigger issue is the utter lack of enforcement through the courts of truancy issues. This issue alone is sufficient to warrant a dedicated truant court.
There has to be a clear expectation of school attendance to earn the privilege of a free school TransPass, and to consistently haul before a judge the parent or guardian of those who do not attend.
Certainly, too, common sense to be considered by our esteemed elected and appointed officials, I’m sure.
Marc C. Crawford
Mayfair
Three votes against
cancer center expansion
As I read your editorial about Burholme Park in the June 26 edition (A crucial decision), I just laughed because it is the same crappola that your paper has been saying since the beginning of this park issue. But in your July 3 edition in which James Goodwin wrote a letter in support of your editorial, I have to write, because this guy is totally clueless about what is going on here!
Let’s start with his first statement comparing this issue to the Barnes issue. Wrong! The Barnes issue involved where artwork was to be displayed to the public. The Burholme issue involves the destruction of open space in a park left to the city to be used as a park!
Next statement, that the city is merely replacing tenants (golf center and Fox Chase Cancer Center.) Wrong! Mr. Goodwin do you know who built that golf center in the park? The city of Philadelphia. Do you know why they built it? For recreational purposes, and that is what a park is for. It is run by private business now, because the Fairmount Park Commission ran it into the ground and leased out its operation so they could at least make some money from it.
I have never been in a park where the only thing that will stick out to you as you enter it would be five- and six-story medical buildings. This is not recreation.
James’ next wrong statement is that we as neighbors have no say in what goes down in this park. Well, Jimmy, we are citizens of Philadelphia. The Ryerss will states that the park be left for the "enjoyment of all the citizens of Philadelphia." How do we enjoy this park when it will be cut in half by huge concrete structures?
I believe that you (Goodwin) should educate yourself about what has been going on for the past four years, because there is a direct heir to the Ryerss will, and he is totally against this project. This man testified before City Council and expressed his desire that his family will be honored. Where in the city right now is there a golf center, with a miniature golf course and batting cages that kids can go to?
To hear elected officials make statements like "they can hit golf balls somewhere else" is absurd. Tell me where in this city this kind of recreation is available to our kids. There is no legal standing for Judge Herron to dispose of this will for economical purposes. If there is, let’s see the case law.
We will not back down from saving this park from its ultimate destruction. By the way, any person who doesn’t like me exercising my constitutional right to free speech, tough! Come to me personally. Don’t spill idle threats through third parties!
Mike Cosgrove
Burholme
• • •
There are many inaccuracies in James Goodwin’s letter regarding the Burholme Park expansion initiative. First, Fox Chase Cancer Center would not only develop the golf range and entertainment areas, but also the rear part of the area, which includes a rather large picnic grove that is not developed. This grove contains many old growth trees and abundance of wildlife.
If it were up to many lovers of this park, we would love to see the golf center returned to its former glory or possibly a beautiful meadow, however, this entertainment center does draw people into the park to experience more of what it has to offer. Secondly, regarding the will of Robert Ryerss, he did leave the park in the care of the city of Philadelphia, but it was to be used for the citizens forever as a park and library.
The city was designated as caretaker. Many city dwellers do not even know that this park is managed by the city’s Fairmount Park Commission and part of the already existing parkland of the city. The Fairmount Park Commission and the city have let the citizens down in the effort to preserve this parkland. We are at a crossroads now.
Fox Chase Cancer Center wants to critically damage a beautiful infrastructure that is already in place in one of the most beautiful open area parks we have in this city and upon its most highest ground.
They want to bulldoze homes to make way for driveways, and have already purchased many other pieces of adjacent real estate over the years. The most recent was St Aidan’s Church, which has closed its doors after nearly 100 years.
The cancer center has many other offices and satellite areas outside the city, so their need to build on established undeveloped parkland is a blow to all park lovers everywhere. Also, our own City Council member, Brian O’Neill, and the Fairmount Park Commission allowed this to go forward.
I ask that anyone interested in experiencing the beauty Burholme Park has to offer, to visit the park and take a walk behind the area of the golf range. If you can’t get there, then do a search on YouTube.com under "Save Burholme Park" and it shows in detail the areas that would be destroyed by development.
