Letters: Philadelphia Councilman Curtis Jones 'intimidation' fines no threat to wrongdoers

RE COUNCILMAN Curtis Jones' idea to impose a fine on witness intimidators:

Think these people have any regard for the law? They are already threatening people going to court, so do you think they'll say, "Man, I gotta pay that fine or I may go to jail" when even the threat of jail doesn't dissuade them from threatening the life of a witness?

I understand that the city is owed close to a billion dollars from people who made a payment agreement when they posted bail. They put down a percentage and were to pay the balance in installments.

Why not go after those people who've gone on to become productive members of society? They may have paid their debt to society through incarceration, but still remain accountable for the bail.

Knowing how the city works, they probably don't even have a database with this information. Even 10 percent equates to $100 million. One percent is $10 million. Meanwhile, the bureaucracy looks to drain taxpayers' pockets even more.

Walter Collins II, Philadelphia

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I think it's sad that anyone supports illegal workers. I'm a union carpenter, and my life is at stake. Illegal workers are working on jobs that I should be doing.

I'm 34 with 10-year-old twins and a sick wife unable to work. I can't find work, and I'm running out of insurance, unemployment, time, money - and my American dream. Mostly because of political baloney allowing non-taxpaying people to take my job.

Unless I can find a job, I may have to get a job picking food out of a tree or a field somewhere. You can drive through almost any town and find illegals working who can't even speak English. And here I am, out of work - a hardworking American with good efforts and the great craftsmanship that built our country.

I sit at home worrying about my wife and kids, wondering how much longer I can take care of them. I hate not being honest. When I tell my kids everything will be all right, they wonder why my face has a strange look on it.

David J. Hiester, Lehighton, Pa.

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The article

"Most City Youth Deemed Unacceptable for Military"

was one of the most shocking things I've read in a long time. We must be the laughingstock of the whole world!

When I was a "guest" of Uncle Sam's military draft back in the 1950s, I would venture to say 90 percent were eligible to serve, and were proud of it. (I also think 90 percent of veterans, for various reasons, felt the draft should never have been ended.)

Does anyone out there have an answer to this shameful problem?

Tom Woodruff, Oreland

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To letter-writer Stuart Caesar:

You can get to work with solar and wind. They both produce electricity, and, in case you weren't aware, there are such things as electric cars.

Randolph Husava, Philadelphia