LETTERS TO THE EDITOR, April 1
By:
‘Elderly’ is in eye of beholder
To the editor:
Concerning the word "elderly" the dictionary definitions include "somewhat old," "between middle and old age," "past middle age" and "approaching old age." Clearly there is no defined age at which a person becomes "elderly."
I believe one of your recent articles used the phrase "an elderly woman, age 73." I suspect many of us don’t consider 73 an "elderly" age. I would like to suggest that, because the lines between various age groups are so nebulous, you resist the temptation to use such age-related adjectives when giving the age of a person in your articles.
Phyllis Suber
Terhune Road
Princeton
President is point man for corporate interests
To the editor:
Predictably, now that the war has begun, we hear the mantra "support the troops." Even peaceniks like me use the chant, adding only, "bring them home now." But it’s time to ask, "support the troops for what?" Logically, they won’t come home until military victory is achieved, which is more likely than not. But victory for whom, exactly? We are told, "victory for the Iraqis, to build a democratic society." We are told, "victory over a vicious dicatorship."
I don’t buy it. Our record in building democratic societies after overthrowing dictatorships is thin. Except for World War II, our history for more than a century has been assisting in the overthrow of democracies, or any other regime that won’t play ball, and the installation of dictators, no matter how vicious and bloodthirsty, amenable to U.S. control. In fact, we helped install and arm Saddam Hussein on that assumption.
So when victory comes, at the expense of great misery and destruction, and more casualties than we will ever be told about, it will not be for democracy, or for what America ostensibly stands for. It will be a victory for George Bush as cheerleader and point man for a sector of the U.S. corporate community that is even now parceling out the post-war contracts. To be blunt, it will be a victory for those who believe in building a new American empire. Today Iraq, tomorrow the Middle East, and then?
Martin Oppenheimer
Shady Brook Lane
Princeton
France-bashing is form of bigotry
To the editor:
This is a comment on the news story I told myself I would ignore: unworthy of comment, too cheap, too easy. I’m referring, of course, to the French Fry Congressman. Even if your only TV fare was "I Love Lucy" and you thought Saddam Hussein was a breed of Siberian husky, you heard about the congressman who ordered the word "French" removed from all House of Representatives cafeteria menus and french fries hereafter called "freedom fries." Obscure politician made instant celebrity by his stand for liberty, the French Fry Congressman, Ohio Rep. Bob Ney, chairman for House operations, said he wanted to send a message. Indeed he did.
Although by his grandstanding, the congressman took a firmer position on the war than most of the AWOL Congress, his brainstorm is unworthy of comment but that it was nowhere rejected by the administration. By its silence, the White House tacitly approved assailing the French in a bigoted way. It’s a perilous attitude, which can go on to take any nationality off the menu. To country and world, Maison Bush offers only two menu choices: with me or agin’ me. In this case, France is simply convinced that it’s wrong to tout the Bushian line on invading Iraq.
France, as the most gutsy and unequivocal in the opposing majority, unwilling to cower before the president, is stricken from polite dinner conversation. The French government, not as ruler but as representative of an open democracy and responding to the will of over 80 percent of its citizens, is dismissed as traitor to the unquestionable infallibility emanating from the White House. The result, from the halls of Congress to Jay Leno, it’s open season on the French.
As a historic (and non-billing) ally of the United States, France’s decision to oppose the president’s eager military action against Iraq, instead of taken as brave and dignified disagreement from a free people, is used to punish the voice of an entire country a country just as deeply compassionate and supportive of the United States following Sept. 11. If they were French then, they are French now, and the cynicism and self-serving that U.S. officials aspire to portray France with betrays where real cynicism and self-dealing resides.
Generalized swipes by the elected leadership of a country against a nationality, people or race lays potentially lethal tracks. Should low digs and cheap swipes become currency against France or any country unsupportive of U.S. government whims or dictates, the essential meaning of a liberal American democracy will not survive, not in this nation and certainly not in any attempt to export it on the barrel of a gun or otherwise. Dissent from intolerance is America’s big of heart, generous of spirit truest way the way the Bush White House, in fact, claims to be.
I don’t believe the current low jabs evince the start of a nasty trend because I don’t believe they ring a chord with most Americans. Yet a government as powerful as America’s can skillfully manufacture opinion to suit its purpose. For the right and proper course, then, all that this country’s leadership need do is listen to its citizens; but then that would be so French.
Luis de Agustin
Gates Court
West Windsor
Time to move on, build real opposition
To the editor:
We local peace activists lost the struggle to stop the war. Now most Americans, including many peace activists, stopped their world to watch.
