City resident
answers ‘detractors’
To the editor:
I want to thank you for permitting me the time to research some issues before I responded to my detractors of the Oct. 4 letters to the editor.
It seems that although you do have and print your "letter policy," the unwritten policy of "letters to the editor" need to be stated for some.
When you write to a newspaper with your "opinion," you are inviting others to comment on your "opinion" positively or negatively. That is the nature of pro and con. The attitudes that Mr. Dahl and Mr. MacNeill have that no one should respond negatively to statements made in opinion letters is simply wishful thinking.
While Mr. Dahl feels that he was attacked, it is no less that he is doing in his response to others in his Oct. 4 letter. A point-by-point response to Mr. Dahl would be more verbiage than you would permit in any one letter.
But to answer his "biggest" complaint, I’ll respond like this. You wonder why there was no name on the handbill sent out Monday night? You’ve shown yourself why not. The people who copied it and distributed it among their neighbors were rightfully concerned about being riled against by likes of you.
While, as you can tell, I don’t proscribe to that degree of anonymity, it is understandable. But so that you and Mr. MacNeill don’t pat yourselves too hard on the back, as of 12:15 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 9, the Committee for a Better South Hunterdon Community was not registered with the state of New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission as they were required to be either. That was verified by both online confirmation and telephone calls with the compliance section.
The committee should have known better since many of the members of that group have been involved with campaigns before and have no reason to plead ignorance. Don’t worry, I’ve helped you all out by notifying the state of your existence, and I’m sure they’ll be following up with you.
And now for your issues, Mr. MacNeill. I’m so glad that Mr. Dahl has a friend like you. As hard as it may be to believe, so do I. This does happen.
I am also gratified that Mr. Dahl and others have done so much to fund the Friends of LPS. However, when you start maintaining a scorecard to see what someone has done for their particular interest in their community, I believe you cheapen the effort of that person. There are many untold volunteers in our midst.
Your notation of a local Trenton TV report finding that the science labs are obsolete and unsafe is only after a "interested party" showed the TV crew the "obsolesce and safety issues." May I ask what qualifications does a TV news crew have to determine these matters? And just because it’s on TV doesn’t grant it any more relevance.
Your final point seems to answer itself. The pain that is already being inflicted by the highest cost per student in Hunterdon County $12,327 in 2000/2001, ( Feb. 15, 2001 published in "Hunterdon County School Report Cards"), will tell you why families with students aren’t moving into the area. And you want to inflict more "pain"?
Since no one has responded to my statements that city assessments appear to be heading up, and that there appears to be a cash flow problem, I can only assume that if you ignore it, maybe you can get this referendum passed before the world comes crashing down.
I’ll leave you with my final point of this letter. While I may be the lightning rod upon which you may vent your displeasure, keep in mind that it wasn’t the 110 other people who agreed with me on this vote. Rather it was 110 other people who disagreed with you that you need to concern yourself with.
Lambertville
Only God can
bless America
To the editor:
It is so inspirational and uplifting to see all the flags and the "God Bless America" signs across our country these days.
The sense of unity that has emerged from the Sept. 11 attacks is heartening as our country moves into this unexpected and unpredictable war against worldwide terrorism.
There is one critical question we must all stop and ask ourselves, though: Why should God bless America? Is America blessing God or has it been cursing him since the 1960s?
For instance, do our national idols of materialism, sex and hedonism bless him? What does God think about the trashy sitcoms and violent crime dramas Americans routinely watch on their TVs every night? Or how about the R- and X-rated movies featuring blatant sexual immorality and violence that we pay money to see?
Does our nation’s divorce rate bless God with 50 percent of couples breaking the vows they made to each other and to him, leaving the lives of millions of children shattered?
Did we bless God when we banished him from our schools back in the ’60s?
Is God blessed by the proliferation of pornography in this country, most recently on the Internet, but also on cable TV, in stores and on phone services from national telephone providers like MCI, Sprint and AT&T? (Pornography is the primary reason for the shocking statistic that one out of every four girls in American will be sexually abused by the age of 18.)
Does the slaughter of over 40 million (and counting) innocent unborn children (created by him) since the Roe-Wade decision legalized abortion in the mid-60’s bless him?
How about the sexual revolution, which led to this grim consequence and to the epidemics of AIDS and STDs?
Our country is right to look to God the Judeo-Christian God of the Bible upon whom our nation was founded and established for help in this war since he is the one who determines the outcome of all wars. He alone is above and superior to all nations and kingdoms, all rulers and kings. Psalm 66 tells us that heaven is his throne, and the earth, his footstool!
In his sovereignty, God alone has the power to protect our country and bring victory, but we need to make some drastic changes before we can expect him to do that. At a critical time in Israel’s history over 2,000 years ago, the country was warned to change its ways and actions to stop following other gods and shedding innocent blood if they wanted to live in the land given to them by their forefathers. Reading the results of Israel’s disobedience to God in the books of Isaiah and Jeremiah in the Old Testament is terrifying as we consider the parallel between their nation and our own.
I pray that we will heed God’s warning today to be saved from a similar fate and that, as a nation, we will really turn back to God, not just with our words, but with our lives, so God can bless our country. He promises to do just that in II Chronicles 7:14, "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land."
From Columbus to the Puritans and from the signers of the Declaration of Independence to George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, our forefathers called upon God for aid and guidance. They all received it, but they also all patterned their lives and our democracy on the 10 commandments and God’s word, the Bible.
John Adams wrote: "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
Delaware Township
NHR seeks
positive change
To The editor:
It is refreshing to read and hear about the approach to the upcoming election by the New Hope Residents for Continued Positive Government.
