Great pride

There is no better ì4thî for the kids than WaterTower, anywhere.

There is no more finer or more dedicated organization in making the above statement a fact than ìThe Boc,î the Chestnut Hill Bocce Club. The members work long and hard all year round to make it so.

I have been fortunate that the Bocce has let me give the opening patriotic tribute for more years than I can count at the ì4th,î and I can see and feel the pride the Bocce takes in sponsoring the annual event.

If you are one who has contributed financially to the 4th every year, thank you. If not, step in with Chestnut Hillís best next year and drop a few bucks in the pot and come out to see where and how your contribution is used. When you see the 4th at WaterTower you will share that pride with the ìBoc.î

Thanks again all you members of the ìBocî for a great, great job.

Tom Woodruff
Oreland

Great concert

Wow! That is the best word to describe Sundayís Kidsí Concert. ìFantasticî doesnít do justice to the fun-factor of Erin Flynn and the Co-op Band. Around 400 people, from days-old infants to grandparents and great-grandparents, had a ball. Judging by the air guitar played by some on-stage parents during Wipe Out, the fun was as much for the grown-ups as for the kids. Letís hope Erin will make the trip from Chicago next year for a Co-op Band Reunion at Pastorius Park.

The dayís success was also due to the incredibly talented face-painting of Amma Napier, Jane Piotrowski and Stella Tsai. Kim Burns graciously held down the concessions fort with the able help of her daughter Chloe and a host of other enterprising kids. Thanks, too, to Citizensí Bank for its financial support. An extra-special thank you goes to Bredenbeckís for its financial support and providing free cookies and coupons for free ice cream to all the kids in attendance. Kristin Woods helped pull it all together.

Thank you, too, to our post-festivities ìstage crew:î John Cieslinski, Bob Rossman, Caleb Meyer, Daniel Loperfido, Mel Marmer and Greg Lattanzi. Concertgoers will be able to see the next few Wednesday night performances much better as they will now occur on a real stage (on loan from the Mount Airy Neighbors associations) ‚ thanks to these great guys for getting it up and running.

Pastorius Park Concerts are the best of our neighborhood. Sundayís concert in particular was as good as it gets.

K. Tia Burke, Esquire
Chestnut Hill

Thank you

With Catherine A. Worrall (Katie) retiring from editing the Local, a touch of sadness falls over Chestnut Hill. Her family connections go deep into generations on the Hill as they also do even more deeply into Philadelphia. Her residence and upbringing have made her as much a part of the Hill as Pastorius Park.

Her intimacy with her newspaper, the Local, runs deep, carrying on its gentle descriptions of news we generate in an accurate and non-controversial way.

As with all editors, she has raised an occasional angry letter, which has only proven her human.

Thank you for a good job, Katie.

Koey Rivinus
Chestnut Hill

Where have all the liberals gone?

As a liberal who supports the continuing war in Iraq, I am dismayed by the anti-war liberals whose consuming hatred of George Bush drives them to betray our rich heritage of proactive internationalism on behalf of human rights: Woodrow Wilson and the League of Nations. (The League failed because the United States refused to join. In those days, conservatives were isolationists.)  Franklin Roosevelt, who laid the foundation of the United Nations and defined the Four Freedoms ìfor every person, everywhere on earth.î Eleanor Roosevelt, who chaired the drafting of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Harry Truman, the driving force behind the Marshall Plan and the establishment of Israel and the United Nations. His doctrine drew lines aggressors knew they must not cross. The World Federalists of the 1950s. John Kennedy, with his ringing declaration that we will ìpay any price, bear any burden Ö to assure the survival and success of liberty.î Jimmy Carter, who made human rights the foundation of our foreign policy. Bill Clinton, who took us into Bosnia to stop the mutual slaughter of Christians and Muslims and into Kosovo to end the ìethnic cleansingî there. Has not George Bush maintained this ongoing pursuit of peace and freedom in Afghanistan, which now has a constitution that guarantees equal rights for women, and in Iraq, where a general election will be held for the first time ever?

Iím especially troubled that their vitriolic contempt of the President enables so many of my fellow liberals to cast a blind eye on the egregious crimes against humanity that were committed by Saddam Hussein. The gassing of his own people. The random executions. The torture chambers and rape rooms. The draining of the marshes. The mass graves. The Free Prisoners Society estimates that between five and seven million Iraqis ìdisappearedî over the past two decades. Would my fellow liberals be so avidly anti-war if those poor brown Muslim souls had been white Christians and Jews?

William Will
Chestnut Hill