Letters August 9, 2012

Posted 8/8/12

Thanks for Kaplan remembrance

Thank you for your kind words about Muriel Kaplan, the former owner of Chestnut Hill's Zipf's Candy, who died on July 9th.  I'm grateful to hear a little about her …

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Letters August 9, 2012

Posted

Thanks for Kaplan remembrance

Thank you for your kind words about Muriel Kaplan, the former owner of Chestnut Hill's Zipf's Candy, who died on July 9th.  I'm grateful to hear a little about her life and friendships.

My children and I would stop in to visit with her and, of course, buy a treat or three.  She was kind and endlessly patient with little ones who couldn't decide between a lemon or a strawberry lollipop.

She created a shop that was so magical that our family ended up creating a pre-holiday tradition of stopping in to pick up goodies for stockings or the annual "bunny cake."

Of course, her stock had been chosen with great care (how she fit so much into such a tiny space is amazing), but, in retrospect, I realize we came for the conversation and smiles.

We miss Mrs. Kaplan, and will continue to remember her and think of her with fondness and appreciation.  Thank you again for sharing your memories of her.

Julia Stein

West Mt. Airy 

Old voting rules prevented fraud 

I have been the judge of elections for a polling place in Chestnut Hill since 2005, and I am still inspired by seeing my neighbors, of all political affiliations, turn out to vote twice a year.

As I learned my responsibilities, I was impressed by the balance the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania maintains between protecting citizens' right to vote and protecting against fraud.

The safeguards already in place include the matching of the voter's signature at each election with his or her registration signature in the pollbook; the requirement that new voters and voters who have not voted in five years, who are clearly flagged in the pollbook, show additional ID to confirm identity and residency; and, of course, the fact that we have seen all other voters, our neighbors, at previous elections.

The danger of fraudulent voting has not been taken lightly, but the possibility of depriving citizens of an opportunity to exercise their right to vote by changing the ID requirements is also a danger to the integrity of our elections.

Amey Hutchins

Chestnut Hill

Thanks to many for successful Pastorius season

Another season of Pastorius Park concerts have flown by!  Unfortunately we were beaten by the weather at our last concert of the season.

Heavy rain late in the day while we were mid set-up made it unsafe to continue with the concert, all that water doesn't go so well with the electrical equipment!  And by then it was too late to move to our rain venue. After creating havoc with our concert mother nature then turned on the sunshine. We were all very disappointed but will be back next year for our 65th season!

Aside from that we had a fabulous concert series and enjoyed some wonderful performances in our beautiful Pastorius Park.  We had a bumper crowd each wednesday this season - thank you all.  I hope you enjoyed the concerts as much as we did!

I'd like to say a big THANK YOU to all the hard working volunteers who gave so generously of their time to make this years concerts happen for the community: my co-chair Neil Scheinin, ably assisted by:Bob Rossman, Brendan Dwyer, Celeste Hardester, Frank Crawshaw, Gerard Tracy, Jane Piotrowski, Jay Valinski, Joyce Lenhardt, Kathy Gannon, Kirstin Bosch, Maria Vecchioli, Marianne Dwyer, Marilyn Paucker, Mark Keintz, Michael Dwyer, Michelle Lordi, Mike Chomentowski, Mike Matthews, Noreen Spota, Steve Feistel, Steve Pearson, and Tom Cullen.

Congratulations to you all, without the dedication of people like you events like the concert series would not happen!  We would also like to thank the following groups who assisted us in the park: Bauder Audio, McNally's Tavern, Friends of John Jenks, the Rotary Club, Teens Inc, and XPN, plus our rain venues Springside Chestnut Hill Academy and St Martins Church.

Last but not least, a big THANK YOU to our sponsors, Chestnut Hill Community Fund and Chestnut Hill Hospital, without whose generous support the concerts would not have been possible.

As I mentioned earlier, next year will be the 65th season of our free concerts in Pastorius park, if you'd like to be part of our concert team please contact the community association (info@chestnuthill.org).

Thanks again everyone for a wonderful concert season, enjoy the rest of your Summer!

Julie Byrne, Co-Chair Pastorius Park Concerts with Neil Scheinin

VP Social Division, CHCA

An open letter to NCAA president Mark Emmert,

Your decision regarding Penn State is appalling. All you succeed in doing is punishing those who had nothing to do with what happened at Penn State.

The small number of people who were really responsible, and that appears to include Joe Paterno, will not in any way be affected by your decision. The people that will hurt are the innocent, and not just the football players, but all those other students at Penn State. It will hurt the residents of the city.

Perhaps you justify your actions by thinking of all those innocent people whose lives will be seriously hurt by calling it “collateral damage.”

Your action is just like that of Spanier’s. It is obvious that all you care about is protecting your image. If you really were concerned, you would do something to try to influence those who were really responsible, the leadership. And if you think that cover-ups occur only at Penn State, you must be living on Mars.

What you have done will not influence other leaders who are acting in the same way in many places. It will just make them more careful about the emails they send and how well they cover up.

Your decision was inappropriate, cowardly grandstanding that reflects poorly only on you and damages only those who should be protected.

You should be ashamed of yourself.

What you have done is far worse than throwing out the baby with the bath water. You have thrown out the baby and left the bath water! You and your colleagues have demonstrated a total lack of leadership ability.

George L. Spaeth, M.D.

Chestnut Hill

Regarding: From the Sidelines, “Tempering justice for the Penn State players”

Thanks to Clark Groome for the article. I agree 100 percent.

The total punishment the NCAA handed out reminds me of that old phrase, “the dishrag and dish towel were thown out with the dirty dishwater.” The decision hurt many innocent people.

I read or heard somewhere that the family of Joe Paterno has hired someone to do a much deeper investigation than the Freeh Inviestigation did to clear Paterno's name and to show Paterno did not have access to all the information Penn State's higher ups did.

No. Let no one forget all the good Papa Joe did for Penn State.

Tom Woodruff

Oreland

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