Burholme Park continues to be a jewel in the midst of concrete, asphalt and other eyesores. We must do all we can to uphold the Ryerss will and preserve this park for the next generation.
David Carlin
Burholme
• • •
The negative name calling and labeling of those against the expansion of the Fox Chase Cancer Center in your editorial of June 26 was shameful and beneath the dignity of your respected newspaper.
Is it really necessary to be so downright insulting to those having a different opinion in order to strengthen your own position? I think not. To imply that anyone opposed to the FCCC expansion is against fighting cancer is absurd. I doubt that any "naysayer" fails to recognize the importance and value of the work and accomplishments of the FCCC.
Let’s be honest: This is not the only place in Philadelphia where the FCCC can expand and do its work. That has been one of the key arguments made by those in opposition. There is plenty of available space in Philadelphia that is more conducive to this type of expansion (with major thoroughfares and closer proximity to mass transit and airports) than in the primarily residential area of Burholme.
I guess I am one of those "living in fantasyland," or just naïve, because I believed that the Fairmount Park Commission, whose mission it is to preserve parkland, would not give approval to this plan. You refer to those in opposition as in the minority. On what facts do you base this? I have attended most of the community and City Council hearings on this issue. Those in favor seem to be primarily self-interest groups, for example, union labor and FCCC employees. Those against typically live in the nearby community.
Aside from the issue of losing precious parkland and disregarding Robert Ryerss’ will, they would be most directly affected by quality-of-life issues such as increased traffic congestion.
Doris Simon
Burholme
Sick and tired
of the teens in Fox Chase
I am writing in response to Miss Sondra Lorino’s letter last week (Memo to bike-seat thief: You’re a coward).
Frankly, I think it is utterly ridiculous that these hoodlums stole an innocent girl’s bike seat. I myself am sick and tired of the teenagers in this neighborhood. Last week I was walking my beloved Boston terrier Otto though the path at Burholme Park, when he cut his paw open on a broken beer bottle left by ignorant teens. It’s bad enough they’re hurting the neighborhood, but now small children and animals? Luckily my dog was OK, but who’s going to pay the vet bill? Maybe next time instead of buying a case of Zima or whatever they’re drinking these days, they can reimburse me for Otto’s left paw.
I also noticed Ms. Lorino’s concern about the recreation center. This too makes me very angry. It’s a recreation center meant for the youth, but it’s filled with teenagers and drugs. It’s beginning to remind me of an opium den in Taiwan. It’s occupied with ugly-looking teens and little kids using playground equipment. Does this make any sense? You tell me!
Who’s here to stop all these? Fox Chase Town Watch? Where are they? We would be better off having a blind version of the A-Team minus Face and Mr. T. Sure, I do see them patrolling, and they do help out a lot, but we need more. We need to reinforce the curfew laws. I see kids no older than 14 running around the neighborhood at 4 in the morning all souped up on God-knows-what. They’re out there throwing pennies and apples at people. Also I see the young girls walking around drunk with grown men. Where are the parents? Remember, the world revolves around action and responsibility.
Richard Pullman
Fox Chase
Bigotry yields madness
for all of us
I’m so sick of reading about the Boy Scouts vacating their Philadelphia headquarters. If they cannot honor our laws, then they must go. That is what is wrong with our country these days. We honor the people that break our laws, all the way up to the president.
Your kind of people are the ones who tried to destroy the Native American Indian population, blacks and gays for years, and these very same people are still doing it.
Don’t you believe in God enough or realize that through God these people were born? God made each of us in his or her image. God will take care of things, as it is God’s place to judge, not yours. God created all people, every country, every color. Bigotry and ignorance are destroying our country.
People claim that homosexuals are going to destroy our marriages. Well, 50 percent of our heterosexual marriages end in divorce, many two or three times in their lifetime these days. Please tell me what any homosexual had to do with destroying these marriages.
People’s bigotry and ignorance goes from generation to generation. It never ends. Half the people in our country are Christians, the other half are from all over the world and various religions.
Many people do not share our beliefs, as they come from different cultures and religious backgrounds. We must learn to live with these people. They are now in our government, making laws to protect themselves from the ignorance and bigotry of small-minded people.
