February 2008 Archives

Gordon Freireich's column reminded us of a visit to Paris with some friends in the fall of 2005. As we walked one afternoon with the Champs-Elysees on our right and the Seine on our left, we came upon the statue of our beloved Marquis!

The etching on the statue's side includes the dedication "Erected by the School Children of the United States in grateful memory of Lafayette. Statesman, Soldier, Patriot."

The base was apparently donated by the Daughters of the American Revolution, who may be able to provide additional details and dating of the project. The statue is not in a prominent location, and situated in a grove of trees, but it is there, nonetheless.

Dave and Carol Brady
York Twinning Association members

I read with great interest the article "Storm Spurs Action" on February 24th with regards to York County Control's delay in prompt dispatching of emergency equipment to Hellam Twp. Officer Bartz's call, the statement by Mr. Rychalsky about all 27 communications positions were filled, the hourly wage paid to Dispatchers and Commissioner Chronister's statement about "being proven that we can't hire and keep people at that level" ... I wanted to comment from past experience because it seems that some things never change.

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I was appalled at the recent letter to the editor complaining about folks from Maryland moving to York County. First of all, these are not illegal aliens coming up from Maryland, they are U.S. citizens, and the last time I checked, we may come and go around this nation as we please, as long as we aren't doing anything illegal. Last time I checked, also, smoking was still legal. Perhaps you should concentrate your efforts on getting the federal government to ban smoking if you have a problem with that.

It was with great admiration that I read Michelle Malkin's article in the Saturday paper. I hope that people who read it had the same proud feeling that I had. I did resent Mrs.Obama's coment about finally being proud of her country. She who by all standards has led what many many others might not have -- a privileged life.

Is this the mind set for a woman who would like to be First Lady of the country? Again thanks Michelle for your straight forward and brillant comments. Keep up the good work.

Catherine Marchione
Manchester

Re: Baltimoreans to York City editorial from Feb. 24 Sunday News by Joshua Ambrosius.

In the 1220 block of East Philadelphia Street, we have two homeowners from Maryland. The first moved here about 3 years ago and is a bluecollar employee still working in the Baltimore area. Since comparable houses are over $200,000 down there he got a good deal at $65,000 with a fenced in yard and garage, and being close to Rt. 83 doesn't mind the commute.

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A study that is just now beginning to get publicity should put to rest any doubts that abortion does significant harm to women. The study, published in the journal BMC Psychiatry, demonstrates that women who have had abortions experience high levels of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Nearly one-fifth of the South African women studied had symptoms of the disorder, leading the authors of the study to conclude that "high rates of PTSD characterize women who have undergone voluntary pregnancy termination."

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I would like to thank the Mount Wolf Borough Council for thinking through the proposed merger with East Manchester Township. I know that a lot of study and thought had to go into their decision. The local news media was apparently in favor of the merger as evidenced by recent editorials. However, the Council members appear to have done their homework as they voted not to go ahead with the project. I think that majority of the home owners in the Borough would have voted in the same manner.

John Kellett
Mount Wolf

I am not interested in the possible improper relationship of John McCain and Vicki Iseman. I do wonder why his wife Cindy would comment publicly about the story. She said in part..."I not only trust my husband but know that he would never do anything to not only disappoint our family, but disappoint the people of America." It was reported that John McCain had an extramarital relationship with her when he was still married to his first wife. That certainly must have been a disappointment to his first wife and their children at that time.

Laura Roman
New Freedom

I've been reading and hearing much about the subject of illegal immigration for quite some time. Amnesty? Send them back? Keep them out?

All of this brings to mind what President Reagan said about the Berlin Wall. " Mr. Gorbochev, tear down this wall." Well the fence at the Mexican/American border reminds me of this quote. I think it's shameful for a Democracy to use "fencing" to keep illegals out. This administration, which sold itself to the public as "compassionate conservatism ," just does not compute. And I don't care which party has backed the idea of a fence. It is wrong.

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I have heard a great deal of controversy lately concerning the coming of the Guardian Angel group to York. Many seem to be dismayed that our city has become known for its crime rate to the extent that such a group would extend it's services to us. To all of those, I say wake up!

I moved to York in 1989 and have noticed the rapid increase in delinquency and violence. Perhaps it is time we take back what many of us have worked so hard to hold. How many of us are willing to take an evening walk alone anymore?

