LETTERS: Bomber suspect ‘innocent until proven guilty’

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Brooklyn Daily

To the editor,

There was a debate raging over whether Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokar Tsarnaev was eligible to receive his Miranda rights when he was arrested, or whether he should have been considered an “enemy combatant,” undeserving of such consideration.

I’m shocked to hear that there was even a discussion. The American legal system was founded on one very strong principle — a suspect is presumed innocent until proven guilty. Regardless of how heinous the crime of which he is accused, if he is a U.S. citizen, arrested here, then he should be accorded the rights of every other U.S. citizen, or those rights are meaningless. If we can accept that, regardless of the preponderance of evidence against him, Tsarnaev — as a citizen — is entitled to a trial by a jury of his peers, then we as Americans can hold our heads high while we decry other regimes that do not respect the rights of their citizens.

If we can tamp down our blood lust just enough to allow this man who is accused of these disgusting crimes to attempt to defend himself, as we would anyone else, then we truly are the global beacon of hope and freedom.

The rule of law exists to protect the innocent from wrongful accusation, but if we can decide from the beginning, without trial, that this one person is guilty, then none of us are safe. In the end, how much does it hurt us to grant this man the same rights we would expect for each of our sons?

If at the end of the day, we can hold our heads up and say we found the perpetrator, we treated him with the respect and dignity due to any citizen, and a jury of his peers found him guilty of his crimes so we punished him according to our laws, then the U.S. is truly a nation to be proud of, the land of the free, and the home of the brave.Ian Randal Strock

Midwood

Abruzzo’s ‘truth’

To the editor,

Elena Gadd’s response to Shavana Abruzzo’s column “Rioting disgraces Kiki’s death” (A Britisher’s View, Mar. 22) is that more blacks are incarcerated because there are no post-school activities (“No thanks, Shavana,” Letters to the editor, April 5).

How about the out-of-wedlock teen births, no father figure, and no parental guidance?

If Shavana Abruzzo focused on rabbis and priests who molested young children, as Gadd suggests, it would not change anything in the black community, and is irrelevant to the situation.

Gadd talks about respect for the black community — well, it’s a two-way street. Open your eyes, the truth shall set you free.Ruth Weiner

Sheepshead Bay

Dept. of Ed

To the editor,

I’m so sick and tired of Ed “The Famous Retired School Teacher” Greenspan (“Sound Off to the Editor”). All this man does is talk about the Department of Education.

Ed, why can’t you talk about something else — music or collecting stamps, or anything else? Come on, enough is enough. Move on — talk about other things going on in the world.Dennis Olsen

Sheepshead Bay

Board of Dropouts

To the editor,

I lost my mother in 2011 following a five-week illness. Ironically, she passed away on Election Day.

Her absentee ballot had been mailed while she was hospitalized. A month after her passing, I notified the Board of Elections.

When another absentee ballot arrived, I called them and was told that I had to submit a death certificate. I complied and the absentee ballots stopped coming. I did notice that when I went to vote, my mother’s name was still in the registration book. I mentioned this to the people working there, but they said that they couldn’t do anything.

On April 13, my late mother received a letter from the board notifying her that they are about to terminate her registration if they didn’t hear from her in 14 days.

Will someone please tell me why the office that issues death certificates can’t notify the Board of Elections when someone passes on? The name could be verified by the Social Security number of the deceased.

The letter I received on April 13 was dated April 19, and the name of J.C. Polanco appeared on it. He has been off the board now for more than a month.

Who is working at the Board of Elections, school dropouts?Name withheld upon request

No CON-finement

To the editor,

Councilman Daniel Dromm (D–Queens) has introduced a resolution in the City Council to make transparent conditions in city jails, and the excessive use of solitary confinement.

In New York, there are more than 80,000 incarcerated people in solitary confinement. America has five percent of the world’s population, but 25 percent of the world’s prison population. While European countries, at the urging of the U.N. have greatly reduced human beings caged for 23 out of 24 hours a day, America continues a policy that doesn’t reduce violence and in fact makes it impossible for those released to be restored back into society. The psychological damage solitary confinement does on a human being, especially those determined to be mentally ill is horrible and yet Correction Officers Benevolent Association president Norman Seabrook pushes for solitary confinement — no education programs, no job programs to prepare inmates when 95 percent will eventually be released back into our neighborhoods.

