Thursday, October 1, 2026
What was the mayor thinking?
To the Editor:
I was honored to receive a call from Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office to invite my family to his appearance at the New York Remembers commemoration at the Rec Center on Sept. 7. There were about eight or nine families represented, all of whom lost a loved one in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Imagine my surprise when Mayor Francis Murray invited his cohorts at the Fire Department up to the podium to meet Cuomo and be introduced by name.
Did Mayor Murray call up the widows or widowers, or the parents who lost a child? No. Did he introduce any of us by name to the governor? He did not. Instead, we were an afterthought, meeting the governor and shaking his hand after the commemoration was completed, and only because Cuomo was courteous enough to make a point to meet us. Murray was elsewhere and did not seem to think it important that he introduce us to the governor. While the victims, their families and first responders all deserve to be recognized, instead of honoring all, the mayor thoughtlessly chose to focus the governor’s attention on just the one group, as though the rest of us were unimportant, or worse, not even there.
Mayor Murray owes an apology to all of the families who lost loved ones on Sept. 11.
Marc Wieman
Rockville Centre
Proud to see her poem in print
To the Editor:
My family and I are very grateful to the Herald for including my mother-in-law’s poem, “The Twins,” in the Sept. 8-14 issue, even though you only learned of its existence at the 11th hour, so to speak.
Not only did you make her day, but you also thrilled my father-in-law no end. These two have been married 66 years and are 89 and 90, respectively. In wonderful health for all his 90 years, my father-in-law, Bud Dixon, was suddenly diagnosed with leukemia in May. As a proud member of a rapidly dwindling brotherhood of World War II veterans, he has expressed every emotion known to humankind in the past 43 years I’ve known him. Or so I thought.
He nearly popped all the buttons off his shirt in sheer pride and love for my wonderful mother-in-law when we showed him her poem in print.
How can we ever thank you enough for this most thoughtful inclusion in your publication? There are no words.
Dorothy and Ray Dixon
Rockville Centre
