Pick a kitty this weekend
This weekend, Forgotten Cats is having its Second Chance For Love, in the adoption center of PetSmart at 901 Old York Road in Jenkintown. There will be adorable adoptable cats and kittens.
The kitties are vetted, neutered and ready for a family of their own to take them home. What better way to express love than to adopt a little one that truly needs you! Please come and visit this weekend! Someone is waiting for you!
Gina DeNofa
Normandy
Supporters don’t know the real Obama
To those of you who responded in last week’s Northeast Times to my letter to the editor published in the Oct. 10 edition (Don’t fall for the scare tactics from the Obama campaign), thank you.
However, it saddens me that not one of you told me WHY you would vote for Obama. Instead, you chose to bash Romney based on a bunch of lies by Obama and his administration.
It just showed me and the general public that not one of you really know the real Obama.
This, my friends, is what’s scary.
Diane McDowell
Parkwood
A bunch of twenties for one lucky dealer
Congratulations to the auxiliary at Aria Hospital Torresdale for another fantastic flea market. Rain or shine, it’s always a pleasure to shop at this well organized event.
Saturday, Oct. 13 was particularly exciting. I picked up a 1950s-era tablecloth from a pile on the ground. Just as I was asking the dealer (Peg?) how much it cost, a cascade of $20 bills fell from inside the tablecloth! So now the dealer has about $1,000 she didn’t even know that she had. I have a vintage Christmas tablecloth and a “what would you do” type of story to tell.
Vikki Jupin
Wissinoming
Photo of the bridge was missing from story
In his Oct. 17 cover story Span of the centuries, William Kenny did a fine job writing about the history of the Frankford Avenue stone arch bridge that is more than 300 years old and still standing. He described the reasons the historical society and Fred Moore believed the Pennsylvania State Marker should be placed at the bridge.
The celebration was well attended and there were varied tables of information about the history of the area’s early mills and development with many maps and large photos. Also, the Friends of Pennypack Park had tables of information showing native artifacts and the natural history. Horse rides were available for the children and several lectures were taking place during the day to further educate the public about the architecture of the bridge and the historic events of the area. The re-enactors and the working blacksmith made history come alive.
However, one of the stars of the show, the Frankford Avenue Bridge, was not in sight in the photo on the front cover. For anyone not familiar with the area, they might think that all the work and celebration went to the railroad span that was shown instead. And, the photo of the state marker shows an empty street and a garbage truck.
I encourage folks who were in attendance at the celebration to send in your best photos of the bridge.
Cindy Masiejczyk
Fox Chase
A fifty-buck love letter from the city
I found one of the city’s $50 love letters in my mailbox for putting my trash out a few hours early. My guess is folks who maintain their property and invest thousands to improve them are the easy targets since the Section 8 dumps around here keep their trash cans either just inside their yards by the walk or in the side alley that are not even part of the property they “rent.”
I wonder where these champions of city cleanliness are when those properties have grass up to mid-calf half the time, have trash strewed all over, and never shovel the walks in the winter.
Want to clean up Philly, City Hall? Do something about the drug dealers standing on the corners, the packs of human garbage assaulting people for kicks, and the animals — packing heavier firepower than the cops — who feel free to do home invasions almost daily. I am sick of the BS.
Hezakiah Levinson
Rhawnhurst
It’s not nice to pick on our city workers
After reading Ron Kall’s letter Our city workers don’t have it so bad (Oct. 17 edition), I could not just let it go. Ron Kall seems to have a bone to pick with city workers.
Here are some true facts. I was a firefighter for more than 40 years, and yes, I collected DROP. But people do not understand how the DROP program works.
My last four years in the Fire Department, I froze my pension, which means that when I joined the DROP, my pension accumulation stopped. That means my pension will never increase the rest of my life (no cost of living). When my four years were completed, the city did not give me one dime, the money I received from the DROP was my pension check being held by the city Board of Pensions.
What I received was my accumulated pension money that I let the city hold plus some interest. When I started with the fire department, my salary was $5,056 per year and I had to buy all my gear, fire clothes and dress uniform.
Over the years we gave up salary increases to get medical coverage, clothing allowance and reduced hours.
When I was hired we worked a 48-hour week, and today they still work a 42-hour week. As far as holidays go, we do get paid for them at the end of the year, but we do not get them off, including Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, etc. — which I guess you did and celebrated with your family.
Retired firefighter Robert F. Burns
Mayfair
• • •
I don’t think Ron Kall has a clue. You neglected to say if you have gone five years without even a cost-of-living raise like the city’s blue-collar workers have had to do. Do you like having your trash picked up every week, your water flowing each time you turn on the faucet, your street lights on to light your way each night, etc.? These are provided by the city workers that have gone without a new contract for over five years.
