Missed opportunity

Tuesday night I had the great pleasure to hear a world class orchestra, Orchestre de Chambre Français Albéric Magnard, at Springside School. The French orchestra was stopping at Springside as part of its U.S. tour and was sponsored by the French Consul, Mrs. Thomas Easton. As part of its extensive local outreach program, Springside opened the concert to the public free of charge. One would have expected the Chestnut Hill Local, as our local newspaper, not only to notify the Chestnut Hill readership of this great opportunity, but to add some coverage of such an important event.

Despite being notified by the school in plenty of time, the Local did neither of these things and your readership missed a great cultural evening.

I can’t help but wonder whether, after the one-sided reporting by your newspaper on the French exchange student issue this summer, the Local is afraid to raise up this positive (and more representative) Franco-Springside experience. I know the French members of the orchestra (kindly hosted by Springside families and warmly welcomed by the students in their classes the day of the performance) left understanding that, contrary to your reporting, Springside is very supportive of France and the French people.

It would be a pleasant surprise to see the Chestnut Hill Local focus positively on one of the educational jewels in your midst and to help highlight the school’s community events like Tuesday’s Orchestre de Chambre Français Albéric Magnard performance. Through your omission, the local community missed a great event. Please don’t let your bias get in the way of your community role.

Gus Carey (Springside parent)
Ambler

Ed. Note: The omission was due to an e-mail snafu. We suggest that organizations and institutions planning important public events call the editorial department before sending an e-mail and to do this well before our noon Friday deadline.

Questions on Iraq

The Iraq phase of the war against terrorism has been fraught with anger, surprise and disappointment. Our country was bitterly divided leading up to the war. That harsh divide continues to exist. The abrupt vacillation of Turkey and the poor memory of Germany and the outright backstabbing from France surprised us.

The eleventh-hour release of thugs and criminals by the Saddamites produced the early looting of infrastructure. The very same felons aided by “Foreign Terrorist” and Saddamites continue to destroy power, water, oil and transportation facilities.

Our brave soldiers are being killed, each and every one a painful stab in our collective heart. And yet we must persist because an extremely significant matter depends on our country’s ultimate victory in establishing a democracy in Iraq.

That momentous issue is the future of the Middle East and the transcending effect its final disposition will have on the world. Will Iraq be “a shining light” so bright and welcoming as to force the Islamic fundamentalists out of their Stone Age mindset?

Will a democratic Iraq pressure self-serving neighboring theocracies and autocracies to recognize the basic rights of individuals? Or will a failure in Iraq lionize the Islamic fundamentalists and gratify their shameless supporters?

The latter is an option that will be soaked with the innocent blood of anyone the Islamic fundamentalists hate — Christians, Jews and moderate Muslims. You may not agree with this opinion and if you don’t, I urge you to begin your list of negotiating points you will propose to the eventually victorious Islamic fundamentalists. But don’t be surprised when you discover there are no negotiating points. Convert or die, join the Stone Age or die.

Frank Dutch
Chestnut Hill

Impressive

Last week saw the culmination of a year’s work by members of the Chestnut Hill Senior Center. Joined by friends and relatives, the entire board of the center and four past presidents for two days of hard work, the members helped fund their center by running a glorious bazaar at St. Paul’s Church.

Special thanks must go to every single restaurant from Cresheim Cottage through Chestnut Hill (with the exception of Cosimo’s and King’s Garden) to Bruno’s and Valley Green plus four newcomers from Erdenheim, all of whom donated meals to be raffled off. The cooperation of the Chestnut Hill Business Association bakeries, markets and restaurants was a glowing example of community support for the CHCA-sponsored center.

One cannot help but be startled and impressed by the energy of our seniors who were on their feet all day, setting up tables, selling hand-made white elephant items, then cleaning up the hall and returning to the center to start on next year’s quilt and a new bazaar!

We thank all those who attended and those who donated so much to make this year a banner year as funds were raised to help the center continue.

Gratefully,

Caroline Haussermann
Chestnut Hill

Eternal maintenance

The Rotary Club of Chestnut Hill has come to the end of a two-year commitment to “clean-up” Chestnut Hill. It has been fun. Thousands of cigarette butts and hundreds of pounds of trash later, we think we have made a difference.

We have a lot of people to thank. The Community Association, the Business Association, the Local, Rick Dodridge and Teen Challenge, Marianne Dwyer and Teenagers, Inc., Barbara Sherf for providing the Litter Bug and so many members of the community, too many to thank individually. Special kudos however go to Rich Snowden of Bowman Properties for providing Bob Markowski and all of his guys. Bob told me they took four truckloads of the worst possible trash out of the SEPTA turnaround property this time.

What of the future? Rotary is as committed to Chestnut Hill as ever. We are looking for special projects such as the SEPTA Maintenance Building painting we did two years ago. If anyone knows of work to be done, please let us know.

We are still committed to litter control. This is a National Rotary commitment. Have you ever seen signs in our travels saying, “This road is maintained by The Rotary Club of __.” Well, they are there. We will work under the leadership of Rotary Club member Dr. Arlene Bennett to maintain Cresheim Valley Drive. Arlene wants us to clean up the police station grounds on Haines Street as well. We will work with Mt. Airy USA on various projects.

We would be happy to work under someone else’s leadership to maintain the Chestnut Hill business district. As we have learned, litter is not an easy job. It keeps coming back. With the bridge opening, it is increasingly important for Chestnut Hill to put on its best face. That face will be defaced unless the business community does what is necessary. Eternal maintenance is the price of cleanliness. Thanks to everyone who helped.

Carl H. Shaifer
Chestnut Hill