FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM SEPTEMBER 13, 2018 • THE QUEENS COURIER 33
A LOOK BACK
During a week in which we commemorated the 17th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, we thought it would be a good time to share with you this picture of one of the many memorials held
immediately following the tragedy. This picture, from the Ridgewood Times archives, shows thousands of people attending a candlelight vigil at Juniper Valley Park in Middle Village on Sunday night, Sept.
16. The park has hosted the community’s annual vigil in honor of the 9/11 victims every year since. Send us your historic photos of Queens by email to editorial@qns.com (subject: A Look Back) or mail printed
pictures to A Look Back, Editorial Department, 38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361. All mailed pictures will be carefully returned to you.
letters & comments
BEMOANING
DISAPPEARING
BRIARWOOD
My family has lived in Briarwood for 70
years. I’m writing about what I deem is the
“cementifi cation” of our neighborhood.
Much of the cementifi cation has to do
with homeowners moving in and, within
a short period, removing any greenery
on their property: lawns, trees, vegetation
of any kind — and replacing it with concrete
or pavers.
Over the last several years, old growth
trees have been removed by new property
owners or destroyed by storms.
Ironically, the de-greening has not only
taken away from the beautiful enclave
that made Briarwood a special oasis, the
barren landscape doesn’t help draining
when it rains, and fl oods develop when
we have storms.
What’s more, from a real estate perspective,
the most coveted, highly valued
areas are those in which there are
old growth trees lining the streets and
well-maintained greenery by owners who
take pride in their homes. Briarwood is
fast becoming a bland, grey, nondescript,
treeless neighborhood and it breaks my
heart. It used to be so pretty. It used to
feel like a “briarwood,” but now its name
is pretty much an oxymoron.
I truly feel, before we know it, the natural
beauty of Briarwood will disappear
entirely, all because of manmade property
owner choices — because people can’t
be bothered to rake some leaves or tend
gardens. It’s sad.
L. Grimm, Briarwood
STANDING UP TO
DEFEAT CANCER
September is Prostate Cancer
Awareness Month and it is time to stand
up in the fi ght against the disease.
Prostate cancer is the second cause of
cancer death; 164,690 men will be diagnosed
with it this year, and 29,430 men
will die of this disease this year. Th e key
is early detection which will give a better
outcome in fi ghting this disease. I know
that only too well.
I was diagnosed in January 2015. I was
going to have knee surgery and I had to
have a physical by my primary doctor.
Th e test showed I had a higher PSA level,
and my doctor therefore directed me to
a urologist named Dr. Gary Goldberg,
where it was discovered my PSA had gotten
higher and needed a biopsy.
It was found I had an aggressive prostate
cancer but it had not spread yet; even
so, I would need my prostate removed. I
did what had to be done. I was 66 years
old then and now I am 69, and my PSA
numbers have remained low.
Th ere are many treatments out there
today depending on the progression of
the cancer. I call for all men over 50 to
get tested, for your life depends upon it
and your family depends upon you to live.
Frederick R. Bedell Jr.,
Glen Oaks Village
UPSET OVER PALADINO
‘HIT PIECE’
As a longtime Republican leader and
associate of former state Senator Frank
Padavan in the 11th State Senate district
in eastern Queens, I am appalled
that Th e Courier and QNS have given
Queens County GOP chair Joann Ariola
and her Executive Director, convicted
felon John Haggerty, a platform for an
outrageously distorted hit piece against
Senate candidate Vickie Paladino.
Th e gist of their attack is that
Paladino is some sort of “white nationalist”
“fringe” kook while Ariola and
her handpicked candidate Simon
Minching, a 31-year-old Silicon Valley
researcher who recently returned to
New York City and maintains a voting
address at his parents’ home, are “center
right.”
In fact, it is Paladino who is in the
center right tradition of candidates like
Frank Padavan and myself, while Ariola
has stated that the GOP must become a
“progressive” party and Minching is
running to the left of state Senator
Tony Avella — for example supporting
congestion pricing and the legalization
of marijuana for recreational use,
which Avella opposes.
Th e vile allegations of anti-Semitism
seem to be based on the fantastical
charges of one apparently unbalanced
Minching supporter. Her “evidence”?
A Jewish Paladino supporter posted an
outraged retweet of a sickeningly vulgar
anti-Semitic post by a group calling
itself “Black Pride,” and was then photographed
with Paladino at a fundraiser
at my home.
Aha! Gotcha! I suppose that by this
“reasoning,” I’m an anti-Semite too,
which would have amused my Jewish
father.
Th e off ensive accusations of anti-Semitism
are particularly ironic given that it
is Minching, not Paladino, who has
accepted the endorsement of the fringe
Libertarian Party which, among various
extreme positions, supports the
cut-off of all military and economic aid
to Israel.
Paladino, who gained citywide and
even national attention when she confronted
Bill de Blasio on her block
in Whitestone aft er he’d fl own off to
Germany to speak at an anti-American
rally rather than attend the wake of
a murdered African-American policewoman,
is the most exciting Republican
candidate I’ve seen in Queens in years.
Is she a boring policy wonk like
Simon Minching or me? No, but like
Ronald Reagan, or Donald Trump, she
knows how to cut to the heart of the
wonkery, put it in language average
people can understand, and give voice
to the working and middle-class base of
our party that is tired of being patronized
and simply wants to preserve its
values and quality of life.
I hope all Republicans will vote for
her on Th ursday, Sept. 13.
Dennis Saff ran, Douglaston
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