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To the editor: As we approach the season of Thanksgiving, we the Highland Seniors would like to thank you for supporting our Penny Social by contributing goods or services to enhance the local causes of our organization. Your community spirit is much appreciated. You help make our area the friendly, caring place that it is. Mildred E. Huberman, Secretary To the editor: On behalf of the eighth grade class I would like to thank you for your generous donation towards our Holiday Craft Fair Raffle. The money raised by this Raffle is being used to defray the cost of the transportation for our annual eighth grade Washington trip. Thank you again for your continued support. Jolene Porter, Trip Coordinator To the editor: On October 22 of this year another newspaper wrote a story in a very negative light about an occurrence during one of our football games. For the “record,” there are three sides to every story. Theirs, mine and the truth. It is incumbent upon reporters to first seek out the truth and then report in a nonbiased, fair and accurate way. What we as a community were subject to as a result of that article was the worst type of journalism—sensationalism for the sake of selling a paper. To your credit, Mr. Richard Ross has demonstrated superior journalism this entire season while covering our areas sporting events. He has taken the time to get to know our team members, their parents and their fans. He knows how hard our young people have to work in order to maintain their positions on their team, both academically and athletically He supports them with his professional, respectful journalism. Perhaps those “other” journalists might consider a refresher course from him. Debbie Reilly To the editor: Does your headline “Americans March for Peace” indicate you feel that anyone who endorses our President’s policy toward Iraq is not an American? Or does your bias extend to a point where if there is a disagreement with your editorial policy you no longer consider the dissident an American? Reading your newspaper the past weeks I have found no mention from advocates for the President’s position. Is there not one person or group that you might find to balance your reporting? Having spent the better part of 38 years as a newsman for a New York newspaper, it was always policy to present all sides to a story; editorializing was left to the Editorial page. That is Journalism 101. I have no argument with your editorials taking a position, pro or con on any subject. I do object to the fact your reporting is one sided with only one voice heard. Any publication that pretends to be a newspaper should heed the rules of “Fair Reporting.” Any bias, liberal, or conservative, Republican or Democrat should have no place in a news story. This, sorry to say, is a rule you have repeatedly broken. Charles L. Frattini To the editor: Thank you for the editorial, “Stop the war on the American mind”(10/31). I commend news editor David Hulse on his clear thinking and courage. Readers Mary Ann Burke and Katherine Dodge also provided voices of reason, suggesting the answer to terrorism is to address the real problems escalating in the world: poverty, ignorance, racism, pollution etc. War is an outmoded and self-defeating approach to international problems. All peoples have the potential to thrive in a climate of acceptance and understanding. They want and deserve what they learn from TV and computers; enough to eat, a decent place to live, an opportunity to educate their children. But today our government is creating a climate of fear and repression. Why the rush to war now—politics and oil? Aren’t there better ways to save the world from destruction? To fight terrorism takes intelligence, patience, negotiations, working with others. We are more apt to achieve a stable world peace if we try to solve the problems of living. What are our children learning as we say that WAR is the first answer. Aren’t there better ways? Mildred E Hubeman To the editor: The sign in my car window last week read, “Regime Change Begins at Home: Vote!” It was red, white and blue. Voting is a patriotic thing to do. Speaking out for peace and justice is a patriotic thing to do. When the leaders of this country make decisions that are unjust, cruel, that do not respect the dignity, rights and very lives of the people in this country, or Iraq or any other and do it in our name (and our childrens’ and grandchildrens’), it is time to become active participants in the democracy we say is ours. When the Congress gives away the right to decide when and if we should wage war pre-emptively and unilaterally against the Iraqi people or any other people, to one man, then it is time to vote, write, call our representatives, hold up signs, whatever it takes to use the voices we have. It is time to thank those congresspeople who oppose this war and voted accordingly. It is time to send a message to the president and his circle that we haven’t given up our voice, our participation in the democratic process. If the intent of this administration is to overwhelm the issues of the economy, the huge military budget, cuts in education, Temporary Aid to Needy Families, humanitarian policies, and on and on, with talk of war and fear and who’s the most powerful, then we need to let our leaders know that we are smarter than they think. Even if the media does not report the growing opposition to our own “regime,” does not accurately count the growing numbers on the streets of Washington, Newburgh, San Francisco and Honesdale, we can still let those who represent us know how we feel. I am tired of being afraid. I am tired of not asking questions of this “regime.” We are not willing to go to war in Iraq, Mr. Bush, for whatever reason you say it is