FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com JUNE 23, 2016 • THE COURIER SUN 27 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com JUNE 23, 2016 • TIMES 13 oped oped FOR MORE NEWS VISIT QNS.COM As thousands of children across Queens celebrate the end of the school year, we present a photo of a celebration for the opening of a new school. This September 1917 photo shows one of the many fl oats in a parade through Ridgewood celebrating the opening of P.S. 93 (now I.S. 93) on Forest Avenue between Madison and Woodbine streets. The school continues to educate thousands of students annual and is in the midst of its centennial celebration. Send us your historic pictures of Queens by emailing them to editorial@ qns.com, sharing them on our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/QNS) or mail printed pictures to The Queens Courier, 38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361. All mailed pictures will be carefully returned to you. letters & comments AMERICANS MUST LEARN TO LOVE ONE ANOTHER We now live in a time where I had hoped that we have learned to accept all people of race, nationality, culture and sexual preference. I guess I was wrong. Hate still does exist, as was proven in Orlando, Florida. We are all members of the same human race and need to show respect to those of a different lifestyle, like the LGBT. I, for one may have a different understanding about those who are gay. Back in the 1970s, I lived for a time with two gay men where I rented a room before going into the U.S. Navy. I found them not much different than those of us in the straight community. They have hopes, dreams and a desire to be respected for who they are. But more importantly they had loved one another and cared for each other’s welfare. During that time I had two children and my wife left us, and I had to put them in foster care because I had no family nor the means to provide for them. Now I wanted to buy them bikes for Christmas but didn’t have the money. A woman I knew who was a lesbian felt bad for my children and bought them two new bikes. I told her I had no means to repay her and with that she said, “Not to worry, it was a Christmas present.” As time wore on I had only wish I could have thanked her in a more meaningful way. Acts of kindness are not limited to straight people but by many in different walks of life. Therefore we need to respect all of our brothers and sisters of this world because we are all members of the same family. So let’s learn to love one another. Frederick R. Bedell Jr., Glen Oaks Village READER DOESN’T WANT TO ‘ASK THE MAYOR’ Please stop running this column. The mayor isn’t providing the answers. They are farmed out to underlings, who provide the responses. Been there, done that: for the Transit Authority. No executive writes his own letters, so this column is a farce, which could be more productively used by Queens residents. Dennis Lynch, Queens Village TORN THOUGHTS ON WHITESTONE I feel very sorry for the parents, however, somehow he had enough money to buy a gun for a premeditated evil purpose, and with that gun he could have killed and caused loss and grief for other families, therefore he got what he deserved. Outlaw guns and only outlaws will have guns! One less drain on society! Condolences to the McClean family. QNS user RN Have you ever come face to face with a man with a gun? It’s not a nice feeling. And when it comes to drawing your weapon or not, it’s just a matter of seconds that go by and I’m sure this 69-year-old retired offi cer wasn’t thinking about where should I shoot this guy. He saw a threat and took action as best as he could to save his life and those in that bar. As far as I’m concerned, it was a good shoot. RIP Andrew, you won’t be doing this to anyone else anymore. QNS user JD THE ONLY ‘RAIL’ WAY FOR TRANSIT TO IMPROVE In the time where public transportation funding was scarce, I realistically believe that both the light rail project and the Queensrail project will be made after several years’ time. This is applied after some initial studies, project scoping, environmental impact statements, engineering studies, design studies, engineering studies, project construction, project testing, project implementation and project operation. This would cost at least $1B for each project. By the end of the day, it is all about advocating for better service and targeting the people and elected offi cials along the line. QNS user Pedro Valdez Rivera Enough is Enough BY CONGRESSWOMAN CAROLYN MALONEY In 2004, the national federal assault weapons ban expired. Since then, we have seen 10 mass shootings that employed the use of an assault rifl e, six of them since 2011, when R e p u b l i c a n s took control of Congress. We’ve lost more than 170,000 people to guns in since 2011, 14,000 of them innocent children. How many more people have to die, how many families torn apart, until Congress fi nally says, “Enough is enough”? In the wake of the 29 horrifi c mass shootings over the last fi ve and a half years, the only actions we’ve seen from the Republican Congressional leadership are prayers and condolences, even though there are common-sense reforms we can enact to combat gun violence. As a Congress, we are failing the American people — but it doesn’t have to be that way. Let’s start by reauthorizing the assault weapons ban and taking these military-style weapons of war off of our streets, out of our nightclubs, movie theaters and classrooms. And with that, let’s reauthorize the ban of massacre magazines. There is no reason for a private citizen to possess a weapon and the bullets capable of infl icting so much pain and destruction. Let’s close the “terror gap” that allows potentially dangerous terror suspects to acquire guns. If an individual is not allowed to fl y on a plane, that person also shouldn’t be allowed to buy a gun. It is past time that we require universal background checks whenever and wherever individuals buy guns, be it at guns shows, through internet sales or in a gun store. And we can prohibit people convicted of hate crimes from buying guns. These glaring loopholes are costing lives and Congress must act. The majority of Americans support closing these loopholes; according to a Quinnipiac poll in December 2015, 83 percent of Americans support banning people on the Terrorist Watchlist from buying guns and a CBS News poll from after the Orlando massacre that 89 percent of the public supports universal background checks. So why isn’t Congress listening to the will of the people? The single, most important mandate of our government is to keep its citizens safe. We must act in pursuit of this mandate. The level of gun violence in the United States is unacceptable. The refusal to make any effort to prevent future violence is unacceptable. We cannot afford anymore moments of silence — we need moments of action! It is past time Congress says, “Enough is enough!” We must do more than offer our condolences. Congresswoman Maloney represents the 12th Congressional District of New York, which includes parts of Astoria, Long Island City, Maspeth and Sunnyside. A LOOK BACK AMERICANS MUST LEARN TO ANOTHER TORN THOUGHTS ON WHITESTONE ROBBER’S SHOOTING THE ONLY ‘RAIL’ WAY FOR QUEENS TRANSIT TO IMPROVE READER DOESN’T WANT TO THE MAYOR’
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