Fix, don’t blame
I’m disappointed by the “blame game” involving local officials, police supervisors and the state attorney general regarding the recent boardwalk disturbances. Do we really know that stronger laws or more police would have prevented the out-of-control behaviors? Did social media play any role? Rather than point fingers at each other, it would have made much more sense and been more reassuring to the public and boardwalk business owners if officials worked together in an attempt to prevent disruptive behavior like this in the future. Recognition of early signs of widespread misbehavior, creation of definitive action plans to quell such behaviors early on, and a broad examination of ways of preventing such incidents from even occurring would be more effective at keeping evenings at the boardwalks safe and fun for families than having our leaders and officials blaming each other for the problem.
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Mark Shumeyko
Cape May
Can we go back in time?
Springtime 1985, I had come home from college to take a summer job at Atlantis Casino Hotel, formerly Playboy Hotel and Casino. Life was just grand. Everyone, including Oprah Winfrey, was asking if Donald Trump was interested in a presidential bid. During those days he wouldn’t entertain that thought and all of us were comfortable with him not bidding to become commander-in-chief. I had relished so many fond memories of Atlantic City prior to Trump’s development of the gambling culture. “No more bets, spin the wheel!”
Wayne E. Williams
Camden
Rediscovering faith, community
Protect horses from slaughter
For horses and the people who love them, the House’s version of the Farm Bill is unacceptable. The bill, which passed out of committee late last Thursday, failed to include the bipartisan Save America’s Forgotten Equines (SAFE) Act, which would permanently ban the commercial slaughter of horses in the U.S. and prohibit their export for that purpose abroad.
The SAFE Act is broadly supported by Americans and Congress alike: 83% of American voters oppose horse slaughter for human consumption, and the SAFE Act has over 220 supporters in the House of Representatives at large. Despite this consensus, tens of thousands of American horses continue to be shipped across the border to slaughterhouses in Mexico and Canada that supply other countries with horse meat. I am incredibly disappointed that the House Agriculture Committee fumbled the opportunity to pass the SAFE Act through this year’s Farm Bill and hope that leaders in Congress will ensure it is included in the version of the bill that makes it to the president’s desk.
When this legislation reaches the House floor, I urge my representative, Rep. Jeff Van Drew, to fight to include the SAFE Act in the Farm Bill to protect American horses from slaughter.
Julie Senack
Linwood
Juvenile justice reform harms NJ kids
Webster’s dictionary defines reform as to make better. To improve. To correct an antiquated way.
The so-called Juvenile Justice Reform Act has done the complete opposite. Let’s stop blaming COVID and kids. Let’s start, and end, with the chief lawmaker of this state, Attorney General Platkin. His so-called reform has basically turned juveniles into fearless warriors on our seashore boardwalks. Cops no longer have authority or enforcement powers that they once had. Kids know that cops are no longer permitted to contact their parents, no longer permitted to detain them or search them for drugs or alcohol.
What this has done essentially is endangered the welfare of our children, which is a mandatory prison term of 3-5 years in prison.
Though I’m not a lawyer, I see that Platkin should be sued for civil damages, for his so-called reform is outside the scope of his state-appointed position. It is demented, sinister and downright evil.
So let’s go back to the word “reform.” The best way to start with reform is to put Platkin in jail for three years. Hopefully, by then he will understand the meaning of endangering the welfare of a child.
Joe Venezia
Estell Manor