December 21, 2006 Issue                                       

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©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

Opinion

The struggle with security

A terrible national tragedy touched down in neighboring Springfield Township last week.

For reasons that we’ll never know and for which there really is no reason, the young Shane Halligan decided to take his life. And in what has become an alarming trend, he decided to do so publicly, at his school, with a high-powered weapon.

This suicide has left the usual Pandora’s box behind: a family left with impossible anguish; serious questions about gun laws that allow military rifles to fall into the possession of its citizens; a school of children who can no longer go to school assuming it’s nothing more than a place to learn and be with friends.

For families of children who are in Springfield Township High School, the struggle to find a way to comfortably send those children back to school has already begun in earnest. Pressure to enact a wide variety of safety measures at the school including metal detectors, resisted previously by school officials, has already intensified dramatically. It’s hard to imagine that Springfield parents won’t get what they’re asking for given the realities that visited their town.

The mistake would be for other schools not to take notice and to think that what happened in Springfield can’t happen in their community.

Since Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold decided to launch an attack against their Littleton, Colorado high school, the idea that assault weapons could be brought into and used in a school entered the collective consciousness of our culture. Reference to teens bringing guns into school has become a commonplace plot theme in TV shows, music and literature. Harris’ and Klebold’s crimes have been replicated by other troubled young people again and again. What was once unthinkable has become commonplace.

School officials and parents need to consider the fact that what Shane Halligan did last week is possible anywhere. As his case shows, it is not easy to profile a child who will bring a gun into school and use it. Fortunately, Halligan did not decide to use his weapon on anyone else. If he had, the damage would have been cataclysmic — there’s no telling how many may have lost their lives.

With that in mind, all schools should consider security measures like metal detectors and guards that may prevent a child from bringing a weapon into school. Yes, the presence of these things will cast a prison-like pall on schools, but because of the times in which we live, anything that might prevent a student from getting a weapon inside a school has to be discussed.

Steps should be taken to address the pressures teens are facing in high school. And, efforts to change gun laws to keep assault rifles out of the hands of the public should continue. But we must make sure we do everything we possibly can to ensure that guns on the outside have a poor chance of making it into a school where they can do the most damage.

We live in a time in which deadly guns are far too available. They are tools that can make a bad decision terrible in the hands of a confused teen. Once the trigger is pulled, there’s no going back.

Pete Mazzaccaro

From the Desk of the Interim Community Manager
by ED BUDNICK

It’s almost Christmas (and Hanukkah is almost over). Last week’s Local listed virtually all the bargains and ideas available to the CH shopper (and Kristin, that Seaport Museum class seemed perfect, but admittedly expensive). As I write this, I have yet to do any real shopping; as you read this, I trust that experience will be over. The Association office is quieting down (now that the Local/CHCA office fest is over). Take a look at the meeting announcement section … oops … there are none until LUPZ on Jan. 4. Coincidently, all CHCA staffers have next week off. Sue will be with her grandchildren, Noreen will finally spend some days with her husband, and my family and I are off to our traditional holiday on a Florida island. Actually I’ll still be at “Association” meetings, only there they will involve condo associations. I’ll still be in an historic district, but there I’ll be surrounded by “Caribbean colors” rather than the Williamsburg color chart.

Last week, after the recent community events and after hours, we had an interesting discussion in the office. It boiled down to how membership fees might affect membership numbers and how membership might affect fund donations (to the casual reader, please stay with me, there is more for you to come!). First of all, a primer on the relationship of CHCA membership, CHCA/CHCF fundraising events and CHC Fund donations: Half of the $30 membership fee buys your subscription to the Local. The other half goes to support the CHCA office. The proceeds from various events also pay a portion of the salaries and expenses of the CHCA staff, allowing them to support the Association’s activities and programs. It is actually the voluntary CHC Fund donations that enable the CHCA/CHCF to support the programs and organizations for which this community is known. So, when you hear requests for donations or receive your letter in the mail, remember, your generosity is greatly needed…despite the success of recent community events.

My point in the discussion of membership fees is that our primary goal should be increased membership. To that extent, it may be prudent to keep the fees low. CHCA membership leads to participation; participation leads to CHC Fund donations…our ultimate dollar goal. At this point, over 90 percent of our board members have given to the fund. Next we go to the members. No, you don’t need to be a member to give to the Fund, but statistically it’s a trend.

As I’ve written before, people join organizations for a number of reasons. I always carry Eagles and Moose cards in rural Florida because without them you have no ticket to the local social scene. Like some of our local groups, the Venetian and Bocce Clubs, they hook you with the dinners and other events (or maybe it’s the low priced beverages) and eventually you become involved in their other activities and missions.

Hopefully we have the same opportunity with the CHCA. Maybe someone noticed the member discount offered at the Holiday House Tour amounted to a free membership with the purchase of six normally priced tickets. If not, maybe next year. Bottom line. I think you need to see value as well as a good cause. Every week, I ask you to call me if I can be of help. I won’t ask if you are a member, but, if I can help you, or at least try, then maybe you will see the value in becoming a member.