The Bush administration did not stop, but rushed into the media void to attempt to pass a $726 billion tax cut for the very wealthy at the same time causing an immediate deficit. The same bill requires almost $500 billion in tax cuts across the board for every social program helping the poor and needy even lowering their earned income tax credit. The millionaire tax cut bill cuts Head Start, food stamps, after-school and day care, education, Medicare, Medicaid, welfare, health care and increasing co-pays for the disabled not only in 2004 but to 2013.
Did you know that 80 percent of Americans earn less that $80,000 and the Bush tax and dividend cut will give the top 1 percent of earners a check for more than $80,000 a year? The top 1 percent have average incomes of $3 million.
Let us not waste the energy, idealism and activism of the peace protesters on what in the late 60s and 70s sapped the strength of the vital civil rights movement, allowed labor unions to be devalued and decimated by the 80s, allowed corporate malfeasance in the 90s set the causes that robbed many of us now of our retirement nest eggs.
Let’s move on! Do Coalition for Peace Action activists know that there is not one county in all of the United States where a family or wage earner working full time at the minimum wage can afford to rent an apartment at the average rent of the lower 40 percent of the market? The federal minimum wage leaves all but a single wage earner below the federal poverty level. What are we doing about that?
Let’s move on to tackle the class war against the poor mounted by the Bush administration, the unsolved problem of the concentration of minorities in ghettoes, and the nativism that causes hard-working immigrants without legal documents to be ineligible for any safety net programs or subsidized housing. Many live whole families to a single room.
The criminal justice system is seriously flawed as 300 are executed in Texas where they now find 500 had flawed DNA evidence used against them. The prison system costs more per year than the educational system and produces well-educated criminals also without eligibility for anything but crime, drugs or suicide. What percentage of inmates are minorities? What percentage are incarcerated for nonviolent crimes? How many had a good defense at trial?
Let’s move on to building a real opposition across the board to the class war of the oil and auto oligarchs and top campaign contributors against what is good for the American people and the world the same people who bought and tore up the trolleys of yesteryear, and more recently moved jobs either to the suburbs or to non-union low-wage locations often half way around the world.
Let’s move on to what we can do in Princeton and Mercer County as well as build a united opposition nationally.
Mary Ellen Marino
Hornor Lane
Princeton
Forrestal plan shifts cost to taxpayers
To the editor:
Your article concerning the Sayre Drive interchange (The Packet, March 25) quotes Princeton Forrestal Center’s assertion that the proposed alterations will "greatly improve safety and maneuverability for Princeton Landing residents." This claim by their marketing director is interesting given that over 650 residents have petitioned the governor and transportation commissioner to deny the approval needed to carry out such alterations, and affirmatively, to close off a small portion of Sayre Drive as an access point to the Princeton Forrestal Campus.
The main reason for rejecting Princeton Forrestal’s plan is that it will direct commuter traffic generated by the proposed 2.1 million square feet (not 800,000 as quoted in your article) to the very narrow Sayre Drive underpass, posing a serious hazard to the "safety and maneuverability" of all drivers using the underpass. Another reason to reject Princeton Forrestal’s plan, also neglected in your article, concerns the financing of future alterations. Substantial reconstruction, including widening of the underpass, will be necessary to safely handle commuter traffic.
The developers are fully aware of this and have taken steps to avoid paying any part of this costly undertaking. It is stated in the Traffic Agreement between Plainsboro Township and Princeton University, approved Oct. 15, 2001, that Princeton University "shall not be obligated to contribute financially to the design and/or construction of any improvements to the Sayre Drive underpass."
The reality behind Princeton Forrestal’s proposed alteration is that it provides the developer a significant cost reduction relative to using the existing high-capacity interchanges at Scudders Mill and College roads. If the total costs associated with the use of the Sayre Drive underpass, including reconstruction to widen the underpass, were factored into Princeton Forrestal’s budget, I believe they would also favor this alternative. The fact that they expect taxpayers to substantially subsidize their project should at the very least be made public in this debate.
While it is not unreasonable for developers to expect some assistance with infrastructure, they should not proceed with a plan that shifts heavy costs onto taxpayers when existing high-capacity interchanges are more than adequate and when such plans intrude on the safety of neighboring communities.
Linda Norris
Sayre Drive
Plainsboro
Re-elect Dodson to WW-P board
To the editor:
Anyone who has lived in either West Windsor or Plainsboro over the last 10 years would know that these two communities are in a constant state of flux. In order to accommodate the rapid growth in population, almost all facets of these communities have needed to expand, i.e., religious organizations, parks, shopping centers and, of course, the schools. We are all too familiar with the continual need to redistrict the two townships and reconfigure the schools to accommodate the number of new students while taking into account, of course, the ever-changing demographics, transportation, neighborhoods, etc. It’s actually pretty remarkable that life in these townships moves as smoothly as it does.
