Plume coverage makes difference

I applaud Rep. Thomas Suozzi (D-Glen Cove) for holding a meeting about plume cleanup [“Plume cleanup talks,” News, Feb. 25], but why wasn’t the Bethpage Water District invited to represent the Bethpage residents while the polluters sat at the table making the same promises they have for the past 40 years?

The Bethpage Water District fights to meet drinking water standards, stay proactive, pump more contamination than Grumman and the Navy combined and maintain wells to protect South Farmingdale and Massapequa from the plume.

The plume moves faster than polluters and politicians finding a solution, and each day jeopardizes the well-being of those affected by the plume.

The Navy and Grumman have used delaying tactics to avoid new responsibilities while the Town of Oyster Bay has denied permits to Grumman to start work on piping and leaving contamination 1,000 times more than the state standard at the Bethpage Community Park while trying to leverage Grumman.

I want to thank reporters Paul LaRocco and David M. Schwartz for lighting a fire under the polluters, keeping them on notice and making the biggest impact to date by uncovering new information.

John F. Coumatos,

Bethpage

Editor’s note: The writer is a Bethpage water commissioner. 

I want to thank Newsday for the excellent reporting regarding the Grumman/Navy plume. I have been a resident of Bethpage for 27 years, living very close to the park. Your in-depth, detailed, comprehensive reporting is very much appreciated. Thank you for such excellent work.

Mary Cavaciuti,

Bethpage 

CPS workers, judges in Valva case

Blame for Thomas Valva’s death is broad-based, and while I do not seek to negate Child Protective Services’ role, more insight is needed into the heroic work performed by front-line CPS workers.

For 10 years, I was part of an evening crew that conducted the initial investigations into allegations of child abuse/maltreatment. I made about 1,000 home visits throughout Nassau County, and I was almost always by myself. The circumstances were dangerous, and significant threats were posed by those who resented our presence, by those who saw us as a vulnerable target, and by unleashed dogs. We were not protected by the authority that comes with being a police officer, and of course we never carried a weapon.

We promoted the well-being of children by our courage, our ability to de-escalate the powerful emotional response to our presence, and by our skill in determining the extent of a child’s injuries, finding out whether a child’s needs were being met, and by initiating crisis interventions.

Our society has many problems, but the front-line CPS worker is part of the solution.

James R. Dolan Jr.,

North Massapequa

Editor’s note: The writer, executive director of the Charles Evans Center, was director of the Nassau County Office of Mental Health, Chemical Dependency and Developmental Disabilities Services.

In the article “How the system failed Tommy” [News, Feb. 16], you name only a few judges who let the case pass through their courts to a final disposition of a death penalty. We must know all the judges involved so we can make informed decisions at the polls. One judge, State Supreme Court Justice Joseph Lorintz, has recused himself. He was asked to intervene four months before Thomas Valva died and apparently failed to help. Another Supreme Court Justice, Hope Schwartz Zimmerman, told the child’s mother to sit and be quiet because she was not making any sense.

Let’s expose these judges and remove them from positions of protecting our children. It’s the least we can offer to a broken system. We get to vote and change the course of our history.

Thomas Melia,

Oak Beach

Newsday is barking up the wrong tree

I cannot believe what I read in Newsday,  “Bow wows take their vows on Valentine’s Day” [News, Feb. 15]. Dogs getting married! “Pledging to love and share a lifetime of kisses with each other.” How ridiculous! Marriage is a sacrament — a sacred bonding of two people who know what they are doing. Does Newsday lack news items?

Audrey Meder,

Stony Brook 

Governor is not above the law, either

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo says he “feels better” after a recent meeting with President Donald Trump and acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf, adding, “I did all I could” [“No deal on travel program,” News, Feb. 14]. The governor has been a thorn in the side of the people and departments trying to protect and defend the legal residents of this country. Cuomo and others fail to recognize that U.S. laws supersede state laws that prevent the United States from carrying out its lawful duty.

Let the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the U.S. Border Patrol do their jobs and protect us with the help of the full database from New York State’s Department of Motor Vehicles. Seems to me that Cuomo should follow his own repeated mantra of “no one is above the law,” but of course that doesn’t include himself or immigrants who are here illegally.

Gerard Porcelli,

Farmingdale