Clarification
To The Editor:
I appreciate the story “Dental Work: Queens Dentist ID’s Katrina Bodies” (Queens Tribune, Nov. 17, 2005). However, I would like to clear up a number of inaccuracies. Mainly, I would like to stress that I wasn’t “working on my own.” I was part of the DMORT East team that, when I arrived, consisted of 106 forensic members. The team was made up of forensic dentists, pathologists, radiologists, anthropologists, medical examiners/coroners, DNA and fingerprint specialists, funeral directors/embalmers and mental health specialists. I met most of my fellow teammates in Mississippi for the first time. They were a very select group of people, and it was amazing how we all bonded so strongly.
The dental section was particularly outstanding and consisted of over 25 forensic odontologists. When we took X-rays and evaluated the victim’s remains, there were up to six dentists present in the morgue. All were helping each other while compassionately evaluating the Katrina victims. We all took shifts so that everyone could participate and be highly accurate in our identification process. The team did process over 25 victims on some days, but again it was a team effort and I wasn’t counting how many victims I myself had worked on.
Another small misunderstanding was a reference that I was there before the equipment had been shipped. The morgue equipment was already there. What I was referring to was the portable toilets, showers, washing machines… that arrived later and made the teams life a whole lot better. Though I still can only contemplate why I was so unhappy with my own living conditions, because I was alive, and my situation was temporary.
Stuart Segelnick,
Hillcrest
Fighting Whom?
To The Editor:
I saw a sign in a pizzeria the other day. It read “Re-elect Dennis Gallagher to the City Council – A Fighter for Our Community.”
To win a fight, one must show up, or lose by default.
I recently attended a City Council committee meeting on the issues facing and delaying the MTA’s takeover of the private bus lines in Queens. Mr. Gallagher, supposedly a member of the Civil Service and Labor committee, gets paid $100,000 a year to represent Western Queens at the New York City Council.
Apparently he had better things to do than waste his time educating himself on the biggest transit problem facing his district. That issue is the complete breakdown of the service provided to western Queens by Triborough, Green Bus Lines and Command Bus Company. We can no longer rely on the buses to show up on time or at all and it’s getting worse every month. The riders dread the onset of yet another winter with no resolution in sight.
Buses scheduled to run five minutes apart in the rush hour run, in reality, 10, 20 or 40 minutes apart. Buses break down and arrive with broken fare boxes that translate into lost revenue. Signals, taillights and air conditioners do not work, causing riders to question the safety of the vehicles. Meanwhile all sides agree that about 180 brand new buses are sitting somewhere in the city. When this fact was exposed the buses were spilt up and moved all over town.
The absence of the MTA at the committee meeting, which appears to be changing its mind on the takeover, was berated by union and committee members and staff. No one berated Gallagher. We need to go to work, doctor appointments and school. The weekend shutdowns of the L train, at the Queens/Brooklyn border, and the work being done on the No. 7 line, at the western end of the Q39 Triborough bus route are making it almost impossible to leave the neighborhood.
What’s going on? Consider yourself berated, Mr. Gallagher.
John Hynes,
Western Queens
Citizens Only
To The Editor:
In reference to the article by Andrew Moesel in the Queens Tribune the week of Nov. 17, 2005, I have no problem with any citizen voting in elections; after all, a citizen is granted that right by virtue of his citizenship. But should any non-citizen be given that right? Absolutely not. Let us hear from our elected representatives on this matter. Voting is for citizens.
Dr. Daniel D. Epstein,
Jamaica Estates
Back In USSR?
To The Editor:
The NYC Council must be making the Politburo green with envy. First, any overturning, modifying, tweaking, etc., of the will of the people, not once, but twice, on term limits, by any other means than a referendum, should be an impeachable offense for any member participating in such nonsense.
These criminals then want to give the vote to non citizens which besides being immoral endangers our national security, but so what do they care, as long as they get to hold on to their positions longer, you know, the ones they were able to get because of term limits.
They continue on with more nonsense saying hundreds of locals of a union can all make maximum donations and this is fair and should be legal but a corporations different subsidiaries doing the same is unfair.
With 48 out of 51 members being Dems this is just being done out of fairness, please! Actually, as a union member I believe it should be unlawful for unions to make campaign contributions. They take my money without giving me a choice then donate it to someone who I would never support in my life. There are a couple of words for this; extortion is one that comes to mind. At least corporation subsidiaries are contributing their own money that they earned.
Democratic party = Communist party = Politburo = voters be damned. I thought New York State’s Legislature was the worst in the nation, seems our city legislature got jealous.
Tom Brock,
Ridgewood
Bus Mess
To The Editor:
I wonder why the city cannot combine all the private bus companies all at once. Probably the reason is not the mayor but the head of the transportation committee for the city council. Step in and put your foot down, maybe pedal to the metal sounds better.
Councilman John Liu is constantly complaining about transit woes and what does he do? Nothing. When the MTA wants to give bonus rides he complains. My personal opinion is if a city politician doesn’t do what he is in charge of, take him off the committee.
With all the excess money in the MTA bank why can’t they provide bus service for the routes that don’t have 24-hour transportation? Maybe they don’t realize that common people, yes us, sometimes work around the clock. Instead they provide service in the worst neighborhoods with sometimes six buses an hour. After midnight to 5 A.M and Sundays we fend for ourselves.
Randy Savitt,
Beechhurst
To The Republic
To The Editor:
It appears this president and Congress are not reading the anger of the American people. We want out of this unwarranted war that was based on lies, deceptions and worse. We are tired of our government squandering our hard-earned tax money and playing policeman of the world for the UN. There is no constitutional reason for our troops to be in Iraq.
Those poor kids in basic training don’t know what they are getting into. This happened before during the Vietnam debacle when we young kids were lied to. We were too uninformed and naive to realize what was going on. These perpetual wars had better stop or we will all be destroyed or go bankrupt. Are you listening Mr President? Are you listening US Congress? We have had enough!
And let’s not hear any more nonsense that the president is a conservative. Likewise let’s not hear any more nonsense that we should spread democracy when we are not even a democracy ourselves. America is a republic.
Frank St George,
East Rockaway
United At Last
To The Editor:
There are those critics that claim that instigated by this administration, nothing good has come from our invasion and occupation of Iraq and that we’ve only increased the level of hate by all concerned. They are probably not looking at the big picture.
Iraq and Iran had traditionally hated each other and have tried to eliminate one another either through wars or philosophical domination, secular versus theocratic. Without our intervention they would have eventually killed each other, but we came to the rescue. We have supplied them both with a common enemy and they are now closer than they had ever been. Perhaps now Iraq can actually achieve the nuclear power from Iran that we had falsely claimed was the reason for invading them in the first place.
We have brought love to the region; veritable matchmakers; makes one warm and cuddly inside. A few more pairings like this and we will have organized that entire Near East to hate us as one, rather than individually.
Love is in the air.
Nicole Christine,
Bayside