Letters to the Editor: Dec. 16, 2007

&letterheadSupervisors;

helpful

TO THE EDITOR: On behalf of the fifth-graders at Keeseville Elementary School, we would like to thank Sandy Senecal, the supervisor of the Town of AuSable, and Gerry Morrow, the supervisor of the Town of Chesterfield, for allowing our students to meet with them on the 13th of November.

As part of their preparation for the fifth-grade Social Studies exam, the students always learn about local government. We took a walking tour to the two town offices and met with each town supervisor. Both supervisors were gracious enough to take time out of their busy schedules, talking with the students about the role local government plays in our community. The students learned more from them about their local government in an afternoon than we could have taught them in a week.

Tim Butler

Fifth-grade teacher

Keeseville Elementary School

&letterheadCoherent;

community

TO THE EDITOR: 'Tis the season to be thankful for all of the year's blessings. And I am particularly thankful for all the good-hearted volunteers that make Plattsburgh community meals work.

On the first Wednesday of the month the Presbyterians prepare the meal at Trinity. Second Wednesday meal, one of our parishioners Mike Lynch and congregants from the Assembly of God, the next week members of the Unitarian Church do the meal. I cook the fourth Wednesday, St. Peter's feeds every Monday night under the direction of Mark Bennet and Doris, while the Salvation Army offers lunch every day.

Volunteers from the Methodist Church coordinate the Interfaith Food Shelf that helps families get good food into their homes. At Trinity, we are getting set to offer a meal on Saturday night after the first of the year. We need volunteer groups that would give of their time on a Saturday night once a month to provide a community meal. In the years past the Peru Community Church has served one Saturday night per month with other groups like Senior classes, Girl Scouts and Sodexo and the crew from Samuel Ds.

Plattsburgh is a community that pulls together to help others. Any person or group that wishes to help feel free to call 561-2424 and we will get you on board.

Frank Pabst

Plattsburgh

&letterheadFabulous;

performance

TO THE EDITOR: We saw "The Nutcracker" performance by the North Country Ballet Ensemble at the Hartman Theatre. It was fabulous!

The enormous collaborative endeavor of guest choreographers, student and professional dancers, costuming, technical and production staffing under the professional and capable artistic direction of Deborah Guibord-Stay is nothing short of amazing and speaks volumes about the talent, skill, experience, and wonderful community spirit in this town. This was not a small effort -- there were 50+ in the cast with more than 45 trained in Plattsburgh at Guibord's North Country School of Ballet! It was truly refreshing to see the creativity and grace expressed so elegantly in this Christmas classic.

The opening act set the stage for a fine performance that just kept getting better. The battle scene with King Mouse and the incredibly cute other mice, soldiers, and Nutcracker was great fun and led right into the Snow Scene with the first professional dancer's appearance. Surrounded by the local dancers, it was difficult to separate the professional from the students because they all complemented each other so beautifully. In the Land of Sweets, the dancers really showed their love of ballet as they performed their individual yet group parts one right after the other engaging the crowd in laughter and a lot of clapping.

Seeing Claire watch and react to each of the scenes made us think back on many wonderful Christmases as children and then, the finale! It was special, dramatic, sharp, and well-executed!

Everyone should see and experience what we saw in this little town of Plattsburgh -- an incredibly well-performed, communal holiday celebration that kicks off the season in great style. This was a night made of memories! Thanks Plattsburgh!

Denis and Peggy Soucy

Woodbridge, Va.

&letterheadStirring;

presentation

TO THE EDITOR: I am writing this letter as a community member as well as a future nurse. I am a student at Plattsburgh State University that attended the Rick Stoddard presentation, "The Burning Truth." For those unable to attend this presentation, Rick's wife, Marie, died at the age of 46 from lung cancer. She smoked cigarettes for 34 years. Rick's presentation was an emotional experience, as well as an informative one. He talked about how tobacco companies target children and adolescents through advertising and the media.

A video was shown of a man that worked for one of the tobacco companies blatantly stating that people who use tobacco products and get cancer is only a mere coincidence. As a nursing student, I have come across many patients in the hospital who are suffering from tobacco-related illnesses as a result of starting to smoke at a young age. Rick's Web site, www.rickstoddard.com, provides a vast amount of information regarding the importance of prevention and consequences of smoking. I encourage everyone, regardless of whether you smoke or not, to visit his site.

Kaley Boire

Plattsburgh State University nursing student

&letterheadProcess;

long, costly

TO THE EDITOR: The case of Peru school teacher Luther Stephney (Teacher loses license over porn, Nov. 27) epitomizes the hard reality school boards face when seeking to discipline or terminate a teacher -- it can be a long, expensive process, with no guarantee the employee will be dismissed or even disciplined.

District officials sought to remove Stephney back in March 2004, but a hearing officer ruled they could not fire the teacher. Yet, based on the same evidence, his teaching certificate was revoked by the State Education Department.

Ultimately, it took three hearings and two appeals over a three-and-a-half-year period to permanently remove him from the classroom. The time and money the district spent on this single case demonstrates how convoluted the procedure can become.

The New York State School Boards Association has called for changes to the tenured teacher disciplinary process, including a state panel to hear cases in a timely fashion and removal of teachers without a hearing if they have certain criminal convictions. NYSSBA has also called for capping or eliminating altogether paid suspensions. School districts can't afford to retain teachers who are either incompetent or who engage in actions which harm children.

While the majority of teachers serve our children well, reform is needed to reduce the costs and delays of disciplining the few who don't.

Timothy G. Kremer

Executive director

New York State School Boards Association

Latham

&letterheadCongress;

sole hope

TO THE EDITOR: Congress needs to grow a spine and hold the moron in the White House accountable for his lies, which are just too numerous to count. Otherwise, Mark Twain's assessment of Congress as the only criminal element in America continues to have relevance, and all of us pay the price.

Iran is only the latest example of disasters done or in the making based on lies. He is actively misleading us by feigning ignorance of intelligence reports he received months ago on the shutdown of Iran's nuclear weapons program in 2003 and the National Intelligence Estimate showing that Iran is not the threat portrayed by Bush. If one wants to see what can happen in Iran, and has already happened in Iraq, then go see the movie, "No End in Sight," and then beat on Congress's members insisting that they stop this dangerous nonsense.

Remember for a moment that even the pope couldn't dissuade Bush from his actions based on lies. The pope has no legal authority to stop him, and morality plays no role for someone who considers himself the decider. But Congress does have that clout if it chooses to use it for a change.

Richard J. DeNeale

Willsboro

&letterheadCommuter;

disappointing

TO THE EDITOR: Since the Plattsburgh International Airport has opened, we have seen two new airlines providing service. One is a commuter and the other is a commercial charter.

The commercial charter has appeared to be a great success. Especially with the upcoming additional service that will be provided the beginning of next year. Kudos to the chamber and county legislators that were key in making this happen.

The commuter, however, has appeared to be struggling. This was evident from a news story on Channel 5 news. Will the chamber or legislature take responsibility for this? When Big Sky had their grand opening, individuals from the chamber and some of the members of the County Legislature were all in agreement of how great this new service was going to be. The harsh reality is that it is not great; in fact, the on-time performance and cancellation numbers are downright horrible. Looks like for us business travelers it's back to the ferry to Burlington.

Daniel Pelletier

Plattsburgh

&letterhead;

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