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Queens Courier Santa

I could not believe what I was seeing as I came down my stairs and witnessed “Santa’s helpers,” Phil Campiglia and Pete Davis giving my children Christmas presents, the exact ones they asked for in their letter for Santa. I had no idea our letter appeared in your paper.
The generosity was unbelievable. I cannot thank you enough. Of course, my children were extremely excited and loved their toys, but it meant even more for me. People are always “bashing” the world, but the good goes unnoticed. This just goes to show, the world is full of good people.
Thank you for making my children’s Christmas wishes come true. Thank you for sharing and showing the goodness of the world. God Bless!
Love, Angelo, Rianne, and Maya’s Mom
Rita Barravecchio

Bravo to hero teens
I read in the paper that a Christmas miracle occurred, when on December 17, four Queens teenagers saved a baby girl abandoned in an Elmhurst dumpster. Brothers Christopher and Brian Moncada and their friends Gabriel Mercedes and Luigi Cordero heard a baby crying from a dumpster and in trouble and did the right thing.
They deserve to be applauded for if they did not get involved on that cold night that baby surely would have died.
With so much negativity about teenagers nowadays, we now have good things being done by teenagers who showed they cared for someone who was in trouble. They truly are fine examples for their peers. And for that I say, good job in caring for you have done well.
Frederick R. Bedell Jr.
Bellerose

Homework is up to teachers
I agree with the writer, the goal of education should be to educate children. However, unlike when we were in school, many more children today are in single-parent households. Many of those parents, not all, are not able to help their children with their homework because the teaching techniques are so very different. Some others have not completed their education to the point that they can help their children.
The amount of homework is not the issue. The quality of the class instruction is the issue. Quality class instruction makes homework easier to do. Children should be able for the most part to come home and do their homework themselves. Teachers should be the final authority in determining the amount and frequency of homework needed to reinforce the day’s lesson. Finding ways to spend quality time as a family is the parent’s responsibility.
Juanita Washington Rier
Long Island City

Bah, Humbug to the MTA
It is an absolute outrage that the MTA is able to raise fares for the commuting public with a huge budget surplus in its treasury. How can they justify this increase? It is hard enough to live and work in this city, with all of the other expenses - rent, gas, food, clothes, cable, phone bills and so forth.
Perhaps all of the MTA board members should take a paycut. Will the service be improved or increased because of this increase? No matter what form of transportation - car, bus, subway, ferry or commuter rail lines - it will cost a hell of a lot more to get around in New York City. People are getting fed up with all of these increases, and perhaps there will be an exodus - of people from the city to either upstate, or out of state.
John Amato
Fresh Meadows

Use scandal for refunds
We all know that baseball players make outrageous salaries, and their fans have to pay far too much to go to ballparks. Maybe now is the time - after the steroid scandal - to ask for some refunds, which could be used to lower the ticket prices next season.
Victor Maltsev
Rego Park

MTA playing The Grinch
The Grinch is alive and well in the form of the MTA.
Now the MTA is out picking the pockets of hard working New Yorkers with a fare increase proposal, which they say is fair. They are proposing raising the price of a monthly MetroCard five dollars while reducing the bonus swipes from 20 percent to 15 percent.
In addition, tolls on MTA bridges and tunnels will rise for those paying cash and almost 4 percent for the E-Z pass customers too.
To add insult to injury, the MTA’s plan to increase the fares and tolls on millions of commuters comes at a time when all New Yorkers are feeling the economic squeeze from soaring gasoline prices, record home heating costs and increases in food prices.
Queens commuters have reached the tipping point with the MTA’s reliance on fare and toll increases, especially when they will end this year with a budget surplus.
Frederick R. Bedell Jr.
Bellerose

A blow to democracy
A blow to democracy has occurred in Pakistan with the assassination of Benazir Bhutto and as freedom loving Americans our hearts and prayers go out to the people of Pakistan. Today in Pakistan is like the day that JFK was killed but democracy did not die and will not die in Pakistan for the evil doers will not succeed. Let Freedom Ring, Let Freedom Ring!
Frederick R. Bedell Jr.
Bellerose

Help Pakistani government now
The tragic death of Benazir Bhutto, former prime minister of Pakistan, was very troublesome. With all of the trouble in that part of the world, this assassination was the last thing that was needed.
Let us hope that her death will not cause Pakistan to plunge into chaos - the region is already unstable enough because both Pakistan and its neighbor, India, have nuclear weapons, and have been uneasy neighbors since their origins in 1947.
The United States should do everything within its means to help the Pakistani government of president Musharraf ease tensions. That region must not be allowed to sink into anarchy and civil war - the results could be disastrous for the entire world.
John Amato
Fresh Meadows

Letters To The Editor
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