Letters to the Editor: June 2 – 8, 2016
Democratic Party Trying To Create ‘Gaytheism’
Editor,
I find Nicholas F. Benton’s use of capitalization in his column, “Preventing the Slide into Fascism” very interesting. Benton accuses Trump of “disrespecting the democratic culture” and later he refers to the “Democratic Enlightenment.”
The Enlightenment was not the product of the Democratic Party, so it should have a lower case “d,” and the culture that Trump and so many others disrespect is not democratic, but the Democratic culture pushed on the country by the Democratic party and its media minions, so it should have a capital “D.”
In spite of the Democratic party avowing the separation of church and state, they are trying to create a state religion enforced by law that I refer to as “Gaytheism.” You don’t have to believe in God, but any demand by the LGBT community has to be “blindly accepted … as irrational religious dogma,” if I may use Benton’s words.
Stephen Donnelly
Falls Church
Roberts Park Should Have Lights For Night Use
Editor,
My name is Robert Griggs and I am a Boy Scout living in Falls Church. I like to play in Roberts Park all through the year. However, I wish the park had lights for use at night. I recommend the City consider buying solar panel-powered lights for use at Roberts Park at night.
My dad says kids should have an adult present if kids are playing.
Robert Griggs
Falls Church
Help Volunteer For ‘Falls Church Feeds the World’
Editor,
Every time I finish a meal and have food left over, I know I am fortunate. Falls Church and Fairfax County are among the wealthiest parts of our nation. Even though poverty and misfortune certainly exist here, it is not common for people here in the U.S. to die of starvation.
This is not to the case in many third, fourth, and fifth world nations. Around the globe, nearly 795 million people lack adequate food, one in nine people go to bed hungry every night, and hunger kills more people each year than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined, according to The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2015.
Hunger and inadequate nutrition are particularly difficult for children who are developing mentally and physically. More than 3 million children die from hunger each year. For those who survive, hunger and poor nutrition can stunt growth and impede learning. With so much time being spent simply surviving, many people don’t ever the opportunity to thrive. That’s why my congregation joined forces with Stop Hunger Now to host a meal packaging event called “Falls Church Feeds the World.”
Stop Hunger Now is a respected nonprofit that distributes meals through feeding programs in developing countries to promote education, improve students’ health and nutrition, stimulate economic growth, and more. For the June 5 event, we need volunteers from throughout the community to help us create 20,000 meals in one afternoon at our church that will be packed and shipped worldwide. The event enables adults and even kids four and up a chance to participate. Everyone has a role as we make and package nutritiously sound meals, made from dehydrated rice and soy and fortified with 23 essential vitamins and nutrients.
Hunger is a serious issue and this volunteer event will engage our community in a meaningful event to help end hunger. By opening our doors to the whole community, Falls Church Feeds the World can make a difference for the global community simply by feeding a fellow family. To learn more about volunteering, visit www.FallschurchFeedsTheWorld.org or call 703-532-4026.
Mochel Morris
Pastor, Christ Crossman United Methodist Church
May Was Not a Merry Month for Falls Church or Me
Editor,
May was anything but a merry month for the city of Falls Church and most of its residents, especially me.
There were the never-ending battles over public school funding, renovating and expanding Mt. Daniel Elementary School or selling the property to a developer, the scale and type of development of the West Broad street commercially-zoned six-block strip, the proposed eminent domain taking of the Fellows property across from Thomas Jefferson School, the relocation of the Mary Riley Styles Public Library, traffic congestion due to construction of two major residential projects in the middle of the city and numerous street repair projects.
But that’s not why the past month has been a disaster for me.
First was the decision by Vantage Fitness to close at the end of the month. Conveniently located at 402 West Broad Street, close by my PNC bank branch and Panera, Vantage and its physical trainers helped keep me in reasonably good shape since it opened seven years ago.
Hundreds of others, many middle aged or elderly like me, have used its facilities and enjoyed its Zumba and dance classes, but apparently there were not enough members to keep it open, and I’m looking for a new and less convenient health club, probably at Seven Corners or Merrifield.
From Vantage’s second floor window, I watched the traffic on Broad Street and noted that an average of three of ten drivers were distracted, using their cellphone. I also could see my favorite floral shop, Falls Church Florist, which is closing after 66 years. Another great loss for the Little City.
Then on May 17, I received word of the death of Susan Tolchin, whose husband Marty and I helped start The Hill in 1994, and on the same day, I learned that one of my five cousins in Iowa had just been buried.
But the worst day of the month for me came two days later, when Moira, my beloved wife of nearly 54 years, died at Virginia Hospital Center. She was 77 and had been ill for several years, in and out of hospitals and rehab centers. She died of heart failure with me and her daughters Kitty and Anne at her side. We are still learning to accept her death but are comforted by the prayers and love of her family and many friends.
And while I’m glad that May is behind us, I’m not exactly looking forward to June 28, when I turn 80.
Albert Eisele
Falls Church
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