Letters to the Editor

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The New York Sun

Drugs Kill Bronx High School of Science Student


One cannot help but feel great sympathy for the family of Lewis Dvorkin, the 15-year-old Bronx High School of Science student who died on September 25.


The young man’s parents must surely be going through intense feelings of grief and guilt [“10th Grade Pupil at Elite School Dies From an Overdose of Heroin,” Julia Levy, Page 1, September 30, 2004].


As the parent of a 15-year-old high school boy, I am well aware of the diverse negative environmental influences over which parents wield little if any control.


Accordingly, one cannot necessarily blame the boy’s parents for their son’s drug habit, nor for his habit of illegally damaging property by spray-painting graffiti on buildings.


Similarly, the parents of other students at Bronx Science cannot necessarily be blamed for their children’s glorification of Dvorkin’s illegal graffiti escapades.


If, however, Elissa Mopper and other surviving peers of Dvorkin succeed in their stated intention to place a memorial mural in the school to honor and glorify Dvorkin’s wrongful, illegal, and destructive graffiti “artistry,” then the blame must necessarily fall squarely upon the shoulders of the principal of the Bronx High School of Science, Valerie J. Reidy, who should know better, who should wield total control over the murals that are placed in her school, and who is unfit to serve in the position if she would tolerate such glorification of Dvorkin’s criminal acts.


KENNETH H. RYESKY
East Northport, N.Y.



‘Hamas in America’


It does not surprise me one bit that there are Hamas terrorists operating in America. It also does not surprise me one bit that Hamas wants to strike America.


Anyone that knows the slightest thing about Palestinian terrorist groups knows that groups such as Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad have attacked Americans before on foreign soil.


It is only matter of time before they kill Americans in our homeland [“Hamas In America,” Erick Stakelbeck, Opinion, September 24, 2004].


After all, there is no doubt about it that Palestinians hate America almost as much as they hate Israel.


Who can forget the disgusting sight of thousands of Palestinians celebrating and handing out candy in the streets after the Twin Towers were knocked down on September 11, 2001. And that was Palestinian civilians that felt this way about America; imagine how Palestinian terrorists feel about America.


The Ku Klux Klan may hate African-Americans more than Jews. But this does not mean they do not hate Jews.


Nazi groups may hate Jews more than blacks, but this does not mean they do not hate blacks. The same parallels can be drawn with Islamic terrorist groups.


All Islamic terrorist groups share the same Islamic extremist goal of conquering the world and ridding it of all non-Muslims.


Some Islamic terrorist groups, like Hamas, may hate Israel more than America. Some Islamic terrorist groups, like the Chechen terrorists, may hate the Russian government more than America.


Some Islamic terrorist groups like Abu Sayaaf may be focused more about setting up an Islamic state in the Philippines by using terrorism, than attacking America.


There are many Islamic terrorist groups whose main goal is not attacking America, but that doesn’t mean they do not want to attack America and wouldn’t do so if given the opportunity.


It is just a matter of time before Hamas teams up with Al Qaeda to commit acts of mass murder against Americans in America.


It is in the best interests of America to eliminate the threat posed by Hamas terrorists, charities, and organizations wherever we find them, not just because we should help Israel prevent herself from being annihilated by Hamas, but because Hamas wants to annihilate us, too.


TIMOTHY CARAVELLO
Howard Beach, N.Y.



Bronx Science Tragedy


The fact that Valerie J. Reidy, the principal of the Bronx High School of Science, granted an interview to The New York Sun following the tragedy of the death of Lewis Dvorkin – a gifted boy at the very budding stage of his intellectual life – on her watch gave one pause.


Given the obvious responsibility of the chief operating officer of this revered institution, the tendency was to give her credit for granting an interview [“10th Grade Pupil at Elite School Dies From an Overdose of Heroin,” Julia Levy, Page 1, September 30, 2004].


However, rather than “plead the Fifth,” Ms. Reidy attempted to deny any responsibility by rejecting any knowledge of the situation that ended with the death of one of her students.


Perhaps, she would have served herself, her student body, the parents, and the public better had she opened her mind and consciousness to the horrendous problem in the Bronx High School of Science and pervasively around the nation of drug addiction in our schools, and thoroughly investigated her “unknowingness” as well as a solution before such an interview.


NANCY JOYCE JANCOURTZ
Brooklyn



Please address letters intended for publication to the Editor of The New York Sun. Letters may be sent by e-mail to editor@nysun.com, facsimile to 212-608-7348, or post to 105 Chambers Street, New York City 10007. Please include a return address and daytime telephone number. Letters may be edited.


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