Letters
Proposed cable legislation falls short in several important areas

With all due respect to Robert K. Johnson (“Bill Aims to Improve Cable Services,” Your Turn guest column, Sentinel, Aug. 18), as a 15-year veteran of the telecommunications industry, I resent the implication that I have been misled or influenced by cable operators. I’ll also note that what was not disclosed in that column is that despite the name Consumers for Cable Choice, the organization for which Mr. Johnson is president and general counsel is funded by Verizon and SBC, and both companies have a vested interest in these bills.

The goal of increased video choice to our residents is a wonderful objective. However, the proposed federal legislation fails several important criteria.

The first issue is that it does not provide a guarantee of services. My goal as an elected official in Jamesburg is to ensure that my community gets these new services.

The second issue is that the new service providers do not have to negotiate directly with the local communities but pay the same franchise fee that the cable operators pay. What this fails to take into account is that trade-offs in services, and other nonmonetary considerations such as community access channels, may be exchanged for lower franchise fees.

It is also interesting to note that Mr. Johnson points to the lack of competition as the reason for the rising cable costs. However, at the same time the cable industry has seen competition on the video side. According to some estimates, 25-30 percent of U.S. video customers now get their nonbroadcast video services from a provider other than cable operators. However, this increased competition has not had the desired impact on prices.

What Mr. Johnson failed to note is that in the same article to which he referred (“Official Takes Stand Against Cable Proposal,” Sentinel, Aug. 4), I stated that I personally am in support of the statewide franchise agreement that Verizon has proposed for New Jersey. This is, of course, assuming that issues such as redlining can be addressed.

Chris Maloney

member

Jamesburg Borough Council

Mayor, council should forget newspaper, do job at meetings

Well, well, well. I thought I was the only one who was aghast when I received the new newspaper from the township. My first thought was, “Oops. Here come the lawsuits.”

If the Township Council members and our mayor would just do their job at the council meetings by answering questions when asked and disseminating information instead of sitting there as if they all lost their voices, there would be no need for this so-called paper of information. What a coward’s way out.

It’s about time that the council and mayor do the job they were elected to do, and not in a newspaper but at a council meeting, which, if I am not mistaken, is the way it is supposed to be. What are they afraid of? To paraphrase an old and true statement, “If it gets too hot in the kitchen, then it is time to get out.”

You are elected by the residents of East Brunswick, and you are being paid to disseminate all information in the proper forum, which is the council meetings. That is your job and your responsibility, and that is why you were elected. If the mayor and council members are going to sit there like mummies, then it is time for them to resign their positions.

East Brunswick needs good, strong, honest people representing us. Well, folks, it looks like it is not happening.

As a taxpayer and a 40-year resident of this township, I demand that the council members and the mayor do away with the new newspaper, do their job at the council meetings and not sit there like mummies. What is being hidden from the residents? That is the scary part of this whole debacle.

Mary Tonachio

East Brunswick

Therapy dog worked wonders with patient

I have never really been comfortable in a hospital environment, but I like helping people. So, I decided to volunteer my dog, Sami, to be a pet-therapy dog at Raritan Bay Medical Center.

Our first day on the job was near the end of August. As we were completing our rounds in the oncology ward at the hospital’s Perth Amboy division, a man beckoned us toward a room where a patient had previously been deemed “unresponsive.” The man asked if my dog would visit the patient, who was the man’s sister.

After the nurses gave us their approval, I brought Sami into the hospital room. The woman was actually sitting up in her bed, with a tracheal tube in her throat. Sami, an 8-year-old golden retriever, walked right up to the woman and placed her head on the woman’s stomach.

The patient began petting Sami, but then emotion overtook her. Leaning forward, she grabbed hold of Sami and hugged her tightly for a full minute, shaking with emotion as she sobbed. It was as if her life was fully restored, if just for a minute or two.

It was an emotional moment for everyone in the room, and I quickly realized how wonderful a visit from a therapy dog is. I promised to bring Sami back to Raritan Bay Medical Center on a weekly basis.

Both of us are eagerly looking forward to our next visit.

