Letters to the Rockville Centre Herald Aug. 19, 2010

Parking meeting generated hope

To the Editor:

On behalf of the residents of 22 N. Forest Ave., I would like to publicly thank Police Commissioner Charles Gennario and Lt. Christopher Romance for the meeting they conducted to help solve the problems and disturbances affecting our building's street, and the surrounding streets, been caused by the valet parking of the Wild Ginger restaurant (see front-page story).

With tremendous professionalism and good humor, despite the anger of the many residents who attended, the commissioner managed to compile a list of grievances, offer suggestions for improvement (all of which were rejected out of hand by the representatives of the valet parking company) and assure the attendees that he would be working on the problem, without promising a quick solution or complete satisfaction to everybody.

Despite the frustration of everyone at the meeting, the commissioner and the lieutenant managed to create a sense of accomplishment that the situation would be, at a minimum, improved, and hopefully resolved. We thank them for their efforts.

Genevieve Guilfoyle

Treasurer

Board of the 22 N. Forest Ave. Co-op

If we ‘fire’ Albany pols, who replaces them?

To the Editor:

Hal Peterson raised many excellent points in his column, "Reforming New York's dysfunctional state government" (Aug. 12-18).

It was, however, perplexing that Peterson quoted Sen. Dean Skelos and cited his signing a pledge to reform Albany. Skelos attempted a coup last year with representatives who do not, in my view, exhibit ideal governance. The government was shut down, and yet they collected taxpayer-funded salaries.

Further, Skelos is not a novice and does not have a history of reform. The political parties are so entrenched in protecting themselves that every few years they talk about reform but clearly have no intention of enacting any policy changes. If the average employee missed deadlines as frequently as legislators missed the budget deadline, they would be fired. Citizens can "fire" incumbents, but who are the real alternatives?

Judith A. Delaney

Rockville Centre

Town funding assures Anchor's new building

To the Editor:

Congratulations to the Town of Hempstead board and all those who have helped to raise the necessary resources to build the critically needed Camp Anchor Recreation Center, to be named the Malone-Mulhall Recreation Center in honor of the tragic loss of those wonderful Anchor staff members this summer.

Some 43 years ago, I had the wonderful opportunity to be part of the Town of Hempstead's Department of Parks team that planned and implemented the first Anchor program. It was known then as "Answering the Needs of Children with Handicaps through Organized Recreation." The name has since been modified to include those early campers who have become young adults, and some who are now middle-aged adults, and I'm willing to project that sooner or later, consideration may have to be given to a senior

component.

The need for this program was overwhelming even as it got under way 40 years ago, and the demand continues unabated to this day. The town's decision to provide the much-needed funding is assurance now that the Malone-Mulhall Recreation Center will get built.

With the excellent support of the Anchor Parents, the Anchor leadership and the many supportive organizations, the program will continue to provide nationally recognized recreation services that are second to none.

Congratulations again to all.

Bud Cosgrove

Rockville Centre

Flight attendant is no folk hero

To the Editor:

I hate to be a spoilsport here and I really don't want to rain on anyone's parade, but the ex-JetBlue flight attendant is no folk hero, and he ought to go to jail.

Those who know me know I do not like to fly. But I do fly, and I do so knowing that the crew will be there for me when I have moments of fear and doubt at 38,000 feet. I don't need someone on the plane who's crazier than me — and in charge, no less.

I have a friend who is a JetBlue flight attendant. I know all too well from her what crazy people do in the air and on the ground. It is often a thankless job, and passengers can be royal pains. I get it. I also get that a passenger was violating FAA regulations and should be arrested herself for ignoring and assaulting a flight attendant.

Instead, what has happened is that the issue of not listening to a flight attendant has been glossed over by the grandiose way in which a clearly unstable airline employee went about saying, Take this job and shove it. If he had been a waiter or a doorman or a cabbie or some other non-essential worker, hey, what the heck, funny way to leave. But this guy is one of three highly trained evacuation experts, and is all that stands between 100 people making it to the gate or perhaps perishing in a fire. What he did was not funny. It is not laudable, and it is not something that should be rewarded with trips to the Letterman couch and national celebrity on a reality show.

He violated more than JetBlue's rules. He violated a sacred trust with his passengers, he broke the law, and he proved he cannot and must not ever be allowed on a plane again in any capacity, ever!

We have become a nation that rewards incompetence, stupidity and now apparently behavior that is off the deep end in the worst possible place, an airliner. This guy needs to be locked up for six months so he and the rest of the world stop thinking what he did was funny. It wasn't. He is not a hero. He is an unstable man who needs therapy and needs to learn that there are socially acceptable ways to vent one's anger, and doing what he did is not one of them.

As for the passenger who disobeyed the rules and then inadvertently assaulted the flight attendant, get her before a judge and lock her up, too. In this day and age of Mohammad Atta and Richard Reid, in an era when a 4-ounce deodorant stick is an issue for the Transportation Security Administration, we can't let down our guard for a moment — not with passengers and not with crew.

Oh by the way, it costs between 10 and 30 grand to replace that blown chute. He needs to be made to pay for that, too.

Ted D. Gluckman

Rockville Centre

On mosque, Skelos and Kreiss are spot on

To the Editor:

I never thought I would write this in the same sentence, but here goes: I agree with both Sen. Dean Skelos, in his letter to the editor, "Skelos vows to halt construction of mosque," and Randi Kreiss, in her column "Mosque near ground zero prompts soul-searching" in the Aug. 12-18 issue.

Despite her characteristic cheap shot at the Tea Party and conservatives, Randi rises above partisan politics and concludes her column with the essence of the problem with the proposed mosque adjacent to the grounds of the World Trade Center that Islamic terrorists destroyed, taking with them the lives of nearly 3,000 — including too many of our own Rockville Centre residents. This goes above and beyond a constitutional and legal issue to an ethical and moral level, as Randi correctly stated. There were constitutions and laws in place in Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, too, but it can be argued that they were the two most immoral regimes of the 20th century.

President Obama has come out in favor of the mosque, claiming consistency with our constitutional rights of religious freedom. What about the separation of church and state? It is one thing for the mayor of New York City and the governor of New York to speak out because of where the proposed mosque would be located. Sen. Dean Skelos and Congressman Peter King can opine because so many of their constituents died there on Sept. 11. But the president has no business taking sides in this issue because of the constitutional principle of separation of church and state. He cannot invoke the Constitution while running roughshod over it.

Richard LePetri

Rockville Centre