An experience
of a lifetime
To the editor:
I just came back from a six-day trip to Washington D.C., where I attended a leadership conference called JrNYLC, which stands for Junior National Young Leaders Conference.
My teacher Ms. Barrio-Dekok had nominated me to go. I said yes right away, but the only problem was the money. To offset the cost of $1,800, I asked a few organizations to help me. These organizations helped out tremendously. I was able to attend the conference and had a great time at the University of Maryland, University College.
The sponsors that helped me were VFW Post 9111, Pierre’s Bakery, Bandito’s, PBA Local 166, Doctors of Dental Medicine, Brunswick Urgent Care, FOP Lodge 51, and one other sponsor that chooses not be mentioned.
Going to D.C. was an experience of a lifetime. I went to different monuments, museums and memorials. I had a blast making and meeting new friends from all over our country, all thanks to these sponsors. I also saw the White House and I went into the Capital Building, which was very exciting. Throughout the conference I was introduced to various leadership techniques that I can carry on throughout my lifetime.
I’m very glad that I was given the opportunity, and it would have never happened if these organizations weren’t so generous. I’m grateful for the support from these sponsors and appreciate their generosity. I just wanted to let the public know what these organizations did for me. I just wanted to thank these sponsors again with all of my heart. They made this trip something I will never forget.
Kelly O’Brien
Kendall Park
Kelly is a 12-year-old, seventh-grader at Crossroads South Middle School.
Group reaches
new levels
To the editor:
Passion, perseverance and patience. One and a half years ago a small group of South Brunswick residents asked for my help to research a slave cemetery on Davidsons Mill Road. At that time no one knew who or what the EVA was. Today, we know this to be the Eastern Villages Association.
It has been my honor to work together with this dedicated group at various times. EVA has shown us how important it is for the public to speak up and address there concerns.
On Sunday, Sept. 10, the NY/NJ Baykeeper’s honored EVA at its annual clambake in Sandy Hook. It was my pleasure to attend this event and watch Jean Dvorak, William Klimowicz and Jonathan Fritz each step up and receive the Art Weimer Award for Achievements in Grassroots Environmentalism.
The Baykeeper’s mission is to protect, preserve and restore the ecological integrity and productivity of the Hudson-Raritan Estuary. EVA’s work with the Van Dyke farm and Pigeon Swamp certainly falls right in line with this mission. I have seen first hand the hard work this group has put in and I commend them for passion, perseverance and patience.
James Shackleford
Dayton
Approach fails
in Middle East
To the editor:
In his letter "A counterpoint to ‘Student Voice’" in the South Brunswick Post on Aug. 31, Mark Starr raises some controversial issues that need to be addressed.
Before responding to those issues, on behalf of myself and all Noor-Ul-Iman School students, I would like to thank Mr. Starr for his complimentary comments about the Noor-Ul-Iman school as well as the South Brunswick’s Muslim community.
Mr. Starr argues that the strategy Israel adopted to conduct its recent war against Lebanon was humane; therefore, its actions are justified. However, how can a war that displaced millions of innocent civilians, "mistakenly" killed over a thousand Lebanese children and women and obliterated billions of dollars of private property and Lebanon’s infrastructure be considered a humane war?
What Mr. Starr refers to as a "humane" war was widely condemned by the international community as an inhumane war. As though in an act of vengeance, Israel dropped 90 percent of its cluster bombs on Lebanon in the last 48 hours of the war, just as Israel and Lebanon were negotiating for a cease-fire. Long after the guns have gone silent, those cluster bombs are still killing and maiming Lebanese civilians. How humane is that?
Fighting terrorism has been the primary goal of the U.S. and Israel. There are two ways to fight terrorism. The first is through invasion of Muslim lands, as Israel and the U.S. have done recently. This option in my opinion and the opinion of specialists on the Muslim world only hardens the hearts of would-be Western supporters in the region.
The second option is to win the hearts and minds of Muslims through good deeds and administering justice. How do the continued occupation of Palestine by Israel and the invasion of Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon soften the hearts of ordinary Muslims?
It saddens me to read Mr. Starr’s stereotypical perspective of Muslims and parroting of the Israeli line, "Israel is surrounded by people who, for millennia, are bent on destruction of the Jewish people." Muslims do not hate or want to destroy the Jews; several Muslim nations have recognized Israel and initiated diplomatic relations with the Jewish state. Rather, Muslims question the Israeli policies that result in the destruction of nations (most recently Lebanon), in the words of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Elmer himself, "turn(ing) back Lebanon’s clock 20 years."
I suggest that Mr. Starr rethink his statement about Muslims hating Jews. Such statements are used to justify inhumane actions towards Muslims. Perhaps stereotyping such as this is used to justify our committing thousands of troops to Iraq in a failed war and turning a blind eye to the continued Israeli occupation of 5 million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.
