WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES MAY 16, 2019 13
ODDLY SILENT ON
PRISON BILL
Queens Assemblyman David Weprin
introduced legislation in the Assembly
to permit some prison inmates who
committed murder or rape to be
eligible for parole once they reach age
55 and have served at least 15 years of
their sentence. The same legislation
was introduced by Manhattan State
Senator Brad Hoylman in the state
Senate.
This legislation, if passed by both the
state Assembly and Senate and signed
into law by Governor Andrew Cuomo,
would permit the state prison parole
board to assess a convicted felon’s
potential risk to society as part of its
decision on the possible early release
of the inmate.
Both Weprin and Hoylman reference
as justifi cation that allowing these
criminals to be eligible for parole could
save New York state a billion dollars or
more over time.
Never shy around a microphone
or photo opportunity, Assembly
member Weprin has yet to promote
this legislation at one of his standard
Sunday press conferences. You will
not read about it in one of his periodic
newsletters mailed to constituents at
taxpayers expense.
This ultra-liberal legislation
compliments a similar push to allow
convicted felons the right to vote
while serving time in prison. Some
want paroled felons the right to serve
on jury duty.
What’s next, reparations in the form
of taxpayers rebates to reimburse
ex-felons for lost income due to time
served in prison?
Larry Penner, Great Neck
REFUSING TO
ACCEPT LOSSES
In 1993, President Bill Clinton put his
wife Hillary in charge of health care
policy. Aft er one year of opposition
from Republicans, insurance
companies and a good portion of health
care professionals, President Clinton —
seeing that he didn’t have enough votes
in Congress for his proposed changes
— scrapped his health care plan and
moved on to other issues. He accepted
the political loss.
In 2005, President George W. Bush
thought he had a mandate aft er he was
re-elected and attempted to privatize
many aspects of the Social Security
program. Aft er strong opposition from
AARP and many other senior groups,
President Bush saw that he didn’t have
the votes in Congress and abandoned
his proposal. He then moved on to
other issues. He accepted the loss.
We now have a president who is
incapable of accepting a political loss.
For the fi rst two years of the Trump
presidency, his Republican-controlled
House and Senate didn’t give him his
wall. Sixty-two percent of the American
people don’t want the wall. In the recent
bill — which passed overwhelmingly in
both houses of Congress — Trump was
only given $1.3 billion for “fencing.”
So what does he do? He declares a
“national emergency” to attempt to get
$8 billion that Congress wouldn’t give
him. Trump didn’t have the votes in
Congress, but unlike presidents before
him, he stubbornly and irrationally
refused to accept a political loss.
Donald Trump should listen to the
words of the Rolling Stones song he
plays at his rallies: “You can’t always
get what you want.”
Robert Vogel, Bayside
HELP KEEP AN EYE
ON OUR SHORES
Many people believe that climate
change is a major problem, but not as
many people realize the magnitude
of the worldwide water pollution
dilemma.
For example, NOAA (the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency)
has a website that tracks the size and
location of the “Great Pacifi c Garbage
Patch,” which are huge swaths of plastic
and other debris in the Pacifi c Ocean as
well as smaller patches that spread far
and wide.
Styrofoam, cloth, wood, glass,
rubber, metal and medical wastes are
categories of fl oatables. Fish, birds
and turtles might ingest these items
or get tangled in them. Raw sewage
from combined sewage outfl ows is also
considered fl oatables.
The New York City Department of
Environmental Protection Citywide
Floatable Control Program devised
a study to provide and evaluate the
information collected. A Volunteer
Beach Floatable Survey Program was
established to compile information by
utilizing surveys. Data was collected
from “man-made” waterborne waste
only.
The survey area encompasses a 200-
foot section of beach or shoreline.
Volunteers do not perform beach
cleanups. Some recent studies fi nd
that levels of plastic debris in the ocean
will continue to increase in the next
decade.
Plastics are diffi cult to document,
slow to degrade and become toxic
bite-size particles for marine life that
bio-magnify up the food chain.
In New York City, we are making
signifi cant strides in waste management
and reducing fl oatables that have been
documented by this program since
1998. However, since plastics in city
waters remain the dominant fl oatable,
59 percent according to our 2018 report,
and 62 percent in our report during
2017, we have signifi cant work to do.
DEP needs your help in order to be
aware of potential fl oatable problems
as early as possible. The NYCDEP
Volunteers Monitoring Program is an
inexpensive way to help in the eff ort to
keep DEP informed so that it “doesn’t
happen here.”
Get out to your favorite shoreline
and water location to have fun, help
monitor for debris and weather in
only 20 minutes per week from May to
October. You may even make your day
by seeing a jumping fi sh, horseshoe
crab or even a dolphin!
Volunteers will receive all
materials necessary for monitoring,
including letters of authorization and
acknowledgement.
If you have any questions, please
contact 917-658-2380 or email
ozonelayerllc@me.com.
Robert Gans, NYCDEP Volunteer
Beach Floatable Program Manager
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com (Subject: Letter to the Editor) or leave
a comment to any of our stories at QNS.
com. You can also send a letter by regular
mail to Letters to the Editor, 38-15 Bell
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upon request, but anonymous letters
will not be considered for publication.
The views expressed in all letters and
comments are not necessarily those of
this newspaper or its staff .
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