Letters to the editor

Week of April 26

Green events make Earth Day, every day

To the editor:
   Two events were held last week to celebrate Earth Day, the annual Earth Day Clean Up and an "Earth Talk" on recycling, that helped "green up" Bordentown City.
   On the first warm and sunny Saturday of the spring, over 45 people came out for the Earth Day cleanup, including members of local Boy Scout Troop 13, members of the National Honor Society from Bordentown High School, and a group of freshmen from The College of New Jersey. The areas that were cleaned up included the Bordentown Beach parking area and picnic grove; the train station platform and parking lot; and the entire roadside along Park Street from the Park Street Apartments to Third Street.
   The results were impressive: 36 trash bags filled with assorted debris, 12 car tires, two bike tires, two propane tanks, one 55-gallon drum, two car fenders, one refrigerator, one computer hard-drive, onecar muffler, several large piles of tree trunks and branches, and assorted lengths of lumber, pipes and plastic sheeting were collected.
   On Tuesday, local residents were treated to a talk from Wayne DeFeo, an expert on recycling, about how recycling can help save the planet and save city residents’ tax dollars at the same time. Wayne encouraged residents to do their part to boost the city’s recycling rate, noting that recycling saves energy, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, reduces emissions of air and water pollutants, conserves natural resources, and reduces the city’s cost of trash removal. A hands-on quiz about what is recyclable and what is not recyclable surprised more than a few people in attendance.
   To learn more about the ongoing "greening" of Bordentown City, and how you can help, check out www.bcec.us.
   Ralph Tolomeo
Vice-Chair,
Bordentown City
Environmental Commission
Relay for Life helps fight cancer

To the editor:
   If you’re female, your chance of getting it is 38 percent. If you’re male, you have a 45 percent chance of getting it. And the older you get, the higher your odds get to having it. It’s something so close to home that it has most likely impacted a family member, friend, or co-worker. No, it’s not a tax audit or your odds of getting a speeding ticket. But it is a statistic you don’t want to be part of.
   In 2007, over 1.4 million of our American neighbors will be diagnosed with it and over 550,000 will die from it this year in the U.S. alone. It’s cancer.
   What goes through your minds when you hear that word? Is it anger, fear, apathy, compassion? How many of you have thought "It can’t affect me, I’m healthy." Or, maybe "Will our health insurance cover it or will it wipe out our life savings?" And how gut wrenching is it to hear that your child, or parent, or wife or husband has it?
   On June 9 until sunrise June 10, many of your friends and neighbors will be participating in the local American Cancer Society Relay for Life event being held for the sixth consecutive year at New Egypt High School. Teams (including many from our local schools) are currently holding numerous local events to support fundraising activities to raise awareness and funds to fight cancer.
   This year, your local Relay for Life teams will eclipse the half million dollar cumulative donation mark, a major milestone for our rural communities.
   With over six weeks to go, there is still plenty of time to get involved. You can join a current team, make a donation, form your own team, or just plan to come to the around-the-clock June event and enjoy the food, music, and activities.
   Through your generosity, your collective efforts have helped the ACS fight to cure cancer by funding numerous successful cancer drug developments, advocating non-smoking legislation, and improving the 5-year survival rate of cancer patients to over 66 percent.
   If you would like to be involved or to request additional information about the New Egypt Relay Event, contact Anita Pfefferkorn, Chairwoman of the New Egypt Relay at [email protected] or visit www.acsevents.org/relay/nj/newegypt or for cancer information please visit www.cancer.org or call 1-800-ACS-2345.
   John Pfefferkorn
Chairman – Public Relations
New Egypt Relay For Life
Culture of apathy contributes to violence

To the editor:
   The Virginia Tech tragedy is starting the old songs. All attack the second amendment as the prevailing cause of gun dealers sprinkling tragedy through out our land. When will the training aids to violence, saturated by the movie/TV and rap industries, ever be called to the alter of truth? Hardware (guns) is one thing, but the training aids (movies etc.) and acceptance of violence throughout all those money making media ventures should be recognized as the real problem. No one wants to address the real cause of all this violence.
   Accountability has become a dirty word in the great American experience. Lawyers have schemed, politicians have twisted, governments have over reached and no one seems to care. Information on these issues is usually so complicated; the average citizen cannot and will not take the time to ingest the information. If it is not clear in a few seconds sound bite, usually the subject is rejected and no one gets the message.
   Think about it! People are urged to think it is the second amendment allowing all these violent occurrences, but in truth, the training aids, movies, TV, and rap violence is the culprit. How tragic our society’s mind set has become.
   We have young men and women surviving the Iraq dilemma with arms and legs blown away being housed in a rat infested, dilapidated motel near a major military hospital. That hospital is being overloaded with casualties. Where is the accountability of the Senate and the House of Representatives? They are sucking the money out of government for their salaries and benefits way beyond the average working stiff. But where are they? Where are we?
   I can remember World War II. There were flags in the front windows with white stars and some with gold stars. If a loved one was killed, and even if you did not know the family, neighbors brought cakes, pies or some food offerings. People would volunteer to paint the porch, hoe the victory garden, something. Truth is now we (as a society) do not really care. A person dies, we hear a new TV recount, and we shrug and continue our daily doings. Our hearts are hard, our hearts are cold.
   New eminent domain findings, new ordinances (regulatory takings) have shattered our American way. These new things have destroyed family dreams and we as a society march on. We have become blind to reality, hard hearted, throwing out "In God We Trust." Blaming our Constitution and not our acceptance of corruption in all the meaningful avenues of our lives. What has happened to us?
   Roger Lord
Springfield