LETTERS TO THE EDITOR, Jan. 7
Toy drive makes wishes come true
To the editor:
On behalf of the Princeton Human Services Department, we would like to thank the Princeton community for their generosity during our sixth annual holiday toy drive.
Thanks to the participation of over 50 individuals and organizations, over 193 kids were "adopted" and had at least one of their Christmas wishes come true. It is indeed wonderful to be a part of a community where there is such an outpouring of support, team spirit and compassion to those who are in need.
Best wishes for a healthy and prosperous New Year.
Helena de Prat Gay
Toy Drive Coordinator
Cynthia Mendez
Executive Director
Princeton Human Services Department
Witherspoon Street
Princeton
It’s a bull market for ’65 Roses’ bears
To the editor:
The students and staff of Saint Paul’s School in Princeton have raised $555 through the sale of "65 Roses" bears for cystic fibrosis research. They used their Christmas money to purchase these small bears to benefit the children afflicted with the number-one fatal genetic disease, cystic fibrosis.
The students learned about genetic disease, used their savings to contribute to the research effort, and will make a difference in the longevity of the children suffering with cystic fibrosis.
The "65 Roses" bears get their name from the way children with cystic fibrosis pronounce the name of their disease.
With this kind of commitment from students, we are confident that we will be able to write a letter someday announcing an effective treatment or cure of cystic fibrosis.
Mary Furey Gerard
Talbot Lane
Princeton
Residents’ donations preserve open space
To the editor:
I would like to publicly thank the group of West Windsor residents and others out of state who made a contribution toward the purchase of 12.86 acres on Clarksville Road, known as the Rogers’ property. Total donations from a group of approximately 40 concerned individuals and families contributed $108,000 toward the total purchase price of $1.1 million for this open space. In addition to the private donations, Friends of West Windsor Open Space and Mercer County allocated funds for the acquisition.
Ownership of the property (55 percent) will be transferred to the township upon the closing, which is anticipated to take place early this year. The county will retain 45 percent ownership. The township intends to maintain the property exclusively as a passive recreation area and to develop, with the input of the community, walking trails through the property. The American Chestnut Tree Association has also agreed to plant American Chestnut trees there as one of its demonstration projects.
This is the first time I recall neighbors and other concerned citizens taking the initiative to make an acquisition of open space happen. It is an excellent example of the benefit derived when a private/public partnership moves toward a common goal. Because of the donors’ generosity, all West Windsor residents will be able to share the enjoyment of coming together on this preserved land. Those who contributed should feel pride in knowing their efforts made it happen. West Windsor residents now enjoy approximately 8,000 acres of open space, which represents 47.4 percent of the township’s total acreage.
I’m sure the township residents join me in expressing gratitude for the group’s generosity.
Shing-Fu Hsueh
Mayor
West Windsor Township
Clarksville Road
West Windsor
No defense for delayed response
To the editor:
Secretary of State Colin Powell, responding to a question by Tim Russert on NBC’s "Meet the Press" last Sunday, questioning President Bush’s four-day delay in making his first public comment on the catastrophic tsunami tragedy, cited the paucity of substantive information on the extent of land-mass flooding and the implied loss of life.
For the second time in his career as Secretary of State, Colin Powell sacrificed his own integrity by shielding this administration from its extraordinarily poor judgment and ineptitude in foreign policy matters. The first was his now-infamous United Nations presentation last February, citing physical evidence replete with drawings and classified information, the sources and details of which had to remain secret. The second was his assertion that no substantive information was available about the extent of tsunami flooding prior to the president’s first public comment on this disaster.
In attempting to explain away the president’s inexplicable delay in publicly responding to this terrible tragedy, Secretary Powell was disingenuous in his assertion that, prior to Dec. 29, there existed no substantive information informing the president as to the extent of land-mass flooding and implied great loss of life. An initial 8.0 seismic event, centered off the coast of Sumatra, was reported on Dec. 26 at about 8:30 a.m. Eastern Standard Time by NOAA scientists at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii. This was revised to 8.5 about an hour later. By late that afternoon, on-the-scene reporting by journalists, accompanied by pictures sent to their bureaus by satellite telephone, began to open a window on the breadth and width of a terrible catastrophic event. In addition, our government’s monitoring of the region by reconnaissance satellites of the National Reconnaissance Office had imagery that depicted the extent of flooding.
Even if government bureaucracy had delayed availability of these official images, commercial before-and-after images of certain regions affected by the tsunami were available on-line as early as Dec. 26 through DigitalGlobe’s Web site. It is simply untrue that no substantive information on the extent of land-mass flooding and the implied potential for heavy loss of life was available in the hours after the first tsunami made landfall in Indonesia, and subsequently tsunamis hit the coasts of Sri Lanka and India.
President Bush, by failing to respond within hours to the first indication of a potential for great loss of life, especially in a region of the world predominantly of the Muslim faith, missed a great opportunity to demonstrate that we as a nation sincerely care about those in need regardless of their religious beliefs a perception not universally held by the greater Muslim community.
Loyalty is an extremely admirable trait. However, Colin Powell’s blind loyalty to the president in the face of a pattern of disastrous actions and ill-informed decisions, preferring personal loyalty to an individual rather than to the overarching interests of our country, can only diminish the character and tarnish the reputation of a man whose prior service to this nation, in both war and peacetime, had been exemplary.
Mark C. Germain
Washington Street
Rocky Hill
Actions, not words, light path to reform
To the editor:
I find it highly ironic that Assemblyman Bill Baroni spent the better part of his first year in office railing against Trenton’s "culture of corruption," then became the only legislator who failed to vote in favor of a simple law that will limit the amount that political action committees can contribute to campaigns. I noted with pleasure that acting Gov. Codey signed this bill into law in late December.
I contrast Assemblyman Baroni’s political grandstanding with Assemblywoman Linda Greenstein’s quiet action. While sharing Mr. Baroni’s desire to see top-to-bottom pay-to-play reform enacted, the assemblywoman also recognizes the importance of promoting good-government reforms through legislation and being willing to work hard to keep reform at the forefront.
At my count, Assemblywoman Greenstein has sponsored over a dozen ethics-reform bills that have been signed into law, while Assemblyman Baroni can lay claim to none. While much more still needs to be done to clean up government, these ethics reforms have nonetheless moved our state in the right direction.
I would rather see Assemblyman Baroni follow Assemblywoman Greenstein’s example in lighting candles to illuminate the path to reform, rather than continuing to curse the darkness.
Marilyn Silverman
Estates Boulevard
Hamilton