LETTERS: Terror trial, Mangano and more
Keep trial in NYC to send a message
The mindset of Islamic terrorists has been and will always be "an eye for an eye" "NY views on terror trial weighed," News, Feb. 1]. When terrorists attack us, we should respond in a similar manner. Holding a terrorist trial within the shadows once cast by the twin towers gives us this opportunity. Having the trial in New York City, convicting and sentencing the terrorist responsible for planning the attack, would help heal the heartbreaking wounds of families who lost loved ones on 9/11.
The threat of a terrorist action in New York City exists at any moment. Holding a terrorist trial in the city does not change that. However, heightened security during such a trial can stop an attempt by terrorists.
Many city and state officials are requesting that the trial be moved elsewhere. This will not reduce the threat of attack on New York.
Officials continue to shout "the sky is falling" every time there is a terrorist action. This only emboldens the terrorists and does nothing to strengthen our security. If we let fear destroy our way of life, we might as well exchange our symbol of freedom, the American eagle, for a Chicken Little mascot.
Anthony Mignone
Mangano responds on ARC appointees
The recent editorial regarding my administration's removal of members of the Assessment Review Commission is self-contradictory and seems to support the practice of waste and abuse that has left Nassau in its worst financial shape in history.
I have acted to remove these appointees and name fewer commissioners at lower salaries. This was clearly not the aim of former County Executive Tom Suozzi, who not only rushed to appoint them on the eve of his departure but granted one member a substantial salary increase - despite warning county employees of possible layoffs and painful cuts earlier in the year. And I must point out that Suozzi removed the ARC members he inherited when he took office in 2002.
While the editorial decries the price tag associated with the commission, it makes no mention of my plan to cut the number of members and decrease their compensation.
The broken property tax assessment system wastes $250 million per year in taxpayer dollars, and its repair represents the cornerstone of my fiscal recovery plan for Nassau County. Your suggestion that changing ARC is a fight not worth taking on is shortsighted. The way to close the budget gap is to examine every commission and position in Nassau County, and when it is discovered that taxpayer dollars are being wasted, I'll make the change. Fixing the assessment system will go a long way in repairing Nassau's finances.
Editor's Note: The writer is Nassau County executive.
Don't blame Obama
Blaming President Barack Obama for our current economic woes is the same as blaming President Franklin Roosevelt for the Great Depression.
Daniel T. Arcieri
Riverhead needs electric rail service
Having worked for the Long Island Rail Road for 31 years as a conductor, the last two on the Greenport branch, I have seen the MTA grapple with the issue of suspending service there several times. Considering inevitable future growth throughout eastern Long Island, one thing is more obvious than ever: We need more reliable, consistent rail service to the East End, which in the past never justified the cost.
Electric rail service to Riverhead is a no-brainer. It's been considered before. The stretch from Ronkonkoma to Riverhead is basically a straight run, which would allow equipment to travel at 80 miles per hour.
East of Riverhead, the LIRR could run light rail service or partner with public or private bus service providers. For commuters, electric trains leaving Riverhead would make limited stops after Ronkonkoma to continue to New York, with local customers changing at Ronkonkoma. Many who now drive to Ronkonkoma would be more inclined to use the service knowing they had more frequent and dependable trains.
The time is now for our elected officials to face this issue. We need to see this as an infrastructure investment whose time has come, same as the East Side Access project. "Build it, and they will come."
Steve Pampinella
Letter was cold to mom needing help
I find a recent letter "Don't reward mom who's here illegally," Letters, Feb. 3] to be so cold. We seem to be a nation that is so ready and willing to help disaster victims all over the world with our money and good deeds. Yet, when someone needs our help in our own country we hesitate, to decide if they are worthy of our care. We should strive to help every human being when we can.
Your article left me with a much better opinion of humanity than this letter did.
Joan Lyons
Support for Dr. Katz
I am a physician at Stony Brook University, and I am writing in support of Dr. Erica Katz . Her story is certainly a wake-up call about the potential for unintended consequences that can occur with what we post on social networking sites and on the Internet in general.
I have worked with many medical students and residents; overwhelmingly they are in the medical profession for the "right reasons." I remember Katz fondly and put her in that same category: a talented and dedicated young physician who is caring and concerned for her patients.
Her lapse in judgment notwithstanding, the effect of being named in a newspaper article complete with her own picture featured is unnecessarily traumatic.
Richard E. Tuckman
What's wrong with this pay picture?
Let's see, we taxpayers are still paying former Roslyn schools chief Frank Tassone, a convicted crook, over $173,000 a year for the rest of his life. Yet we are upset to pay a hardworking elected official $99,000 per year .
What has gone wrong with society when something that is so obviously wrong is done because it is in a contract! I guess we have our good contract lawyers to thank for this. How sad that a blatant wrong cannot be righted.
Pat Gangitano
Massapequa Park
Prison is best home for homeless offenders
The least-worst place to house homeless child molesters is inside life-without-parole prison cells . They forfeited their rights when they inflicted "cruel and unusual punishment" on their helpless victims. The so-called rights of "offenders driven by powerful urges to prey on children" should be superseded by the rights of their future victims to not be raped and otherwise abused.
Richard Siegelman
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