Memorial Day, May 30th , 2016
As Memorial Day passes I want to thank the Veterans that have served our country bravely. These Americans have made the ultimate sacrifice in the name of Democracy. I want to thank their families who must miss their loved ones dearly every day. These families are the ones who live with the loss every day. Every Memorial Day, I fly my American flag in the front of my house. My family has done it for years; it’s a small gesture. Most of the time it is flown because of a National Holiday, but on Memorial Day I fly it to show that I appreciate all that has been sacrificed for my freedom. Men and Women serve so all of us can live freely in this great country of ours. Thank you to all those parents who have lost a child serving. THE SACRIFICE YOUR FAMILY HAS MADE WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN!
THANK YOU COUSIN SHAWN!
Your son: 2nd Lt. John Wroblewski
(Age 25 Marines: Operation Iraqi Freedom)
“HE WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN”
God Bless America!
Kevin M. Seman
A Thank You from the
Book Family
Hi, I am Peter Book’s daughter and can’t tell you enough how wonderful and comforting it was to see your tribute to him in the paper. THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart for doing that. The story captured him so well! Not only did you help us with the difficult job of letting people know but you also gave us something to treasure forever. He loved your paper and was always so proud to share his clippings with us whenever they were printed. He certainly was a gem.
Thank you again,
Beatrice Book Rogers
Proposed Gun Legislation
A recent letter in a daily newspaper complained about proposed new gun legislation, as if what exists now is perfect. It claimed the US has a higher rate of gun deaths than any other “industrialized country” but ignores the fact that this number has more than doubled since the 1968 Gun Control Act was passed. Mass shootings at grammar or high schools were then unknown.
Gun Prohibitionists never compare the US to Switzerland, which has the highest rate of gun ownership but a much lower rate of gun deaths. Canada has a higher rate of gun ownership (a more rural country) but a lower rate of gun violence. Is it their National Health Care system?
Assumptions about restrictions do not foretell the future, as in the shootings at that Army base in Texas. It is ridiculous to claim that “childproof” technology for handguns would work. If these unproven devices can be enabled for one user they can be enabled for another user. This proposal lacks quality (the wishes of a customer) and creates a defective product.
The Big Lie of the Gun Prohibitionists is their claim to work for reduced unneeded deaths. For every firearm death (suicide or murder) there are over ten times as many that die from smoking. Where is their call for “Tobacco Control”? They are not paid to do this! Whenever the employment rate goes up the homicide rate goes down. So why are they not calling for Full Employment, good jobs at good wages? They are not paid to do this! Beware of meretricious proponents of policies that don’t work as advertised.
That letter writer also complained against violence in entertainment as well. Will he call for the banning of Shakespeare’s plays or other movies from the past?
Ronald A. Sobieraj
Union Proposes Progressive
Solution, While Board Would Increase
Insurance Costs
PERTH AMBOY – Long-stalled negotiations on an expired contract for educators hit a further snag as the Perth Amboy Board of Education filed for impasse, rejecting a union proposal to structure health insurance costs so lower paid workers would not pay as much. “When increased health insurance costs were implemented, they were progressive,” said union president Patricia Paradiso, a third-grade teacher. “The union wants to see a decrease in health insurance costs for everyone,” she said.
“All we want is a fair contract for hard-working Perth Amboy educators, who work with students in the schools every day,” said Paradiso. “It is hypocritical that a well compensated administrator like the superintendent is paying 1.5 percent of his two hundred-thousand dollar salary for coverage while a teacher making a third of that pays significantly more.”
The money is available in the district according to Paradiso. She said the district just created four new top-level administrative positions allocating more than a half-million dollar in salaries, for personnel who will never see the inside of a classroom. “How much are these new administrative hires paying for health insurance while the costs for lowest-paid educators in the district continue to climb?” she asked.
Paradiso decried the board’s move to impasse and called for a return to the bargaining table. She said the union has been active with pickets and protests outside of schools and parents are expressing solidarity with the students’ teachers and school personnel. “Our members have great relationships with the community and many parents have signed on to our petition calling on the board to bargain a fair deal.”
The Perth Amboy Federation – American Federation of Teachers represents more than 1,400 teachers, paraprofessionals and school-related personnel.
Nat T. Bender
American Federation of Teachers New Jersey