In the 1999 Borough Council election, the NHR group of more than 200 residents was able to help put candidates into office who have turned this borough around, turning from the brink of bankruptcy to fiscal responsibility, from lawsuits to settlements, from stagnation to revitalization.
Again, in 2001, the non-partisan NHR group has turned away from negativism to stress the positive accomplishments and virtues of its candidates.
That is what we need. We do not need a return to the divisive, wasteful practices of the past.
I urge you to resist those who would only tear us down. Support the positive NHR slate Nov. 6.
New Hope
Kline family
is grateful
To the editor:
To George Kline’s friends, thank you for your beautiful expressions of remembrance and sharing your stories and pleasant memories you had of George.
To recall the happy and fun times we have in life lessens the feeling of loss of a loved one and a friend. Thank you all.
on behalf of
the Kline family
Lambertville
Letter was
bigoted, ignorant
To the editor:
First and foremost, the tragedy Sept. 11 will be a day never forgotten in our hearts or souls.
On a personal level, I almost lost someone very dear to me. My heart goes out to all those who were less fortunate.
Your editorial from Daniel Levinson was ignorant, bigoted and racist. It is these comments that flame the fires and spark separation of people.
Tolerance should be afforded to everyone regardless of his or her country’s political structure. It is unfortunate that Mr. Levinson frowns upon countries that don’t view democracy as the one true government.
With respect to his ignorant comment about the burning of flags, I believe that the media should share blame for his jaded view. Opportunistic news broadcasts depicted several small uneducated communities and blasted it everywhere as the "epitome" of all Arab communities. It is too bad that he didn’t either watch, couldn’t comprehend or failed to mention all the other newscasts on mosques around the world accepting donations and supporting the relief effort.
I agree there is factions of the Arab world (as well as Canada and Europe) that don’t view America as the great place that I personally believe it to be. But concerning that small flag-burning community that I previously made mention of the fact is not lost on them that it is American bullets and bombs that are killing their people.
If your township supplied weapons of destruction to your neighbor to harm and kill your family, what would your position be with respect to your township? If the U.S. supported Hitler with arms and money, how would the Jewish community respond?
I would plead with Mr. Levinson not to depict a small group of fanatics who hide behind a religion cloak to symbolize Arabs or Muslims. People don’t call Christians terrorists as Christian fanatics blow up abortion clinics. People don’t associate all Irish with the IRA. People don’t state Jews are terrorist even though they blew up Camp David Hotel (dressed as Arabs no less) in 1946.
Ariel Sharon was such a killing machine that the Israeli government banned him from government in 1983 and, for some reason, has forgiven all his sins against humanity to again lead the occupied land.
If Mr. Levinson is computer literate, he may wish to check out USA Today Web site to learn more of religious fanaticism: www.usatoday.com/news/world/2001/09/04/vigilantes.htm.
Or a brief history on Israel’s leader: www.news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/middle_east/newsid_1154000/1154622.stm.
One final request with regard to the most ignorant comment that Mr. Levinson made concerning that all these countries have or is supporting terrorist organizations: Please supply the FBI each and every organization that he is referring to.
It is good to know that ordinary citizens like himself have this much sought after info and would be doing our great nation a service with his knowledge.
Lambertville
Resident raises
money for fund
To the editor:
My name is Jacob Stephens from Lambertville.
I would like to thank all of the people who donated to my fund, which will directly aid those affected by the national tragedy that occurred Sept. 11.
Thanks to the generosity of countless kind-hearted people, I raised $781.26, which will be used directly by the United Jewish Community Emergency Relief Fund.
I appreciate all of your help.
Lambertville
NHR brought
positive change
To the editor:
Of all the services a community might need, those of an illustrator are pretty far down on the list.
But a few years ago, not having much else to contribute, I made a standing offer to the borough to do renderings (free of charge) to help visualize any project they might be contemplating.
Suddenly, to my surprise, I found myself cranking them out. This was a result of the flood of initiatives set in motion in the last two years to revitalize New Hope. The change in momentum was brought about by a new slate of candidates put forward by NHR (New Hope Residents for Positive Change) and finally elected to council, with Richard Hirschfield as president and Sharyn Keiser as vice president.
After years of political gridlock, it is a real treat to work in an atmosphere where Republicans and Democrats focus on addressing problems in a non-partisan way. With this high level of cooperation, tremendous progress has been made in a very short time. Not only are long-standing projects such as the "back door" and the borough parking lot behind Union Square being actualized, but more recent projects like visitors center renewal and the Main Street Manager program have funding approved and are ready to start.
Close to a half million dollars in grant money has been received or approved so far for revitalization projects.
Other proposals, such as the west side canal walking path and the improvements to Ferry Street Park are beginning the application process for funding with very good prospects. The new spirit of cooperation has attracted attention outside of New Hope: Representative Greenwood, Senator Conti and Representative McIlhinny have been working very closely with the borough on all aspects of this process, from funding to helping us understand how our efforts fit into the larger picture in Bucks County.
We have also formed partnerships with Friends of the Canal, the Bucks County Open Space Program and the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor with all the resources and experience they have to offer.
Still other projects are in the conceptual stage. It’s been a very exciting two years.
This year the NHR (now called New Hope Residents for Continued Positive Change) is endorsing another slate of candidates whom we feel are committed to following through on this non-partisan style of community government that’s been so well begun (note the "we," kemo sabe; this time I’ve taken the trouble to join NHR as what you might call a satisfied customer). These candidates are: Sharyn Keiser, Randy Flager, Ed Duffy and Jake Fell for Borough Council and, of course, Larry Keller for mayor.
I feel confident we can rely on these dedicated individuals to continue bringing us positive effective government in New Hope.
New Hope

