A solution to immigration
To the editor:
We have been inundated with the "either-or" solution of what to do about the millions of illegal aliens in our country mostly from Mexico.
One proposal is to classify them as "felons" and ship them back. The other is to grant them status of more-or-less amnesty and have them remain here, but that proposal suffers from trying to find out when they arrived less than two years, two to five years or more than five years.
Lots of luck doing so without any documentation to speak of. Also this proposal is obviously unfair to the people waiting for years to enter here legally.
My proposal is simplicity itself: Try to identify as many of the "less-than-two-years" group here illegally, send them back to their home country and replace them immediately with people from that country waiting to come here legally in chronological order of their applications to do so. When this subset’s replacement is finished, then do the same with the two-to-five-year subset, etc.
The newcomers could then take the place of the returned "workers-in-jobs-Americans-don’t-want" (although if the pay is high enough more than enough Americans would jump through a hoop to work those jobs) and so would not have a deleterious economic effect and would be fair to the people on line to become American citizens legally.
Irving Bersak
Monroe
Helping the ‘poor Palestinian people’
To the editor:
Newspapers are filled with articles about how to get aid to the "poor Palestinian people," and I am very puzzled by this.
When the Israelis reluctantly left the Gaza Strip, they left behind the well-developed industry of the green houses (equipped with computerized instruments for growing food that was shipped to Europe, to a welcoming market). As soon as the Palestinians came onto the land, they stripped the pipelines, ruined whatever they could in the greenhouses that fostered the opportunity for them to build on this economic wind-fall to be financially independent.
All through the years, I can remember U.S. children collecting funds for UNICEF on Halloween (for the benefit of the poor Palestinian children), but those and other funds never seemed get to their destined targets. Instead, Yasser Arafat became a very wealthy man, and the people remained in need. When Arafat was dying, he was flown for treatment to Paris, where his wife joined him.
A struggle took place for her to receive her "inheritance" from her husband’s will, and then she took off for wherever she was living. Rightfully, that money belongs to the Palestinians. I do think that someone should get her address for the Palestinians to be able to get the money that was always intended for them, and perhaps their problems will sort themselves out.
Marilyn Shustak
Monroe
Mourning a great man
To the editor:
The League of Women Voters of Monroe Township mourns the death of Joe Montanti, our township environmental commissioner.
In this capacity, he worked tirelessly with the town officials to set aside open space, preserve our rural atmosphere, and protect our natural resources.
He met regularly with the League’s Natural Resources Committee to keep us informed about the progress of open space acquisition and priorities in this regard. He led some of our members and guests on "open space/historic tours," with John Katerba, the township historian, to show land set aside for protection of the environment, recreation, and to preserve our heritage.
He was always friendly, helpful, willing to share his time, and he will be sorely missed.
Donations in his name can be made to the Monroe Township Open Space Trust Fund and sent to One Municipal Plaza, Monroe Township, N.J. 08831.
Ruth Banks
Judy Perkus
Co-Presidents
League of Women Voters
Barbara Curtis
Director of Natural Resources
League of Women Voters
Monroe
Lack of voters means no landslide
To the editor:
I believe the lead story in this week’s Cranbury Press, Budget gets landslide approval, cannot pass without comment. Seventeen percent voter turnout does not represent endorsement and to suggest otherwise reflects delusional tendencies or lack of brainwave movement.Indeed, because the ratio of yeas to nays was two-to-one, that implies approximately only one in 12 registered voters approved the budget and voted for an unopposed slate of candidates.
George Bush’s miserable approval rating is dramatically better than this margin and we all know what most likely will happen in the fall elections as a result of those miserable showings. Fortunately for our newly elected board members they are safe for the next three years.
Now, please do not misconstrue my comments. I do not believe the current slate and existing school board members are incompetent or certainly not caring. Rather, I think the system has already stacked the deck against them. State regulations, NJEA, and the structural and political bureaucracies of public schools all but insure that local and elected volunteers cannot compete. The system of checks and balances is overwhelmed.
