LETTERS: Tiger, LI's hungry and more
For Elin, staying away sent strong message
The best thing about Tiger Woods' apology speech was that his wife was not there! Kudos to Elin for not "standing by her man" as so many other foolish women in the spotlight have done before her. She gained my respect for not being there.
Karen Hayes
Senate fiddles while we step up to help
How interesting is the juxtaposition of your two editorials "An exit from a sinking ship" and "Remember the hungry" .
The first bemoans the "dangerously dysfunctional" Senate, which has turned to "ideology and partisanship" while the country faces "disappearing jobs, crumbling infrastructure, crushing debt," etc. The second highlights the needs of 65,000 of our "neighbors seeking emergency food help every week on Long Island." But there's good news: "Individuals and groups are stepping up with donations of cash and food."
How ironic that the elected "officials," those whom we employ to find solutions to our collective problems, are the self-interested do-nothings. We the people are the ones who show concern and compassion with our private donations of money and time. If ever there were a time to sweep the Senate (and the House) clean, this is it!
Eileen Toomey
Fed support needed to help LI's hungry
Newsday's recent editorial "Change this fickle formula" Editorial, Feb. 23] appropriately highlights the glaring manner in which the federal Emergency Food and Shelter Program disregards the devastating impact of the recession on Long Island families.
Slight drops in unemployment rates hardly capture the incredible struggle many families face with the high costs of food, shelter, medical expenses and transportation. A dip in unemployment is essentially meaningless when the new jobs secured are either part-time, at a much lower salary than previously earned, or both.
Finally, the dramatic increases our departments are seeing in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamp) applications support a recent report's finding that at least one in 10 Long Islanders is food insecure, and that reliance on SNAP and other food supplement programs continues to increase.
Some 300,000 Long Islanders served by food banks and pantries in 2009 shows a clear need for more federal support for this program here on Long Island.
Gregory J. Blass
John E. Imhof
Editor's note: The writers are the commissioners of social services in Suffolk County and Nassau County, respectively.
Law would put heat on drug profiteers
Newsday's recent editorial "Drug law won't work" ignores the primary goal of recent legislation proposed by state Sen. Craig Johnson and my office: to deter street-level dealers and hold them accountable for the increasingly fatal consequences of their business. By giving New York State prosecutors a manslaughter charge to use when dealers' drugs lead to a fatal overdose, we will send the message to dealers that they cannot deal drugs on our streets, blind to the havoc their drugs wreak on their addicted customers. State law, as it stands now, fails to connect their activity with the inevitability of their trade.
Newsday's editorial inflates the punishments that await arrested, street-level dealers - even those responsible for fatal overdoses. The recent reforms to the state's drug laws have made it even more difficult for the criminal justice system to distinguish between kingpins deserving prison, dealers deserving jail, and addicts deserving treatment. The reforms were the right move, but we can't let for-profit dealers and drug kingpins hide behind the reform's righteous intent.
By taking a bold stance against street-level dealers involved in fatal overdoses, our state will be making real progress against the anonymous dealers and kingpins seeking legal refuge behind outdated law and the unintentional impact of worthwhile reforms aimed at helping the drug-addicted, not the drug profiteers, among us.
Kathleen M. Rice
Editor's note: The writer is Nassau County district attorney.
Heroin outreach aims at white communities
I applaud the Drug Enforcement Agency and local authorities for taking steps to increase awareness of heroin abuse .
However, I must voice the opinion of many in minority communities that the alarm, fear and outrage is only now being felt, and reported, because it has begun affecting Long Island's white communities.
The horrors of drugs and all that come with them are not a new issue. From the list of planned seminars, I see very few in areas with any significant minority population.
I'd like to know if any seminars are being planned for communities such as Wyandanch, Roosevelt, Hempstead, North Bellport, Central Islip, Brentwood and the like. I would have expected some outreach to the communities that have been plagued by these problems for years.
Dallas Thompson
Priest had courage to speak against diocese
I read with shock the article about the Rev. Edward J. Kealey , who had the courage to speak out about the Diocese of Rockville Centre's latest policy to cut back staff while asking many to return as volunteers.
While so many priests on Long Island have refrained from speaking out, Kealey did not hold back from doing what he felt was right. It was uplifting to think that this lone man was more concerned about the people that he ministers to than preserving the wealth of the diocese.
Paul Spina
Editor's note: The writer is a former member of Voice of the Faithful.
Follow French model for nuclear plants
It has been 30 years since the last nuclear power plant was built in the United States "Nuclear powered," News, Feb. 17]. I can only hope we have the brains to choose engineering companies with enough nuclear technology experience to allow us a safe re-entry into the nuclear age.
France has been using nuclear power for years and theirs is a model we could follow. They have one plant design throughout the country. If a problem arises in one plant, it is corrected and those same fixes are made in the other plants - in essence a national nuclear plant.
Since that idea may scare some people, I suggest a preemptive strike: Allow free enterprise by having a competition among nuclear engineering companies to present their designs to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Once the best design is chosen, any plant built would follow this plan. Since it would be the same plant throughout the country, the economics of scale would set in and the plants would become less expensive as more were built.
Richard Grzetic
Snow expected Friday ... Christmas tree fundraiser lawsuit ... No tax on tips ... WWII vet to play anthem at UBS
