Rockville Centre letters for week of Dec. 2 - Dec. 8, 2010

LETTERS

Looking forward to golf team’s return

To the Editor:

Congratulations to the South Side High School varsity golf team not only for a victorious 9-1 season, but also for sharing the Conference V championship. The tremendous skill and determination exhibited by the entire team should make the Rockville Centre community proud.

Balancing their schoolwork with their practice, the Cyclones performed remarkably. I’m certain that they will perform extremely well in the Nassau County Tournament to be held in May 2011.

Coaches Russ Reid and Jerry D’Angelo should be commended for their excellent work in training our students on the course. Thanks to their support and guidance, the team shattered school records on the course while continuing to excel in the classroom.

I know I share in the community’s excitement in awaiting the team’s return next year.

Anthony J. Santino

Councilman, Town of Hempstead

Wants more information on temple merger

To the Editor:

As a member of Central Synagogue who attended the “merger” meeting, I was very disappointed by the amount of information offered by the temple board, as accurately reported in your story “Synagogue in merger talks with Lynbrook congregation” (Nov. 25- Dec. 1).

At the conclusion of the meeting, I knew nothing more than at the beginning, as many, if not most, questions were responded to with a cursory “It’s too early to say.” So what was the point? A membership email blast would have sufficed. On behalf of a number of other members, I hope the next meeting will be more on track with the detailed information we require to decide the fate of our synagogue.

Marc Zeloof

Rockville Centre

A call for senior parking discounts

To the Editor:

As we approach the time of year when applications for parking stickers will be sent to Rockville Centre residents, I am grateful for all the cosmetic surgery being done in the village, but how about a little “plastic surgery” on sticker prices? The Long Island Rail Road, buses and private establishments all give us discounts, so why not the village?

Perhaps if we unite and start sending emails and letters and calling the mayor, we’ll finally get some action. Our senior citizens all play a very vital part in contributing to the community, financially by shopping at neighborhood stores and volunteering at the hospital, teaching, etc. Let them hear from us — don’t sit around waiting for it to happen. It won’t.

Phyllis Rosen

Rockville Centre

D’Amato’s attack on unions is ‘despicable’

To the Editor:

I feel compelled to respond to another one of Alfonse D’Amato’s callous opinion pieces (“Bucking very well paid union bosses,” Nov. 25-Dec. 1).

As someone who is proud to work for a labor union representing public employees, and as the son of a woman who was a proud union activist and civil servant, I must say that D’Amato’s attack on unions is despicable. Millions of Americans who want to work are unemployed, millions have lost their homes and millions go to bed wondering whether they can afford food for their families. To attack the institution of organized labor, which has fought and bled so that working men and women would be treated justly, says a lot about the attacker.

In an important issue of “The Right of Aesthetic Realism to Be Known,” the chairwoman of aesthetic realism, Ellen Reiss, explains why unions have been attacked. “Those who want to keep the profit system going through the sacrifices of Americans are engaged in a massive lying propaganda campaign against unions,” Reiss writes. “That is because unions have brought increased justice to people, in the form, for instance, of fairer wages, of vacation time, pensions, protection against arbitrary firing. And all these instances of dignity for people have cut into owners’ private profits. A propaganda technique is to tell people, ‘Look at those wages, pensions, protections unions have gotten. You don’t have them, so no one should. They’re excessive. They are what’s interfering with the economy!’”

It’s like encouraging people who have been kept from knowing the alphabet to hate those who can read, when instead they should say, “We have a right to read too!” Americans should feel that what unions have brought to people, everyone should have — and more.

Matthew D’Amico

Lynbrook

Don’t blame the TSA agents

To the Editor:

It’s hard not to notice the violating pat-downs of nuns, kids and the elderly taking place at our nation’s airports over the past few weeks, but before you jump all over the TSA guards, remember that it’s our current government that got us into this mess. Nineteen Muslim terrorists committed the crimes on Sept. 11, 2001 — 15 Saudis, two from the United Arab Emirates and one each from Egypt and Lebanon. The Christmas 2009 underwear bomber was of Muslim descent, and the ink cartridges during last month’s scare originated in Yemen — to which our current administration has no problem releasing Guantanamo Bay prisoners/terrorists.

I never went to grad school or law school, but I think I have a pretty good idea of who we should be looking for at our airports, and it’s not Jim from Burbank, Tom from Davenport, or even Susan from Austin. How dumb can we be, folks? We know who’s trying to kill us and where they reside, but we’re afraid to single them out, and that’s the problem with the people we have in power today.

This is an easy one to fix. Jobs, health care and the other issues are tough, but this is so simple it’s scary! These terrorists want to kill us, and if we continue to worry about what a small percentage of the population thinks, we’re doing the majority of our citizens a huge disfavor.

So cut the TSA agents some slack when you’re traveling over the next month. They’re only doing the job our ignorant politicians are telling them to do. If you want to blame somebody, call Washington, and vote for real change in 2012.

Patrick Greenfield

Rockville Centre