No more boulder
To the editor:
Please let this serve as a letter of deep appreciation for the removal of the tire-cutting boulder from the eastbound side of Pennington-Rocky Hill Road. Special thanks go to Christine Smeltzer, Paul Pogorzelski and the Public Works Department, as well as Sgt. Michael Cseremsak.
Hopefully, you won’t be hearing from me soon. Your job is well done.
Max Hayden, Mount Rose
Our thanks
To the editor:
On behalf of the Hopewell Valley Senior Center Planning Committee, I wish to thank the Hopewell Township Committee and Committeewoman Judy Niederer, in particular, for the opportunity to serve as a member of the group interviewing candidates for the position of Parks and Recreation director. Our committee’s goal continues to be the creation of Senior Services coordinator, who could quite possibly function under that director.
Larry Mansier, chairman, Hopewell Valley Senior Center Planning Committee
Lessons in caring
To the editor:
I was very touched by pictures (HVN, Jan. 20) of so many of our school children in photos helping others: Hopewell Valley Elementary for Womanspace and Toll Gate Grammar for the tsunami. I know each week I see many children from all schools in the area doing good work for others.
Those early lessons of helping others in need never leave us and contribute so much to society now and in the future. As our children grow into adults it helps them become good citizens in our town and around the world. Each child has the potential to lead and help others … and leadership and caring starts with a bake sale or a toy drive. I also thank the teachers and volunteers who help and supervise these events. Without them, these important lessons might not occur. Taking time out to teach basic care and concern for others in need is admirable.
I remember collection pennies for the poor as a child and today I am working with a company who is distributing medicine and supporting the rebuilding of infrastructure to the tsunami victims.
I guess why the photos touched me this week is because no matter how old or young we are, caring at all levels should never be taken for granted or does it ever leave us.
Mary Ann Sarao, Pennington
New board member introduces herself
To the editor:
Last week I had the honor to be sworn in as a school board member representing Hopewell Township. It is important that the citizens of Hopewell Township have an opportunity to know who their representatives are on the school board and that they are accessible for communication. Therefore, I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself to the people who are served by the Hopewell Valley Regional School District.
After growing up in Princeton, I attended Colgate University where I earned a bachelor’s degree. Thereafter, I went to Vanderbilt University where I received a juris doctor degree. I am a lawyer having worked as an associate in the litigation departments of a large New York City law firm, Lord Day and Lord, Barrett Smith and later for the Rochester, N.Y. office of Nixon Hargrave Devans and Doyle. I also served as a law clerk for Judge Michael A. Telesca, federal district court judge for the Western District of New York. I am admitted to the bars of both New York and New Jersey.
Since moving to Hopewell in 1997, I have not practiced law, instead dedicating my time to my family and to various volunteer activities to benefit the school and community. I am married with three children. Currently I have two children at Hopewell Elementary School in the fifth and first grades. My youngest child is in preschool.
Over the past seven years, I have volunteered extensively in our community. I have been an officer on the Hopewell Elementary Parent Teacher Organization for four years serving as co-president for two years, trustee and secretary. On behalf of the PTO, I also organized the enrichment classes program called "February Fun" at Hopewell for two years and created the student directory. Over the past four years, I have been a Hopewell Elementary representative on Parent District Council, a monthly meeting of all PTO representatives in the district. As part of my responsibilities on Parent District Council, I served as recorder and convener. I have also served as a parent representative on various school district committees, including the hiring committees for superintendent, assistant superintendent and principal of Hopewell Elementary School, as well as the parent representative for the Language Arts Review Committee. I was solicitations chairwoman for the Hopewell Elementary School Benefit Auction. In addition to these duties, I volunteer regularly in my children’s classrooms as a hands-on helper for teachers and also as room parent.
I am currently president of the Friends of the Hopewell Public Library where I have been a member for the past four years. Finally, I served on the Citizens Master Plan Advisory Committee for the Hopewell Township Committee for two years.
As is evident from where I have concentrated my time I am dedicated to this community and the school system. I believe that my work as a volunteer in the school system and in our community over the years in conjunction with my legal experience give me a solid background to represent Hopewell Township on the Board of Education for the Hopewell Valley Regional School District. I look forward to facing the challenges of the school district and welcome input from the residents served by the school district. Feel free to call or e-mail me with any questions or concerns you may have regarding our schools. My telephone number is 466-3383 and e-mail address is [email protected].
Judy Karp, Hopewell Township
Social Security: another viewpoint
To the editor:
CB Patel, in his recent letter to the editor about Social Security reform has what I believe are several misstatements, which I feel compelled to respond to.
