September 27, 2007 Issue                                       

©2007 The Chestnut Hill Local

From our readers

Prank less joke, more criminal

Webster’s dictionary defines a prank as a “mischievous trick or a practical joke.”

From your article [Re: “Police pranked into phony manhunt,” Sept. 20, I can readily see the calls the police answered were far, far from Webster’s definition.

Anytime our law enforcement agencies answer any type of call they put their life and limb in jeopardy.

When the instigators of these calls are caught, I think a fitting answer to their “prank” would be serving some hard time in prison and then upon release, a couple hundred hours of community service.

Then perhaps — they just might think twice about “playing another prank” … if and when the idea should ever come to their juvenile minds again!

Tom Woodruff
Oreland

Torture has no excuse

In over forty years of receiving the Local, I have never been moved to respond to a letter, no matter how idiotic. I have finally come across an item that is so jaw-droppingly obtuse that I am unable to restrain myself. It would be impolite to mention the writer’s name, and I will limit my response to just a few thoughts.

First, I would question characterizing the Iraq War and Occupation as noble and selfless as we preside over the death and dislocation of over 10 percent of the Iraqi population while sacrificing nothing other than our budget and the lives of our noble soldiers.

Second, is the justification of torture. No civilized citizen of this world can condone torture under any circumstances.

It is cruel and inhuman. Insofar as we may practice it, we become the enemy. Paradoxically, every report on the subject seems to indicate that torture is the least reliable way of extracting information. It helps if you place “suspected” in front of terrorist. How many innocent victims of torture have there been?

In my view (and I need to emphasize that I still have a right to it), Iraq is not just our greatest foreign policy blunder. It represents a serious moral lapse from which this nation, as great as it is, may never recover.

Ralph S. Hirshorn
Chestnut Hill

100 thank you’s

The Chestnut Hill Library celebrated the 100th anniversary of its Carnegie building on Sunday with a party attended by over 100 community members. We want to thank the Chestnut Hill Local for the excellent article by Kristin Pazulski about the history of the library that ran last week as well as the many volunteers who stepped forward to make the party a success. We are especially grateful to Paul and Becky Roller for donating all the liquid refreshments for this happy occasion and to the library’s branch manager, Margaret Brunton, and her fine staff for all they do the make our library a community treasure.

Mary Sue Welsh
President, Friends of the Chestnut Hill Library