Fan of Gilmores

I have been tempted to e-mail you for so long, just to let you know how much I enjoy the columns of both Hugh and Janet Gilmore in the Local. If it weren’t for those two, I’m not sure I would subscribe any more. I moved to Kennett Square in 2004 and remember Hugh coming out to my house on Millman Street to buy a few of my old books just before I moved.

But my real reason for contacting you now is to respond to Hugh’s columns about Roger Tory Peterson. Some years ago he appeared at Borders in Chestnut Hill to sign his books, along with his wife Virginia. I stood in line with many others to get my Peterson Guides signed. When it was finally my turn, I was eager to converse with him, however briefly, about birding, but was coldly rebuffed.

I found him totally stand-offish and uninterested in anything more than getting the darned books signed and getting the heck out of there. I have heard others who felt the same way after going to the trouble of trying to meet him. I therefore suggest that you no longer feel any regrets for having missed the opportunity to shake his hand those many years ago. I’m afraid you would have found it less than rewarding.

Like you, however, I do still admire the man for bringing birding to the attention of us amateurs and being the first to make it available through pictures and descriptions. It is such a rewarding interest and one that you can take with you wherever you go.

I also thank Hugh and Janet for their entertaining columns, which I often share with friends. Please keep them coming!

Charlotte Osgood
Kennett Square

Bankers should give libraries a bonus

The recent news that our free libraries will no longer be open on Mondays, dismayed Philadelphians. Especially, the elderly and the young. The problem is lack of funds!

Well, there can be a solution. Why not ask the executives of the companies which received millions in grants, and in turn gave large bonuses to their executives, often in the millions, to donate funds toward our libraries.

At least, some of those millions can do some good!

Gerald Sankofsky
Chestnut Hill

Thanks for pancake success

With the effort and generosity of many, the Chestnut Hill Rotary held its 11th Annual Pancake Breakfast at Solaris Restaurant thanks go to John Anderson for again lending his beautiful restaurant and professional staff  and even providing a $100 raffle gift certificate for one of our lucky customers. Thanks to Fran O’Donnell from O’Doodle’s: the Cat in the Hat entertained young guests and posed with them for photos taken by Coleman Junger from the Photo Workshop where printouts of the photos can be seen.

The Pancake Breakfast is one of several events the Chestnut Hill Rotary sponsors to raise funds for community projects and, internationally, for polio eradication, cleft palate programs, clean water projects and support for an orphanage in Ghana.

 For those of us in Rotary, it was a terrific morning full of friends and neighbors and families with hungry youngsters and a reminder that Chestnut Hill has a residential and business community always ready to help whenever and wherever needed.

Marie Lachat
Chestnut Hill

Ministry seeks food donations

The Germantown Avenue Crisis Ministry, a food pantry created many years ago by several churches in Chestnut Hill, Mt. Airy, and Germantown, is once again in dire need of food. Increased demand due to the rise in unemployment combined with a decrease in food supplies from some of their usual sources has caused the ministry to have to turn away needy people.

The Crisis Ministry is located in an office of First Presbyterian Church of Germantown, 35 W. Chelten Ave., Philadelphia 19144.  In addition to food, they also help people to apply for other resources such as utility grants and heating assistance.  Their hours are on Thursday, 10-1 and Friday 1-4, and Mondays by appointment.  Their phone number is 215-843-4560.

Anyone wishing to donate non-perishable food can drop it off at the church during regular hours Monday through Friday.  Financial donations (checks should be made out to Germantown Avenue Crisis Ministry) can be dropped off or mailed.

Last year a similar request prompted many individuals, schools, and other local churches to respond quickly and generously to provide additional resources.  We hope that this letter will inspire others to help.

Peggy MacGregor
Summit Presbyterian Church

Dog owner a nuisance

I often walk my cocker spaniel across Winston Park.  Often, in the mornings, there is a person there with a large Alsatian that is never on a lead.  The owner throws a ball and the dog chases it.  This dog has startled mine on many occasions.  The other day, I saw an altercation with this person and another whose dog was startled and got a bit upset by that person’s dog.  The owner of the dog that was startled told the Alsatian’s owner that his dog must be a lead.  That person then said something like “So what?”  I left with my dog but I think I’m going to start documenting this with photos and eventually turn them over to the 14th district police.  I don’t understand how people can be so selfish.  That dog endangers other dogs by frightening them and there is a chance they can get loose and hit be an automobile.

Hans V. Leugler
Chestnut Hill