Page 24 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • February 3, 2010 ago, the American Civil Liberties Union told Wyckoff the township couldn’t display a Nativity scene on public property. After hearing a short talk on what has become known as “the establishment clause,” Wyckoff took on the ACLU. Judge Ed Torack, who was then the municipal attorney, and Rob Landell, the current municipal attorney, worked on the briefs. The court system ruled that Wyckoff has a legal right to display the Nativity scene if other religions were not excluded. Every year since then, Wyckoff has displayed both a Nativity scene and a Menorah. That’s good twice. Bullying doesn’t stop with lunch money. It stopped in Wyckoff because the local government stood up to the bully. What did we hear on TV last Wednesday? Rhetoric. Some of it good, some of it preposterous, none of it likely to get us through the worse economic slump since the 1930s. The applause from most of the audience was heavy, but one group, at one point, sat still and didn’t cheer. When President Obama said he wanted Congress to repeal the ban on gays in the military, the generals and the admirals froze in their seats. They certainly weren’t cheering. They were right not to. The position of the liberal Democrats appears to be that gays are in the same position apropos military service as racial minorities were before 1863, and the knee jerk reaction is to eliminate that problem. I disagree. Cooping up openly gay males with young, straight, insecure kids in their late teens or early 20s is a prescription for internecine homicide. Imagine how many non-combat deaths result when somebody in the service who is covertly gay propositions the wrong kid and won’t take no for an answer. I’ve been a soldier, most of my high school friends served during Vietnam, and I had six relatives in the service during World War II. I can tell you, Mr. and Mrs. America, that sort of thing happens a lot. My senior cousin served with a flotilla of destroyers during World War II. On one ship, the chief mess steward, though married with kids, was a bully who liked a young guy once in awhile. He was after one of the apprentice mess stewards and wouldn’t leave the kid alone. Finally, the kid pulled a .45 he had stolen from an officer and shot the chief mess steward in the head. The captain was faced with the problem of how to cover up the fact that this happened on his ship, but still allow the widow to collect his insurance. A kamikaze hit the ship, killing seven, and gave the captain an alibi. The dead brute was listed as a combat casualty, and his wife got the insurance. The president also discussed the bank bailout. True enough, Bush was culpable, and initiated the bailout while he was still in office in 2008. Clinton was also at fault; his easy-credit policies helped touch off the housing bubble. Talking out of both sides of your mouth: First, we’re going to compete for an export market with Germany, China, and India, then we’re going to make sure every kid has a college education. Oh! College in Germany, China, and India is for the elite. Most people in all three counties start working in their teens. The Chinese and Indians do so at such low wages and under such awful working conditions that no economic competition with Americans is possible unless we all decide to give up air conditioning, cars, liquor, vacations, and red meat – and maybe not even then. The Chinese are already putting the Japanese and the South Koreans out of the export market because the Chinese can undercut Japanese and South Korean costs by underpaying their production workers and saving on safety precautions. While the Germans’ standard of living is similar to ours, they accept a degree of government control most Americans are not ready for. Germans are not allowed to work part-time jobs, must take five weeks of vacation, even when they would rather work, and must donate money to the church of their choice even if they are not religious. Anyone involved in Holocaust Denial or display of Nazi regalia is punished with a prison sentence. Holocaust Denial, of course, is junk history, and flashing Nazi regalia is in cosmically bad taste, but most Americans still value free speech enough to allow idiots to shoot their mouths off. We are not ready to morph into Germany, Sweden, or the rest of northern Europe, where the system is somewhat similar, and we are definitely not ready to morph into China or India. Export competition, except in terms of food or high-tech goods, is a delusion or a hoax. We heard what we needed to. Washington is clueless. What the country needs is a fair minimum wage for production workers along European lines so it is worth getting a job instead of milking the system. We also need a safety net so our fellow Americans do not starve or freeze if they cannot work. We need safe high schools and merit-based scholarships so really qualified students can get an education. We do not need to send every kid who is breathing to college at taxpayer expense. We do not need to impose our social system on Islamic societies -- although we do need to make sure terrorists do not get into America, or reside here. We do not need any more rhetoric. Wyckoff got it right. Last week, I heard about a number of ways to save the nation I love best from the economic crunch. I don’t mean the applause-fest on TV; I mean the Wyckoff Township Committee work session. Township Committeeman Dave Connolly described the budgeting process for 2010 as a nightmare. Connolly and the other township committee members also limned the process by which state policies of the past, if continued, would do more harm than good because they impose mandatory spending at a far greater rate than they provide money. First lesson: Try a little honesty. It’s refreshing. Nobody applauded, but