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Brooklyn Daily
To the editor,
Community parents were successful in getting Sheepshead Bay High School built in 1958 — after a long, hard struggle to get a neighborhood high school.
Unfortunately for most of the people who fought for it, by the time their dream came to fruition, their children were past the high school stage. We who followed after them benefited from their efforts to get a school built.
It was a beautiful, quality school, while it remained a neighborhood school for neighborhood children. Students lived in walking distance, with the exception of those who came in under a waiver. Waivers were given for students who met the criteria for enrollment.
Neighboring kids from both private homes and low-income projects had the opportunity to attend a school which offered a well-rounded education, both academically and vocationally, with courses like home economics, woodworking, auto mechanics, secretarial courses, the arts, and other fabulous programs.
Sheepshead Bay High School afforded our neighborhood kids a chance for success. We did not need to have a police force in and out of the school. We did not need a city bus parked in front of the school for a shuttle to drop off and pick up students so they would not vandalize and burglarize neighborhood establishments.
To the politicians who passed the policy of open enrollment, are you happy with the results?Phyllis Cipriano
Sheepshead Bay
Pope of critters
To the editor,
I was delighted to learn that the newly elected pope chose for himself the name of St. Francis of Assisi, generally known as patron saint of animals.
Catholic and Anglican churches hold ceremonies blessing animals on his feast day on Oct. 4.
On one of his nature walks, Francis reportedly preached to the birds, and is often portrayed with a bird in his hand. On another occasion, Francis concluded a pact with a ferocious wolf that was terrorizing local townsfolk, whereby the wolf would quit preying on the town’s sheep in exchange for being fed regularly. He even persuaded local dogs to stop harassing the wolf.
He freed a rabbit from a trap, returned caught fish to their stream, and fed half-frozen bees in winter-time.
I hope that Pope Francis will inspire Catholics and all persons of goodwill to show non-human animals the respect and compassion they so richly deserve, particularly when it comes to subsidizing their abuse and slaughter for food at the checkout counter.
Joining the Meatless Mondays trend may be a good start.Brody Pender
Sunset Park
Ground fog day
To the editor,
An Ohio Republican prosecutor is now going after that “rogue rodent” Punxsutawney Phil for his errant predictions of an early spring.
I pray that this fellow is successful in his indictment and next trains his prosecutorial skills on certain high officials in Washington D.C.!
Robert W. Lobenstein
Marine Park
Citizen’s diary
To the editor,
Wow, what a crazy afternoon-into-evening I had!
I drove up Avenue N, returning from lunch, and at the corner of Utica Avenue I made a right turn. There was an endless number of police cars parked and double-parked on Utica Avenue. I did ask a cop what was happening, to no avail.
Okay, I headed home. As I drove onto my block, again I saw the same sight — my block was filled with, this time, police vans with horses in tow in back of each of the vans. There were some 15 or more horse-filled vans on my block, and many cops were just hanging around talking to each other.
Seems tonight was the funeral of the young fellow who got shot two weeks ago by a cop. The force feared trouble, so they are out in high numbers all around the neighborhood.
Where the h--- is Al Sharpton to help quash the rioting? And where is Rev. Jesse Jackson?
I spent the afternoon petting the beautiful horses, enthralled by their beauty. I love ’em. I was as excited and thrilled today as when I was a teen waiting in line at the Fox Theater to see and hear some rock ‘n’ roll singer.
I learned that NYPD uses only male horses. I thought that an interesting fact — less friction amongst the animals.
It’s now 9:30 pm and the block is still filled with police cars, all empty. Gotta feel sorry for the folks who live on this block and won’t find parking! I’m keeping my fingers crossed that there’s no rioting. Pray with me.Joan Applepie
Mill Basin
Inmate junk justice
To the editor,
The climate is right for changing the criminal “injustice” system.
Solitary confinement at Rikers Island is being used, not as a last resort for violent behavior by inmates against correction officers and fellow inmates, but due to pressure by Norman Seabrook, president of the Correction Officers Benevolent Association.
