Kathy Reid, a member of the North Hills school board, made several damaging assumptions as a result of her interaction with the girls who "were foreign (one with a headscarf)" -- working in a store ("North Hills Official Rapped for Remarks," March 2). The girls were apparently speaking their native language to each other, which led Mrs. Reid to assume that they do not know how to speak English. She also stated that her grandparents, immigrants to this country, "were not given free housing, jobs, unemployment, etc."
Did Mrs. Reid assume that these girls, because they are "foreign," were being given all of these things? Weren't the girls employed in a store? Perhaps they are doing exactly what Mrs. Reid's grandparents did -- working hard and learning English along the way.
If Mrs. Reid felt that she was treated rudely because the store employees were not speaking English, then her complaint should have been directed to the store's management. Turning poor service into a rant against all immigrants -- on Facebook, no less -- served no purpose.
Perhaps the members of the high school's Diversity Council can invite Mrs. Reid to a meeting and share the council's commitment "to the principles of acceptance, inclusion and respect for all."
LINDA ACHESON POOL
Fox Chapel
Blatant ignorance
While North Hills school board member Kathy Reid may have been elected, I doubt she wore her ignorance so blatantly on her sleeve at the time ("North Hills Official Rapped for Remarks," March 2). The root cause of her indignation? Her inability to understand a conversation that did not involve her.
The sheer inanity of her comments should preclude Mrs. Reid from sitting on any educational board, regardless of where they were posted. Or are we to believe that a person who makes broad-based, disparaging and self-righteous remarks about immigrants with so little provocation has the capacity to make sound decisions for our children?
TANYA BENNITT
South Side Slopes
Reid is right
I do not understand why North Hills school board member Kathy Reid is under fire. What did she say that was so wrong? If you work in a store/office in the United States where English is the official language, you should, well, speak English.
Diversity has to do with races and cultures and nothing to do with language. Language is a means of communicating, and if you live and work in a country where people more than predominantly speak English, then you should too.
If Americans are expected to learn the official language of another country when they visit (or at least enough to get by), why are immigrants in the United States not bound by the same rules?
I applaud Mrs. Reid and will vote for her when her term is up.
BRANDON DUNN
Ross
Thanks for this?
Regarding the Feb. 25 letter "Thank a Lawyer": You have to be kidding me.
I believe lawyers are one of the biggest problems -- if not the biggest -- with this country today. They are vultures. I also believe they are the reason for the high cost of most things, like health care, because of all the malpractice lawsuits. Consider the high cost of many everyday tools and appliances because of safety features that now have to be incorporated into the mix to protect the stupid.
And let's not forget the grandma who got a lawyer and sued McDonald's because she spilled a cup of hot coffee in her lap by holding it between her knees in her grandson's car. I am willing to bet that the trial lawyer got his 35 percent or more of whatever the final award was.
More than 45 years ago I made quite a bit of money with my lawnmower that didn't have all the safety gadgets on it that they have today, and I didn't cut off any of my toes, because I knew better than to put them under a running lawnmower blade!
And don't forget all the laws that allow all of this legal theft. They were drawn up and enacted by politicians who were lawyers.
So when the legal profession starts to clean up its act and really work for the good of the citizens, instead of creating a system and then working to suck the system dry, then I will say thank you.
JEROME ZERANICK
Aliquippa
Paygo was key
Not surprisingly, the article about Sen. Jim Bunning's insistence on funding for repetitive unemployment benefits and certain road work ("Bunning Relents: Senate Advances Stalled Jobless Bill," March 3) made no mention of the "paygo" principle adopted by the Democrats only three weeks ago.
The hypocrisy of the Democrats in spending another $10 billion we don't have, without designating funds for it, is exceeded only by the bias of media reports not mentioning the reason for Sen. Bunning's actions -- to remind the Democrats of their recent commitment.
WILLIAM L. KRAYER
Mt. Lebanon
The annual farce
Did you ever notice how a carnival barker gives you the same pitch over and over no matter how many people are listening? Well, we are given the same pitch over and over every winter from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.
PennDOT officials go on and on with the same feeble excuses every winter concerning potholes. They have blamed everything and everyone for their negligence (except God), and He is probably next.
These potholes did not happen in one month. It's always the same locations that they supposedly fixed last year. Ask any driver who jarred his teeth loose hitting one.
So, the show must go on. But, PennDOT, fewer and fewer are listening to your pathetic pitch, including me. As a PennDOT employee said on TV about patching potholes: "It's job security." Yes, at our expense.
KEN RAY
Murrysville
City's poor example
I think before the city goes out and gives warning tickets for failure to clear the sidewalks of snow ("Keep Shoveling Snow or You May Be Fined," March 1), it should clear the city steps -- which are city property!
Failure to clear the steps caused a friend of mine to fall as she tried to reach Frederick Street using the city steps on Schimmer Street. Of course, all of this is on the North Side, just one of the few forgotten neighborhoods in the city's lack of street clearing -- even step cleaning.
Before we start giving out tickets or even warnings, the city should do its job and clear the steps and the streets.
PHYLLIS J. SANGUIGNI
North Side
The U.S. has the right policy toward Cuba
Regarding "Alternate OAS? A New Latin Group Emerges, Perhaps Over Cuba" (Feb. 25): As a Cuban exile living in Pittsburgh, I find it ironic and somewhat of an insult to read an editorial regarding President Barack Obama's alleged reasons to continue to support an embargo on Cuba on the same day that another article in your paper reports the death of a political prisoner in a Cuban jail ("Raul Castro 'Laments' Cuban Political Prisoner's Death").
The editorial states that Mr. Obama does not act against the embargo based on "a reluctance to take on the Cuban exile and U.S. business groups." The real reason that policy with Cuba does not change is because of the Castro regime's reluctance to budge one iota when it comes to human rights and other issues of democracy.
When Fidel ceded power to his brother Raul, Raul immediately offered to put any and all items of negotiation on the table, and it appeared that at last there would be some change. The very next day, Fidel released a statement saying "that was not what Raul meant."
Cubans such as myself who live in this great country are aware of many other deaths of political prisoners and Cuban government cover-ups that most are not aware of (including many in Cuba since the press is controlled by the government). Change in the current policy will occur only when Cuba agrees to negotiate in good faith, and that has yet to happen. Unfortunately, the word negotiation is not in the Communist vocabulary.
Until that happens, for the safety of this great democracy we live in, we should all support the current policy.
VICTOR H. DIAZ
Aspinwall
First Published: March 5, 2010, 5:00 a.m.
