| Clarification
To The Editor:
I appreciate the story “Dental Work: Queens Dentist
ID’s Katrina Bodies” (Queens Tribune, Nov. 17, 2005).
However, I would like to clear up a number of inaccuracies.
Mainly, I would like to stress that I wasn’t “working on my
own.” I was part of the DMORT East team that, when I arrived,
consisted of 106 forensic members. The team was made up of forensic
dentists, pathologists, radiologists, anthropologists, medical
examiners/coroners, DNA and fingerprint specialists, funeral
directors/embalmers and mental health specialists. I met most
of my fellow teammates in Mississippi for the first time. They
were a very select group of people, and it was amazing how we
all bonded so strongly.
The dental section was particularly outstanding
and consisted of over 25 forensic odontologists. When we took
X-rays and evaluated the victim’s remains, there were up to
six dentists present in the morgue. All were helping each other
while compassionately evaluating the Katrina victims. We all
took shifts so that everyone could participate and be highly
accurate in our identification process. The team did process
over 25 victims on some days, but again it was a team effort
and I wasn’t counting how many victims I myself had worked on.
Another small misunderstanding was a reference
that I was there before the equipment had been shipped. The
morgue equipment was already there. What I was referring to
was the portable toilets, showers, washing machines… that arrived
later and made the teams life a whole lot better. Though I still
can only contemplate why I was so unhappy with my own living
conditions, because I was alive, and my situation was temporary.
Stuart Segelnick,
Hillcrest
Fighting Whom?
To The Editor:
I saw a sign in a pizzeria the other day. It
read “Re-elect Dennis Gallagher to the City Council - A Fighter
for Our Community.”
To win a fight, one must show up, or lose by
default.
I recently attended a City Council committee
meeting on the issues facing and delaying the MTA’s takeover
of the private bus lines in Queens. Mr. Gallagher, supposedly
a member of the Civil Service and Labor committee, gets paid
$100,000 a year to represent Western Queens at the New York
City Council.
Apparently he had better things to do than waste
his time educating himself on the biggest transit problem facing
his district. That issue is the complete breakdown of the service
provided to western Queens by Triborough, Green Bus Lines and
Command Bus Company. We can no longer rely on the buses to show
up on time or at all and it’s getting worse every month. The
riders dread the onset of yet another winter with no resolution
in sight.
Buses scheduled to run five minutes apart in
the rush hour run, in reality, 10, 20 or 40 minutes apart. Buses
break down and arrive with broken fare boxes that translate
into lost revenue. Signals, taillights and air conditioners
do not work, causing riders to question the safety of the vehicles.
Meanwhile all sides agree that about 180 brand new buses are
sitting somewhere in the city. When this fact was exposed the
buses were spilt up and moved all over town.
The absence of the MTA at the committee meeting,
which appears to be changing its mind on the takeover, was berated
by union and committee members and staff. No one berated Gallagher.
We need to go to work, doctor appointments and school. The weekend
shutdowns of the L train, at the Queens/Brooklyn border, and
the work being done on the No. 7 line, at the western end of
the Q39 Triborough bus route are making it almost impossible
to leave the neighborhood.
What’s going on? Consider yourself berated, Mr.
Gallagher.
John Hynes,
Western Queens
Citizens Only
To The Editor:
In reference to the article by Andrew Moesel
in the Queens Tribune the week of Nov. 17, 2005, I
have no problem with any citizen voting in elections; after
all, a citizen is granted that right by virtue of his citizenship.
But should any non-citizen be given that right? Absolutely not.
Let us hear from our elected representatives on this matter.
Voting is for citizens.
Dr. Daniel D. Epstein,
Jamaica Estates
Back In USSR?
To The Editor:
The NYC Council must be making the Politburo
green with envy. First, any overturning, modifying, tweaking,
etc., of the will of the people, not once, but twice, on term
limits, by any other means than a referendum, should be an impeachable
offense for any member participating in such nonsense.
These criminals then want to give the vote to
non citizens which besides being immoral endangers our national
security, but so what do they care, as long as they get to hold
on to their positions longer, you know, the ones they were able
to get because of term limits.
They continue on with more nonsense saying hundreds
of locals of a union can all make maximum donations and this
is fair and should be legal but a corporations different subsidiaries
doing the same is unfair.
With 48 out of 51 members being Dems this is
just being done out of fairness, please! Actually, as a union
member I believe it should be unlawful for unions to make campaign
contributions. They take my money without giving me a choice
then donate it to someone who I would never support in my life.
There are a couple of words for this; extortion is one that
comes to mind. At least corporation subsidiaries are contributing
their own money that they earned.
Democratic party = Communist party = Politburo
= voters be damned. I thought New York State’s Legislature was
the worst in the nation, seems our city legislature got jealous.
Tom Brock,
Ridgewood
Bus Mess
To The Editor:
I wonder why the city cannot combine all the
private bus companies all at once. Probably the reason is not
the mayor but the head of the transportation committee for the
city council. Step in and put your foot down, maybe pedal to
the metal sounds better.
Councilman John Liu is constantly complaining
about transit woes and what does he do? Nothing. When the MTA
wants to give bonus rides he complains. My personal opinion
is if a city politician doesn’t do what he is in charge of,
take him off the committee.
With all the excess money in the MTA bank why
can’t they provide bus service for the routes that don’t have
24-hour transportation? Maybe they don’t realize that common
people, yes us, sometimes work around the clock. Instead they
provide service in the worst neighborhoods with sometimes six
buses an hour. After midnight to 5 A.M and Sundays we fend for
ourselves.
Randy Savitt,
Beechhurst
To The Republic
To The Editor:
It appears this president and Congress are not
reading the anger of the American people. We want out of this
unwarranted war that was based on lies, deceptions and worse.
We are tired of our government squandering our hard-earned tax
money and playing policeman of the world for the UN. There is
no constitutional reason for our troops to be in Iraq.
Those poor kids in basic training don’t know
what they are getting into. This happened before during the
Vietnam debacle when we young kids were lied to. We were too
uninformed and naive to realize what was going on. These perpetual
wars had better stop or we will all be destroyed or go bankrupt.
Are you listening Mr President? Are you listening US Congress?
We have had enough!
And let’s not hear any more nonsense that the
president is a conservative. Likewise let’s not hear any more
nonsense that we should spread democracy when we are not even
a democracy ourselves. America is a republic.
Frank St George,
East Rockaway
United At Last
To The Editor:
There are those critics that claim that instigated
by this administration, nothing good has come from our invasion
and occupation of Iraq and that we’ve only increased the level
of hate by all concerned. They are probably not looking at the
big picture.
Iraq and Iran had traditionally hated each other
and have tried to eliminate one another either through wars
or philosophical domination, secular versus theocratic. Without
our intervention they would have eventually killed each other,
but we came to the rescue. We have supplied them both with a
common enemy and they are now closer than they had ever been.
Perhaps now Iraq can actually achieve the nuclear power from
Iran that we had falsely claimed was the reason for invading
them in the first place.
We have brought love to the region; veritable
matchmakers; makes one warm and cuddly inside. A few more pairings
like this and we will have organized that entire Near East to
hate us as one, rather than individually.
Love is in the air.
Nicole Christine,
Bayside |