Please note that I am not gay. I am a 76-year-young white woman who believes in the rights and freedom of everyone to be whom he or she is, and I am sick of all the madness that bigotry brings down upon us.
Life is difficult, and each of us has enough to do to care for ourselves. Thus, work on your self-esteem and let the rest of us live in peace.
Gail Turco
Bridesburg
Officer kept the calm
on Fourth of July
Friday evening, July 4, was made more pleasurable due to the diligence of Officer Dangler, who was detailed to the intersection of Oakley Street and Devereaux Avenue for traffic and crowd control before, during and especially after the annual fireworks display.
In the past, confusion has reigned in spite of the placement of wooden traffic barriers and multiple police officers. This one officer kept things under control in spite of weather conditions and inconsiderate drivers.
Thanks, Officer Dangler, for your cool demeanor while handling the often messy exodus post-fireworks!
Michael K. Bates
Lawndale
Crying foul on our
Brett Myers cartoon
I am a lifelong Phillies fan who really empathizes with Brett Myers’ difficulties. I feel the Phillies did the right thing when they sent him to the minors to get back his confidence and form.
However, I feel Tom Stiglich really went overboard with his July 3 cartoon, essentially kicking a man who is down, by having a Little Leaguer hit a home run off of him. He further complicated this hostile message by implying that even a girl could do that. Is that a put-down of females, too?
Tom, try to be a little more caring about a pitcher who always gives his all to compete.
Edward S. Marks
Pennypack
No Liberty Medal
for Gorby just yet
Unless Mr. Mikhail S. Gorbachev identifies the American military from the Korean War that are still alive in Russian prisons, he should not receive the Liberty Medal.
Relatives would like to know if they are part of the 8,000 military that were captured by the North Koreans and Chinese and sent to Russia.
President Reagan should have said to him: "Release those Americans held captive in your prisons" in lieu of "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down that wall." Look for demonstrations when he arrives.
William E. Staudt
Second chance, OK,
but three strikes, you’re out
In last week’s edition of the Northeast Times, guest columnist and Pennsylvania House Speaker Emeritus John Perzel pointed out that "the vast majority of violent crimes are committed by repeat offenders…" From there he outlined part of a plan that is in the works in our state to do something about this.
I think most of us can agree that in many (not all) cases, people deserve a second chance.
Occasionally we can justify giving a young street tough who found himself "at the wrong place at the wrong time" or who was the "victim" of this or that circumstance, the opportunity to redeem himself. But that’s it! After that it should be: "You had your chance, you blew it. Lock ‘em up and throw away the key!" For the bleeding hearts and suckers for hopeless causes, I guess that would be a tough sell.
Can’t we all agree that if a violent criminal goes through the system two times, and comes out and commits yet another crime, violent or not, that it should be "lights out?" Finished? Caput? Hasta la vista, baby!
We should have a "three strikes" law. If we did, think of how many lives would have been spared from our state’s vicious felons over these past few years. The recent murders of Philadelphia Police Officers Skerski and Cassidy and Sgt. Liczbinski ought to come to mind. While I like that the plan Perzel described addresses Pennsylvania’s turnstile system of justice, I would like to see even bolder steps taken.
As for "strict and sure punishment," which Mr. Perzel mentions, part of our problem is this: while the thought of going to prison may deter someone like me, Mr. Perzel, and most people reading this from committing violent crimes, it obviously does nothing to deter the degenerates among us who commit violent crimes.
We can stretch out prison sentences for violent offenses, but I don’t think that necessarily makes the prison sentences any more "strict" or any more of a deterrent.
Many prisons are like clubhouses for society’s rejects; holding houses where criminals fraternize, continue doing drugs, engage in deviant sexual behavior, share criminal strategies with their lawbreaking brethren, and so on.
And look at that case from a couple of years ago, when a 14-time convict, fresh out of prison, violently attacked the owner of an adult bookstore underneath the El on Frankford Avenue. The surveillance tape showed him in the act. He looked like Lou Ferrigno. How could a man who just served a prison sentence come out looking like The Incredible Hulk?
