The River Reporter Online - Letters to the Editor

[EDITOR'S NOTE: The River Reporter welcomes letters on all subjects from its readers. They must be signed and include the correspondent's phone number. The correspondent's name and town will appear at the bottom of each letter; titles and affiliations will not, unless the correspondent is writing on behalf of a group.

Letters are printed as they are received, or at the discretion of the editor, and without correction to grammar or spelling. It is requested they be limited to 500 words; correspondents may be asked to cut longer letters. Deadline is 1:00 p.m. on Monday.

September is Childhood Cancer Month. Yes, children get cancer, too. In fact, despite remarkable research progress, cancer still kills more children than any other disease. More and better cures must be found. My daughter Jessica was diagnosed with Nueroblastoma Stage l 1b on August 28, 1996. She was only 10 months old. A lump was found in her neck, our excellent pediatrician moved very quickly and a day later we were at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Two days after her biopsy, the doctors and Jessica's dad and I decided to start her on chemotherapy to hopefully try and shrink her tumor. Her first treatment started August 28 and she had her last round of chemotherapy in December. She lost her hair and got quite sick. The following February she had surgery to remove her tumor. They successfully removed all of it. I am very happy to say Jessica is 99 percent cured. She is now 4 1/2 years old and very healthy.

We were extremely lucky our pediatrician was so quick to move on her case and it was caught early enough that it hadn't spread to any other locations in her body. Jessica goes every six months to Philadelphia where they take blood tests and other tests. What they mainly watch for now is the side effects of the chemotherapy that she received. In Jessica's case they watch her heart and her hearing. So far everything is very good.

We celebrate her anniversary on February 22 every year with family and friends. This is why I feel it is important to get people more aware of Childhood Cancer Month. Just a red or pink ribbon worn on the lapel shows support for Aids or Breast Cancer research, a gold ribbon shows that you want to see more cures found for infants, children, teenagers and young adults with cancer. I wish everyone in Narrowsburg and surrounding county's would call the National Childhood Cancer Foundation 800/458-6223 and ask for a free gold ribbon pin and wear it during September, because our children are our GOLD! We must conquer kid's cancer!

Albert Gore, Democratic candidate for POTUS, President of the United States, has declared himself pro-abortion. This Roman Catholic, a former seminarian and continuing student of moral law, asserts that those Christians who vote for pro-abortion politicians, Democrat or Republican, commit mortal sin because they are accomplices to a moral crime which the Church teaches is the deliberate murder of the unborn, soul-filled human child. Abortion is the grievous violation of the sacred Fifth Commandment: You shall not kill." The Catholic Church attaches the penalty of excommunication to all accomplices of abortion, which logically must include Christian pro-abortion voters and legislators.

Long ago, Pope John Paul in union with the American bishops should have issued the declarations of excommunication to all heretical Christian advocates of abortion especially the proponents of the partial birth abortion procedure, which is infanticide. The compromised consciences of the Catholic prelates are strained with the blood of the aborted, unborn children. The reckoning demanded of the pope, prelates and parish priests in not providing these spiritual counsels will be terrible.

It's been a frightening month in our little hamlet of Narrowsburg. First the tempest winds and then the rising tides. Our roads were eroded and our farms submerged under water.

As Elton said in Psalm 42 "while the damned frolicked in the calm of semptious reason, the flock was tended and herded to the comfort of the Lord's shelter to await the storm of anomogy!"

Then another devil has risen amidst God's children in the name of Richard Castellano. I've followed this crooked soul in your newspaper taking money from farmers, actors, lawyers, filmmakers and rental car agencies. How dare he!

Jonah says in Hebrews 11, verse 6 "Walk the wicked way along the crooked and temptuous path of sin and your company shall be the serpent of deception, while followers of the Father and the Posse shall pass on a path of Eternal fortitude and graze in the gardens of the Lord."

Let us not forget that what goes around, comes around. Shackled and lonely, I can only imagine this vacant man in his cell reflecting upon his crimes on humanity. Repent Mr. Castellano for the sake of your fellow Christians and taxpayers.

[Editor's Note: The River Reporter was unable to locate any of the Bible verses referenced in Sister Sam's letter. We invite Sister Sam to identify the source of her material. In addition, there is no listing for "Samantha K. Inison" in Neversink. Sister Sam, we invite you to reveal your identity.]