Letters

Oct. 16 is Feral Cat Day. A feral cat is a homeless domestic animal with a strong fear of humans. Ferals exist due to the public’s failure to adopt, spay/neuter, and due to its reluctance to make a lifetime commitment to cats in its care.

Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) is an effective, internationally recognized program to reduce, and eventually eliminate, feral cat colonies. Cats are trapped, vaccinated, spayed or neutered and returned to their original location. A volunteer feeds the cats on a regular basis and brings them to a veterinarian if they require medical assistance. Kittens and friendly adults are adopted into good homes.

Traditional, agency-run attempts to trap and kill cats have historically resulted in greater numbers (and greater suffering for that reason alone) of stray animals than have well-planned systems to trap, sterilize and return cats.

The public can choose to rely on unethical, ineffective trap-and-kill plans, or we can work toward our goal by implementing an organized, proven-effective, cost-efficient method of population control.

For more information, please visit www.teamhart.org.

Shell Sullivan

vice president

Homeless Animal Lifeline

Plainfield

A vote for Monroe Dems will continue services

I want to praise the Democratic candidates who are running for re-election to the Monroe Township Council on Nov. 8. They have listened to the residents of the township, and they have delivered the services we asked for.

They have given us our own ZIP code and a new post office. They have given us a new library, and now there will be additions to it. They have given us open space. They have given us the best emergency services in the state. They have given us a recreation center that surpasses all expectations.

They have given us quality services and have kept their promise of low taxes. Vote for Joanne Connolly, Hank Miller and Jerry Tamburro so that we can continue to have the best services.

Frank Gilbert

Monroe

Councilwoman deserves re-election, not criticism

The mean spirit exhibited in Harold Kane’s recent letter to the editor regarding Township Council President Joanne Connolly (“Electing GOP Removes One of Councilwoman’s Pensions,” Sentinel, Oct. 6) does nothing to diminish the credit due this dedicated public servant. I’m certain Mr. Kane cares little about the character and professionalism of the target of his partisan attack.

Why does she deserve your vote and your respect? Let me count the ways.

While Ms. Connolly became a single mother at age 28, she raised two children and put them both through college. At the same time, she was a teacher for 26 years, 24 of which were spent at Monroe Township High School, all the while contributing to her own pension fund. For the most part, she taught classes of special-needs youngsters, whom she now meets and is proud to see as productive members of our mainstream society.

When an opening presented itself on the council, Mayor Richard Pucci and the Democratic Committee selected Joanne from among a number of candidates because of her record of dedication to the kids in our town and her lack of a political agenda.

She soon became a valued member of the council, and, as such, devoted many hours serving as a member of the Youth Recreation Advisory Committee, the New Jersey Training School for Boys Citizens Review Board and the Middlesex County Children’s Health Commission.

I have been proud to work side by side with her over the past 13 years and can attest to her contribution to the successes we have enjoyed during our time in office.

Upon retiring from the school system on a pension that did not meet the needs of an ever-increasing cost of living, Ms. Connolly took a job with Rutgers Extension Institute, again in a position to deal with students and their needs. The fact that the job carries a pension benefit is beside the point; it will be negligible, as will her pension from the council. What is important is that this woman made a productive life for herself, has contributed and continues to contribute daily to the betterment of our community and takes a deep interest in the concerns of her constituents.

Joanne Connolly doesn’t deserve your criticism, she deserves your vote.

Irwin Nalitt

member

Monroe Township Council

Parents extend thanks for tribute to their daughter

We would like to express our heartfelt thanks and gratitude to the administration, staff and inpatients of the HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital, Toms River section of Dover, for the impressive ceremony on Sept. 21 that dedicated the facility’s inpatient gym and memorial garden to the memory of our daughter, Gránia, who died of injuries suffered in a hit-and-run-automobile accident in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., on July 3.

Gránia had been a physical therapist at the hospital for 10 years. In many ways the ceremony reflected the commitment she had to her family, her profession, her work and her friends.

We always knew she was special; however, we never realized that she had touched the lives of so many people. It was amazing to hear some of the experiences that people related to us about Gránia. Some were funny, some were happy, some sad and some serious, but they all recalled many poignant memories about our youngest child. It appears that in her short life span, she accomplished what she always aspired to do — to make a difference in the world around her.

We will always remember Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2005, as a day made memorable by some very wonderful people.

God bless them.

Dawn and Vincent Maggio

and family

East Brunswick

Thinks parents had no business complaining about coach

I cannot believe that a few parents of students at East Brunswick High School would contact the superintendent of schools to tattle on the football coach because of traditional team prayer for inspiration and for the safety of both teams before the game.

Do these people realize what they have done? Their very calculated actions have resulted in the resignation of wonderful, caring teacher and coach. Do they realize how hard it is to find a high school teacher who is loved and respected, not only by the kids on the football team, but every other kid in the school? It’s impossible to find this kind of teacher.

These parents who complained are just another example of the people in this town who ruin everything with their constant complaining and tattling. What was the big deal? First of all, it was none of their business. They don’t even have kids on the team.

Why do people like this always put their noses into things that don’t even concern them? Now a coach has resigned, the team is devastated to lose their coach, and the year has been ruined because of them. Congratulations to the parents who complained about something that wasn’t hurting anyone, and, in fact, was a great tradition in this town.

I hope you are happy. You have succeeded in totally crushing these kids and their coach.

Marilyn Morgan

East Brunswick