Mr. Patel states that "Social Security with it’s Trust Fund…is as solid as gold," and that’s true for now (assuming no changes to benefits) through 2018 when Social Security starts a negative cash-flow (drawing down the surplus, or Trust Fund), and until 2042 when the Trust Fund is exhausted. After 2042, the Social Security tax rate will have to increase steadily to meet increased demands.
The IOUs that Mr. Patel mentions are Special Issue Treasury Bonds, which currently total $1.5 trillion dollars, are being paid back (US Treasury bonds are guaranteed) and generate an estimated $80 billion in interest payments for Social Security. To suspend this lending to the Treasury would deny Social Security approximately $80 billion/year in interest and would have no appreciable impact on the problem (in 40 years, there will be two tax payers for each beneficiary, an unsustainable model compared to our current 3.3 taxpayers per beneficiary).
By the way, our Congressman Rush Holt (D-NJ) has a resolution (HR 116, introduced the first week in January of this year) designed specifically to deny Social Security the approximately $80 billion/year in interest it gets by loaning out its surplus to the federal government in a simple-minded attempt to address concerns with long-term Social Security funding. In turn, Congressman Holt proposes that all surpluses be used to pay down federal deficits until a long-term solution to the future funding problem is decided. Social Security monies should not be used to pay down the debt, and by eliminating $80 billion in interest income to Social Security, his resolution might wind up hurting (not helping) Social Security.
There are no plans to reduce any benefits for anyone currently receiving Social Security benefits, as the real problem is nearly 40 years out the only plans I have heard would change the expected benefits of those people just entering the workforce and planning on receiving benefits in about 40 years.
Social Security is fine, for now and in 40 years there will be serious problems if nothing is done. It is incumbent upon us to consider and plan for the continued success of the Social Security system. I encourage Mr. Patel and others that are worried about the Social Security system to refer to their Web site for the latest information. See http://www.ssa.gov/qa.html. Also, search out the statements by President Bill Clinton back on the 21st of March,1998. See http://www.cnn.com/US/9803/21/social.security/. I quote: "By 2029, all the baby-boomers will be 65 or over, and most of them will be in the retirement system," said Mr. Clinton, adding that if present trends continue, there will be only two people working for every one person drawing benefits from the system. Analysts say funds would run dry quickly under such circumstances.
"We do not need to put this off," he said. "We can solve it with modest, far-sighted actions now that will have a huge impact 20 or 30 years from now."
Ken Hansen, Pennington
The roaring minority
To the editor:
As a new resident of Mercer County and new subscriber to your paper, I was delighted to read Ruth Luse’s editor’s notebook on the need for the nation’s majority to defend itself.
I believe that Got has blessed America abundantly because we are a God-fearing, bible-believing nation. I believe we can track the moral decline of our country back to the removal of prayer from our schools.
Though now in the senior season of my life, I can vividly remember starting school with the Lord’s Prayer and the 23rd Psalm coming through the school’s PA system. It was comforting to know that Someone greater than all of us was aware and concerned about all of us as we went about our daily activities.
Gallup polls still show that the majority of the citizens of this great nation are Judeo-Christian in their belief system and have moral values. This extends to the nations, as we witnessed during this latest global tragedy. The silent majority can be silent no more!
As we can observe, it only takes one generation to keep silent about their beliefs and values before the roaring minority raises its vicious, unrelenting head.
The beauty of America and our Constitution is that each person has the freedom and right to express himself, whether it be to worship God or not. The danger comes when one group of people tries to silence or limit another group from practicing their free expression.
I applaud Ruth Luse for her timely article and trust that those who agree with her issues will be silent no longer.
It is apparent to any intelligent, thinking person that forces for good and evil are a reality. I shudder to think what would happen if God took His mighty hand off of our nation and the forces of evil were able to run rampant. Only His grace and the prayers of many people have spared us from this.
Claudia DeFino, Pennington
Vilification deserved
To the editor:
Recent sentiments ("It’s time for this nation’s majority to defend itself") suggesting that our nation’s Christian traditions are under attack and "we need to awaken and deal with these threats to religious liberty" deserve the vilification the editor expected.
Fanatics are working to declare America a Christian nation, imposing their own narrow view of morality on everyone. This is wrong on so many levels it is hard to know where to begin. History should remind us of the harm that comes from an incestuous relationship between church and state.
First, let’s dispose of the writer’s premise that Christian traditions are at imminent risk. Christianity not only dominates in the U.S., it is experiencing a huge expansionist revival.