I think it would be for the best if we did away with weightlifting in our prisons. Moreover, I think we are due for a major overhaul in our approach to corrections. When we punish our children, do we isolate them from one group of friends and luxuries and simply confine them to another group of friends and luxuries, albeit in slightly less comfortable surroundings? No. We take all luxuries and privileges away, and cast them off into isolation — often telling them to "think about what they did."
Criminals should not strut out of our prisons with new gang tattoos, bigger and badder than when they came in.
They should come out frazzled, haggard and shaken to the core, shaken to such a degree that they serve as an example to those around them that prison is indeed a harrowing experience to be avoided at all costs, and shaken to such a degree that they are far less likely to come back again. I think that we should take a long, hard look at the Eastern State Penitentiary model.
I have seen a few Northeast Times readers comment in these pages about their willingness to forego some of the things that our tax dollars are spent on in order to revamp our criminal justice system and facilities.
As we continue to see good people robbed, beaten, mutilated and murdered, I am sure more and more people are thinking the same thing.
Matthew McGrath
Brookhaven
As buildings crumble,
so goes history
I read William Kenny’s recent article, Breaking Eden, regarding the selling of artifacts from Eden Hall by the city of Philadelphia. As an historian and Northeast Philadelphia resident I am outraged!
This is, of course, not the first time our historical legacy has been plundered but, on the face of it, this may be the worst instance in a while. The Victorian train station in Somerton and the Benjamin Rush House at Byberry were both "accidentally demolished" by the city of Philadelphia, but the loss of Eden Hall smells like an "on purpose."
The time, money, etc., that Joseph C. Fluehr and his family put into trying to preserve this gem has been documented in many other articles, and they are to be commended for preserving the grounds as open space for the community and for waging a hard-fought battle to save the chapel building.
While it seems the structure was city-owned, it belonged to the Northeast community, and the city has not served us well in allowing the initial deterioration of the church and subsequently selling the artifacts to a salvage company. We pay taxes so the city government can act as a steward of community resources on behalf of the citizenry.
Yes, there had been a fire in the structure and the arsonist, Nicholas Lawrence, was let off with a slap on the wrist (5 to 23 months in a city prison work-release program).
Before its demolition by the city, a number of people were able to inspect the damage. They concluded the massive stone walls and intricately tiled floor and many of the pews were in surprisingly good shape despite a full year of total neglect. The building was sound, yet the city had completely written it off.
Maintenance on a non-existing building is considerably cheaper than on one left standing. It seems the city set aside some few items but they are apparently in storage somewhere and may never see the light of day again.
It has been reported that a salvage company is making many thousands of dollars selling the pews, stonework and tiles from the chapel. If there was money to be made, why isn’t it being returned to the Fluehr family?
As a community, we are woefully short of informed, caring people who are willing to preserve the things that make the Northeast unique, and we will have even fewer of those people if this is the way the city treats them.
A loss like the Reuben Parry house (Historic house is reduced to rubble, April 24 Northeast Times) to commercial interests pales in comparison to a city-assisted loss!
Bruce M. Conner
Bustleton
High school students
win top awards
It was a cold, dreary night in Upper Darby, but the sun shined down on some of Philadelphia’s rising young stars in the entertainment world.
The scene was straight out of Hollywood, filled with all its beauty and glamour. There were flashes popping everywhere as high school students from United States and Canada made their way down the red carpet and into the sold-out Upper Darby Performing Arts Center. This was the place where the 2008 Cappies Gala was to be held.
The Cappies are an annual award show celebrating the best in high school theater and music. Each year, students come together to showcase their amazing talents and to give thanks back to those who taught them.
There are live performances from some of the nominated as well as award presentations. It’s a wonderful way to give thanks to these students for all their sacrifices and hard work.
Even though some walk away with awards, in the end everyone walks away a winner.
Philadelphia’s own Creative and Performing Arts High School took home four Cappies for its musical production of Fiddler On The Roof. The awards went to Gabrielle Kramer for Best Cameo Actress, Jake Zumoff for Best Lead Actor in a Musical as well as Best Orchestra and Best Song for Sunrise Sunset.
The students also got to perform their award-winning song in front of the sold-out crowd to loud cheers and claps. These multi-talented students have made Philadelphia proud, and we salute them all.
John J. Ruppert
Mayfair
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