So now the question that needs to be asked (and answered) is how is it possible for all of this come together as well as it does? Clearly, the answer lies in dedicated people who give their personal time to make these townships run. Personally, I believe that some of the most dedicated members of the communities are the people who serve on the West Windsor-Plainsboro Board of Education. If you’ve ever known a school board member, I think you’d feel the same as I do.
As a neighbor of one school board member, Dee Dee Dodson, I can personally say that I have never known anyone to work as hard for her community. I don’t believe there are too many individuals like Dee Dee who are willing to work the endless hours each and every day of the week in order to understand every issue put before the board. While there will always be people in the district who may not agree with her decisions, there are few people willing to work as hard as Dee Dee in order to make an informed decision.
I have known Dee Dee for almost 17 years and can say that I know her to be a person with enormous integrity and courage. Throughout her last three years on the board, her courage has been demonstrated by her ability to stand up for issues that she believes is in the best interest of the people she is serving the children of the district.
Who would run for the school board twice? Only a person who is dedicated to believe that he or she can really make a difference in their community. Only an individual who is willing to put the needs of one’s community before their own personal and family time. What I can tell you is that there aren’t too many people willing to do these tasks at the level of dedication of Dee Dee Dodson. We should all feel fortunate that individuals like Dee Dee are part of our community and are still willing to serve on the board after knowing all that’s involved in the job.
Marilyn Sanders
Franklin Drive
Plainsboro
Dodson gets backing from WW-P students
To the editor:
As students in the West Windsor-Plainsboro school district, we wanted to write this letter in support of Ms. Dodson, who is currently running for re-election to the board. We have known Ms. Dodson for five years, not only as a neighbor but also as a friend. In the time that we have known Ms. Dodson, we have been able to recognize what an exceptional person she is and how valuable she is to our community.
Our friendship has grown as we have shared discussions on many school-related topics. We have developed a comfort level with Ms. Dodson that allows us to express our concerns and problems. She is always willing to talk and we don’t hesitate to visit her when we have questions or need advice. One Saturday night a year or so ago, we popped in and talked for almost two hours about all kinds of school topics. She encourages us to express our opinions and, on the occasion when our views differ, we have a mutual respect for each others’ beliefs.
Ms. Dodson’s dedication to the board is very evident through her work. We know that Ms. Dodson always keeps herself informed on the actions that the board is taking and continuously keeps us informed, in particular about the new curriculum changes.
Though dedication is an integral characteristic of an outstanding board member, Ms. Dodson has still other qualities that make her the best candidate for the board. She has always been supportive of our activities such as volunteering for different organizations, as well as our activities in school. In addition to her continuous support, she has a genuine concern for students and their education. There is no one more caring that we can think of who should serve on the board. It is with great enthusiasm that we support her re-election to the board.
Rahul and Rohit Bansal
Rutledge Court
Plainsboro
Defeat of budget will hurt children
To the editor:
I am currently a senior at West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South who has attended West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional Schools over the past 13 years. These schools have provided me with an enriching education that I believe I could not have found anywhere else. A significant part of what has made my educational experience so exceptional is the resources that have been at my fingertips. The facilities, the educational materials available and, most importantly, the faculty and staff have created an environment where I have come to enjoy learning.
As the election rapidly approaches, the idea that these resources may not always be available seems all too realistic. From attending school board meetings throughout the year, it has become apparent to me that many residents in West Windsor and Plainsboro are angry with the school board. Some feel that the board has made some very unwise decisions concerning, for example, the middle school and high school schedules. My concern is that the voters will express this anger during the election and vote against the budget. Voting against the budget will not hurt the school board; it will hurt the children of West Windsor and Plainsboro.
If the budget fails, I believe that students will be put at a greater disadvantage than any unpopular school board decision could put them at. If the budget fails, many of the remarkable teachers of WW-P who bring so much to our education may be out of jobs and class sizes will increase. The facilities that are in need of improvement will remain unimproved and the great number of activities available to students could be significantly reduced.
As I graduate from this school district in June, it saddens me to think that the resources that made my education truly outstanding may not be available to future generations of West Windsor and Plainsboro students. Please do not let this happen. I ask all voters in West Windsor and Plainsboro to vote "yes" on the school budget. Passing of the budget will allow our district to continue providing a top-notch education to students.
Alisha Levine
Arnold Drive
West Windsor