necessary. We are not willing to let our children and the children of Iraq die for oil, for power, for control. Some say Iraq needs “regime change.” Is Iraq the only “regime” that needs changing? Jane Orcutt To the editor: Wouldn’t it be great to live in Katharine Dodge’s world? A world where we can all hold hands with the enemies of the United States and sing “Give Peace a Chance.” Enemies who would like nothing better than to kill every American and destroy our way of life. Saddam and Bin Laden (and other Muslim terrorists) are thankful for people like Ms. Dodge, who seem to be blind to the evil they spread around the world. Ms. Dodge says that the US has used weapons of mass destruction against its own people. Funny, I don’t recall the US military taking the offensive against other Americans and dropping a Nuke on their heads. These evil terrorists have weapons of mass destruction, and they are the ones who have used them on their own people, not us. Peaceniks all believe that if the evil United States had no military at all, then the world would be a safer place. That the nice people like Saddam and Hitler would have no reason to be worried that their wonderful dictatorships would be in trouble of being dismantled. If we had no military, we would have no Untied States as we know it. Would Ms. Dodge, and people like her, have held hands with Hitler, singing “Kum ba Yah?” Maybe. This world needs more countries like the US, countries that believe in freedom and the rights of people. President Bush is trying to keep freedom-loving people around the world safe and free from fear of terrorists like Saddam and Bin Laden. I, like most Americans, support the President’s desire to eliminate the threats that our country and way of life faces. Ms. Dodge doesn’t support pre-emptive action against Iraq. Ok, let’s just give them and any other country that wants it the first shot. After all, we brought it on ourselves anyway, right Ms. Dodge? Call it whatever you want, but evil is evil. You are either in favor of it being in the world, or you’re against it. I’m against it. God speed Mr. President. Van Fuller To the editor: Pity our children. How very sad and unfortunate that a mean-spirited bigot, filled with hate, was chosen to be the poet laureate of New Jersey. How tragic that his vitriolic lie is fed to the international community and in some instances believed and loudly echoed, particularly in the Islamic world, i.e.: “...Four thousand Israeli workers at the Twin Towers complex were told to stay home...” How shameful that some in our country believe this terrible falsehood. Accusing, attacking and blaming Jews for any and all problems and calamities has endured over the centuries. It is a common practice of a long and deep-rooted pattern of societal assignment. In our time, just before and during World War II, six million Jews were enslaved, tortured and murdered. Six million! The entire world is, at this moment, simmering in a seething cauldron of hate, rage and pitiless violence. Regretfully, religion has most certainly entered the confrontational maze and its violent outshoots. Now we wonder will the acts of terrorism, of killing ever stop? Will these malicious demons of war and hate ravage and exterminate without care or proper reason and impose their own ways, habits and beliefs on all others who may walk to a different drumbeat? The violence must stop! It really doesn’t help! I’m mad that this is happening. I have lived through wars. I know shooting a guy is not the answer. Don’t believe me; just go tour a veteran’s hospital, or, better yet, a war trauma center. Morton Sunshine To the editor: Wayne Peace. Who we are: We are your friends and neighbors who share your concern about the dangerous course of world events and the possibility that we may soon be at war. We believe that the way our government has chosen to respond to the terrorism and hatred in the world is backfiring, fueling the crisis to even more explosive proportions. We feel we must take a stand and speak out in opposition to those of our elected officials who have given their assent to a pre-emptive war with Iraq. We support those courageous officials who persevere in exploring other ways. We believe pre-emptive war is immoral and violates international law. In a statement issued by religious leaders in the United States and the United Kingdom, they called a pre-emptive war on Iraq illegal, unwise and immoral, stating: “... it is our considered judgment that a pre-emptive war against Iraq, particularly in the current situation would not be justified.” We believe, for the sake of our children and for life itself, we must find another way. We pledge to become more educated and involved as responsible citizens of our country and our world, so that injustices are not committed in our name by our silence. We pledge to promote open and honest discussion of the issues that affect our lives. We pledge to help strengthen our democracy in our community by listening to other points of view with respect. We welcome you, your thoughts and your feelings. You can contact us by e-mail at Smendler@well.com or phone 570/729-7068 or 845/482-3527. Beverly Sterner To the editor: Driving home the other day I heard on the car radio something that I hardly believed: The US Government approved the Russian special forces bloody takeover of a Moscow theater, where the Chechen fighters were holding hostages demanding the withdrawal of Russian troops from Republic of Chechnya. The Chechens are an independence minded people. They declared independence in 1991, but Russians invaded their country again in 1994 destroying most of their land and killing thousands of Chechens who openly opposed that invasion. By using a mysterious deadly gas, those Russian Special Forces brutally killed