An article titled “Bypass Issues Revisited in Light of Traffic Study” (Examiner, Feb. 23) reported that an Allentown Borough Council member said that people who buy houses for $800,000 and up in Winchester Estates do not want school buses, staff and other vehicles going through their development. Does this elitist statement imply that residents in Ellisdale Road houses on the western side of the proposed bypass “live on the other side of the tracks?”

Many of us have lived in these homes since they were built in the late 1950s. They seem simple compared to today’s “McMansions.” We raised our four children in this home and our seven grandchildren love to come visit. I urge area leaders to remember those of us who have been long supporters just as much as those who are just learning to appreciate our community. As for “the infamous intersection of Main and High streets,” the borough has a long history of opposing any helpful traffic signals by citing the “Historic District” designation.

Bernice R. Kniesler

Upper Freehold

White Birch Horse farm is special to Upper Freehold residents

I have lived in the same house that my dad built in Upper Freehold Township my entire life. There has never been a time when I wanted to live anywhere but across the street from the White Birch Horse farm. I will always remember when I was a little girl and my dad walked me across the street so we could visit the horses. It has been amazing growing up with a horse farm so close. Just standing on my front porch, I can see for miles across the many paddocks of the farm. The sunsets there have always been beautiful.

I would never want to look across the street and see anything besides White Birch. All of the horses there are beautiful and extremely talented, and to them, that farm is their home. And to all the people in this area, the amount of rural surroundings of this town makes it our home.

I work at the Happy Apple Inn in Imlaystown, and every week I get tons of comments about how nice and rural this area is. If a village center was built here, this area would never be the same again because of traffic, congestion, and ultimately, it would lose its beauty and appeal.

I wish all the people who want this village center built could have had the opportunity to grow up with what I grew up with, so they could understand how special the farm is to all of us.

Erin Mesday

Upper Freehold Township

Millstone couple agrees with former U.F. worker’s statements

We are writing this letter in response to the article in the Feb. 16 issue of the Examiner called “Public Works Employee Ready to Resign in U.F.”

We would like to say that Robert Carroll needs to be commended for his courage to take a stand for what is right regarding the alleged mismanagement under John Haines. The article in the Examiner is totally amazing; everything in it is similar, in my opinion, to what my husband, Robert Zydorski, experienced. He resigned after 10 years of dedicated service to the township of Millstone in July 2000. My husband is a conscientious worker who cares about his job. He resigned for similar reasons as Robert Carroll. This was after John Haines was hired in the neighboring township of Millstone.

Robert and I were reading the article, and he said, “I can relate with the guy. I went through the same exact thing.” That’s when I replied, “Let’s do something about it and send a letter to the editor of the Examiner.”

In the article, Mr. Carroll states that “Mr. Haines caused complete chaos.” In our opinion, he did the same exact thing in Millstone.

We would like to state that the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, which governs the license of certified public works managers, should address this matter.

All people who read these articles, please have the courage like Robert Carroll to come forward and make a stand for what is right and just, and send your letters to the Examiner’s editor.

Barbara and Robert Zydorski

Millstone

Boy Scout Troop 116 has a busy schedule of activities

Boy Scout Troop 116 did a good turn for others on Jan. 27. The troop families prepared a delicious Italian dinner, and the Scouts served 125 needy people at St. Peter’s Community Outreach in Freehold Borough. Dinner guests were served salad, bread, lasagna, ravioli, meatballs, chicken parmigiana and other Italian delicacies. Desserts were provided by Battleview Orchards, of Freehold Township.

The Scouts who attended this service project are: Matt Goldberg, Mark Smith, Tim Collins, Tommy Banyancski, Brian Cullinane, Kevin Basko, Justin Duffy, Chris Lui, Dylan Seip, Kyle Davis, Jon Barnett, Nick Seip, Trevor Fernes, Devin Sinha, Ryan Ramsey, Brendan Skeehan, and Carey Kells.

Troop 116, consisting of 40-plus Scouts and led by Scoutmaster Bill Mayer and other dedicated scouting adults, performs a service project each month, varying from conservation and environmental projects, road cleanups, feeding the needy, and the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life.

Aside from service projects, the troop camps each month as well. Campouts this year included canoeing on the Basto River, an “Iron Chef” outdoor cooking competition, outdoor survival camping without tents or camp gear, and a snowy winter campout at Forestburg in upstate New York. Future trips this year will include backpacking, white-water rafting, and a week-long summer camp that highlights rank advancement, merit badge work, high wall climbing, rappelling, hiking, outdoor cooking, swimming, boating and other fun activities.

Interested boys who love the outdoors and adventurous activities are welcome to come out and see what the Boy Scouts can offer them.

Mary Collins

Millstone

Local councilman wants ports issue explained

I want to express my thanks and strong support for the stand of the Republican congressional leadership with regard to the takeover of our American ports by a United Arab Emirates corporation. I am a lifelong Republican and have supported President George W. Bush on all his decisions regarding the war on terrorism, including the decision to invade Iraq. However, I am at a total loss to understand his decision regarding the management of our American ports by a foreign-controlled corporation. Even more troubling is the way the president handled questioning of this decision. The American people deserve a full and satisfactory explanation and not the curt response and threat to veto any congressional action that seeks to block this action that was offered by the president.

Conceding every deference to the president and his administration, and considering that the president and his staff have access to information unknown to members of Congress and the public, his actions and comments are also a public relations nightmare for Republicans. I never thought I would see the day when Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer, Robert Menendez, Jon Corzine and others like them could possibly appear more concerned with our safety than our president.

As a city councilman and a retired naval officer, and having been reactivated on Sept. 11, 2001, and as the deputy commander for the New Jersey Naval Militia Joint Command (an official component of the New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs – National Guard), who worked with my counterparts in the U.S. Navy and drafted memorandums of understanding to provide augmentation of U.S. Navy security at Naval Weapons Station Earle and Naval Air Engineering Station Lakehurst, along with other related activities following Sept. 11, and, as a citizen who is today very much active in current naval and port security issues, I am deeply troubled by the administration’s support for this transfer of port management and control.

On its face, it appears to open the door to potential disaster. Experts who previously served the government in the CIA, Navy, Coast Guard and other agencies have been offering the same opinion on Fox news and other media outlets. Concerns and objections are widespread and bipartisan. Under such conditions I cannot and will not blindly place my trust in the administration’s actions. Nor should the American public.

Those of us who live and work in and around these port areas should be concerned and have a right to demand a satisfactory explanation. The Republican congressional leadership clearly represents the feeling of the vast majority of people who will be affected by this decision. They should be applauded.

This whole episode points out the troubling fact that America needs to return to full control to American corporations to run its ports, shipping and most, if not all, significant means of commerce. It is one thing to have a legitimate company operating under the laws of a longtime friend and trusted democracy and ally, like Great Britain, manage our ports (and even that long-standing relationship should be revisited), but it is quite another to trust a corporation controlled by a foreign government that, like Saudi Arabia, may on its face appear to be our ally, when in reality it has demonstrated tendencies that are contrary to America’s interests and safety.

Questioning the administration’s actions is consistent with true Republican principles; it is the administration which is out of line here and needs to explain to the American public, and not just dismiss our concerns out of hand. Sometimes perceptions are larger than life.

Jerry H. Rovner

councilman

Allentown