The incarceration rate is down 32 percent, yet in order to keep his union members employed he warns there will be riots in the summer. Ninety-five percent of all inmates eventually are released back to our communities — and 66 percent of all released incarcerated people return to jail five years after their release — because punishment, not rehabilitation, is currently the goal of our society.
The mentally ill receive inadequate treatment and are placed in solitary 23 out of 24 hours a day, simply because they are unable to follow orders shouted by correction officers, who are taught from day one that every mentally ill inmate is a faker and should be ignored.
One inmate swallowed a toxic bar of soap and he did not get speedy medical care. The medical examiner determined it was homicide. Nothing was done by district attorney, leaving it up to the Department of Corrections to investigate the matter.
Don’t mentally ill count as human beings? Allan Feinblum
Midwood
War mongering
To the editor,
We had sanctions on Iraq for 13 years before our invasion there. This caused severe shortages of medicine and other vital supplies — and the deaths of up to 500,000 children under 5 years of age.
We now have sanctions on Iran. There is no evidence they are working on nuclear weapons. They are many years away from achieving nuclear capability
Zbigniew Brzezinski, the former national security advisor to President Jimmy Carter, says it would be good if we could talk with Iran. He says a war with Iran would spread across the whole region and would last for years.
Secretary of State John Kerry has threatened Iran with possible military action. Iran has not threatened us. Threats are not the way to go. Meanwhile children are dying.Jerome Frank
Coney Island
Mayor BOOberg
To the editor,
Mayor Bloomberg seriously needs to mind his own d--- business, instead of eliminating our consumer rights because of his own health kicks.
If New Yorkers want to indulge their appetites and pay for it out of their own pockets — plus accept the social, physical, and psychological responsibility that goes with it — then so be it! Leave it the hell alone!
If people can’t tell Bloomberg which groups he should donate to out of massive wealth, then who the hell is he to politically dictate to New Yorkers what they can and cannot consume?
Last I checked, this was America, or did someone tell me a lie?
Sebastian Casalnova
Bensonhurst
...
To the editor,
Judge Milton Tingling was correct in nullifying Mayor Bloomberg’s proposal to ban soda cans of more than 16 ounces in delis and restaurants.
However well-meaning the mayor is, the effects could have been as disastrous as that great noble experiment of 1919 — Prohibition — which was repealed 14 years later.
The judge was correct in stating the proposal was “arbitrary and capricious.”
Mayor Bloomberg would have rendered a greater public service by removing detrimental fluoride from our drinking water. Fluoride has been shown to cause developmental abnormalities.
It would be far preferable to me to have cavities than to pose risks for assorted maladies to our young and elderly.
Elliott Abosh
Brighton Beach
Hard lessons
To the editor,
Memo to Gov. Cuomo — after a day of teaching in many of our city schools, teachers first need a bar to cool off.
Instead of making a difficult situation even worse, why doesn’t our governor and other so-called educational experts come up with a plan to remove chronically disruptive pupils from the classroom?
The situation has deteriorated to such a point that even Mr. Chips and Miss Dove would be judged ineffective today for their inability to control out-of-control students.
Why not ask teachers who have left the system, or opted for early retirement, why they have left? It is due to the complete lack of discipline in far too many schools, in addition to no support from principals, many of whom never taught to begin with.
Ed Greenspan
Sheepshead Bay
Elected oaf-icials
To the editor,
Along with many other New Yorkers, my condolences go out to the family and friends of Williamsburg hit-and-run victims Raizel and Nachman Glauber, and their baby.
However, why after all these years do Assemblyman David Weprin (D–Queens) and state Sen. Eric Adams (D–Flatbush) call for tougher penalties for hit-and-run drivers? Hundreds of other New Yorkers from all walks of life have passed on without a word from either Weprin or Adams.
If Weprin and Adams were truly compassionate, they would have pushed for harsher legislation changing the misdemeanor charge for leaving the scene of an accident to a class C felony years earlier. Some politicians appear willing do or say anything for a headline. This is a real crime.
Larry Penner
Great Neck, N.Y.
Reach reporter Shavana Abruzzo at sabruzzo@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260-2529. Follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/BritShavana