Readers weigh in on column on teachers’ union issues

When I wrote a column critical of the state’s teachers’ unions a few weeks ago, I girded my loins for what I expected would be the usual backlash to columns like that — notes from readers angry that I was bashing noble teachers and programs “for the kids.”

My readers got the point that I was not being critical of teachers, just their unions, and the fact that taking such a hard line on issues like raises and contributions to health care plans was turning people off.

My readers were almost unanimously supportive of what I had to say. Here’s a sample:

Debra said, “I think it took a lot of guts to publish that article, I absolutely agree with you. Everyone, everywhere, is having their salaries frozen or cut, pensions frozen, furloughs, etc. I don’t know why union workers, and particularly teachers’ unions, think they should be insulated.

“I’m tired of hearing about ‘the children.’ I have two. It’s we adults who are stressed trying to square up salary cuts with more tax increases. ‘The children’ are doing just fine.”

Irene, in a similar vein, said, “I couldn’t agree more with your article on the greed of the unions, especially NJEA. They have gotten away with so much for so long that they expect the gravy train to go on forever. Let them pay their fair share. Homeowners are overtaxed as it is, and we can’t afford to have our taxes raised anymore.”

Jim said, “We agree. I have emailed you in the past to be critical about some of your articles. I can’t remember now what those articles were; however, I applaud your most recent article being right on the money.

“Personally, my wife is a teacher in the N.J. school system and she feels Christie is at fault; however, I respectfully disagree with her about that. She’s more liberal/progressive and I am conservative; therefore, we don’t talk politics too much or it can be unsettling.

“Of course, my self-preservation side wants the teachers like my wife to get as much as she can from her salary; however, Christie needs to do what he’s doing or we will simply run out of money.”

Thanks for the support, Jim. I just hope it doesn’t get you in trouble with your better half. Ken said, “I just read your article in the Suburban. I have experienced similar situations when working with unions. As you noted, there were times that I had to join a union as a condition of employment. Today’s unions are a far cry from those of the past. They seem hell bent on destroying the very companies that give them jobs. It’s a crazy world. They all need a taste of reality. Keep up the good fight.”

No worries, Ken. I plan to do just that.

• • •

We had our annual historical re-enactment rendezvous starting Memorial Day weekend and going through the next week, and this year we were deluged by rain a couple of times, as is usual.

But also this year, we were struck by lightning (not a direct hit), and let me tell you, it ain’t a lot of fun.

My boys and I have been doing these trips for years, and we love (almost) everything about them. We love the period-correct clothing, and the good friends we’ve made, and the way the tipis look at night and the smell of meals cooking on an open fire.

We don’t like wild meteorological events quite as much.

If you camp in the open for any length of time, you know you usually get some big weather — wind, rain, heat and sometimes snow. We usually get rain on our late-spring trips, and people who know us have made fun of us over the years for our annual rainouts. We don’t like heavy rain because it tends to make your woolies and buckskins smell, and it puts out your fire.

We’ll never complain about a little rain again.

This year, we heard a big storm was expected in the afternoon, so we tightened up our tent ropes and hunkered down by the fire, since there isn’t much more you can do (the vehicles are too far away to make a run for it). And that storm was a doozy, with driving rain, and gusts of wind that knocked down some of the tents in camp, and lightning — lots of it.

One bolt, in fact, hit 20 feet from my tent (we later measured) and gouged a scorched trough in the ground for almost a hundred yards. We didn’t suffer a direct strike (or we’d likely be dead), but it was close enough to light everything up with impressive white and blue zap. The electricity went through my legs and out my arm. I couldn’t stand up for a while. It got my son in the body and came out his thumb.

“We just got hit by lightning,” he said after the bolt hit. And then he fell down, disoriented and having difficulty breathing.

I couldn’t do much because I couldn’t move, but people from surrounding camps ran over to check vitals and help us stand up. A couple of minutes later, we were fine, but a tad tingly, and burny and shaken up.

I learned today that people can be killed by lightning that strikes 50 feet or more away, and that the odds of being struck by lightning in a given year are about 750,000 to 1, according to the National Weather Service. The odds of being struck in your lifetime are 1 in 6,250, about the same odds as drowning in a bathtub or injuring yourself seriously while shaving.

Those are long odds. And that’s why before last week, we only knew a couple of people who had actually felt the effects of lightning firsthand. Now, we know more than 20 just from our camp.

Of those, nobody was really injured. There were a few minor burns and it even stopped one guy’s pacemaker, but it started up again before anything bad happened.

We were lucky. So lucky, in fact, that we’re all gonna start buying lottery tickets, although I hear the odds of winning the big one in Jersey are about the same as the odds of getting attacked by a polar bear and a grizzly bear on the same day.

But as someone said, it pays to dream.

Gregory Bean is the former executive editor of Greater Media Newspapers. You can reach him at gbean@gmnews.com.