Kudos to the Woodward Family

On behalf of one local organization that is dedicated to open space preservation – Whitemarsh Foundation – I want to congratulate and say thank you to the Woodward family for their recent conservation easement of land to the Natural Lands Trust.

Our community and its open spaces are so very rare and special, that to have such a large number of acres in the heart of Chestnut Hill preserved in perpetuity is a major accomplishment.

In making this easement, the Woodward family has ensured that important land adjacent to the Wissahickon Valley Park will be properly stewarded and cared for. It is through the concern and care of those like the Woodwards that we will continue to enhance the environment in the greater Philadelphia area.

Kimberly Sheppard

President, Whitemarsh Foundation

Moral values going downhill

The letter from Abigail Hoffman this week (“Shocked by widow’s article,” Nov. 12) struck a chord with me. What she wrote is so true about our country’s moral values going steadily downhill with all of the bad language you hear everywhere, the nudity and pornography, etc.

It’s hard to believe now, but when I was a child many years ago, you never heard language like that in public, people dressed respectfully when they went out in public, and families were actually ashamed if their teenage daughter got pregnant.

Today, based on what I read in the press, most teenage boys and girls and many kids even younger than that are involved in “sexting.” Where are the parents? Where are the churches? Where is the morality? This is a disgrace. We don’t need the terrorists to destroy us. We are destroying ourselves by putting our moral fiber in the gutter.

Ronald DiRenzo

Lafayette Hill