Letters to the editor

Issue of Sept. 19, 2008

Right on the money

To the Editor:

The current issue of “The Jewish Star” is a standout (Sept. 12, 2008). I have enjoyed Rabbi Weissman’s columns and find this one also on the money. But to run a Page One article on child molestation by a (gasp) holy man –– that took guts. Michael Orbach gets the Golden Bagel for that article.

Having reported, as a Jewish newspaper correspondent, on the early “infiltration” by a more observant Orthodox population, I am bemused by their switch from “vocal minority” to “aggressive majority.” That other Orthodox newspaper would never run Weissman and lose the support of the far right fringe that advertises and promises miracles in exchange for contributions. And never in a million years would abuse at a Talmudic Academy appear on the front page.

When I tell my colleagues worldwide about the Five Towns, where you can find four (shortly, I understand) glatt supermarkets and dozens of stores and restaurants catering to observant Jews, they find it hard to believe. I am happy with the change, because as Jackie Mason says, nobody was ever afraid to walk through a Jewish neighborhood.

Yasher koach.

Leon Schwarzbaum

North Woodmere

We stand corrected

To the Editor:

I noticed my name in last week’s edition of your newspaper (thankfully, below the fold). A subtitle to an important article (Holocaust museums and Jewish leaders now recognizing 1943 Rabbis’ march; Sept. 12, 2008) claimed that in 1943, I was among the marchers in a protest in Washington.

To paraphrase Mark Twain, “reports of my early arrival are greatly exaggerated.” In 1943 I was not even a figment of my own imagination. It was my father shlit’a, Rabbi Binyamin Kamenetzky and grandfather, Rabbi Pinchas Eliyahu Spiegel zt”l, who marched with hundreds of others during that dark period in our history.

I wish I could have merited standing at that gathering, but until then you stand corrected.

Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky

Hewlett

Editor’s note: We admire Rabbi Kamenetzky’s excellent sense of humor and regret the error.

Weitzman responds to blast on budget

To the Editor:

In response to Howard Kopel’s politically charged “In My View” column (Budgetary Wonderland; Sept. 5, 2008): As required by a new standard promulgated by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board, the County’s financial statements recognize the $3.4 billion cost of post-employment health benefits for County employees and retirees –– this is the legacy of decisions concerning health benefits made over the decades by Mr. Kopel’s Republican party.

Since taking office I have proposed measures to narrow eligibility for retiree health benefits, two of which have been enacted into law by the County Legislature. My reports on health benefit cost savings opportunities are available for all to read on the Comptroller’s website:www.nassaucountyny.gov/agencies/Comptroller/index.html, click on “Special Reports.”The County will not have to raise taxes to pay the $3.4 billion; each year’s expense will continue to be paid out of the annual operating budget. The $3.4 billion is the present value of what will have to be paid over the lifetimes of all current County retirees and employees.

Regarding the County’s structural gap, the implication that we have “hidden” it is simply not true. On the contrary, my office has been reporting on and writing about the County’s structural surplus or gap in every financial disclosure statement that we have produced. The reports are all available on my website.

Finally, Mr. Kopel’s charge that the County is borrowing to pay salaries is completely inaccurate. What the County has done is recognize that in previous decades they borrowed more money than needed for capital projects, and use those already borrowed funds to reduce the burden on taxpayers to fund the operating budget, rather than letting the money sit in a bank account. This type of over-borrowing from the previous administration is one reason why the Suozzi administration was able to cut borrowing in half when it took office.

Lastly, Mr. Kopel’s bio would have been more descriptive if it had identified him as a failed Republican candidate for the Nassau County Legislature.

Howard S. Weitzman

Nassau County Comptroller

Mineola

Plastic bags are made from oil

To the editor:

Like many readers, I do most of my shopping at Gourmet Glatt, Supersol or Brach’s. Each time I go to the cashier. I am appalled when he/she starts pulling out plastic bags to pack my groceries. When I explain that I re-use and bring my own bags, I usually get a funny look. After I repeat myself, the cashier usually complies. A week ago, however, one cashier sniffed and told me that she “won’t pack in old bags.”

With many in this country and around the world are becoming more sensitive to environmental issues, it seems that sophisticated Five Towners might make more of an effort to limit their use of plastic bags.

Ten percent of debris washing up on US coastlines is composed of plastic bags. These bags choke, strangle and subsequently starve wildlife. National Geographic estimates that between the bags themselves, and the small toxic molecules that enter food chains when these bags photo-degrade in landfills, 200 species of wildlife have died. If you use 6 plastic grocery bags a week, (and most use more), you are using 24 bags a month and 288 bags a year. With the Yomim Tovim coming up, that number will surely be much higher. It is simple to keep the clean, used grocery bags in your trunk and bring them when you shop or use canvas bags for small purchases.

In closing, may I remind people that plastic bags are made from oil, to the tune of 37 million barrels a year.

Jane Schiff