Jay Lillianthal

Marlboro

National heritage area needed in New Jersey

Recently, acting Gov. Richard Codey signed Executive Order No. 48, which is aimed at assisting the passage of the federal bill pending in the House of Representatives, HR 87. This bill, sponsored by Reps. Rodney Frelinghuysen and Rush Holt, and co-sponsored by all of our other representatives, would establish a National Heritage Area in New Jersey focusing on historic Revolutionary War sites in New Jersey. An identical bill, S 825 sponsored by Sens. Jon Corzine and Frank Lautenberg, passed in July.

What is at stake is as much as $10 million in federal funds to help restore and preserve these sites, as well as create educational programs associated with the sites. Although the areas to receive funding do not include every possible revolutionary site, and sites in the south and northwest portions of the state have largely been left out, the current proposal includes 14 counties and more than 200 municipalities.

New Jersey was vital to the revolutionary cause. Washington had headquarters in New Jersey for three winters. More battles and skirmishes were fought in New Jersey than any other state, including the battles of Trenton, Princeton, Red Bank, Monmouth and Springfield. Space does not allow to recount the almost 300 other documented battles and skirmishes or retell the heroics and bravery of our great patriot ancestors. As it stands, small towns, private donors and patriotic organizations like the Sons of the Revolution are left with the task of preserving our state’s grand Revolutionary War history.

While the actions of acting Gov. Codey and our state representatives and senators are highly commendable, Congress must act fast before these precious sites are gone forever. Next year will mark the 225th anniversary of the march of Washington and French Gen. Jean B. de Rochambeau through New Jersey to Yorktown. Time is of the essence.

Unfortunately, Representative Frelinghuysen had proposed similar bills in the past two congressional sessions. The Senate’s recent passage of the bill and acting Gov. Codey’s executive order may help finally pass this legislation. But the House bill had been referred to a subcommittee on Feb. 3, and six months later it remains there today.

In July, the township of Belleville petitioned Congress to support HR 87 and S 825. It would be wonderful if all other towns — whether earmarked for funds or not — as well as private organizations followed Belleville’s lead and petitioned Congress for the speedy passage of the Crossroads of the American Revolution National Heritage Area Act. The New Jersey Society, Sons of the Revolution is attempting to contact as many town councils as possible to urge petitions similar to Belleville’s. Let’s show our gratitude to our brave ancestors who fought for our liberty. It is time for the local government, private organizations and the residents to put the pressure on Congress to help us save these sites which were so instrumental to establishing our great country.

John F. Newman

board member

New Jersey Society,

Sons of the Revolution

Freehold

Residents are urged to donate blood during E.B. drive

The most important things in life are not things — not material things.

Please donate blood. Save a life.

Donating is easy, sterile and painless. The actual donation lasts only about 10 minutes.

Please help. Come donate at our community blood drive at the East Brunswick Public Library, 2 Civic Center Drive, on Tuesday, Oct. 25, from 3-8 p.m., sponsored by the township of East Brunswick.

For more information, please call (732) 390-6816.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Marie Piscopiello

executive secretary

community blood drive

East Brunswick

First Aid Council endorses ICE system

We never know when we might fall ill while away from home, become incapacitated in a motor vehicle accident or even a mass-casualty incident. To help emergency officials contact a victim’s loved ones, there is a new system called ICE (In Case of Emergency). The ICE campaign encourages cell phone users to program emergency contact information into their phones under the ICE listing.

This could allow emergency responders and hospital staffs to access contacts and quickly alert family or friends. It also might help rescuers obtain vital medical information about a patient who cannot convey the information himself. ICE is free and easy to use, but it’s not foolproof. Password-protected cell phones might prohibit access to the information, or an accident might render a cell phone inoperable.

Nevertheless, the nonprofit New Jersey State First Aid Council — which represents more than 20,000 emergency medical services (EMS) volunteers throughout New Jersey — endorses the ICE campaign and urges Garden State residents to use it. It could help save precious time and lives.

David Schimmel

director of Mobilization

and Disaster Services

New Jersey State First Aid Council