PAGE A22 • THE PORT TIMES RECORD • FEBRUARY 15, 2018
OPINION Editorial
Letters to the editor
Early entrants for Women’s Recognition METRO
Capital bond propositions are asking taxpayers to reach deeper into their pockets.
Women’s Recognition Month isn’t until March, but it is well past time to recognize the exemplary work of two individuals in our community with whom I serve: Susan Casali, assistant superintendent for business at Comsewogue School District, and Jennifer Dzvonar, president of the Port Jefferson Station/Terryville Chamber of
Commerce. Susan, always masterful with statistical data and diplomacy, can now add to these qualities leadership of the facilities committee, evaluating bond referendum considerations for our school district. Her exhaustive, impeccable work leaves no stone unturned. Over many years, and
especially of late, Jennifer’s finesse at building coalitions and creating and executing transformative opportunities in our hamlets is undeniable. She is “can-do” personified. These humble pillars in our community deserve recognition.
Joan Nickeson Terryville
It’s not what you’re asking for, but how you’re asking On colleges with left-wing agendas Asking for money is uncomfortable. In our daily lives, needing to borrow some cash here or there isn’t a request that rolls off the tongue easily for most. Since New York State implemented a 2 percent property tax levy cap in June 2011, school districts have been asking taxpayers to consider a referendum for additional spending cash more and more frequently. Boards of education have been required to get creative in trying to get done essential facility improvements to keep buildings and programs vibrant, and to engender high level academics, athletics and artistic performances for as many students as possible. It’s admittedly not an easy job keeping a school district flourishing while being required to raise tax revenue by no more than 2 percent from year to year, especially in cases where contractual raises or benefit cost increases blow past the cap to begin with. If asking to borrow a couple of dollars here and there from friends or family is an awkward task requiring tact and humility, school districts should be approaching it the same way. A common thread for bonds voted down by taxpayers in our coverage area in recent years has been a cry for more transparency and community involvement in every step of the process, from compiling lists of projects to be addressed to trimming that list down to the actual appearance of a bond on a ballot. We found it refreshing to sit in Feb. 12 on the public bond presentation of Comsewogue School District, based in Port Jefferson Station. Although it hadn’t been decided if a proposition will ultimately end up on the ballot in May, making it impossible to know if its strategy will be effective in getting a bond referendum passed at this time, what we do know is that a lack of community involvement or input will never be a charge hurled at Comsewogue. Since early January, the district’s facilities committee, a group made up of professionals from a wide cross section of the community, has been meeting and deliberating about what projects it would ultimately recommend the board of education considers, including in a bond proposal. If the board goes forward with holding a referendum, members of the board have asked the committee, which includes engineers, architects and civic association leaders, remain involved in every step of the process going forward. John Swenning, board president, said it wouldn’t make sense for the board to ignore the expertise, passion and smarts that could be offered by each of the committee members throughout the process. This is how asking for money should be handled. It seems like in many cases capital bond propositions are assembled and presented to the community in that order, and public hearings and discussions that follow are just a formality — being held only to meet state-mandated requirements. District’s seeking permission from communities to borrow large sums of money over long periods of time should approach the ask by doing just that, informing residents on ways their moneys need to be expended, and asking them how in other ways they’d like to see their dollars spent.
Letters … We welcome your letters. They should be no longer than 400 words and may be edited for length, libel, style and good taste.
We do not publish anonymous letters. Please include a phone number and address for confirmation. Email letters to alex@tbrnewsmedia.com or mail them to The Port Times Record, P.O. Box 707, Setauket, NY 11733.
It’s time for parents to send their pablum-sucking adult babies home from their left-wing, college-supported professors. Today many parents are struggling financially in developing their
siblings into becoming productive citizens for family and nation while the college administrators cause dissension with their education. Make change and come back, “Little Sheba,” and you may find
your college may change with you. God bless America.
Leonard J. Henderson Port Jefferson
Trump making America his footstool President Donald Trump continues to behave in a way that endangers our democracy. Much of what he says, does or threatens to do — as often suggested by his odd advisers and lawyers — is undemocratic and highly objectionable. He far too often speaks and acts in a way that is wholly unacceptable to our nation’s ideas, laws and people. One example of his objectionable behavior is his ceaseless attacks on our free press. Oppressive talk of that sort is wholly opposed to America’s constitutionally protected idea of the freedom of expression. Also, recent statements made by his defense lawyers, urging him not to appear before a subcommittee, are wholly unacceptable and threaten our democracy. No American, including Mr. Trump, should be allowed to ignore a summons to appear before a government committee, jury, etc. Such refusals disobey a fundamental law of our nation and can (and should) lead to intervention by the judicial branch
of the government. This president often sounds like a dictator. For example, his frequent criticism of our free press is highly objectionable and quite repulsive. Only dictators speak unendingly in a critical way about their nation’s news sources. Granted, not all aspects of the media are constantly truthful; some report news that is fabricated, exaggerated or inaccurate — but most do not. Politicians have no right whatsoever to try to limit or destroy the free expression that is characteristic of newspapers, radio or TV programs. The president can object to the content of the media’s news releases, but he cannot limit their freedom to say what they wish. If the president refuses to testify before legitimately established government committees, etc., he will be acting like an all-powerful ruler. When he says or does certain things that most Americans find highly undemocratic, he reveals objectionable ideas and attitudes that increase
the fear that he is anxious to make America his footstool. If he refuses to testify, he will merely increase the justifiable insistence on the part of so many Americans that he be constitutionally removed from office. His behavior is unlike that of most leaders of our past. The fundamental laws of our nation should not be trampled upon by this man. The Supreme Court can judge the legality and appropriateness of any given law. No single individual, including the president, can be permitted to disobey the law, unless the Supreme Court rules that a specific law is illegitimate. Donald Trump is acting more and more like a potential dictator, and therefore he arouses the fear that he may one day crush the democratic foundation of our country. Thus, he must either immediately alter his highly objectionable ways of speaking an acting or be legally removed from the White House.
Elio Zappulla Stony Brook
Get into the mix. Participate in our reader forums @ www.tbrnewsmedia.com