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QC06122014

28 The QUEE NS Courier • JUNE 12, 2014 for breaking news visit www.queenscourier.com editorial letters DRIVING US CRAZY New York City drivers don’t know how to drive on the road. Does anyone know the meaning of a STOP sign? A yellow signal? A red signal? A yield sign? What about using directionals when changing lanes? When the speed limit is posted at 30 mph on streets, it does not mean to drive like a maniac at 50 mph! When stopping at a crosswalk, it means to stop before the solid white lines, not halfway through them! Some of these motorists must have gotten their licenses from a Cracker Jack box, and must have their brains in their backsides. John Amato, Fresh Meadows PRAYING FOR PEACE Let us all fervently hope that Pope Francis’ meeting with President Shimon Peres of Israel and President Mahmoud Abbas of Palestine will finally, at long last, result in peace between the two nations! “Peacemaking calls for courage much more than warfare,” Francis told the two men. The meeting took place in the Vatican gardens near St. Peter’s Basilica! He said they “must respond” to their people’s calls for peace! This event incorporated Jewish, Christian and Muslim prayers in several languages. Hopefully, this Pope’s mission will be fruitful. Failure to achieve a lasting peace is NOT an option for all concerned! Leonore Brooks Whitestone VETERANS SUFFER AT HANDS OF G.O.P. Republicans appear to be outraged by what’s happening at the Veterans Administration. But in reality they are overjoyed! Unlike Benghazi, the IRS, Fast and Furious, the AP, Solyndra and Obama’s birth certificate, they now have an actual scandal to talk about. While the care received by veterans is disgraceful, the fact is that the GOP is the real enemy of our soldiers. The government is quick to send our men and women to war. They are treating the returning vets like trash. All the veterans programs are blocked by the GOP. How patriotic. Robert LaRosa Whitestone NOT UNPATRIOTIC, JUST ARROGANT Greta Hawkins, principal of P.S. 90 in Coney Island, reportedly banned the sight of American flags and the singing of “America the Beautiful” from her school’s upcoming graduation ceremony. Two years ago she torpedoed the airing of a ballad expressing pride in America on the grounds that the sentiment might be odious to immigrants from other cultures. Immigrants deserve more credit than paternalistic people who don’t consult but presume to represent them are willing to give. Let’s resist the temptation to see this as a love of country issue. The nature of patriotism and the role it should play, if any, in education is a minefield which is nonetheless full of potential arguments worth exploring. But let it not distract us from the proper focus of Hawkins’ behavior, which is arrogant, dense with condescension and warped “my way or the highway” philosophy. It is symptomatic of the new breed of principals who too often are scantily trained, skimpily talented, clueless with just a fragment of experience, yet thrust boldly into full and absolute leadership authority. Being a legitimate principal takes more than a hastily scrambled credential and an assignment effectuated by a highly placed, rather than highly competent contact. Ron Isaac Fresh Meadows VISIT IDENTIFY THIS PLACE Go to www.queenscourier. com and search “Identify This Place” to find out where this is THE QUEENS Victoria Schneps-Yunis Joshua A. Schneps Bob Brennan William J. Gorta Amy Amato-Sanchez Nirmal Singh Graziella Zerilli Stephen Reina Ron Torina, Jennifer Decio, Cheryl Gallagher Liam La Guerre, Cristabelle Tumola Angy Altamirano, Katrina Medoff, Eric Jankiewicz Cliff Kasden, Samantha Sohmer, Elizabeth Aloni Cristabelle Tumola Demetra Plagakis Louise Cavaliere Celeste Alamin Maria Valencia Daphne Fortunate Victoria Schneps-Yunis Joshua A. Schneps Publisher & E ditor Co-Publisher Associate Publisher Editor-In-Chief VP, Events, Web & Social Media Art Director Assistant to Publisher Assistant Art Director Artists Staff Reporters Contributing Reporters Web Editor Events Manager Senior Acc ount Executive Classified Manager Controller Office Manager President & CEO Vice President Schneps Communications, 38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361 718-224-5863 •  Fax 718-224-5441 website: www.queenscourier.com e-mail:editorial@queenscourier.com ads@queenscourier.com queenscourier@queenscourier.com Entire Contents Copyright 2014 by The Queens Courier All letters sent to THE QUEENS COURIER should be brief and are subject to condensing. Writers should include a full address and home and office telephone numbers, where available, as well as affiliation, indicating special interest. Anonymous letters are not printed. Name withheld on request. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR, AS WELL AS OP-ED PIECES IN NO WAY REFLECT THE PAPER’S POSITION. No such ad or any part thereof may be reproduced without prior permission of THE QUEENS COURIER. The publishers will not be responsible for any error in advertising beyond the cost of the space occupied by the error. Errors must be reported to THE QUEENS COURIER within five days of publication. Ad position cannot be guaranteed unless paid prior to publication. Schneps Communications assumes no liability for the content or reply to any ads. The advertiser assumes all liability for the content of and all replies. The advertiser agrees to hold The Quens Courier and its employees harmless from all cost, expenses, liabilities, and damages resulting from or caused by the publication or recording placed by the advertiser or any reply to any such advertisement. QueensCourier.com FOR MORE STORIES HAPPY FATHER’S DAY Sunday is Father’s Day and we salute all the dads in Queens and beyond. While Hollywood and commercial copywriters all like to portray dads as bumbling oafs who can’t change a diaper or communicate in a meaningful way, The Courier knows better — and so do our readers. So we urge everyone to make a fuss of fathers everywhere, including those who take on a father’s role: big brothers, uncles, role models, etc. Having a father or father figure on which to rely is a great blessing. So please make sure to make the day special for them. Happy Father’s Day! TALE OF TWO CITIES CONTINUES How often we heard of the Tale of Two Cities during the last mayoral campaign. Mayor Bill de Blasio appears to like the phrase so much that he and his Department of Education have decided to make it an official practice. Seventy percent of 4-year-olds in District 24 were shot down for their first choice in the mayor’s much-vaunted universal pre-K program. While we in Queens are long used to disappointment with City Hall, this is beyond the pale. Just 10 percent of 4-year-olds in Manhattan’s deluxe District 1 were turned down for their top choice and the citywide rejection rate was 38 percent. Two cities indeed, Mr. Mayor. ENJOY THE WORLD CUP Even for those people who are not sports fans, the World Cup is a spectacle not to be missed. It is one of those rare events where the world stops and everyone stares at the television without the subject being bombs, bloodshed or bankruptcy. Fans of every degree of fervor root not only for their home country, but pay careful attention to the international stars who play for their favorite teams in the world’s top leagues. As sharp as the differences between nations or their styles of play or the relative strength of the teams, fans automatically turn away from the rancor because there is only the beautiful game come kick-off. The Courier has put together a nation-by-nation guide to watching the World Cup in this, the most international of boroughs. We urge everyone to go out to bars and restaurants and beer halls and to enjoy the games with their countrymen and the fans of their opponents. There will always be magnificent moments on the pitch, but we look forward to witnessing the small miracles that occur when rival factions recognize and hail their opponents’ play. Oh, and as much as we esteem the Black Stars of Ghana, it’s still USA all the way when the American squad plays their first game on June 16.


QC06122014
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