To the Muslim world we say that these actions are appropriate and humane. Yet, Muslims hold these actions responsible for the killing of their innocent children. The question we have to ask ourselves is: do Muslims congenitally hate us, or are our policies to blame?
Asma Saud
Princeton
An unfair response
to student’s column
To the editor:
I was distraught after reading Keith Rasmussen’s column, "Pay tribute to our fallen heroes by crushing terrorists." Mr. Rasmussen attacks a 17-year old Lebanese American student, Reem Nasr, by misquoting her repeatedly.
For instance, Mr. Rasmussen says, "I should point out that Hezbollah is heavily financed (about $100 million a year) and backed by Iran’s Shiite Muslim theocracy and this is as it should be, according to Ms. Nasr."
I have read Ms. Nasr’s piece and I challenge Mr. Rasmussen to show me where Ms. Nasr says "this is as it should be," while describing Hezbollah’s relationship with Iran.
Mr. Rasmussen puts more words in Ms. Nasr’s mouth when he claims that she "mocks the U.S. State Department’s current listing of Hezbollah as a Foreign Terrorist Organization." Ms. Nasr simply states the facts: that while the U.S. and Israel consider Hezbollah and Hamas terrorist organizations, "to the rest of the world Hezbollah and Hamas are not ‘terrorist’ organizations but resistance movements that grew out of the Israeli occupation and repression of the Lebanese and the Palestinians respectively." Where, may I ask, is the mocking?
Mr. Rasmussen is downright condescending and belittling when he repeatedly questions Ms. Nasr’s intellectual capacity by posing, "one wonders what she is being taught at Noor-Ul-Iman School in Monmouth Junction," and "one wonders if she came to this conclusion on her own or whether she’s been taught this." The clear insinuation is that even a very intelligent American high school student of Lebanese ancestry is incapable of independent thinking and, therefore, must have been indoctrinated.
May I suggest to Mr. Rasmussen that we live in a democracy and that Ms. Nasr is entitled to her opinion regardless of how unpalatable they may be to Mr. Rasmussen? Personally I believe that the sole concern of every American citizen should be the well being of America, not any other country. I fail to understand why we should always be reflexively "supporting Israel" as Mr. Rasmussen suggests, even when doing so damages America’s interests, as the Bush administration’s enthusiastic support for Israel during the recent Israeli-Lebanese war did.
Mr. Rasmussen may feel that he has a right to espouse the Israeli cause, but he should not be condemning a 17-year-old Lebanese American girl for articulating the view that America should be pursuing a policy that solely promotes America’s interests.
Hiba Hussain
Franklin Park
Letter writer wrong
on Middle East
To the editor:
This is a response to the letter written by Bradley H. Kline in the South Brunswick Post of Aug. 31.
First of all, I would like to make one point clear: Muslims and Arabs do not hate Jews. I myself, as a Muslim and Arab, have a good number of Jewish friends. If Muslims and Arabs dislike the Israelis it is not because they are Jews but because they are occupiers of Arab lands.
Secondly, I would like to ask a couple questions about one of the statements that Mr. Kline makes in his letter: "For six years the Lebanese state has been hurling rockets into Israel for the sole purpose of murdering innocent civilians." Is it not true that Israel too has been killing innocent Palestinian civilians since 1948? Or does the world think that the lives of innocent Palestinians are worthless? When one Israeli soldier is killed, the whole world rightly makes a big fuss about it, but when tens of Palestinians are killed daily by the Israelis, the world mostly remains silent.
Mr. Kline also mentions that every country has the right to defend itself. So why is it that, when there is a Lebanese resistance against an invading Israeli army, the world calls the defenders "terrorists"? Hamas and Hezbollah may be "terrorist organizations" to Israel, but to the Palestinians and the Lebanese they are resistance movements that sprang up for the purpose of repulsing Israeli occupations of their lands.
Finally, I would like to ask: Where is the United Nations? Is it not supposed to protect the oppressed?
Housien Shaheen
Princeton
High taxes
in town
To the editor:
Property taxes are too high in South Brunswick.
The latest proposal to increase our property taxes has been presented by people advocating a skate park. Those people who signed a petition to have the township build a skate park should be the ones paying for the park.
Why penalize all taxpayers to subsidize their pleasure? They are the selfish ones.
What is next? How about government-funded movie theaters, ski slopes and wave pools for surfers?
The bottom line is the bottom line. If you want something, it should be done through voluntary actions. Private funds for private pleasure.
Don’t tax me more for your temporary fun.
You must produce your own happiness.
Fred Stein
Dayton

