Letters - Feb. 24

ISSUE | OVERSIGHT

Another mystery

for the faithful

Once again, Philadelphia Archbishop Charles J. Chaput has released as little information as possible regarding a priest, the Rev. Louis J. Kolenkiewicz, who was put on leave over allegations ("Priest in Bucks is put on leave," Feb. 16).

We are at least assured that the allegations did not involve illegal or inappropriate contact with a minor, but what allegations against Kolenkiewicz is the archdiocese reviewing?

This sounds like Chaput's definition of the accountability and transparency promised by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in 2002. Or maybe the definition of obfuscation?

|Sister Maureen Paul Turlish, New Castle, CatholicWhistleblowers.com, maturlishmdsnd@yahoo.com

ISSUE | FLA. PITCH

Raiding party?

Gov. Rick Scott's boasting of Florida's business-friendly policy is citizen-unfriendly for Pennsylvania and other states ("Warm welcome," Feb. 20). I wonder how many of the 728,000 new jobs Florida has gained of late were pilfered, rather than created by Scott's policies. Raiding is thievery, not job creation.

The Inquirer should have charged Scott for an ad, rather than giving him a free platform.

|James D. Hohmann, Langhorne

ISSUE | HEALTH

Sharing in a way that's lifesaving

Kudos to Inquirer staff writer Samantha Melamed for her delightful story on the new play by Michael Hollinger that testifies to the complexities of having a kidney transplant ("Playwright Michael Hollinger on the comic aspects of a kidney tranplant," Jan. 15). I'm grateful for the article as it brings up the importance of being a kidney donor.

How many people know that 20 people die each day while awaiting a kidney? A donor is a true hero and will likely live a long and healthy life.

My daughter Sarah donated her kidney to me four years ago after I lost kidney function due to another medical issue. Today, both of us are the picture of health.

My advice to others is to do your research, think it over, and do what's right for you. We are our brother's keeper.

|Ruth Z. Deming, Willow Grove

Clearing the record

A Sunday editorial on city pension costs failed to mention that Mayor Nutter also secured larger pension contributions from municipal workers in both the city's blue- and white-collar employee unions.

ISSUE | SLAVERY IN AMERICA

Freedom's flame fanned even then

I appreciated Jan Hefler's article on the black residents of the Burlington County village of Timbuctoo ("Descendant's new portrait of Timbuctoo," Feb. 15). But it was disappointing to realize how important it seems for some historians and others to view all black people of 19th-century America as enslaved.

While the majority of people of African descent in colonial America were enslaved, there were free blacks in most areas of North America during the colonial period and during the first decades of our nation's existence. Some had purchased their freedom. Others had been freed after the War for Independence by owners who acknowledged the contradiction of fighting for their own liberty while enslaving others.

To think that black people living in freedom in Timbuctoo would segregate themselves from those who had freed themselves defies logic and human nature. The people who were legally free saw the "freedom seekers" as their brothers and sisters, and in some cases they may have been family members.

Although federal law in the 19th century protected the institution of slavery, many black people, enslaved or free, did not agree with the law and sought ways to circumvent it and claim the freedom that the nation's founders claimed should be available to all.

|Kevin McGruder, assistant professor of history, Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio, kmcgruder@antiochcollege.org

ISSUE | SPA TREATMENT

Pretty good way to help others

As I understand it, some parents are choosing to spend their money pampering young girls as though they were twice their age, with purely superficial, purely image-oriented - and no doubt, expensive services - making little girls look essentially like big girls ("Spa with a kids' menu," Feb. 18).

Now, of course, they have the God-given right to do as they please. Nevertheless, after I read about these salons, I could not suppress the impulse to ask these parents to please consider that there are a lot of people struggling every day just to put food on their family table.

Consider who could benefit from spending even a fraction of the cost of such a mani/pedi on a donation to a local food pantry.

|Sidney Cohen, Mount Laurel

ISSUE | CHARTER EXPANSION

SRC shortchanges many students

As an educator, union leader, and taxpayer, I find it unconscionable for the School Reform Commission to spend money it does not have on new charter schools, and disingenuous for commissioners to claim that they have not approved new charter schools since 2007 ("SRC feels heat from both sides on charters," Feb. 20).

Once again the SRC is expanding charters, which serve 62,000 children, at the expense of 204,000 children who attend Philadelphia's financially crippled neighborhood schools. Every day, the SRC denies children essential programs and services in schools without nurses, counselors, teachers, and classroom aides, and without art, science, libraries, music, sports, tutoring, after-school and summer enrichment programs and other vital educational opportunities.

The SRC's actions are irresponsible, fiscally unsustainable, and continue to shortchange children and families the commission is supposed to serve. After 14 years of the SRC, it is time to return Philadelphia's public schools to local control.

|Ted Kirsch, president, AFT Pennsylvania, Philadelphia

ISSUE | DEER HUNT

Tactic only encourages them

Philadelphia Advocates for the Deer urges City Councilwoman Cindy Bass to call for a ceasefire on the annual deer kill, now numbering 2,726 deer, that has been ongoing since March, 1999, across Fairmount Park. The strategy is ineffective, given that, according to the scientific theory of "compensatory reproduction," this only increases the number of fawns born.

Our group also demands that city parks officials hold open forums; stop the use of rifles in parks close to residences; present a bill in City Council to stop this inhumane killing; and work with us and other groups on how to live humanely with the deer.

|Mary Ann Baron, Philadelphia, phillydeeradvocates.com