August 24, 2006 Issue                                       

©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

From our readers

Miller gets Commerce talks wrong

The Local reported on August 17 the ongoing story regarding the Commerce Bank and the now twice-continued Appeal Hearing at the Zoning Board of Adjustment. The details reported by Kristin Pazulski were largely accurate; however, it is important to make one important correction.

In referencing the motive behind Councilwoman Miller’s surprise request for a continuance that neither side had requested, her public relations manager, Michael Quintero Moore, claimed her reasoning was founded in her belief that a change in the board members of the CHCA caused a loss in communication between the bank and the community association.

Although a meeting was held in the office of Donna Reed Miller last April, neither her office nor any members thereof had been part of any communication since, including the conference held at the direction of Chairman Auspitz of the ZBA after the initial appeal hearing on July 25. That meeting including a bank attorney, architect from a sub-contractor, and several members of the CHCA and the Business Association, took place at the office of the Chestnut Hill Business Association and was arranged by John Capoferri of the Aesthetics Committee, the designated point person for Commerce Bank communication with the CHCA.

In point of fact, Mr. Capoferri had been appointed to that position by the previous (CHCA) administration and was present at the April meeting with the bank and the Council Office. His designation as point person was made clear to the bank at that meeting. After the board elections, and in order to maintain continuity, I asked Mr. Capoferri to continue in that position and made no changes in the committees that had been part of the initial negotiations with the bank that dated back to 2005. Although others were asked to assist in the appeal process following the still unexplained issuance of a building permit, there was no change in management that had any impact on the ability of the bank to communicate with the very same individuals with the same issues on the table.

Ron Recko
President
Chestnut Hill Community Association

Fruits of democracy not always sweet

What is democracy and what is mandate? To answer these questions would require writing a thesis. The purpose of my writing this letter is to demonstrate the negative consequences that can generate from our popular understanding of these concepts.

Our common sense understanding of democracy is: one individual, one vote, i.e. it is about numbers. The candidate who gets more votes than the opponent and the party who gets the majority of seats (even by a slim margin) wins the election. The winning party decides the policies and actions assuming that they received a mandate from the voters.

Recently, after the free election and establishment of a democratic government in Afghanistan, a Muslim converted to Christianity. The judges decided he should be executed since that is the punishment for an apostate according to Islamic law. That Afghanistan is to be governed according to the Islamic law is the decision of the freely elected representatives of the parliament.

In my thinking, if democracy refers only to numbers, it may amount to oppression of those who get lower numbers by those who get higher numbers. Elected representatives tend to forget that they are representatives for all the people of a community or country and also that they have responsibility regarding all human beings, all of the earth and its creatures.

I request the Board of Directors of our Association to ponder about these points and decide if consensus building by open and free discussion is a better alternative than pushing some specific agenda related to the interest of a particular person or point of view and steamrolling others by virtue of its having a higher number?

Kana Mitra
Chestnut Hill

‘Deeply moved’ by article on illiteracy

I was deeply moved by your tribute to Joey Davenport (August 17 issue). As an Adult Education teacher, I have taught literacy classes and taken several hours of training workshops on the subject. Your story is an incredible testament to both you as a teacher and to Joey as a learner. Most teachers have modest if any success with adult literacy programs. Adult learners tend to conceal their illiteracy as Joey did, and have severe learning disabilities.

Joey had been denied an education, but seems to have been as naturally gifted as his teacher. The fact that you took on this enormous task at age 14 and stuck with it for the necessary “two years of tough lessons before we reached a modicum of success” is more than most trained teachers are able to do within classroom literacy programs. I have witnessed the “exploding grins” of achievement when a student first deciphers a matchbook or street sign, but have yet to learn of a student who goes on to read voraciously, as Joey did, or who sends an inspirational quote from Einstein to his teacher on his deathbed.

If this were a work of fiction, critics would rip you apart for hopeless romanticism. I love it when life outdoes the most far-fetched fantasies!

Yasmin Adib
Chestnut Hill

O.K. up until now I have swallowed my pride and kept my mouth shut. But enough is enough. The 10 percent ‘Sin Tax’ (which affects bar owners more directly than bartenders), was the first legislation that drew my attention. Next was the impending debacle surrounding the smoking ban. Third, and most recently, I was issued a violation of the liquor code for serving an underage person. Now let me explain how I received this violation, and you be the judge, no pun intended:

On Thursday evening, August 10, I reported to work on time as usual, fully expecting a good crowd for the Eagles’ pre-season football game on TV. At approximately 8:30 p.m., a well-dressed young man entered the bar, sat down and ordered a bottle of domestic beer. Since he had a physical appearance of approximately 28 to 32 years of age, I did not request identification; he resembled an adult in both his looks and his demeanor.

Within minutes, the young man left without provocation, following payment for the beer, which, I might add, he did not drink. Shortly thereafter, three un-uniformed State Police officers entered the bar, showed their badges, and quietly informed me I had served an underage person. They subsequently took the bar’s information as well as my own, and left, all within a 10-minute time frame.

Immediately, I felt deceived and confused about what had gone on, though I knew from years of working here in Chestnut Hill that this occurrence was not an accident. That young men had been intentionally sent in as a ‘decoy’ by the State police for the sole reason of being served as an underage person. Later that same evening, we discovered that another establishment on the on the Hill had been deceived in the same fashion.

One of my favorite lines as a bartender is, “If you don’t like it in this country, you should get the hell out.” And I really believe that! But I also grew up trusting police and law enforcement, and this makes me not want to. I am acutely aware that underage people attempt to drink, and I make every effort to prevent them from doing so. Straight-up entrapment should not be used as a tool for our judicial system. “In God we trust,” I think, was meant to apply to us all.

Richard W. Muehlbronner
Wyndmoor

The Segal solution to airline security

Passengers who are Muslim (white, black, Indonesian, Pakistani, Filipino, Afghan, Somali, whatever) or Semitic (Arab or Jewish), or who look suspicious in any way (shifty eyes, dreadlocks, braids or long stringy smelly hair, studs in nose, lip or tongue, tattoos, baggy pants, cross-dressers, etc.) must fly on a separate plane, all together. They must reserve space on this plane (two flights a week) in advance.

They must fly to whatever destination has been randomly selected for that flight; from that destination they may continue their journey on land. They must show up at the airport one day in advance of the flight for a thorough body search, x-ray examination of each item in their baggage as well as their GI tract and their ears and any other body apertures (may include a purgative), then stay overnight under constant surveillance with the lights on until departure time. (Departure time will be randomly delayed from 1 to 24 hours to foil outside intervention.)

Travelers will travel in orange underwear and jumpsuits, to be provided by the airline at passenger expense. They will be allowed to carry nothing on board except their prescribed clothing. If they require medications, they must have a doctor’s notarized letter listing each medication and the condition for which it is prescribed. The medications will be in the custody of a security person on board the flight and will be dispensed according to doctor’s instructions.

Pets will be permitted to fly but will be subjected to exactly the same requirements. Persons not in the categories listed above who show up for normal flights but act suspiciously while going through normal security checks will be diverted to the special flights for suspicious persons. They will be kept in custody at the airport until the next available special flight.

Evalyn F. Segal
Mt. Airy