36 THE QUEENS COURIER • SEPTEMBER 10, 2015 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.queenscourier.com editorial THE QUEENS VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS JOSHUA A. SCHNEPS BOB BRENNAN ROBERT POZARYCKI AMY AMATO-SANCHEZ NIRMAL SINGH ALAN SELTZER STEPHEN REINA RON TORINA, JENNIFER DECIO, CHERYL GALLAGHER ANGY ALTAMIRANO, KATRINA MEDOFF ANTHONY GIUDICE ANGELA MATUA, ALINA SURIEL CLIFF KASDEN, SAMANTHA SOHMER, ELIZABETH ALONI ANGY ALTAMIRANO DEMETRA PLAGAKIS CELESTE ALAMIN MARIA VALENCIA VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS JOSHUA A. SCHNEPS PUBLISHER & EDITOR 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 CLASSIFIED MANAGER CONTROLLER PRESIDENT & CEO VICE PRESIDENT Schneps Communications, 38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361 718-224-5863 • Fax 718-224-5441 www.queenscourier.com editorial e-mail: editorial@queenscourier.com for advertising e-mail: ads@queenscourier.com Entire Contents Copyright 2015 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 offi ce telephone numbers, where available, as well as affi liation, 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 fi ve 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 QUEENS 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. With all the Barnes & Noble locations in Queens closing down, “I was just shopping at the one in Bay Terrace. They host so many great children’s events; it’s a real shame.” Camille Chipido BY DAVID ROSARIO “I’ve never stepped foot in there.” Alex Benitos “I’ve already bought a few eBooks on plumbing to support them.” Robert Evans “I buy all my books through Amazon, honestly. Better prices.” Jason Chang “I’ve bought one book in there: ‘Rebbe.’ It was a huge inspiration for me and all of my friends.” Lavi Plotkin “I do both online and in-store shopping with them, although sometimes it can feel like a waste of money when you have the library nearby.” Ronda Gramer street talk “I couldn’t care less. Technology is putting them out.” Bill Kernahan “I live in Forest Hills and I’m always buying books there. I’m a teacher and I think that taking them away is a big loss to the community.” Michelle Labarr Haynes would you continue shopping there online? SNAPS QUEENS At the second annual “Queens Day,” hosted at the USTA Billie Jean National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown greets tennis legend and top-seeded Serena Williams, the winner of the last three U.S. women’s singles crowns at the U.S. Open. PHOTO COURTESY OF QUEENS DISTRICT ATTORNEY RICHARD BROWN’S OFFICE Send us your photos of Queens and you could see them online or in our paper! Submit them to us via our Instagram @queenscourier, Facebook page, tweeting @queenscourier or by emailing editorial@queenscourier.com (subject: Queens Snaps). Teaching the lessons of 9/11 No Queens resident who witnessed the events of Sept. 11, 2001, can ever forget what they were doing or where they were when they fi rst learned of the attacks on the World Trade Center, followed by the attacks on the Pentagon and United Airlines 93. Friday marks the 14th anniversary of the darkest day in the city’s history. It’s hard for many of the witnesses of 9/11 to believe, but the children born in the weeks and months immediately after the attacks are now in high school. These youths will never know what New York City was like when the Twin Towers stood, and they can only see the images of its downfall on video, rather than recollections forever burned into their memory. Of course, these were just the fi rst children born in the post-9/11 era, and they are followed by generation upon generation who will learn of these attacks through second-hand knowledge from their parents and teachers. One question they may have is what good could have come out of such a horrible event. The answer to that question can be found across Queens at community vigils marking this grim anniversary, where local residents recall not only the victims of the attacks, but also hundreds of fi refi ghters, police offi cers and paramedics who ran into the burning World Trade Center when everyone else was running out. The attack continues to take lives to this day, as some of those fi refi ghters and police offi cers who survived the collapse are now dying of diseases related to their work in the recovery effort thereafter. The lessons of 9/11 must be centered on more than just security and preparedness. What better example could our children learn from than the heroics of those fi rst responders who, through their sacrifi ces, demonstrated a higher level of determination and love of humanity than most of us are able to achieve. Get the drones under control! Not even the U.S. Open is a drone-free zone in this fair borough. During last week’s action at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, a public school teacher decided to fl y an unmanned, camera-equipped drone into one of the tennis courts, ostensibly to get a closer look at the action. The drone crashed, its operator was arrested — but not before startling the players and the tennis fans in attendance. It was just the latest drone stunt in Queens this summer. Weeks ago, residents spotted unmanned drones fl ying over the skies of Howard Beach and Whitestone, way too close to Kennedy and LaGuardia airports for comfort. We’ve said it before; we’ll say it again. Drones shouldn’t be completely grounded, but there should be protections instituted to guard against possible run-ins with airplanes and invasion of privacy. With these devices becoming more affordable to the average consumer, the skies over Queens and other parts of the country will turn into an aerial Wild West without proper regulation from the federal government. The time to act is now, before someone gets hurt — or worse.
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