Letters to the Editor: January 4, 2012

It’s time to really get tough on those dangerous drivers
On Friday, Dec. 16, a remarkable, industrious woman, Sarah Gilmore, was struck and killed crossing Frankford Avenue near Lansing Street at about 10 a.m.
The center lane of Frankford Avenue at this point is designated for turns. How could the driver of the car not have seen a person in the street ahead of her? How fast was she going if she did see the pedestrian and could not stop in time? Was the driver on a cell phone?
In 2000, while waiting to make a left turn, in a white car with my turn signal flashing, I was rear-ended by a car driven by a woman on a cell phone. I was injured and my car was totaled by a driver distracted by a cell phone conservation.
I hope that the telephone records of the driver of the car that killed Sarah Gilmore can be accessed to find out whether distracted driving was a factor in Sarah’s death.
Northeast Philadelphia has too many people who drive fast and frantically, on cell phones, as though they were responding to an emergency.
Is there nothing the police and the courts can do to discourage this high-risk behavior?
Mildred Koch
Pennypack

Jeanes doctor: Merger story needs a drop of medicine
The article by Tom Waring, It’s a medical miracle, (Dec. 21 edition), misrepresents the background of the merger between Temple and Fox Chase Cancer Center.
The latter institution did try to expand in surrounding park land, but the motivation for the merger was not about that.
Fox Chase was on the verge of bankruptcy with huge amounts of debt, and thus attempted to affiliate with several nearby health care systems such as Aria and Geissinger. Unfortunately for them, the land on which Fox Chase was built is owned by a Quaker trust established by Anna T. Jeanes, the founder of Jeanes Hospital, such that Fox Chase could not sell itself to the highest bidder, so to speak. They actually had no choice but to work things out with Temple, which now owns Jeanes Hospital.
The clinical expansion of Fox Chase into Jeanes Hospital alluded to in the article involves areas currently used by administration, etc. It will not encroach on any areas currently in use for patient care at Jeanes. Further, we at Jeanes currently provide high-quality care in outpatient diagnostic testing, radiology, breast care, urology and surgery. These services may be integrated in the new partnership, but your article indicated that the merger would provide (these) services, suggesting they are not currently available at Jeanes.
As a physician who has provided breast care to women in our region for over 20 years, mainly at Jeanes Hospital, I felt the need to offer a more accurate picture of the situation.
Our medical staff looks forward to working with our colleagues “across the bridge” and will work hard to facilitate the partnership in every way that enhances patient care and furthers the mission and vision of our founder. Thank you for your attention.
Margaret Levy, M.D.
Chairwoman, Department of Surgery  Jeanes Hospital

It’s not a tax cut when you’re actually robbing Social Security
The news media warned us for weeks that those politicians in Washington were going to deny us a “payroll tax cut” due to their bickering.
The so-called tax cut is a one-third reduction in your withholding for Social Security.
Funny, in past years this was not called a tax, it was called a contribution. So now it’s a tax? And how is it denying us anything, when the tax is simply going back to the normal Social Security rate?
Let’s get something clear. The Social Security fund is already distressed, and at some point will not be able to pay out the full benefit.
So the politicians and their friends in the national media think it’s a good idea to reduce incoming funds? Show me that math.
This is a classic example of why we are in a financial mess. Everybody wants theirs now — gimme, gimme — and nobody is planning for the future. We have many unfunded future promises and too little money to pay for them.
So why make things worse by shorting Social Security?
Shame on the media, Congress, and especially shame on the president, for presenting this shell game as a tax cut.
Richard Iaconelli
Rhawnhurst

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Letters should be 300 words or less. Short letters have a better chance of getting published. All letters are subject to editing and MUST include the writer’s full name along with daytime and evening phone numbers for verification purposes. Anonymous letters will NOT be published. Mail to: Letters to the Editor, Northeast Times, 2512 Metropolitan Drive, Trevose, PA 19053. Fax: 215-355-4857. E-mail: pronews@bsmphilly.com