not only about 50 Chechens, but also about 117 innocent Russian people also died poisoned by that gas, and many more are fighting for their lives in the nearby hospitals. To add to the insult, the Russian government called it a “military triumph.” At a time when our government strongly objects to the use of deadly gas by Iraq on its people, the US Government, according to what I heard on the radio, approves the Russian behavior in Moscow. And how does this sound to you: many of the Chechen fighters died after being shot in the head by Russian forces while they were unconscious from poisoned gas? Is that conduct humane? More than likely not everybody will share my view on this matter, but whoever was enslaved under political domination will understand the meaning of the word “Freedom.” Bohdan Kandiuk To the editor: Lately, on meeting people who recognize my name because of my anti-casino activism, I’m often told, “I used to think you were nuts. But it turns out you’re right!” Mostly it’s because they now recognize that casino traffic would be disruptive and, regularly (on social security and public-assistance check days), a downright dangerous nightmare. (Assemblyman Gunther’s suggestion that we’d have to do something about traffic doesn’t quite cut it somehow). They’ve agreed as well with objective, university-funded studies I’ve cited, one revealing a substantial and taxpayer subsidized net economic loss from casinos and another that revealed a significantly higher crime rate (8%), nationwide, for carefully compared counties with casinos. So while some wonder about my sanity while they focus on fantasy, real issues concerning casinos finally seem to be coming into focus locally and, importantly, in court. That’s got to be a good thing. Lee Karr To the editor: I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who worked so hard to make this year’s Bud Rue Walk for Social Justice such a wonderful event. Approximately 40 people did the walk this year and while the final totals are not yet in, it looks like we will be very near to meeting our goal of $4,000. One hundred percent of this money will be distributed equally to five local groups that do social justice work in the Upper Delaware region. We would especially like to thank all those patrons of Peck’s Market in Narrowsburg, and the SuperDuper and K-Mart in Honesdale who so freely and generously contributed to our walk. Also, many of the area businesses contributed and since they are too numerous to list here I would like to direct your readers to the walk’s website (budruewalk.tripod.com) where they are listed in full. Thomas Lisenbee, President To the editor: Sometimes we take for granted what a wonderful community we live in. We are indeed fortunate to be part of a community of caring individuals. Well over 500 volunteers came together on October 5 for the 17th consecutive year to support our local library. With your help, we were able to provide a tremendous day of enjoyment for the children of our area. The Board Members and staff of the Daniel Pierce Library just want to say thanks! We were blessed with an absolutely beautiful day and had one of our most successful Pumpkin Parties ever. We truly mean it when we say, “we couldn’t have done it without you.” No matter what the task (and there were hundreds of them), we were able to accomplish our goal of providing a fun-filled day for children of all ages. Thanks again for a job well done. It is with great excitement that we look forward to the future with the groundbreaking of the building project. Thank you again for the continued support of the all the friends of the library. Joann B. Gallagher, director To the editor: The Beach Lake Fire Company’s 2002 Fund Drive appeal was sent to you in July of this year. It was a late mailing because of major overhauls to names, addresses, route numbers and zip codes. We thank those who already responded and returned the questionnaire and also to those who included a generous contribution of support to dedicated men and women volunteers that give of themselves daily responding to your calls of help. After the 9/11/01 WTC tragedy, our area residents and businesses responded with their hearts and pocketbooks in compassion to those made less whole by that attack. You did royally for humanity and we thank you. Yet, there is an ongoing attack right here in your backyard and only a few of you are listening. It is the financial attack upon your volunteer emergency organizations, all of them, and their inability to function without your support. Please make a donation to not only the Beach Lake Volunteer Fire Company at P.O. Box 56, Beach Lake, PA 18405, but to all emergency response teams that service our area. We, as well as the WTC victims, need your help. Ramon V. Lockier, Chairman To the editor: How much are we going to pay this guy! Liberty Supervisor Richard Martonkovic is paid $30,000 and just awarded himself a handsome raise of $4,000 (13.4%) for this part-time job. Most union negotiations only see 4%. He just recently received the position of 911 Coordinator by the County Legislature and is paid another $15,000 for that job. Add all that to his full-time job with NYNEX and he is doing very well for himself. How many part-time jobs can our citizens get that pay this kind of money? In these tough times it is deplorable that a politician can vote himself in a raise while some of our valued town employees were passed over for any raise at all. This is abuse of the worst kind and we are being taken advantage of. Shame on Supervisor Martinkovic and shame on us for letting it happen. What happened to the community minded people who pledged their time to better the community? Now it is all about money. Phil Mullen 
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