From the issue of April 27, 2006.
County needs seniors to give guidance
To the editor:
Seniors and caregivers in Somerset County can help identify key services and programs by completing a survey that is being distributed by the Office on Aging.
About 20,000 surveys are being mailed to a randomly selected list of county residents and copies are being made available at county-operated senior centers and public libraries. The survey also is available online at: www.somerseteldercare.com
Survey results will be used to develop an Area Plan of program needs for 2007-2009. The Area Plan will identify trends concerning aging in Somerset County as well as implementation strategies for meeting future goals.
Along with the survey, the Office on Aging is distributing a form that senior residents can complete if they haven’t signed up for Medicare Part D and wish to receive a personalized report that compares the three lowest-cost insurance plans.
For more information, please call the Office on Aging at 1-888-747-1122.
Somerset County benefits greatly from the involvement and cooperation of its residents. By responding to the Office on Aging’s survey, you will have a say in what programs and services are offered in the future. We want to thank you for your input and your time.
Ken Scherer
Freeholder Director
Robert Zaborowski
Freeholder Human Services Liaison
Board appreciates voters support
To the editor:
On behalf of the Hillsborough Board of Education, I wish to express my heartfelt appreciation to the voters of Hillsborough for their support of the district’s 2006-2007 school budget.
Be advised this is the third consecutive year in which the budget has been approved by the citizens of Hillsborough and, thus, the board and the administrative team is most pleased to have garnered the support and confidence of the voting public.
To all who assisted in highlighting or networking information relative to the budget, we thank you.
We thank the staff who assisted with regard to voter registration initiatives and additionally extend kudos to all students and staff involved in Kids Vote.
Special appreciation is extended to the Hillsborough Beacon for their editorial of April 13 in support of the budget and to the Hillsborough Home School Association and Hillsborough Education Association for their assistance in coordinating two community forums designed to inform the public relative to the contents of the budget.
In closing, I wish to congratulate the newly elected members of the Hillsborough Board of Education: Steve Paget, David Lin, Marc Rosenberg and wish them much success in their service to the community.
Karen A. Lake
Superintendent of Schools
Hillsborough Township School District
Animals’ importance clear to students
To the editor:
I am writing in response to a letter to the editor in the March 16 issue. In that issue, Nicole Damelio, a Woods Road School student, voiced her desire for the fair treatment of all animals.
I applaud Nicole’s message, and I admire the drive she has demonstrated in getting her voice heard at such a young age.
It seems to me that most children have a basic, kindhearted respect for animals. However, as we grow up, many of us tend to become desensitized to this issue. Perhaps we are too busy to care, or we feel as though there is very little hope that the demands of the economy will ever give way to the equal treatment of animals.
I believe we have come to mistake this occurrence as a mature individual’s "coming to reality" about the issue of animal rights. However, I fear we may be the ones living in the fantasy world, not the children.
The case for animal rights can certainly be argued on ethical grounds. Yet, it can also be argued in terms of human interest. Biological diversity plays a tremendous role in the survival of all life on Earth. Relentless human consumption of organic resources and the destruction of plant and animal habitats are destroying this diversity daily.
All scientists today concede that the rate of species extinction is greater at present than at any other time in human history.
Many of these species, which can be either plant or animal in nature, have yet to be studied extensively. Others have yet to be discovered. When we destroy these species we deny future mankind the ability to discover, study, and utilize these species for their own benefit.
This is not to say that we should stop destroying plant and animal habitats so that future mankind can have a chance to exploit them, too.
Rather, it stands on the belief that the more the living world is studied and utilized, the better chance we have of finding more efficient and dependable species that can be used for economic use. In this way, as humans we have an absolute interest in protecting plant and animal life from the destruction they face today.
It is time that we realize that the world in which we live today cannot continue in the same direction it has been going. One huge step in this direction would be to recognize the importance of the animals we share the Earth with.
Not only do they have intrinsic value, but they can also benefit us in many ways. Nicole knows this as well as anyone.
I just hope she doesn’t forget it as so many of us have.
Brad Schulte
Haverford Court