Second, the assertion that religion has been a part of our lives since this nation was born is disingenuous. Early religious litmus tests and taxes resulted in bitter sectarian division and the framers of our union wanted no part of such religious intolerance. John Adams said "This would be the best of all possible worlds if there were no (organized) religion in it." Thomas Jefferson remarked "History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government." Our Constitution is scrupulously secular, containing no references to religion except that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion."
Neither are the religious references on our currency and in the Pledge of Allegiance evidence of a national tradition. Both appeared in the 1950s as knee-jerk reactions to the cold war and McCarthyism. The original motto chosen by Adams, Franklin, and Jefferson was "E Pluribus Unum" ("Out of many, one"), reflecting plurality, not theocracy. The secular version of the Pledge, written in 1892, survived 62 years before politicians decided to inject religion, immediately excluding those who choose not to worship the supernatural.
Third, applying the concept of majority rule to such matters is immoral and patently wrong. Think civil rights, when majorities in many communities voted to segregate blacks. Or 1930s Germany. Or today’s Sudan.
Lastly, those of us in the 8 percent minority who are atheist, nontheist, agnostic, or otherwise nonreligious find the current atmosphere of extreme religiosity highly offensive, even threatening. We encounter proselytizing at every turn, but imagine if we endeavored to deprogram Christians, attempting to free them from their blind faith and restore to them the ability to reason critically. We do not, but Michael Newdow received death threats for his courageous efforts to halt government imposition of Christian doctrine on public life. This irrational rage is every bit as unacceptable as bigotry against someone on the basis of race or ethnicity.
Look, morality has nothing to do with religion. Logic and reason (and simple compassion) have greater hope of actually perceiving true morality than blind faith and superstition that follow a literal interpretation of Biblical morality. As Albert Einstein observed, "If people are good only because they fear punishment or hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed."
John Sheldon, Hopewell Township
Grants available
To the editor:
Two separate grant cycles are approaching for nonprofit organizations wishing to apply to the Princeton Area Community Foundation (PACF) for program funding that support Mercer County and it’s neighboring communities and HIV/AIDS education, prevention, and services state-wide.
The Princeton Area Community Foundation’s Greater Mercer Grants will fund projects that help low-income people help themselves. Grants of up to $15,000 will be made to nonprofit organizations with the capacity to help Mercer County’s low-income populations become more self-sufficient. Projects may address unmet needs in one or more areas, such as economic self-sufficiency, education, health, housing, nutrition, safety, supportive services and youth development. Projects capable of making a meaningful and sustained difference in people’s lives will receive funding priority. The deadline for proposals to PACF’s Greater Mercer Grants is Friday, April 15, for consideration for a June grant.
The New Jersey AIDS Partnership is accepting grant proposals for innovative approaches that address unmet needs and underserved populations and serve the state’s HIV/AIDS population. Community-based organizations or programs providing direct service, preventive education, outreach to, or advocacy for, HIV positive and at-risk populations in New Jersey are eligible for funding. The deadline for proposals to The New Jersey AIDS Partnership is March 1.
Full grant guidelines and applications for both grants cycles are available on the Princeton Area Community Foundation web site at www.pacf.org
The New Jersey AIDS Partnership brings together private funders, public health officials, service providers, people living with HIV/AIDS, and other community leaders in New Jersey. NJAP funds local organizations that serve those most heavily impacted by the disease by providing HIV/AIDS education, prevention efforts, case management and direct services. The Princeton Area Community Foundation connects people who care with causes that matter in central New Jersey. PACF promotes philanthropy, provides charitable giving expertise to individuals and corporations, and makes grants to local nonprofit organizations and schools. The foundation can be reached at 219-1800 or online at www.pacf.org.
Ralph M. Serpe, vice president, Princeton Area Community Foundation
Sharing, caring, doing
To the editor:
The citizens, organizations, small businesses and corporations of greater Mercer County have once again demonstrated their incredible capacity for sharing, caring and doing what matters to help people in our local community who are in need.
Thanks to the generosity of so many, United Way of Greater Mercer County was able to provide traditional Thanksgiving meals to over 350 families and bring winter holiday joy to 560 families! Well over 1,200 low-income (many at risk) children and their parents received beautifully wrapped toys, clothing and the knowledge that people cared about them.
We take this opportunity to send a most sincere and heartfelt thank you to the countless donors and volunteers who brought the joy of the holidays to those in need.
Elaine Rubin Moorin, chairwoman, Board of Trustees, Mercer United Way