The collateral damage in this battle is, unfortunately, the taxpayer. I believe the system and process is bankrupt and needs a complete overhaul. The voter turnout reflects disenfranchisement. I believe the voter must feel powerless and that is his principal reason why he ignores his right to vote. The gatekeepers of the system need to address this apathy.
Indeed, by making foolish statements that the vote reflects a faith in the board and decisions we make suggests the road to recovery will be long and slow.
Andre Moutenot
Cranbury
Surplus rules bad for schools
To the editor:
On behalf of the Board of Education, staff, students and administration, I wish to thank the Cranbury residents for their passage of the 2006-07 school budget. Your continuous support of the school enhances opportunities for children and allows the district to maintain outstanding educational programs. Congratulations are extended to Joan Rue, Bill Schraudenbach, and Lynne Schwarz on their re-election to the board. We look forward to their service on behalf of the Cranbury School community.
Many thanks for making Cranbury School a wonderful, exciting place for children to learn. With your assistance, the Cranbury School will continue its tradition of excellence in education and will remain a source of pride for the community.
Carol J. Malouf
Chief School Administrator/ Principal
Cranbury School District
Legislative day a great treat
To the editor:
On March 29, members of the Brookside/Barclay Brook PTA attended the state PTA Legislative Day in Robbinsville. While there, we had the opportunity to hear some of our leading elected state politicians speak about their views on education funding in our state, and their opinion on Gov. Corzine’s proposed budget and its impact on our schools. Senate Bill 1701 was foremost on the mind of every PTA member in attendance, and the topic dominated much of the day.
S-1701 was part of a state legislative package that was intended to address property tax reform, but what it actually did was create a long list of harmful consequences for most school districts.
The most significant of these is that S-1701 lowered the budget surplus cap for school districts from 6 percent to 3 percent in 2005 and 2 percent in 2006. This effectively hobbles a school district’s ability to deal with unanticipated expenses, such as emergency facility repairs. For example, a leak in the roof of a school can snowball into a major expense if we are unable to fix it promptly. S-1701 could mean that we may not have the money on hand to make the needed repairs, which could result in substantial damage to the ceiling, floor and equipment of the school.
This not only puts our students at risk, but it also means higher costs for the already burdened Monroe taxpayer.
The good news is, you can help. Contact your legislator. All of our state legislators can be easily contacted by e-mail. Doing so only takes a minute of your time, but its benefit to our children is immeasurable.
To contact our legislative representatives, simply log on to the following website: www.njleg.state.nj.us/legislativepub/contact.asp. Then click on the link to "Complete this Form."
You can check off all three of our reps and send them a letter simultaneously. It’s quick and easy.
Tell them that as a voter in their District, you strongly urge them to amend S-1701 by supporting Assembly Bill 1747 and 2658, which will help "fix" the most damaging effects of S-1701. Both of these bills have been introduced into the legislature and referred to the Assembly Education Committee for review.
Our state representatives must show their commitment to our children and families by fighting for these budget resolutions to be adopted and give back to our community the ability to effectively fund our schools.
We would like to extend a special thank you to Assemblywoman Linda Greenstein, whose District 14 constituents listened carefully as she spoke of the important pieces of education legislation that she is currently sponsoring, and which are expected to be introduced in the Assembly this year.
You do have a voice in this process. Use it to support our kids.
Jackie Divins, Leslie Egierd,
Shani Henley, Stacy Levier,
Tracy Kapoor, Rita Ostrager
and Ira Tessler
Barclay Brook
Brookside Schools PTA
Monroe
Thank you to Monroe voters
To the editor:
The KIDS 1st Steering Committee would like to thank everyone in our organization and all the Monroe Township voters who supported and passed the April 18 school budget.
We would also like to recognize Superintendent Ralph Ferrie, his staff and the Board of Education for their work in preparing this budget under the confines of flat state aid.
Passage of this budget will allow for the expansion of facilities and hiring of staff to keep our class sizes at acceptable levels to meet the many needs of our increasing student population.
Jackie Winters
Co-Chairwoman
KIDS 1st
Monroe
