LETTERS: Silly Bandz, ferry terminal and more

A ban on Silly Bandz? That's just silly

I never thought I would see the day when school administrators lose control of 8-, 9-, and 10-year-olds . John F. Kennedy Intermediate School in Deer Park has banned Silly Bandz, saying they are a danger and a distraction, but it appears more like poor classroom management.

Is every child who has them disrupting the school, or is it a chosen few? Why do the children who follow the rules always have to be punished along with the ones who don't? Here's an idea: Make some rules. Advise children that if they don't put them away until recess, they will be taken away. What a concept, teaching responsibility!

What's next, banning all school supplies? As a school nurse for 17 years, I have seen many injuries from sharpened pencil points and none from cheap rubber bands. It seems to me that teachers and administrators should be encouraging children to enjoy their youth and not stripping them of it. What's wrong with teaching kids to share, trade and communicate effectively with one another?

Ellen La Salle

Deer Park

New ferry terminal is a positive change

Congratulations to the National Park Service and the Fire Island National Seashore on their new visitor center in Patchogue . We now have a visitor center of which we can be proud and that will provide a positive beginning experience to visitors to the seashore. This center has been years in the planning. Its completion is to the credit of many, many people who have persevered through the years in guiding this dream to its fruition - among them Rep. Tim Bishop, who assisted in directing stimulus money to complete this project. Bravo to all!

Deirdre M. Hensen

Miller Place

Finally seeing the light on hiring site closure

Ten years ago then-Suffolk County Executive Robert Gaffney and a majority of residents in the community of Farmingville rejected a hiring hall for our community . We felt then as we do now that hiring halls do nothing to improve the situation related to undocumented immigrants and the associated street activity they bring. In fact, in many ways it makes a bad situation worse.

For our trouble of taking a stand for what we felt was best for our community, both Gaffney and many Suffolk residents were vilified.

Fast forward 10 years, and in commenting on the long overdue closure of the Huntington Station site, Newsday finally admits the obvious: "It wasn't working, and we need another approach" . The majority of Suffolk residents are well aware of the other approach - enforce the law.

Nick Alfano

Farmingville