To the editor,
How disappointing that Entenmann’s has become the latest U.S. brand to be sold to outsiders.
I was in the Entenmann’s discount store in Marine Park, where most everything is a dollar versus $3.99 in some supermarkets. Yes, so the date expires the next day. I freeze the bagels, etc.
I’ve been noticing that they have more and more “Made in Mexico” cookies, and they have been selling Bimbo bread, along with Arnold’s, Levy’s, etc.
I mentioned to the cashier that I want to see American stock, not products made in Mexico. Imagine my surprise when she told me that Entenmann’s has been bought — or is in the process of being bought — by Grupo Bimbo, a Mexican company.
Next time you purchase a Bimbo bread, cookies — or anything Bimbo — know that you are buying a Mexican product. I want American products!
Joan Applepie
Mill Basin
‘Thanks,’ Joanna
To the editor,
Thank you, Joanna DelBuono, for having the courage to write about hate crimes being hate crimes (“A hate crime is a hate crime, no matter what,” Not For Nuthin’, Sept. 13).
You have given me the courage to write to some of our local politicians. It seems some of our leaders do not give our police officers the backing that they need at times. The so-called Rev. Al Sharpton doesn’t care if people of color kill each other. He and his cronies, Rev. Herbert Daughtry, Councilman Charles Barron (D–Brownsville), and Jesse Jackson, seem to almost want cops to be involved in shootings with blacks.
Where are Councilman Vincent Gentile (D–Bay Ridge), state Sen. Marty Golden (R–Bay Ridge), and Mayor Bloomberg?
Poor Mrs. Babbitt, who is in her 90s, had to bury her son, Jeffrey, who became the victim of a hate crime when he was punched to death by a black man. Who is there for her?
They send troops all over, and yet some of our neighborhoods aren’t safe for people to walk outside their homes. Maybe it is time for the soldiers to walk the streets of our boroughs.
Again, thank you, Joanna, for your fine article. You write many that I appreciate. This one got my pressure up, and made me write to let you know that some of us do care, and support your fine work.
Anthony Perino
Bay Ridge
Pro-fingerprinting
To the editor,
To letter writer Ronald Cohen, it is not only arrested persons, who are fingerprinted (“Police State,” Sound off to the editor,” Sept. 13).
Applicants for welfare benefits are also fingerprinted. This is to prevent fraud. Fingerprinting tenants in public housing would be for their own protection. This would help prevent crime and ensure that only legitimate tenants and their guests enter the building. Why object to a measure that would help ensure one’s safety?Sarah Vogel
Seagate
More B trains
To the editor,
Why can’t the Metropolitan Transportation Authority run more B trains on weekends for people in Southern Brooklyn wishing to travel to and from Manhattan?
My cousin was visiting me recently, and we decided to visit the American Museum of Natural History. We thought the best route would be via the D train from Stillwell Avenue, since the B train wasn’t running. It took us a long time to get there, cutting into the time we spent there.
If the MTA ran more express trains to the city on Saturdays and Sundays, it would stimulate the economy. Why must Brighton Beach be singled out for less express train service?Elliott Abosh
Brighton Beach
Where’s Ed?
To the editor,
It seems United Federation of Teachers did not come out in droves to vote for their president Michael Mulgrew’s candidates in the Democratic primary.
After teaching in their school for six hours and 20 minutes, they obviously did not go to their home school to vote. Why? Can someone fill in the blanks? How long was Mulgrew a classroom teacher? What was his subject? Did he hold an Outstanding Teacher Programme position, or the post of a union chairman? Ed Greenspan where are you? Ugo M. Rosiello
Mill Basin
Harebrained Harvard
To the editor,
The humanities division at Harvard University is attracting fewer undergraduate students these days.
The kids, it seems, have finally figured out that it’s tough to get a job after graduation if pretty much all you’ve been preparing for is listening for the sound of a tree falling in the forest. That’s okay if you’ve got a family business to go into but, if you’ve got to make a living some day and pay back all those loans, maybe computer science or accounting or engineering or math might be better choices.
The university, for its part, has responded by preparing a report suggesting the humanities division aggressively market itself to freshmen and sophomores, and convince them of how useful spending four years studying history and gender studies and philosophy can be — “Harriet, the toilet is overflowing. Quick, call an existentialist!”
In other words, they’re trying to snooker your kids! Is it any wonder that the late William F. Buckley once said that he would rather be governed by the first 300 names in the Boston phone directory than by the faculty of Harvard University?
Maybe it is time to intervene with a little fatherly, or motherly, advice, and tell your children, “Do what you love, but don’t quit your day job. And make sure you study the stuff you need to know, so that you can actually get a day job.”
Stephen Finger, MD
Marine Park
Neighborhood blight
To the editor,
The comment, “It makes the place look ghetto-fied,” in your article, “Clothing Bins Irking Ridgites” struck a nerve.
A whole dissertation could be written on the who, what, when, where, why, and how in the makings of a “ghetto-fied” community. I’ve lived in East New York for 29 years. The clothing bins mentioned have sprung up within the last five years. Agreements and monetary exchanges were made without the input of the community. Our elected officials and local garbage men show no regard or empathy for the neighborhood blight, leaving the majority of occupants unfairly stigmatized and stereotyped. We care about the environment, nonetheless.
The bins are not maintained by the companies that erect them. Moreover, individuals within and outside the area do drive-by dumpings.