everybody in the room knew Connolly was an honest man telling unpleasant, but necessary, truths. They should try that down in Washington sometime. Second lesson: Cooperate. The Wyckoff Township Committee’s first Democrat since the Great Depression, Brian Scanlan, was a constructive part of the dialogue, and offered a suggestion that Connolly and everyone else agreed was worth investigating. Wyckoff, like every other town in Northwest Bergen and New Jersey, is faced with staggering mandatory insurance costs. Scanlan suggested that if Wyckoff could find an insurance company that would go for it, the township could save money by buying policies with big deductibles, and then paying the deductibles if the employees have to file claims. His suggestion was well received. To make this work, of course, you need employers who can be trusted to pay the deductibles, and employees who see insurance as coverage against necessity and not a free ride. If Wyckoff has both – as I believe they do – the suggestion should work. Through the organization of Wyckoff Township Administrator Robert Shannon and Township Clerk Joyce Santimauro, Wyckoff already has an award-winning employee safety training program. Through the work of former traffic officer Benjamin Fox – the current police chief – the township regularly wins traffic safety awards from the AAA. The responsible commitment to safety should keep insurance payments as low as possible, but Scanlan’s deductible plan, made practical by careful administration, has real merit and should be explored. Mayor Rudy Boonstra is asking the Wyckoff Public Library to give back $307,000 to which the library is legally entitled, and the library board is still negotiating with him. The members of the Wyckoff Township Committee waived their honorariums for 2009 and 2010, and put a collective $40,000 back into the budget. These folks are serious about saving money. Wyckoff has another policy that should be emulated: sinking funds. Even before Shannon took over as administrator, Wyckoff realized that putting aside money a little at a time to replace big-ticket items like fire engines would save the township a bundle on bonded interest. The life of a sinking fund for a fire engine is 20 years. Each year, the township budgets five percent of the price of a new fire engine. When it’s time to buy one, the money is there. One other policy: courage of conscience. Some years Saving America the right way Letters to the Editor Dear Editor: I am a long-time resident of the Kentshire apartment building on Paterson Avenue in Midland Park. An issue has arisen that causes all much concern. In the past year, at the corner of Paterson Avenue and Sicomac Avenue, three people have been hit by cars, causing serious injuries. We would implore the proper traffic authorities to please give serious consideration to a study of this situation and to make changes that will improve the safety, not only for residents of the Kentshire, but also for the many pedestrians who enjoy walking in the area. Elizabeth Logue Midland Park Dear Editor: I would like to express my deepest thanks with special recognition to the staff and customers of Family Hair Care Salon in Midland Park. Owner Emmy Eliya was kind enough to put an ad in the paper asking for contributions of leftover Christmas cards from years before or ones that would simply never be used. These cards were to be sent to my husband, Major Mike Feeney, stationed in Basra, Iraq. He would then distribute them to some of the 1,300 soldiers who surround him on a daily basis. I mentioned to him that it may be just a few hundred, but I was wrong. More then 3,000 cards were brought to the salon and others were delivered to my home. I was amazed at the generosity and the beautiful cards that were donated. They were bright, cheerful and full of hope! Some of them were even handmade with amazing scrapbook materials. Most of them were in boxed sets! My sons, ages six and one, and I could not believe all the cards and boxes that were in my house. It gave our home a sense of additional purpose during this holiday season that is not Concerned for pedestrian safety easily felt when a loved one is deployed. Emmy has a sincere way of making you feel welcome in her salon and that feeling thankfully extended to the hearts of her customers! Dana Feeney Ridgewood Dear Editor: Despite harassment and bullying prevention policies implemented by public school districts, the leadership of the teachers’ New Jersey Education Association and its local chapters continue to employ intimidation tactics to advance their agenda. They established a system of taking money from members’ dues and spending it on expedient political campaigns. As this unionized public work force grew, they became influential in the creation of a tax-andspend milieu by state legislators. Presently, NJEA is advising its members not to sign grant applications to receive federal grants through the Race to the Top program because the program would link teacher pay to student performance. Teachers, otherwise inclined to participate, are intimidated into conceding to the union’s position out of fear of retaliation from the union. Union leaders are focused more on self-preservation than on the welfare of the students that attend our schools. Their greed for remuneration is second only to their desire for control and power. Over the past year, the Wyckoff Education Association has denounced the performance of Superintendent Dr. Janet Razze. Although statements have been made to discredit Razze’s ability to communicate with teachers, and her commitment to curriculum and facility based issues, no tangible evidence has been presented to corroborate the accusations. Perhaps WEA’s resentment toward Razze (continued on page 25) WHOA member provides feedback Community support lauded