LETTERS TO THE EDITOR, Aug. 7
Shameful theft of worker’s bike
To the editor:
Whoever stole the bike from in front of McCaffrey’s around 4 p.m. Saturday afternoon of August 4 should be doubly ashamed.
The theft was bad enough, but this bike belonged to a new resident of Princeton, a refugee from Burma who is struggling to make a new life for himself and his young family.
This was his main means of getting around town and to work at McCaffrey’s. Worse still the bike was fitted with a special rack for a child’s seat so he can take their son to nursery school.
The bike was locked outside the front of the store and the police have been contacted. The bike and rack will be replaced but with considerable effort, expense, and damage to the reputation of our community.
Peter M. Smith
Louise Sandburg
Grover Avenue
Princeton
A young NJ hero is remembered
To the editor:
In less than four months there have been three major tragedies – the Virginia Tech Shooting, the Charleston Warehouse Fire, and now the Minneapolis Bridge Collapse. My thoughts and prayers go out to all the victims, their families, and their friends. I would like to take this opportunity to emphasize a heroic act that occurred during the shootings at Virginia Tech on April 16.
In the April 23 issue of The Catholic Virginian, Deacon Michael Ellerbrock of St. Mary Catholic Church in Blacksburg said: "One officer told me an ROTC student grabbed (the gunman) from behind and got (shot)."
That student was New Jersey native Matthew La Porte, a 20-year-old freshman and member of the Air Force ROTC on campus. A Washington Post profile also reported that La Porte "was killed trying to help those around him" and "died a hero."
Like Dr. Liviu Librescu, who blocked the classroom doorway while students escaped through the windows, Cadet Matthew La Porte is also a hero of April 16, 2007. Both of these brave men will forever be remembered for their sacrifice and valor on that tragic day.
Together with the nine firefighters who gave their lives during the fire in Charleston, Librescu and La Porte will join the ranks of all the fallen heroes we memorialize on that Day of Heroes, September 11.
Frank L. Jordan III
Lakeside Drive
Newport News, Va.
Good news on French School
To the editor:
I was delighted to learn that the French School of Princeton received the necessary approvals from the zoning board to relocate its K-5 students to Lawrence Township from its current site at All Saints’ Church in Princeton.
As a former senior warden and member of the vestry at All Saints’, I worked very closely over the past five years with the co-founder and head of the French School, Corinne Gungur. Together, we saw the school more than double in size since it came to All Saints’ in September 2002.
Several personal highlights stand out for me. The first was an end-of-school cookout at which I had the honor of meeting Toni Morrison, the Pulitzer and Nobel Prize winning author, whose grandchild attended the school. Another happened earlier this spring, when because of All Saints’ connection to the French School, our church served as a polling place where French citizens living in the area could vote in their national elections.
Of course, being in the building while school was in session was the greatest highlight, as it gave me the chance to see children who were far from home receiving an education that would enable them to seamlessly transition back into school in France, when their families returned home after their time here in the United States. That’s what made this much more than a landlord-tenant arrangement; it truly was a form of outreach.
The relationship the school and the church forged over the past five years was a partnership in the truest sense of the word. Every space the school occupied within our church buildings was improved by the school’s presence, from repainting and new flooring to installing fire protection equipment. Their presence in our church school classrooms also helped us be better stewards of our space, since it was no longer just being used on Sunday mornings.
While sharing space is rarely easy (and sometimes challenging), Corinne and her staff were always cooperative and sensitive to the church’s needs. I am sure they will bring that same sense of neighborliness and community to their new location on Carter Road. Bienvenue, French School!
Bob Bostock
Springwood Drive
Lawrence Township
Bob Bostock is a Republican candidate running for Lawrence Township Council.