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Gov. Rendell said that he wouldn’t be a good running mate for the presidential ticket because “If I’m asked a question, I answer it AND I tell the truth. That probably isn’t a good idea for someone who is number 2 on the ticket.” So, Mr. Gov, are you saying that only liars make good running mates for the Democratic Presidential ticket? Actually, when you think about it, you would fit right in with your hero, Hillary. Therefore, should Hillary win the nomination, you have come up with a perfect slogan for picking her running mate: “Truth tellers need not apply. Liars only allowed on this ticket.” I bet the Clintons are proud of you today.

Vincent Powell
West Manchester Township

I suggest that one percent of what we all pay into Social Security, be invested in highly diversified U.S. based stock market industries and commodities. Hear me out please. Three good things for America and American's will come out of that small investment.

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Michelle Malkin (YDR 2/23/08) says she, like Michelle Obama, is a “woman of color.” But she does not say what color. From her picture, she appears to be Asian. Japanese? Vietnamese? Does really it matter?

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The candidacy of Barack Obama has excited a whole new generation of previously disinterested young Americans. Though this large and swelling involvement of youth should set Democratic Party members singing “Happy Days Are Here Again, some regular and older members seem averse to joining in the dawning of a new age of America politics. Instead, they seem bent on demanding that these young people temper their idealism and switch allegiance to a candidate of their elders’ choosing.

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When first reading Mr. Argento’s article about prejudice in central PA, I thought he was poking fun at the irony of Mr. Rendell’s analysis in light of the fact that white conservative central PA’s most recent candidate for governor was a black man. By the time I finished the article, I wasn’t so sure. So who exactly is it that did vote for Mr. Swan for governor? Was it the non-white central PA conservatives, or just the cool, hip big city conservatives that miss the redneck label due to pure demographics? How do you have your party’s candidate be a black man and still have the left ranting that somehow your racist?

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Seems to me that everyone is scrambling to help us understand why a super delegate is not like counting the dead in an election . Why go through all the expense of an election only to find out that a few super delegates have the ability to wash away the one person one vote process we thought we had in this country. Does a super delegate get to vote in his or her state and then again at the convention?

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I will be voting for Hillary Clinton. NOT because she is a women, but because I am a woman.

As a parent of two girls, I am disturbed by the erosion of respect we men and women need to show for each other. Boys who learn to swear and call girls hateful names…what do you think their values will be when they become men? Some will give up the name calling and resort to physical abuse.

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We want to publically thank the Junior League of York for bringing Bill O’Reilly in as their speaker this year. It was a wonderfully organized event and a very enjoyable evening. Bill was a terrific speaker and everyone we heard around us at the event, from young to old, enjoyed themselves immensely.

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We are looked down on in more of the world now than at any other time in our history. It makes me both ashamed for our actions and sorry that we, the majority of voters in the last presidential election, did not win. What a different course of action. What a difference in our financial, ethical, pride and world standing if we had good leadership, not oil barons with no morals.

Paul L. Lenig
York

I was shocked to read Ed Rendell's comments about Pennsylvania's racial tolerance. To say that we are likely to vote against Barack Obama because he is black was simply stone-aged. How can we ever move foward together into a future of tolerance when our leader makes such ridiculous comments? With comments like that, I'm surprised he supports Hillary Clinton... I mean, she's a woman and surely Pennsylvania isn't ready for a female president, right?!

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Driving today (Tuesday) in the poor-visibilty conditions, I am constantly amazed that drivers show so little common sense by driving without any lights on. I'd like to remind everyone that it is now the law in PA that if you need to use your wipers you are required to also use your lights for safety. Plus, not doing so is really just plain stupid - I witnessed several near-misses directly attributable to approaching vehicles not being seen and someone pulling out in front of them.

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After reading the article in Mondays paper about the military sniper getting 10 years, really got me ticked. The government always has a scapegoat. We send our boys over to a useless war (just like Vietnam) and then tie their hands. Vela would have been punished no matter what he did, if he didn't follow orders from a superior, he would have been punished.

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This letter is in regard to a story you ran Feb. ll on pg 3A, titled "Army Sniper gets 10 years". I read and reread the article and what I came up with is this. Army Sgt. Evan Vela, a sniper, on orders from his superior officer, Staff Sgt. Michael Hensley, WHO COMMANDED HIM TO SHOOT, shot and killed an Iraq civilian who was attracting attention to their hidden camp in the village of Jufr Sakr, an area then hostile to U.S. soldiers. Vela was sentenced to 10 years in prison. The army forfeited his pay and benefits and he will have a dishonorable discharge.