I’m going to try the same thing with our elected officials. I typically look to them for assistance in dealing with the crazy world otherwise known as City Hall, Philadelphia, or how to get a small share of Harrisburg or DC revenues back to our community. My next tactic will be to ask them what they want us to do. Maybe they have a project or program that we can implement here. How do we fit into their mission? Hopefully there are dollars to help us achieve common goals.

This is my 12th “from the desk of” article, and I thank the editor for the opportunity. The next two may be a bit strange; they will be written on the road, on the pier or on the boat. Even though my time away will be short, when I return, it will be a new year, the decorations mostly removed, and Commerce Bank will be open. Somewhere along the line I hope to report that the Trustees have accepted an offer on 8431 Germantown Ave. It’s been a busy 3 months and I look forward to the challenges of 2007.

As always, please tell me how I can help you or what you can do for this community. The phone number is 215-248-8811; the e-mail is ed@chestnuthill.org. While my door will be closing (for this year) as you read this, I will try to stay in touch from the island.

Opinion: When will guns get blame they deserve
by Andrew Bartholomew

The death of Springfield High School student Shane Joseph Halligan last week was both tragic and frightening. By all accounts he was a bright student, an outgoing friend and a dedicated, self-sacrificing member of the community.

News coverage has focused on the all-too-familiar plots. He was a great kid. Nobody saw this coming, not here. There is so much pressure on kids these days. How are other students going to cope? What should be done about the fear?

And the reaction from school officials has been equally tired. Police will watch school grounds to make sure each day feels safe. Metal detectors will be installed to protect everyone’s safety. And counselors will help teachers and students process the tragedy and move on.

But lost in all of this reactionary decision-making is the larger issue at hand: how does a high school student get his hands on an assault rifle in the first place?

Guns are responsible for more than 30,000 deaths each year in this country, including about 17,000 suicides. Handguns account for more than two-thirds of these deaths.

Philadelphians should know this better than almost anyone. By the start of December, 375 of the city’s residents had died from gun-related injuries. It is probably safe to say none of these wounds came during hunting trips or in an effort to defend the country’s independence from Redcoats.

Recent legislative action, including a bill proposed by State Senator Vincent Fumo (D, Philadelphia), focuses on illegal gun trafficking. To be sure, illegal guns play a critical role in the spike in gun-related deaths both in the city and elsewhere. They are not the only culprits, however. If a high school student can unlock his father’s safe and grab an AK-47 to kill himself, we have to look beyond inner city gun trading.

We as citizens and community members must recognize that the issue is not simply societal pressures, violent television or increasingly competitive academics. The bigger problem is that kids can get their hands on guns in the first place. Rather than focusing on cures, we should look to prevention first and foremost. Fewer guns, fewer deaths. It is that simple.

The changes enacted at Springfield High School are nothing but superficial. Metal detectors are not going to stop a student from bringing a gun to class if he really wants to do so. Rather than talking about support systems and security, school officials and community members should talk about the root cause of this horrific death.

That being said, there is very little a suburban high school can do to make classrooms safer. Some students will continue to feel unsafe, and for good reason. With over 200 million guns in the United States, nearly anyone can get his hands on a gun, legally or illegally, with little trouble.

Handguns and assault rifles are meant to kill people — nothing else. So why are we surprised when a 16-year-old gets his hands on an assault rifle and uses the gun to do just what was intended to do when it left the factory?

It is downright appalling that almost no one seems to be discussing a local and national gun situation that invites these tragedies, especially in light of how close it hits to home. Few of the nation’s problems have as simple a root as gun violence. We need to start talking about how we can stop guns from reaching the hands of our country’s youth, and we need to start taking action now.

Andrew Bartholomew is a graduate of Chestnut Hill Academy and resident of Chestnut Hill. He is a sophomore at Yale University and writes for the Yale Daily News.

Loss of Possession
by CHESTNUT TIM

Ah, the holidays. Stag and Doe. Wine and Cheese. The Avenue trees (those that are left) twinkling with light. Beautiful. The crisp, cold Canadian air slips in. My love for my fellow man overfloweth. And now, too, my Christmas cards begin to arrive, pleasant reminders of ties past and present. Or that’s my hope. Every year, that is my hope. And hope is eternal.

Then it happens.

There are probably three types of people in the world. There are those that know how to use apostrophes, those that don’t, and those that don’t but are sure that they do. (As I think about it there must be a fourth type who would just as soon tell people that worry about such things to stick their apostrophes up their yingyangs—perhaps, that’s how semi-colons were invented.)

But I digress. Let me tell you what happens. In the midst of my Dickensian feelings of blessing everyone, I receive my first mis-apostrophied envelope. It comes addressed to The Tim’s. To quote Charlie Brown in his famous Christmas fable, “AHHHHH!”

I love Christmas. I love Christmas cards. I’ve read A Christmas Carol 15 times. But I don’t want to open that envelope. I want to write on it, “Return to sender. Grammar unknown.”

In case you are unsure of the rule — and let me state that there is nothing wrong with that. The only crime comes in not caring, or worse, being wrong and stubbornly resisting the truth. (You don’t get to do that unless you’re elected to public office.) Anyway, here’s the rule in simplest form: Apostrophes are not used to form plurals. They show possession or indicate placement of missing letters.

