Letters Competent service Editor's note: This letter is submitted in response to one that ran in the 'Local' last week on the subject of slow service at polling places on Election Day, using the Water Tower Recreation Center as an example. Ms. Segre: We, your neighbors who worked the polls at the Water Tower Recreation Center, regret to learn that you were frustrated with the lines on Election Day. We appreciate your letter, its suggestions and concerns. Please take note that there was an unprecedented turnout for this election in our district and across this nation. By 6:30 a.m., there was a crowd of people at the Water Tower waiting for the polls to open at 7 a.m. We did our best to keep up with this early morning deluge. More than 35 percent of the day's voters came in the first two-and-a-half hours of the day. By 9:30 a.m., we had already accommodated 200 voters -- that's less than one minute per voter! By the end of the day, 529 people cast his or her ballot in our district. The sheer volume of participation was tremendous. Our legal responsibility as neighborhood poll workers is to ensure that every eligible voter is able to cast his or her ballot. We took the necessary time to meet these requirements. There were new identification requirements this year for first-time voters. Elderly and disabled voters needed special accommodations and still other voters required provisional ballots. Some voters came to our district and needed redirection in finding their correct polling places. Is the system perfect? No. Does it take time? Yes. Was every single eligible voter able to cast his or her ballot? Absolutely. Most voters in our district understood the special aspects of this election and took the wait in stride. We take this responsibility very seriously and are proud of the competent service that we provide to our community. Nicole Seitz Silent aftermath On Sunday morning (Nov. 7, 2004) at approximately 4 a.m., I awoke to the sound of gunfire (automatic gunfire, approx. 6 or 7 shots). I have never heard gunfire so close before at my apartment complex and as I lay frozen in fear, I heard the "getaway" car speed off in the distance. Minutes passed and even an hour, and I never heard any sirens, so I assumed that everything was OK. When morning came, I ran out to do errands and did not even realize that the shooting had taken place on my quiet, peaceful street of East Cliveden. It was not until I returned that I came across some residents of my building and they informed me that the shooting happened right here and a Cadillac, a Range Rover and the Sacred Heart Nursing Home had been all hit. The Range Rover happened to be my girlfriend's car and, sure enough, it had a bullet hole in the left front quarter panel. But more importantly, the nursing home's front window (where the security guards sit) had been shot at as well. There were also shell casings found across the street. Why was this shooting kept quiet? There was no information about the shooting on KYW 1060, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Daily News or the Chestnut Hill Local! I am shocked that after the Local printed the crime article about Mt. Airy last week, that there would not be any follow-up to this past weekend's shooting. People need to be informed of the serious nature of the shooting. One resident, a Philadelphia school teacher, who was away Saturday night, did not have any idea that this took place on our peaceful street until I informed him. I am assuming that because the nursing home was hit and a patient went AWOL on the same weekend that someone wanted to keep things quiet for the families of the patients at the nursing home OR the shooting was just considered another shooting. Whatever the reason, I am upset that the residents of the neighborhood were not made aware of the shooting. There was not a victim, which means that the shooter(s) may return to the area to finish the job. What is your responsibility in this matter? Beth Yocum Editor's Note: News of the incident never reached this newspaper. The 'Local' tries to keep abreast of crime issues in Chestnut Hill, Mt. Airy and Germantown, but does not have the resources to go through all of the crime reports for the 14th District each week. Chestnut Hill Town Watch provides us with the crime report for Chestnut Hill, and we rely on readers to inform us of other incidents. Citizens seeking information about a specific crime can get a copy of the report from the 14th District Precinct Headquarters, located at Germantown Avenue and Haines Street. Open dialogue Living in an overwhelmingly Democratic ward, in an outspokenly Democratic community with an energized Democratic city on the East Coast, it's not hard to understand my dismay at the outcome of the 2004 elections. Trying to make sense of the national picture, it's clear that each side of the polarized electorate held so tightly to their respective fears that they entered into a war of words without genuinely looking to understand the real essence of their opponents' fears. But while many of us have the urge to lay low and nurse our wounds, there's already a storm brewing from those eager to carry the perceived momentum of a nation told by media polls and pundits that the election was won on issues of morality. While no one yet seems to have crafted a pie chart ranking those issues, all eyes are on the hot-button topic in the morality grab-bag, that of gay marriage. While the usual suspects will understandably take up arms to fight the next round of this civil rights battle with court challenges and ballot referenda, perhaps its time for more of us to ask one another questions and challenge those fears. We need to open a dialogue to ask those who feel gay marriage would harm the institution of marriage, threaten their community's security and scar their families to better articulate why or how that would happen. I, for one, cannot begin to understand this. Rather, I see such change as a means to strengthen both the institution and our communities. But proponents for equal rights for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community need to be more sensitive to the fact that their (our) agenda abrades a definition of morality borne by our American society's religious roots. Asking America to be willing to reconsider and redefine its institutional prejudices in favor of fairness to a minority population is a touchy business. It must be engaged in a more respectful way to truly win popular support. How can this dialogue begin? We need more discussion: 10 percent talking and 90 percent listening -- in our homes, our churches, and in the local and national media. Talk to your neighbors and your ministers and ask for community discussion. Welcome those with contrary views into those discussions with genuine goodwill. Write to Bill Moyers, Oprah Winfrey or Bill O'Reilly and tell them you want to hear open-minded morality conversation, not confrontation. In doing so, America will be better equipped to face the political and legal battles that lie ahead. Eric M. Sternfels I agree Three cheers to Bryan Graham (Opinion: Time is right for CHA to reclaim football heritage ... Local 11-11-04) for articulating so well the feelings of so many alumni. Justin M. Baxter Miller thanks voters, volunteers I would like to thank everyone who voted in this past General Election. It was heartwarming to see so many people dedicated and determined to involve themselves in shaping the political process. I would particularly like to single out the members of the election boards who were under a greater than usual amount of pressure. With long lines at almost every polling place, the patience shown by the election officials was outstanding. They persevered through all the new voters, new voting rules, new poll watching regulations and the armies of volunteers with their partisan or legal interest in the election process. The dedication of these election board members and committee people is a crucial element of a functioning democracy. I would once again like to thank all of the workers, voters and volunteers who performed tremendously on Election Day. Donna Reed Miller |
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