January 26

January 26, 2006

 

I was delighted to learn that I would have a letter printed on the Letters to the Editor page of the New York Times.  First word came last Friday, January 20, four days after I submitted the letter.  The notification was in an e-mail at 5:10 on Friday afternoon, and the page editor wanted my approval by 5:30.  Whatever gods there are that help UUs had kept me in the office late that Friday, and so I saw the e-mail and made the approving response.

 

Then the wait began.  A friend who works at the Times told me that the letter was, in fact, on the Monday page, but then it was bumped.  And it wasn't there on Tuesday, even though that page included quite a number of other Roe v. Wade relevant letters.  I began to despair.  But my letter was finally printed on Wednesday, and it read as follows.

 

To the Editor:

I read with interest your article about crisis pregnancy centers ("Some

Abortion Foes Forgo Politics for Quiet Talk," front page, Jan. 16). I had

encountered these organizations several years ago when I lived in the

Midwest, and I was dismayed by the fuzzy science that the centers used to

build medical arguments against abortion.

 

As I learned how a crisis pregnancy center operated, I was even more

dismayed by something your article did not mention: that these centers also

use inaccurate and misleading evidence to tell women that medical birth

control does not work. In their ongoing relationship with women, they

discourage the use of the birth control methods that would keep the women

from further unplanned pregnancies.

 

Anyone who seriously wants to reduce abortion has a moral obligation to

encourage the use of birth control.

 

(Rev.) Carol A. Huston

White Plains, Jan. 17, 2006

 

 

And now I may have my name on a Journal News letter in the next few days, a letter written by WESPAC.  There was conversation about this very matter in an Adult Education meeting this week, and in our exciting Spanish class, there is often talk about the problems of immigrants (and I am increasingly able to follow that conversation, even though it is in Spanish!).  With that background, I felt compelled to join other civic and religious organizations in signing on to this letter.

 

Village of Mamaroneck

123 Mamaroneck Ave

Mamaroneck, NY 10543

January 26, 2006

To the Village of Mamaroneck:

We are writing to you today to represent the voices of tens of thousands of Westchester County residents that have been deeply offended by the remarks of Joseph Angilletta, a member of the Board of Trustees of the Village of Mamaroneck.

He was quoted in the Journal Newspaper yesterday as referring to the day laborer community as �locusts�.  

"These are not residents of the village. They are locusts. They are takers. They come in here and take, and they won't ever give back to the community," Trustee Joseph Angilletta said about laborers from other communities who gather in Mamaroneck village. "I was elected to protect the residents of the village." 

The following organizations find it unacceptable for a public official to dehumanize an entire group of people by calling them �locusts�.  We demand, at the very least, that Mr. Angilletta apologize to the day laborers, to the Hispanic Community and to all residents of Westchester County for using hateful language in his position as a public servant of the local community:

Nada Khader, WESPAC Foundation

 

 

 

 

Carol Huston

revcarol@earthlink.net

Why Wait? Move to EarthLink.