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In last month's paper Mr. Edward Waxman contradicted Roy Alder and Michael Summers, both professors from Pepperdine University referenced by me in my letter published on January 5, 2008. Their analysis found that the more executions we have each year, the less murders we have in the future. Mr. Waxman does not think this is valid, as, according to him, murderers do not have enough accurate execution data and they most likely do not read the paper. Although Mr. Waxman erroneously criticized my letter for lacking supporting data, he devotes nearly a third of his column to the alleged attitudes, background, and thought processes of the "typical murderer," without a shred of data to support his opinions.

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What a shame that the mainstream media has ignored the best qaulified candidate for president (though I can't say I am surprised, they always do). Mike Gravel is the only candidate with a true healthcare plan that will benefit everyone while not hurting businesses and with a real plan to get us out of Iraq once and for all. Yet, he has been kept out the debates (even before other "low tier" candidates dropped out) and most of the country probably does not even know he is running unless they follow politics on the internet.

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A recent column by Mr. pitts would have us believe that, in this enlightened age of feminism, abortions are now done by some means other (more advanced?) than a coathanger.More efficiently, perhaps. Sort of like a certain group about 65 years ago, who also sought, and found a more efficient way of killing another group of sub-humans.

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To all the smokers concerned about the upcoming ban on smoking in bars...
Get ready because it's coming. It will go through. You're just going to
have to learn to deal with it.

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I would like to commend Mr. Earl Williams of the Music&More store for a well put together, very exciting Night Of Love. Which was held on Feb. 2 2008.

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I would like to recommend to your readers that they see a wonderful art exhibit "The Susquehanna: An Evolving Vision" at the York College art gallery, free, but here only until February 20.

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Every day at Community Progress Council, Inc. we try to assist low income families who are struggling to make ends meet. These hard-working parents work in nursing homes, drive trucks, wait tables or take care of other people’s children, but they earn too little to get by, much less build financial security.

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You could print every column of Leonard Pitts and it would not be enough.

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Several years ago a tenant at the Suburban Park Apartments shot and killed two Harley-Davidson employees driving on Route 30. Although he was a murderer, other apartment occupants didn't panic once they discovered he had been living in their midst; after all, they were not harmed.

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In my opinion we already have term limits for York City officials. The vote of the people(hopefully the intelligent electorate) determines if as a group we feel someone should or should not retain their position.

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Is it just me, or are there others that think we have a governor that has gone mad? He wants to give away millions of dollars ($190,000,000, 475,000 family at $400) of OUR money to those that do not even pay taxes, because, “they need it and they will be the most likely to spend it.” That took an Einstein to figure that one out. By my calculation it's a good way for our esteemed governor to make sure that you and I pay for the votes he wants in November. I guess you can get people to vote the way you want when you pay them with other people’s money.

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I have read with a great deal of interest the article in the York Township Newsletter, titled The Debate over TND's. What the article fails to convey is that where York Township and TND's are concerned there is no debate but that in at least one instance the TND is a slam-dunk done deal. The developer asked for 18 separate variances from existing codes requesting deviations of from 200% to 1100% from codes. Chief among these are counting the Heritage Hills Resort private fee for use golf course (including the pond acreage) as the green space required by the TND legislation. Even worse a variance was requested to build a road through Heritage Hills Park. This park is currently the single non-fee green space open to public use within walking distance of the communities bordering Chambers Road.

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Improving our schools is critical to the future of our country and our economy. Closing the achievement gap in our schools is the civil rights issue of our time. While there is a proper role for the federal government to play in education, it is not in telling parents, teachers, kids and local authorities what to teach or how to run their schools.

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I write in response to the opinion expressed by Philip L. Bloch: “President Must Be Willing To Sanction Torture” (York Sunday News, Page B4, 12/30/07). I believe Mr. Bloch is sincere and came to his conclusions with much thought and inner struggle. It is not easy to deal with the moral complexities of warfare. Yet I cannot agree that any American, be he the President or any other person in a role of governmental authority (civilian, police, or military), should ever sanction torture. The administration’s appeal to torture as a defense tool is an outward symptom of a subtle, sickening push towards fascism.

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The plans for a new intermediate school in the Dallastown Area School District have been a hot topic lately. I am a student at Dallastown High School, and once most people read that, they will push my opinion aside because I am under 18. It seems as though district residents are complaining because school taxes are high and district officials just want to find another reason to make them higher, almost like Dr. Weinberg and the rest of the school board are out to get them.

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I'd like to comment on the whole Mental Health / Apt fire issue. I respect the rights and privacy afforded by the law towards those who are part of the mental health programs involved here.

