This is for personal, noncommercial use only.
Gas Buddy
Letters, Oct. 28, 2009
Print this Article- Font Size:
- Default font size
- Larger font size
OCBP hiring
does raise questions
Regarding the Oct. 17 story, "Ocean City panel fines Beach Patrol leader over testing/
Ethics board clears fire chief of nepotism":
I am a 30-year resident of Ocean City and a single working mother. In 2008, my daughter, who swam for four years for Ocean City High School, applied for a job with the Ocean City Beach Patrol. She came in ninth out of 44 in the ocean swim. She has Red Cross certification for lifeguarding, CPR and first aid. She is also a volunteer firefighter in Marmora.
Two girls and 15 boys, one of whom came in 34th in the ocean swim, were hired that year - but not my daughter.
And this is "America's Greatest Family Resort"?
IRENA EROEN
Ocean City
Vote for Daggett
to buck unions
The Republican and Democratic parties are nothing more than huge corporations whose employees (elected officials) are beholden to special interests for their survival. Here in New Jersey, that is especially true regarding the New Jersey Education Association and the Communications Workers of America.
When I voted for Jon S. Corzine in the last election, I thought his wealth would prevent undue influence from special interests. However, I neglected to consider the power of the union vote.
It is therefore essential to vote for Chris Daggett in the upcoming election. And any citizen who does not have a vested interest in the continuation of New Jersey's current fiscal policies should do so also.
As for local elections, attempt to discover from those running for office how the imminent 20 percent rise in the cost of employee medical benefits (if they are covered under the state plan) is going to be raised.
ED DEAN
Somers Point
Christie's plan bad
for your health
Immunizations are one of modern medicine's greatest achievements, resulting in the dramatic decline of infectious diseases such as smallpox, diphtheria and polio, to name just a few. They have prevented more suffering and saved more lives than any other medical procedure. We rely on them to keep our children and our elderly healthy and strong.
Yet Chris Christie says that if he is elected governor, he will revamp health-insurance benefits to eliminate "extravagances." What does he consider an extravagance? Well, vaccinations for one. At a time when we are facing more and more types of disease - such as the swine flu - that have the potential to become pandemics, it is insane to consider vaccinations an extravagance. Indeed, they are a health care necessity.
But Christie doesn't limit his thoughts on medical extravagances to vaccinations alone. He also considers mammograms, autism care, prostate cancer screenings and minimum maternity stays extravagant as well. Electing Christie is a prescription for disaster.
MARIA FOSTER
Margate
Preservation panel
ineffective in O.C.
The Oct. 19 editorial, "Ocean City Historic District/
Don't dilute it, but ... ," ignores one crucial fact: For the past dozen years, the Ocean City Historic Preservation Commission has done little preserving and little regulating either.
I think any preservationist in the city - and I was one for most of that period - will tell you that the commission has been known more for approving the tearing down of historic, yet sound, houses than for anything else. Had the commission been helping owners of historic properties make full use of the wide variety of preservation resources available to them, it would be leaving a much more constructive legacy than a few street signs.
As for your comment on the Ocean City Lifesaving Station - the most historic property in the city - I believe you did a great disservice to those who fought, and still fight, to preserve this gem on its original site.
A decade ago, the commission acted in ways that threatened the structure's very existence, and the commission has fought its preservation every step of the way since.
If people want to preserve whatever overdevelopers have left us of "an area with charm and ambience," they need to fight to reverse current policies and directions.
KIM BAKER
Egg Harbor Township
Blogger wrong
on coach checks
On Oct. 12, Jim Perskie's PressofAtlanticCity.com blog referred to background checks on prospective youth sports coaches as "mostly a waste of time and money." I strongly disagree - and have 737 supporting pieces of evidence.
USA Football, the sport's national governing body on youth and amateur levels, distributes $500,000 in youth football league background-check subsidies that are available for every youth football league in the United States.
Of the thousands of background screenings USA Football has helped fund since 2007 when this program began, 737 screenings have drawn red lights, eliminating undesirable volunteer candidates from the youth football community.
Would Perskie argue that background checks on our kids' youth coaches are "mostly a waste of time and money" if they kept one of his children from being coached by one of these 737 people?
I should hope not.
Offenses that our subsidized background checks have found include: unlawful sex with a minor; arson; felony criminal sexual contact; criminal sexual assault; assault with a deadly weapon; felony possession of cocaine; child abuse; domestic violence; rape; and drug trafficking.
Youth leagues should carefully choose which company performs their background checks. Any league's screenings should include searches of national criminal database records, state records, county records search, at least one sex-offender registry, Social Security number verification and address history verification.
SCOTT HALLENBECK
Executive Director
USA Football
Vienna, Va.
Posted in Letters on Wednesday, October 28, 2009 3:05 am
15 comments:
Click here to report a comment as abusive.