Would you like to pick up the trash or dig ditches in all kinds of weather, or better yet, would you like to climb into a trash truck full of maggots and roaches or a sewage truck filled with processed human waste like the mechanics and helpers have to do every day so you can have all these services provided to you at the same rate of pay as in 2007?
As for the DROP program, do you even have a clue as to how it works?
The average city worker goes into the DROP and then, the amount he would have received if he had retired, each week is put into a savings fund that makes a small amount of interest like your savings account, if you even have one, for which the employee stays on working for up to four years. That, in turn, provides you with the services mentioned above.
When the four years are completed the employee MUST retire and cannot come back to work like some City Council members did. Yes, you’re right that the employee takes home a lump sum of money for this up-to four-year commitment, but by doing so, that employee has given up 8 percent of his retirement, which he or she could have collected for life.
There’s a saying: “Walk a mile in my shoes before making a judgment on me.”
Harry Parfitt Jr.
Lexington Park
Thumbs up for Al Taubenberger
As a former president of the Mayfair Civic Association and former board member of the Holy Terrors Youth Organization, I know firsthand the challenges and opportunities in many of the communities in the Northeast.
To meet the challenges and capitalize on the opportunities, there is no doubt in my mind that Al Taubenberger is the best choice to represent the 172nd Legislative District in the state House in Harrisburg.
I have known and worked closely with Al for many years. As president of the Greater Northeast Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, he has grown that organization in size and influence. He has been tireless in his support for small businesses all over the district, and his volunteer work as a Burhome civic leader and Town Watch official is well known and respected among his peers.
During my work with the 15th Police District Advisory Council, Al and I often collaborated on approaches to public safety and citizen awareness. I found him to be thoughtful and thorough at all times.
I am voting for Al Taubenberger on Nov. 6, and I respectfully urge you and your family to do the same.
Scott Cummings
Thumbs down for Al Taubenberger
Stop the presses!! Al Taubenberger is running for office AGAIN! This is the fifth time in the last 10 years he’s running. The guy is a perennial candidate. He runs for everything: Congress, mayor, City Council, and now state representative. Seems like his only job is to run for office. His real job is supposed to be running the Greater Northeast Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce.
For all the times Al has run for office I’ve never heard him once offer a new idea. Public service is supposed to be about helping people, not just getting your picture in the paper. The only thing worse than a career politician is a career failed politician.
Ann Daly
Bustleton
Presidential politics is like high school
You don’t need to be a psychic to determine who will win the election in November. Barack Obama is a charismatic, likable and off-the-charts orator when he is energizing his base from the pulpit. He will not be denied a second term as president.
Even though the job that Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are vying for is leader of the free world, at the end of the day, as it did in high school, it comes down to a popularity contest. Who won the debates is certainly not the deciding factor. What is more important to the voting masses is which guy would be cooler to hang out with and whose party would they prefer to be a member?
Both presidential candidates are intelligent guys that have attained a level of success that proves they are capable of making wise decisions when the stakes are high, and their scholastic achievements speak for themselves.
Mitt Romney graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School; receiving his law degree and MBA simultaneously in 1975, according to www.cnbcfix.com.
President Obama was elected as the first African-American editor of the Harvard Law Review, and he graduated from Harvard Law School, magna cum laude, in 1991, according to www.biography.com.
The catch phrases that have sealed the deal for the president: Hope, Change and in 2012, Forward. Unfortunately, for us, more rhetoric than substance.
It’s a disgrace to the office that Obama continues to name-drop George W. Bush as a talking point in his 2012 campaign, as he did during his recent 60 Minutes interview; yet he is the last person to have held the office. That makes as much sense as the incumbent class president in high school, placing the brunt of the blame on the former school president, who is off attending college in another state. Where is the accountability on the economy? A recovery? Really?
According to nces.ed.gov, during the 2012-13 school year, colleges and universities are expected to award 937,000 associate’s degrees; 1.8 million bachelor’s degrees; 756,000 master’s degrees; and 174,000 doctorate degrees.
The Labor Department’s initial calculations indicate U.S. employers added 114,000 jobs in September. This tepid job creation pace doesn’t even keep up with recent college graduates entering into the job market.
President Obama is kicking the country’s $16 trillion debt down the road and forcing future generations to suffer an enormous burden as a result of his administration’s policy failures.
You don’t have to be a presidential candidate to know that the best person for the job is not always the one who gets hired. At any high school, the business nerd would be the better choice for class president as opposed to the self-absorbed jock, who ends up winning the election.
Jason Kaye
Burholme
Speak your mind …
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