The issues that I believe many Apartment complex residents have, including myself and my roommate, is the way the issue is handled. Not only was there no disclosure made by the complex that they were participating in this program to house people in a Mental Health program, nor that they were housed thruout the complex. But they also neglected to mention anything about someone within this program being the cause of fire last year during a failed suicide attempt. Because of Health Privacy laws, there is even less transparency with these programs than other community service type programs than help to rehabilitate people.

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Nancy Myers' letter on January 29, "Disappointed by moment of silence," expressed her personal displeasure with the York County commissioners failure to conduct prayer before their meeting. She also expressed her views that the voters of York County have no problem replacing politicians who do not share their views.

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Apparently York Daily Record (YDR) and several reader submissions, who happen to agree with YDR, do not seem to understand the difference between a mediator and an arbitrator.

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As a veteran who receives Veteran's Medical Benefits, beginning late in life, I have a concern for a large number of American Military people in Iraq. These are the mercenaries who are hired by contractors like Haliburton, Blackwater, etc.

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Here we go again with Hillary, crying for the cameras. She is as fake as they come, both in her personal life as well as political. Talk about wanting nothing but power. And there are actually people who are going to vote for this phony, miserable, socialist? Just goes to show the intellectual level of folks in this Country.

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Re: Bush deserves impeachment by Matt Klinedinst, your recall of history is a bit shaded Matt. Whether you think Bush deserves impeachment or not, history shows Clinton was put on trial for lying under oath, not for what he did with his cigars.

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So Uncle Sam (George) is going to send my wife and I a rebate check. This is supposed to boost the economy. The best part of this is that is my patriotic duty to spend (squander) all of it ASAP.

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I just got my copy of the YDR and am amazed at the choice of front page material. Instead of highlighting the triumph of the New York Giants in the Superbowl, you make the headline about the Patriots defeat, then further focus on the negative by printing a large picture of Tom Brady walking off the field in disappointment. How about a large picture of the Giants celebrating? Save the Brady photo for inside the paper. I guess what people say is right -- the media only cares about pointing out the bad (at least the York media).

Matthew Spohn
York

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The Pennsylvania House of Representatives this week defeated an amendment that would have required attorneys to charge a 6% sales tax for providing legal services to citizens of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The amendment was an attempt to shift the property tax burden to consumers who need legal services. Fortunately, the amendment was defeated by a vote of 148-47. The York County Bar Association supports the defeat of this amendment. The Bar Association wants to make it clear that the amendment seeking to impose a sales tax on legal services was not a tax on lawyers; the amendment was a disguised tax increase upon the every-day working citizens of Pennsylvania who need legal services. It is the working public who would have paid this tax, not attorneys.
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I don’t usually read Mike Argento but I do watch Bill O’Reilly and wanted to check out what he had to say. Mike completely missed the point. Bill O’Reilly said that John Edwards is saying that there are over 200,000 homeless veterans (sleeping under bridges and on grates) in the United States and went on to imply that it is the ECONOMY that is causing this problem. Bill’s guests to discuss this was Cheryl Beversdorf, the CEO of the Nat'l Coalition for Homeless Vets and Joseph Califano, the president of the national Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse. He explained that about 90 percent of the homeless in this country have drug problems or alcohol problems or both. And most of those people also have mental health problems of one kind or another.
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Please, please, please, can someone tell who could be so cruel and heartless as to abandon animals in their homes? I can't believe because you can no longer afford your home, you can leave a living, loving creature that YOU picked behind.
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In the op-ed written by Edward Waxman published in your January 27th edition of the York Sunday News, had it not been for the title, one would not have known for sure that Mr. Waxman was attempting to convey the message that the "Death penalty does not deter murder." I assume from his statistics that he is implying that the death penalty should, therefore, be abolished.
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In President Bush’s final State of the Union he highlighted his energy goals for 2008. Some may recall in December that Congress passed the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (which President Bush mentioned) only after the Senate shot down a version of this bill with over $20 billion worth of taxes on the U.S. gas and oil industry. Senators like our own Arlen Specter should be applauded for this move as it was in the best interest of the nation’s businesses, consumers and economy as a whole.

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The York Daily Record published an article on Wed. Jan 30th on the second page of the paper. This should have been front page material. If you are a home owner and tax payer of property/school taxes, you need to read this article and contact your state representative.
Our representatives have seen in their infinite wisdom to only help certain members of the community with their property taxes. They have a bill they have been voting on that would only allow senior citizens to get property tax relief from the billions of dollars from our new slot gambling proceeds. This, originally, was supposed to help all property owners with their property/school taxes.

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