So the card should be addressed to The Tims. The sender is sending the card to my whole family (or more accurately, as you have probably determined, to my wife’s whole family.) To write Tim’s, I, and I alone, would have to be the owner of something.

Two points: (1) This is not hard. (2) It does matter. It is not hard because the rule is simple. (See above.) It matters because it shows care. In the same way that children are taught that good manners are a way of showing respect for others. Proper punctuation shows respect for the written word, or in this case, the addressee. If you really care enough to send the very best, then do your best as well.

To those that would say, “Chestnut, why be so picky? What does it really matter, especially at this time of year?” My answer is that this brings me no joy. In fact, I have long resisted speaking out. But the goodness and giving nature of the season are upon me. This is my gift to card-carrying card senders everywhere.

Receiving what I have come to call Cards Requiring Adjusted Punctuation (CRAP) saddens me out of proportion. I’m not well. I hear Elvis singing “Blue Christmas,” and I think about apostrophes.

Often, very nice people, intelligent people, send us CRAP. How do I tell them? They’ve gone through college. Some are doctors and lawyers, and yet every year, like swallows returning, here comes their CRAP. Sometimes — and this really depresses me — they stick on those little, printed return labels. Imagine 500 self-adhesive labels with little Santas or Rudolphs in the corners and gold lettering that says The Smith’s. Double AHHHHH!

There are corollary benefits to knowing this rule. While I am disheartened when a really nice person addresses the envelope incorrectly, let me suggest an occurrence that may add to your holiday cheer, albeit in a way slightly at odds with the true feeling of the season. I’ll change the names to protect the ignorant.

Each year we receive a card from “a business associate” whose arrogance in person is only exceeded by his arrogance in print. I have never been in a conversation with him when he didn’t mention his Ivy League lineage. From him we get the “State of the Family” letter, which chronicles in excruciating detail his business triumphs and family accomplishments.

While this might annoy others, I enjoy it. Why? Because I live for irony. You guessed it. Mr. Wonderful doesn’t know the rule. His lovely calligraphied parchment comes addressed to The Tim’s from The Wonderful’s. My wife tells me I may not keep the envelopes.

You may be concerned about exceptions and anomalies. This is the English language after all. You might, say, be worried about your plurals if you have friends who are Hugheses or Joneses, but please note, even in such cases, apostrophes are NOT involved. And if you momentarily forget, address your card to The Jones Family. You can’t go wrong.

So here’s the plan. Start small and look within. When you send out your cards, address them according to the rule. If you currently possess incorrectly printed labels, treat them as a recovering addict would his pills. If you’ve already sent them out this year, forgive yourself and make your New Year’s resolution now.

Finally, and here is the hard part, you must tell two people of this rule. Like the old commercial, they may tell two friends and so on and so on, until we have erased this affront to simple Standard English and common sense.

You should expect at least one of the two people to disagree with you (see above), but stay strong, you have righteousness on your side.

Merry Christmas.

Opinion: Tree time
by Bob Previdi

I don’t normally like to talk about my family — but during the Christmas season there is something very special about spending time with your family, friends and neighbors. And Chestnut Hill is the perfect place to be. One of my favorite pastimes this time of year is bringing home the Christmas tree. Each year I enjoy making it a Chestnut Hill event for my family.

Last week, I left work and walked one block south on Germantown Avenue to pick up my two children (Joseph 8, Willy 3) at the Christ Lutheran Day Care. They both asked me if we could go to the playground, but on this day, I said we did not have time. Today we were going over to Laurel Hill Gardens to see my friend Joe Acenzi and get our Christmas Tree!

It was a crisp December evening and there were so many types of trees to choose from. My wife, Barbara happened to be working (thankfully ) so choosing a tree would be simpler — I would just let the kids decide!!

This looked like a smart decision as Joseph wasted no time and picked out the first one he saw. Willy had another idea so we did circle around once, but ended up right back at the first tree Joseph had chosen. I gave Willy my credit card and he walked it in to the cashier, while Joseph helped the worker to wrap the tree up and cut the base.

Then my favorite part — we put the tree on a wagon and we walked it home. Down Abington, and Ardeliegh Street to our house on Winston Road. We met up with Barbara half way home (two blocks) who had just got back and we enjoyed the moment.

Joseph helped me unload the tree and put it on the stand, Barbara offered to take the wagon back with Willy. I went upstairs to get the decorations and Christmas lights. Joseph untangled the lights and we put them on the tree. My job now done, I sat back and enjoyed watching the children put the decorations on the tree and make a mess of the floor. Then went back to doing my regular home job — chores.

I put on Vince Guaraldi while Joseph and Willy continued putting up the decorations. They did a great job, too. The entire tree was covered in ornaments and special home-made decorations. Joseph then called the family together to put the final touch – the star — on top of the tree. We later picked up pizza at Cosimos, watched a movie and called it a night. It is my favorite part of the Christmas season, the anticipation, the preparation, all in my backyard called Chestnut Hill. Merry Christmas!