LETTERS: Pedophiles, oil drilling and more

Marriage no cure for a pedophile

A recent interviewee made this comment regarding priest sexual abuse: "What is going to prevent these priests from re-offending? Do we need to let them get married?" .

We need to understand that marriage does not cure a pedophile, ever, regardless of what occupation the person practices - teacher or mailman, priest or janitor, or even a relative or stranger. A pedophile is always going to be who he is; whether there is any rehabilitation that can change that is questionable. The pedophile must be kept away from contact with children. Period.

Anne Denehy

South Huntington

Let's drill smarter

We need oil, at least until alternative energy sources come online. It is important that we do not rely upon people who want to blow us up to provide the oil. There are many places we can drill for oil that do not involve 5,000 feet of water . If these places were utilized, they would be less likely to have problems, and if there were a problem it could be fixed - mainly because the wellhead would not be 5,000 feet underwater!

Why are we drilling in the place that is most likely to have a problem? If this well were on land it would have been fixed in a day - if it happened in the first place. Which groups forced drilling into the place that is the most inaccessible, the most expensive, the hardest to fix if something goes wrong? Why do we continue to listen to them?

William A. Lau

Kings Park

Hiring site's backers need a reality check

Perhaps those who support the day laborer site in Huntington Station should familiarize themselves with the area before stating their opposition to closing the site . I have lived in Huntington Station for more than 15 years, and having traveled Depot Road for that same period of time, I can attest to the fact that more and more day laborers have been lining the streets every year since the site opened.

Ten years ago, the only place a day laborer would be seen was near the location of the hiring site. Today, the day laborers loiter on Depot Road for blocks. I will no longer shop at the nearby drugstore, dry cleaners and tire business because of the loitering.

Most of the vocal proponents of the site do not live in Huntington Station. If they feel so strongly about the site, they should contact their own local legislators and rally for a site in their own neighborhood.

The savings from closing the site could be better utilized hiring more code enforcement officers to better attack part of this problem at the roots - illegal housing within Huntington Station.

Matthew Haas

Huntington Station