Letters to the Rockville Centre Herald

A plea for help in a time of need

To the Editor:

The recovery of our economy continues to be agonizing and painful. On Long Island, the 2010 American Community Survey showed that the child poverty rate was 7.6 percent in Nassau County and 7 percent in Suffolk. For black and Hispanic children, the poverty rate was 14.2 percent in Nassau and 15.8 percent for Suffolk County.

This past month, the Hispanic Brotherhood of Rockville Centre provided a summer program for local Hispanic children for the last time. The agency struggled to continue this program after being defunded, along with 40 other youth agencies in Nassau County, because of budget cuts. These cuts are harming those who are already vulnerable and pushing children of working families further behind. These families, while their income is low, are trying to work their way out of poverty.

September is a critical month for our agency. There will come a point where we can no longer accept new children into our program. Because of aggressive budget cuts from the Village of Rockville Centre, the five tutors (ages 14 to 17) that we employ will be told they no longer have a job. These tutors not only help contribute to their family’s income, they learn vital responsibility and employable leadership skills that make them an asset to the village.

The alternative to employment is teenagers with too much time on their hands, no adult supervision and the need to earn money. You don’t need a college degree to see where problems can and will arise because of this. We have managed to stretch our budget as far as it can go and, unfortunately, the elastic is about to break.

Our agency has been in Rockville Centre since the 1980s. We have opened our doors not just to Hispanics, as our name might suggest, but to anyone in need. We have always been a community that comes together in times of need, and right now the need is there for the children of this community. Please help us continue to provide tutoring services and child care for those most in need. We humbly reach out to the community for donations of any size to help defray the cost of this program.

Margarita Grasing

Executive Director, Hispanic Brotherhood of Rockville Centre

Democrats have some powerful ‘know-nothings’

To the Editor:

Although I agree with Randy Kreiss’s premise in “Those know-nothing pols are proud of knowing nothing” (Aug. 30-Sept. 5), I must point out that she characteristically focuses only on Republican stupidity, and neglects the equally — and more — moronic and divisive comments from the Democratic side of the aisle. The mindless partisan idiocy on both sides of the political fence explains why I’ve registered to vote as an independent since 2010.

Here are some comments from Democrats that create greater harm and have further significance than anything said by Republicans that Kreiss mentioned in her column. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid accused Mitt Romney of tax evasion. Then Reid admitted that he lacked evidence of that, but wouldn’t retract his statement. In other words, from the office of the No. 2 man in the Senate, we have a slanderous statement about another U.S. citizen.

Vice President and Senate President Joe Biden, in a campaign speech, told a predominantly African-American audience in Virginia that electing the Romney-Ryan ticket would “put [them] back in chains.” He displayed not only a basic ignorance of propriety for a sitting vice president, but he showed a complete lack of historical knowledge. President Abraham Lincoln, a Republican, abolished slavery with the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. That led to the passing of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which outlawed slavery. Putting people back in chains would require an amendment and would be beyond the power of a presidential executive order. Biden’s remark also showed either a complete ignorance of the Constitution or, more than likely, a complete disregard of it — something revealed by many of the Obama administration’s actions in its unfortunate three years in office.

Finally, in a July 13 address to the Roanoke, Va., fire department, President Obama declared, “If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that.”

In and of themselves, these are obviously moronic comments and do not require further explanation. But they are more divisive than the Republicans’ comments because each arouses themes of class envy, rivalry and warfare that divide this country.

They also have more significance because of the stature of the speakers. Todd Akin is only a Senate candidate who still could and should drop out of the race. Both Christine O’Donnell and Newt Gingrich are yesterday’s news, and thankfully do not hold political positions.

Ultimate narcissist Sarah Palin unfortunately ran for vice president, arguably cost a Vietnam War hero, John McCain, his last shot at the presidency, and has since, along with her family, refused to disappear from the national scene despite not holding any political office. Texas Gov. Rick Perry is one of 50 governors in the U.S. and, like the governor of Rhode Island or any of the other 48, holds no power beyond his state. Michelle Bachmann is one of 535 sitting congressmen and women who can be voted out every two years.

But Harry Reid is the fifth most powerful leader in the country, while Biden is No. 2, and Obama is numero uno. These three people are much more influential and powerful, and when they make absurd, divisive and irresponsible statements, they impact the nation much more than the “know-nothing” Republicans cited by Randi Kreiss. Because of this we, should hold all three accountable in November for these and many other failings since “hope and change” came to Washington in 2009, giving us less hope and change and making the nation much worse, all the while blaming former President George W. Bush.

Rich LePetri

Rockville Centre