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The
Right to Rock
To
the Editor:
Regarding
your story on the struggle of local kids to find a place to
play their music [“Church of Rock,” Newsfront, Oct. 12], I
must say that it reflects the persistent conflict between
“the cranky old ladies” who don’t want the kids on their block
and the kids who have no place to go to be outrageous &
shock the grown-ups. That Trinity Church opened up their doors
to these outrageous, shocking kids is to be commended. Ministry
is opening up your house to dirty and smelly strangers, not
just your proper, stuck-up neighbors, according to the way
I understand the New Testament.
I think Colleen Ryan and other residents objecting to what
goes on behind the closed doors of any of their neighbors,
let alone Trinity Church, is just plain mean-spirited. If
you don’t like the bands, why would you go to the bother of
looking up their lyrics on the Internet? I ran a poetry open
mic less than a block away at the Bookshop for years with
plenty of blasphemy, profanity, even treason spoken by adults
and kids, and nobody objected.
Leave the kids alone and let them have their music.
Dan
Wilcox
Albany
Have Not Sympathy for the Have-Nots
To
the Editor:
In
response to Nicole Klaas’s article about welfare reform [“Still
Here, Still Poor,” Oct. 12], I would like to totally disagree
with her. How can you feel sorry for anyone who is 35 years
old and has six children? I would guess there is no husband
and more than one father. And she says she is trying to get
ahead?! In this day in age there is absolutely no reason to
have an unplanned pregnancy. Birth control is everywhere,
and free half the time. As for those who say they cannot afford
birth control, then you really cannot afford a child! Six
children! That is too many children for people who can afford
it today. Where are the fathers? Why aren’t they being held
accountable? I am sick of having a third of my salary to support
all the “poor” people and their poor choices.
I have been married for 10 years and am now having my first
child. Yes, imagine—first married, get established a little,
then have a child and raise it with the father, and both of
us continue to even work. As for getting rid of poverty, give
it up. There have been the have and have-nots since the beginning
of time. Continue to rob from the producers of society and
the producers stop producing, then what? People would have
to accountable for themselves and all there [sic] children.
As it is now, we make it easy and I guarantee the woman in
the article with six children is raising six children who
do not value marriage or personal responsibility. In other
words, six people who will continue to suck my tax dollars
from me. And the cycle continues . . .
Amy
Miazga
Ballston Spa
My
Hero
To
the Editor:
What
a wonderful article on the very up-and-coming Kirsten Gillibrand
[“We Need to Talk,” Oct. 5], marred only by the sniveling
of Alan Chartock. Why he is supporting Sweeney, who won over
the White House by physically blocking the Florida recount,
without meeting or observing Kirsten is beyond me. I was polled
in the Siena poll, and the poor young thing who queried me
stumbled over Gillibrand’s name at every opportunity. I did
not consider it an independent poll when the pollster cannot
even pronounce one candidate’s name. That poll was months
ago, and since then Kirsten has traversed the gerrymandered
20th district winning over voters by the diligence she will
bring to the job as our congresswoman.
She has not run a smear campaign to counter Sweeney’s rank
innuendos, although John Sweeney has provided ample ammunition
in his public life. How can we forget his first job in public
service, as DWI coordinator for Rensselaer County. John was
arrested for DWI himself, not exactly the kind of poster boy
one wants for the party. His performances as DoL and OGS commissioners
would have been worse than lackluster had he bothered to show
up more often.
Just as Kirsten has challenged John Sweeney to a debate or
two, I challenge Alan Chartock to prove he is man enough to
listen to both sides. He might be surprised at what a jewel
we have willing to represent us.
Polly
Windels
Ballston Spa
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