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.

Mr. Ed Hauser is the proprietor of a local smoke shop, Mr. Cigar, located at Apple Valley in Milford. He displays the American and confederate flags at his business.

The Tri-State Unity Coalition was contacted by some residents several months ago who expressed their concern about the “welcome message” visitors to Milford received when greeted by the Confederate flag being flown in the center of a Pike County historical site specifically designed to attract tourism, our county’s main economic base. Their concern, and ours, is certainly not about the historical significance of the Confederate flag; rather that it has become a symbol widely used today by white supremacists and other hate groups including the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazi and Aryan Nations.

We are the 58th community coalition in the commonwealth, organized with guidance from, and recognition by, the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission.

We attempted to make Mr. Hauser aware of the concerns of local residents, in person (we were thrown out of his store) and by letter, and offered to replace the Confederate flag with a Pennsylvania or United States flag. Both attempts to communicate with him were in no way confrontational. We seek to enhance understanding and respect among all people, providing information and a forum for discussion. We respect everyone’s right to freedom of expressing their opinions responsibly. Responsible speech does not incite hatred or violence.

Our organization’s mission is human rights, among them the freedom for all people to be fully employed and able to patronize local businesses. We believe Mr. Hauser’s “advertising” will prove detrimental to our local economy, especially in the most rapidly growing county in Pennsylvania. The diverse future tourists and residents that travel to the Pocono region may perceive they would be safer to keep traveling on the road away from us, making a recent bumper sticker, “Welcome to Milford...Now Go Home!” an unpleasant reality for us all.

Once again, discrimination has reared its ugly head. It seems that the administration of the Eldred Central School is allowing the Honor Society to take two and a half days from school to go on an overnight trip. We are not against the trip per se but are against the fact that two and one half days of school are being used for the trip. This certainly is not a three-day educational trip, not if the group is going to Great Adventure. The trip should be scheduled for a Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The Friday portion is on school time and is educational; The weekend is their time to do as they please.

Just this fall, the senior class was told that it could no longer take a senior class trip with the permission of the school. The trip could be set up and run by parents. Legal reasons were cited for such a trip. Has the law suddenly changed?

If you argue that these kids are the “good” ones, what does that make the rest of our class? Bad? Just because we are not involved in the Honor Society does not make us bad. The seniors going on the trip should refuse to allow this discrimination to happen. They are the first ones to complain that our class does not do things together and that we hate one another. I don’t hear them complaining now that they are on the other side of the fence. I guess when you guys get your way, the rest of us just have to learn our place. It’s too bad you can’t make a sacrifice to show your leadership, honor and character.

Sincerely,
The “Rest” of the Senior Class at Eldred Central School
Eldred, NY

On behalf of the staff, board and volunteers of Victims’ Intervention Program, I would like to thank everyone in the community who participated in our annual geranium fundraiser. Whether you bought them or sold them or delivered them or packed them—thank you.

This was our best year ever. Over 5,000 geraniums were sold. It is our hope that red geraniums will serve to remind the community that domestic violence and sexual abuse are crimes that need to stop.

Special thanks are extended to Top Notch Distributors for the use of their loading dock, warehouse and staff. A very special thank you to Castek’s Floral for going above and beyond for us by providing the most beautiful flowers when we experienced a last-minute shortfall.

Sincerely,
Michele Minor Wolf, MA, Executive Director
Victim’s Intervention Program
Honesdale, PA

Now that summer is here, readers of The River Reporter might be interested in helping children who attend a camp near the Delaware River that is very special.

Morry’s camp is like no other camp. The program provides children from inner cities and low-income families with a chance to four weeks of sleep-away camp. And an additional three years of post-graduation camp experiences to those who seek additional life skills development. Children are provided with full scholarships and monthly year-round support when the summer is over.

The camp was established in l996 to continue the vision of Morry Stein, who lost his life in a plane crash.

Interested readers may send a contribution to Morry’s Camp, 900 Dobbs Ferry Road, white Plains, NY l0607. For further information call 9l4/592-3055.

“I thought we were supposed to grant freedom in the capital, not take it away… I don’t like this kind of crap.”(Assemblyman Jake Gunther)

This blast was directed at proposed legislation to protect children against second-hand smoke. It seems as intemperate as it is wrong.

First, as I understand it, our government is supposed to protect freedom, not “grant” it. And where there appears to be a conflict such as the conflict between the freedom to smoke and the freedom of kids to breath unpolluted, life-threatening air, we the people, as represented by the government, can properly step in and make some choices.

Secondly, though he may simply be trying to polish his image as a free-spirited maverick, his disdain of views other than his own as expressed in his reference to them as “crap,” serves neither his argument nor his constituents.

Finally, I have criticized him for accepting tobacco money in the past and, whether or not it has influenced his current position, I urge him to get out from under the appearance that he is owned by the infamous tobacco lobby. I also think that he should hear from lots of his constituents.

Cheers to the Shohola Twp. Zoning Board for stopping the harassment of the Dan McKean family by an envious neighbor. Shame on Mr. Zenes for trying to use the power of government to pull down a hard working American family. If Mr. Zenes wants the quality of his life to improve he could start with apologizing to Mr. McKean.

Galling to me, for one thing, is the unending political goings on in disregarding others in this country and mainly the conspicuous impressions we are unconcernedly continuing to create to the ever onlooking and concerned people around this World of ours.

Where Senator McClain, a seemingly confused vengeful maverick, now to some degree a Republican, is continuing with his escalating feud by acting in concert with the left-winger Ted Kennedy and the hypocrite Lieberman, especially.

With the other Democratic party partisans who are still unrelentingly seeking to make life miserable for President Bush by making him pay for the unexpected defeat by taking the election away from Gore and his clinging minions. With the undercover prodding of Slick-Willy Clinton and his hangers-on.

And with the fulsome absolute controlling Gotham-dubbed politicians with the certain minority affiliates who will continue to submerge President Bush’s reputation in their sole quest, particularly, to open the gate for power-hungry Hillary cravingly standing by to take up other reins of State so that she can further discredit our country for what it was respectfully known at one time.