Your photo shows a pristine-looking clothing bin, compared to the devastation in East New York. I recall when this particular clothing bin first appeared. The pictures tell the story of a transition from a single bin to a single bin, “ghetto-fied.” The area started out with one bin, and two others were added. No doubt, in a short span of time, the site will be filled with garbage, multiplied by three.
This clothing bin is just one of many within a 10-block radius — in every nook and cranny imaginable. P. Blake
East New York
‘KGB’ connection
To the editor,
I take umbrage at your reporter’s comment that I was a “heckler” at the campaign announcement rally of Democratic City Council challenger Ari Kagan, who lost to Chaim Deutsch in the primary.
Kagan failed to procure a permit for the sound device or the gathering, which blocked pedestrian traffic on Quentin Road, thus turning the rally into a public forum.
My speech exposing Kagan’s KGB connection lasted 10 minutes. No one asked me to stop speaking, even though I was physically assaulted by Kagan followers, who obviously didn’t come to this country for the right to freedom of speech.
It is not surprising that the Russian community would support a KGB candidate. Russians are enthralled with Putin precisely because of his KGB background. They see a KGB operative as representing the “real” Russian values of a super macho man, as opposed to some of the more colorful candidates on the American political scene. Weiner and Spitzer come to mind.
The real issue is who was sleeping at immigration when Kagan, an alleged former participant in the Soviet Communist machine, was allowed entrance into this country. Kagan’s immigration file should be reopened and he should be deported.
Zev Yourman
Brighton Beach
Here’s Ed
To the editor,
Leave it to the Department of Education to come up with a new disciplinary code. We already have counseling for students. We need a system of zero tolerance for any disciplinary infractions. We don’t need the ultra-liberal nonsense of cooperative learning, alternate assessments, and focusing on the total child, when the city school system has become one of disrespect, defiance, and disruption.
Of course, these ideas have been thought up by people who either never taught or were expert at getting out of the classroom. Ask any teacher. You cannot teach without discipline, and that is why so many new teachers leave the system within five years of beginning their careers.
Some of our schools are so bad that the National Guard needs to be called in just to restore order. To complicate matters, many of the Democratic candidates for mayor are calling for no suspensions of unruly pupils. If they would only come in and try teaching for a week or so, I guarantee that they would change their attitudes quickly.Ed Greenspan
Sheepshead Bay
Public advo-grate
To the editor,
We can no longer afford a big and bloated city government. The city pays a public advocate. This is ridiculous. All elected officials are supposed to be public representatives and advocates.
I advocate that we erase this title and give the salary back to the city taxpayers. Remember, government is our servant, not our master. The city’s gross domestic product is 12 percent of the entire national gross domestic product.
Tax-and-spend will only end, if the people stop voting for corrupt politicians. That leaves us with a small list of leaders with integrity.
Todd Davis
Marine Park
Keep it local
To the editor,
In these difficult economic times, it is especially important to patronize your local neighborhood businesses.
My wife and I don’t mind occasionally paying a little more to help our local businesses survive. Don’t forget your cook and server at your favorite neighborhood restaurant. We try to tip 20 percent against the total bill, including taxes. If it is an odd amount, we round up to the next dollar. If we can afford to eat out, we can afford an extra dollar tip. When ordering take out, we always leave a dollar or two for the waiter or cook. It is appreciated. Remember these people are our neighbors.
Our local entrepreneurs have continued to create new employment opportunities without the assistance of federally-funded taxpayers’ stimulus dollars. They work long hours, pay taxes, and provide local employment, especially to students during the summer. If we don’t patronize our local community stores and restaurants to shop and eat, they don’t eat either.
Please join me and your neighbors in continuing to support this newspaper. Patronize its advertisers. They provide the necessary revenues to help keep them in business. Let them know you saw their advertisement.Larry Penner
Great Neck, N.Y.
Equine abuse
To the editor,
As a native New Yorker, a veterinarian, and a gay man, I am passionate about our city, and I love so much of what it has to offer. But I have come to despise the inhumane and corrupt horse carriage industry.
My initial exposure to the abuse of the carriage horses was from the critically acclaimed documentary “Blinders.” After much research, and going with an equine veterinarian to see some of the actual inadequate and hazardous stables these animals were being kept in, I decided to join the crusade to rid the city of this cruel and abusive tourist attraction.
What I came to find was that under Mayor Bloomberg and Council Speaker Quinn, and their associations with the carriage owners and drivers, the horses were going to stay in their horrid conditions and continue working the streets indefinitely. What I would later find out was that Quinn, in all of her time as speaker, had prevented every significant piece of animal welfare legislation from reaching the council floor.
We need to remove the dark clouds hovering over buildings housing imprisoned horses that are forced to mercilessly work in traffic, day in and day out, all in the name of entertainment.
John G. Hynes
Staten Island
The writer is a boardmember of the Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association.
Pro-Miley
To the editor,
I give Miley Cyrus mad credit, mad props, and mad respect for her sexy performance at the MTV Music Video Awards.
Madonna and Britney Spears had their time, now let Miley have hers.
If she chooses to share a sensual kiss with a man or a woman — or both — why should I have a problem with that?
So don’t go trying to shove that perpetual, conservative bull about being moral, and what’s respectful, and what’s appropriate down her throat because nine out of 10 times she’s not going to want to hear that. Just let the woman do her thing, and let her live her life. Period.
Sebastian Casalnova
Bensonhurst
