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June 16: Non-profit contracts, curbing guns, Payne and Obama

June 16, 2008

Not-for-profits need contracts

The Suffolk County Legislature's timely approval of contracts does not, unfortunately, result in prompt contracting for not-for-profit organizations that deliver essential services to our most vulnerable citizens ["Nassau's late contracts face lawmaker scrutiny," News, June 11].

For many years the county's not-for-profit sector has been operating without executed contracts and subsequent payments months into the new year. The many detrimental consequences of delayed contracting has, on numerous occasions, been brought to the attention of our legislators and county executive.

It is clear that the issue of prompt contracting goes well beyond the legislature passing their budget.

Our elected officials must ensure that agencies already struggling to make ends meet do not have to deal with severe cash-flow problems, non-reimbursable interest on lines of credit in order to meet payroll and other expenses as we wait for the county to execute contracts.

Our services have never been put on hold as we wait for contracts. We should be treated with the same respect.

Anita Fleishman

Huntington

Editor's note: The writer is chairwoman of the Suffolk County Coalition of Mental Health Service Providers and executive director of the Pederson-Krag Center.

Reason for gun sensor positions

Doug Mayers, the president of the Freeport-Roosevelt NAACP, is not opposed to gunshot sensors being placed in the Uniondale and Roosevelt area. However, he asks, "Why is it whenever they want to experiment with a security system, it has to be in the predominantly minority community?" ["Taking aim at guns," News, June 12]

Well to answer the question, the town is conducting an experiment.

To do so, you need a controlled variable.

In this case the controlled variable is the 3-square-mile area of Uniondale and Roosevelt where 128 crime guns were recovered last year. It would be ridiculous for the town to set these sensors up anywhere other than this hot spot for gun activity.

Anywhere else would be a failed experiment and a waste of money.

Unfortunately these days, it seems the popular thing to do is play the race card.

This is not about race, this is about guns and using state- of-the-art technology to stop the violence and save lives.

Kevin Kelly

Lindenhurst

Payne's rhetoric will sink Obama

If the Democrats want to be sure to lose the national election in November, just have them continue to have columnists like Les Payne write his stuff ["," Opinion, June 9].

Payne describes how "A lily white hush fell over the landscape" (read country) in the years after Jesse Jackson lost his bid for the presidency.

He notes that race isn't or shouldn't be an issue, yet he reminds us that Clinton had 80 percent of the black vote until Obama garnered 95 percent of the black vote.

Is race not an issue in this election?

How many blacks will vote for McCain?

Just as the Hollywood elite lost the race for John Kerry, let this kind of rhetoric continue and white America will definitely vote for McCain.

Ciro De Rosa

Babylon

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