The current system is a failure. If I am elected the next councilman in the 48th Assembly District [sic] as write-in, I will fight for the mentally ill who are victims of stigma, and despite the fact elected officials are permitted to visit unannounced at city jails, I would hesitate to believe our departing Councilman Nelson (D–Coney island) has ever visited Rikers Island to make sure imprisoned people are being treated humanely and not the victims of abuse from other inmates or correction officers who are accused of using excessive force.

Testimony at a City Council hearing on violence revealed that sadistic officers were using gang members to enforce rules, and were encouraged and paid by officers to beat up other prisoners.

The criminal justice system is broken, and will change only when we the public educate ourselves to conditions on Rikers Island and city jails.Allan Feinblum Midwood

GOP blues

To the editor,

There is more to “Golden’s friendly fire” (online April 4). Will borough president candidate state Sen. Eric Adams (D–Crown Heights) face no Republican opponent in the November general election?

The last Republican Brooklyn borough president who also ran on the Fusion Party line was Lewis H. Pounds, who served from 1913–1917. The last GOP district attorney may have been from the same time period.

Based upon the state Board of Elections registration figures, as of April 1 for 1,334,158 active voters, Brooklyn continues to evolve into an overwhelming Democratic Party bastion. There are 948,035 Democrats versus 119,848 Republicans, along with 4,805 Conservatives, 5,431 Working Families, 29,335 Independence, and 2,415 Green. 223,723 unaffiliated, and 308 others. The numbers make Republicans irrelevant in virtually all contests for public office.

Kings County Republicans haven’t offered Democrats serious competition for public office on the city, state, or federal level in years, with the one exception of Bay Ridge. This neighborhood is represented by Rep. Michael Grimm (R–Bay Ridge-Staten Island), state Senator Golden, and Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis (R–Bay Ridge and Staten island). The majority of voters represented by Grimm and Malliotakis reside in Staten Island. Despite overwhelming Democratic Party enrollment in Kings County, creative gerrymandering by the GOP-controlled state Senate in 1970, 1980, 1990, and 2000 continued to preserve the Bay Ridge based seat. After the 1982 reapportionment, Democrats eliminated the districts of Brooklyn GOP Assemblymembers Vincent Riccio, Florence Sullivan, and Chris Mega.

The last GOP council members elected from Kings County were Minority Leader Angelo Arculeo who served from 1962 to 1982, and Martin Golden, who won the seat back one last time serving from 1998 to 2002. For the last two decades, party leadership gave up running real candidates with proper financing to challenge Democratic incumbents. They preferred living off the political patronage crumbs from Kings County Democrats in exchange for taking a dive. Democrats in return gave the few GOP office holders a free ride. This, combined with Democrats gerrymandering over decades of district boundaries, contributed to atrophy, resulting in their virtual disappearance today.

In Kings County, running as a Democrat or winning any Democratic Party primary, is a sure bet to winning any general election.Larry Penner

Great Neck, N.Y.

Birth rights

To the editor,

I am a member of Feminists Choosing Life of N.Y. On April 15, we lobbied against the proposed Women’s Equality Act, if included in it is the misnamed “freedom of choice” (Protect a Woman’s Freedom of Choice).

Ninety percent of the bill is valid for women, but this proposed bill — as is — would extend abortions to nine months of pregnancy plus give options for these abortions to be performed outside of hospitals with the choice of a health care person, not a doctor. This is outrageous and puts women’s health in danger. If we truly care about women’s health in New York, this bill needs to delete the “Protect a Woman’s Freedom of Choice.”

Three of our members met with state Sen. Marty Golden (R–Bay Ridge), who agrees with us on this issue. Golden realizes that two people would suffer if this bill goes through — the mother would be maimed physically and psychologically, while the baby in the womb would be legally killed. Many pre-born children are survivals of early deliveries in America today.

The senator is also a co-sponsor of S. 1950, which protects the weakest members of our society. This bill states, “that either a person or an unborn child in any stage of gestation may be the victim of an assault.” S. 1950 does not change the present abortion laws in New York.

Homicide is the number one cause of death among pregnant women, outside of medical complication, and is very often at the hands of an intimate partner. Thirty-three states have full or partial coverage concerning homicide laws that recognize unborn children as victims of assault any where from seven to 24 weeks of gestation. As science tells us, there are two victims in the death of a pregnant woman.

My fellow members and I want to congratulate Sen. Golden for wanting to help pregnant women as well as the children in their wombs.

Kathy Peters

Waterloo, N.Y.

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