Towns urged to join against
corruption, big money in politics
To the editor:
Represent.Us/Central NJ is celebrating a great year – and we’re
not done yet!
In 2016, two more towns – South Brunswick in April and Law´
rence in June – joined our growing network of towns in Central New
Jersey. They followed the examples of Princeton (2014) and Ewing
(2015) as civic leaders for change. Despite differences in populations
and demographics, all share a single, unified goal – to end the cor´
ruption of our politics by Big Money and special interests so that our
government can once again become “of, by, and for” the people.
In a rare show of unity, Americans, regardless of their political
affiliation, agree that money has too much influence on elections, the
wealthy have more influence on elections, and candidates who win
office promote policies that help their donors.
With Labor Day and the traditional kick-off of the political sea´
son fast approaching, we will work with our volunteers and partners
from like-minded groups, such as local chapters of the League of
Women Voters, to encourage more towns to join forces. For 2016
and into 2017, we will urge action by elected officials in East Wind´
sor, Hopewell Township, Montgomery, and Rocky Hill. We hope to
add Monroe Township too. Together, we seek, in the words of the
Lawrence Township resolution, to encourage “the State Legislature
and the United States Congress to pursue and enact measures that
provide voters with a greater voice in the electoral process.”
We hope your readers will join this campaign for greater democ´
racy, check out our Facebook page, and email us their interest:
(https://www.facebook.com/RepresentUsCentralNJ).
David M. Goodman
Team Leader, Represent.Us/Central NJ
Princeton
Time to abolish nukes,
not talk about using them
To the editor:
I am writing in response to the recent revelations from MSNBC’s
Joe Scarborough that Donald Trump recently asked a national securi´
ty expert three times why, since the U.S. has nuclear weapons, it
can’t use them.
It is terrifying that Donald Trump, the Republican Party’s nomi´
nee to be our next commander in chief, is so anxious to use nuclear
weapons. I have been to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, seen the artifacts
of the atomic bombings, and met with the survivors who were still
suffering horribly decades after those cities were completely de´
stroyed, killing an estimated 210,000 human beings with just two of
what would today be considered very small bombs.
Today, about 15,000 nuclear weapons still exist, with several
thousand deployed on hair trigger alert able to be fired in minutes. A
recent study by the Nobel Prize winning International Physicians for
the Prevention of Nuclear War concluded that the use of even 100 of
those could result in one billion deaths.
Thinking of these weapons as “useable” is insane and the ulti´
mate sin. Every major faith has called for complete renunciation of
these weapons. Such loose talk demonstrates that the only way to en´
sure that such doomsday weapons aren’t used again is to globally
abolish them for everyone. They simply can’t be trusted in human
hands.
It wasn’t that long ago that President Ronald Reagan, also a Re´
publican, joined former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in saying
that “nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought.” Former
President George H.W. Bush unilaterally eliminated thousands of
nuclear weapons, and the Soviets reciprocated. He also negotiated a
treaty to verifiably abolish chemical weapons, and the US Senate rat´
ified it.
It is time to abolish the most dangerous weapons of all, nuclear
weapons; not to talk loosely about using them. Readers wanting to
join in educating and advocating for that goal are encouraged to visit
the Coalition for Peace Action website at peacecoalition.org or call
their office at (609) 924-5022.
The Rev. Robert Moore
Executive director of the Coalition for Peace Action
Co-Pastor of Christ Congregation
Princeton
Obey motor vehicle
laws on local roads
To the editor:
I have lived in Princeton since June 1976. I strongly believe that
I am highly qualified to make suggestions.
On the corner of Harrison Street near Nassau Street where the
fire station is located, it is very common for police cars to be in the
area looking to find motorists who might be violating motor vehicle
laws.
I urge in the most profound way that all Princeton Packet readers
who are reading this to obey motor vehicle laws when they are driv´
ing in that particular location.
In the area of the Sunoco station across the street from the CVS
pharmacy and the TD Bank is where the Montgomery Township
border begins. In that particular area it is very common for officers
from the Montgomery Township Police Department to be in the area
looking for motorists who might be violating motor vehicle laws. I
urge readers who happen to drive their cares in that area to obey the
laws.
I wish officers from the Princeton Police Department and the
Montgomery Township Police Department would do other things
other than aggressively enforce motor vehicle laws. However, what I
am advocating makes the most sense.
Ethan C. Finley
Princeton
Appreciate support for
county wildlife center
To the editor:
I’d like to take a moment to thank the Greater Mercer County
community for generously supporting the Mercer County Wildlife
Center. Most recently, community support enabled our Wildlife Cen´
ter to care for five baby birds that survived an act of vandalism to
one of the purple martin colony structures at D&R Greenway Land
Trust’s St. Michael’s Farm Preserve in Hopewell Township in early
July.
The injured baby birds were taken to the Wildlife Center on
Route 29, where they were cared for over the past month. That care
included feeding each of these birds 60 meal worms an hour for 12
hours a day.
Once word of the vandalism became public, the Wildlife Center
and nonprofit Wildlife Center Friends received an outpouring of sup´
port. In fact, the Friends group accepted more than $6,000 in dona´
tions. Not only did the surviving purple martins have plenty of meal´
worms for their recovery, but hundreds of other birds and bats in our
care also will have enough food for the rest of the season.
On Aug. 8, three of the young martins were healthy enough to be
safely released back into the wild near an active purple martin co´
lony. One of the martins is still being cared for at the Wildlife Center
and, unfortunately, one did not survive its injuries.
Our Wildlife Center tends to about 2,200 injured, ill and dis´
placed animals a year and has about 150 trained and dedicated vol´
unteers. The center provides these animals with medical treatment
and a temporary refuge before releasing them back into an appropri´
ate wild habitat. We depend on the generosity of volunteers and on
donations to make that happen.
Again, thank you for supporting the Mercer County Wildlife
Center. We could not do the work that we do without your help.
Brian M. Hughes
Mercer County Executive
We have a choice
at restaurants
To the editor:
Today’s 10 highest grossing box office releases are about ani´
mals,including: “Finding Dory,” “The Jungle Book,” “Zootopia,”
“The Secret Life of Pets” and “Kung Fu Panda.” Nearly half of our
households include a dog and nearly 40 percent have a cat. Two
thirds of us view them as family members and cherish them accordingly. We love our animals to death.
Literally…
For every cat, dog, or other animal that we love and cherish, we
put 500through months of caging, crowding, deprivation, mutilation,
and starvation, before we take their very lives, cut their dead bodies
into little pieces, and shove those into our mouths. And that doesn’t
even include Dory and billions of her little friends, because we
haven’t figured out how to count individual aquatic animals that we
grind up for human or animal feed.
The good news is that we have a choice every time we visit a restaurant or grocery store. We can choose live foods – yellow and
green vegetables, legumes, fruits, nuts, grains, as well as a rich variety of grain and nut-based meats and dairy products. Or, we can
choose dead animals, their body parts, and other products of their
abuse.
What will it be?
Jonas Bennett
Princeton
