Letters: April 10

Posted 4/10/13

A Chili success

Chili lovers had a blast at the Third Annual Chestnut Hill Rotary Chili Cookoff, and it is thanks to our many generous sponsors that we were able to bring together friends and …

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Letters: April 10

Posted

A Chili success

Chili lovers had a blast at the Third Annual Chestnut Hill Rotary Chili Cookoff, and it is thanks to our many generous sponsors that we were able to bring together friends and neighbors, local businesses, and institutions to support the projects of the Rotary and have fun at the same time.

Our 2013 Cookoff sponsors include Elfant Wissahickon Realtors – Larry DiFranco Team, Philadelphia Move Team, Wendy Schwartz Team, Neal Kugelman Team and the Adams Group; East River Bank; Pepper Hamilton, LLP; Chestnut Hill Hospital; Sila Heating & Air Conditioning; National Penn Bank; Carol Schwartz Gallery; Human Touch Home Care; Bray Family Foundation; State Farm Insurance, Yards Brewing Company; Brossman Center; PPR Note Academy; Kamelot Auctions; GTI Travel; Russell Roofing, Ross & McCrea; Herb Henze Family; Esther Kurtz Family and Edward Jones Investments.

Thanks to all of these sponsors and to our Chilli Cookoff teams, our friends and neighbors and our own Chestnut Hill Rotary Club members who work so hard to put this event together. For more information and photos and to see the many local and international projects we support as a result of our community’s generosity, please go to www.chestnuthillrotary.com or visit us on Wednesday morning at 7:30 at the Chestnut Hill Presbyterian Church. All are always welcome.

Bonni Simon

President, Chestnut Hill Rotary

 

Thinking about the people in our past

No one could write a better tribute than you. [editorial, April 4] Yes, for 75 years “Frankie Sa-Lom” clippered hair on the Hill. But he did more than “clipper an' cut.” He was part of Chestnut Hill's living history.

I was raised in Mt. Airy and had my hair “clippered” from a kid until I became an “Employee of Uncle Sam” for two years. My barber was the local bookie. My haircuts were free 'cause I watched his shop while he phoned all the bets in.

Let us all wish “Frankie Sa-Lom” a long and happy retirement, which he surely has earned. Another part of Chestnut Hill has slipped into the Hill's History Book.

Thanks again, Pete. You keep writin,' I'll keep readin.'

Tom Woodruff

Oreland

 

Missed a chance at Jury Duty

I don't volunteer to serve in do-good activities – no mentoring, no teaching, no guide work – so when I received an order to report for jury duty, I was pleased to accept.

With the cooperation of Fred, my cat, I was awake by 6:15 and in front of the jury clerk at exactly 8:15.

I was taken with a group to the court of Judge Powell to be interviewed as a juror in a criminal case. Since my number was 31, I waited with other potential jurors until being called into his courtroom. The judge questioned me about my previous experience in a civil trial. Then he asked me in what year I retired. I was caught.

His skill of subtle and polite interrogation is what elevated him from lawyer to judge. I was asked to wait in a small room and within minutes learned that I had been rejected. Apparently some believe that a rich lifetime of experience suggests that your values are out of date.

I soothed my bruised ego by going to the Reading Terminal and shopping. I bought shad roe, which, since Groben closed, I haven't seen in Mt. Airy. A dinner of shad roe and a glass of white wine neutralized the jury affront.

Maggie Wollman

Mt. Airy

 

Marketing advice for Sixers

As a "Mad Men"-era adman (Oops--adperson!) I enjoyed and appreciated Debra Malinics' Local Life article, "'76ers are tasteless 'hot dogs'." I loved how the hot dog-throwing hoopla did not extend to the hoops, but the real lesson here was one I've long espoused: too many promoters ignore the First Rule of Marketing which holds that to be successful, an enterprise must positively answer the customer's query, "What's in it for ME?" The Sixers' recent scoring record indicates there's NOTHING in it for me.

Richard S. Lee

Flourtown

 

Silence

I was listening to a talk/call-in show on NPR the other day, the topic being the more than 100 men still held in Guantanamo after all these years. The guests were well-informed and eloquent. Notwithstanding the hostess encouraging listeners to call in, no one did in the whole hour. NOT ONE!

Is this yet another example of the lack of interest — for the most part — amongst the ‘silent majority’ about the injustices perpetrated by the United States?

We often criticize the German people for their silence during the reign of Hitler, although a few heroes did speak up at the cost of the their lives -- Hans and Sophie Scholl, for example.

But what does it cost us to speak up against the injustices perpetrated by our aggressor nation -- invasions, drone attacks, assassinations, secret prisons, Guantanamo, military bases all over the world?

And, finally, speaking of radio, have you ever noticed how you rarely, if ever, hear any editorial commentary about the issues facing us as a people, locally or nationally, on the average radio station? One can understand the lack of such in a totalitarian society. Can you imagine what would happen if a local station criticized the Nazis? Right.

But what is our excuse in the “land of the free and the home of the brave?”

Lawrence Geller

Roxborough

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