Letters to the Editor | Sept. 6, 2023

The Inquirer’s front-page story on Sunday about “a memorial to Nazi collaborators” at St. Mary’s Ukrainian Catholic Cemetery in Elkins Park is a classic example of guilt by omission. First, the photo of the monument printed shows no Nazi symbols, only Ukrainian ones. Second, the buried soldiers there never hid their membership in the Ukrainian Galicia Division during World War II because they committed no crimes; so, they had nothing to fear. Their sole “crime” was that they fought for the freedom of their homeland against the Soviet Red Army. They never took up arms against the Western powers. Finally, if the authors had only done a little bit of research, they would have easily discovered that the Ukrainian Galicia Division was thoroughly investigated numerous times and completely exonerated by the U.S. and British authorities after the war, and by the Canadian government in 1986. In each case, not only the division as a whole, but all of its members, were cleared of any war crimes. However, printing this information would not fit with the headline touting “Nazi collaborators.”

Leo Iwaskiw, Philadelphia

Earlier this summer, the School District of Philadelphia announced that it committed $70 million for “new teaching tools for math, reading, and science.” Perhaps it should have purchased some window air-conditioners for classrooms instead. Children can’t focus on anything if they can’t breathe and there is an impending early dismissal every time it gets hot.

Jack Dembow, Philadelphia, jhdembow@aol.com

I do not doubt that the Montgomery County Prison on East Airy Street in Norristown is “crumbling,” having endured decades of neglect — as described in the recent op-ed by Kenneth E. Lawrence, chair of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners. What I cannot accept is the assertion that “any entity or business [that] thought it could viably repurpose the building” might have previously stepped forward. Public investment in Norristown — more than $90 million in courthouse renovations, $15.5 million for the Montgomery County Library, and $2.5 million for the Trail Junction Building along Lafayette Street (the latter two projects itemized in the county’s capital budget) — are but a few examples of renewed interest and commitment to revitalization. With the right mix of funding, all or portions of the historically significant prison could offer affordable housing and even include ground-floor retail. County commissioners should suspend the $4.5 million demolition and request bids for a new project. This could be a transformative development — for Norristown and for households struggling to overcome enduring inequities.

Sydelle Zove, Whitemarsh Township, sydelle.zove@gmail.com

What are Kyle Sammin’s qualifications to comment on legal matters? In Monday’s column he disputes the opinions of four men: a well-respected conservative former federal judge, a well-respected liberal Harvard Law professor, the director of the University of Chicago’s Constitutional Law Center, and the Distinguished University Chair and Professor of Law at the University of St. Thomas. I usually do not try to follow Sammin’s convoluted and flawed logic, but I tried this time. His argument seems to be that it is not 1866 anymore and that if we attempt to use the 14th Amendment to the Constitution to prevent Trump from running for president things will get very messy. That’s not a convincing argument.

Instead, allow me to use his own words to argue for the imposition of the 14th Amendment. Toward the end of his column, Sammin mentions the effort to get Vice President Mike Pence to use the 12th Amendment to reject ballots at the Electoral College vote count. Sammin states, “Pence knew that was a dishonest reading of the text, a way for Trump to get what he wanted despite losing the election.” So, he admits that Trump was attempting to subvert the Constitution. Earlier in his column, he explains the reasoning behind the 14th Amendment this way: “The reasoning is understandable — people who had just broken their oaths to the Constitution should not have been put right back in charge of the government.” Well said, Sammin.

Michael Walsh, Elkins Park

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I see people frequently blame President Joe Biden for the price of gasoline and inflation. It makes me wonder if they don’t understand the economics of these phenomena or don’t want to so they can feel justified in their criticisms. I find a similar flaw in columnist Kyle Sammin’s reasoning regarding former President Donald Trump and the use of the 14th Amendment to bar him from once again seeking the presidency. Sammin states that after the Civil War, it was easy to tell who fought for the Confederacy, thus who could be disqualified to run for office. He goes on to consider that in current times anyone could be disqualified after “some voter accuses him of being a rebel or insurrectionist.” That is where his reasoning breaks down.

Currently, it is easy to know who to apply this clause to. We have a preponderance of evidence that one person tried to ignore election results. One person incited insurrection by telling his supporters to “fight like hell.” One person could have quelled the events of the day, but refused to, extending the revolt and the violence he instigated. One person is recorded begging for enough votes to turn Georgia in his favor. One person schemed to put fake electors in place to turn the results of the election in his favor. This evidence is irrefutable and does not amount to a mere “accusation.” So, is Sammin unaware of the breakdown in his argument, or does he conveniently choose to ignore it to further his ends?

Steven Schwartz, Springfield

Inquirer sports columnist Mike Sielski has taken the administration at St. Joseph’s Prep to task for failing to retain a floor decal commemorating longtime basketball coach William “Speedy” Morris in the school’s refurbished gym. The decal, which was located near midcourt, has been removed in favor of a new placard less prominently situated around the home coaching box. The Prep has been run since its founding by the Jesuits, a religious order reputed to abide by the belief that it is better to ask forgiveness than permission. Accordingly, a request to Coach Morris and his family for permission prior to making the change was likely out of the question. As for the lack of any forgiveness overture to date, Sielski himself acknowledges that the placement of a coach’s name on a basketball court “may seem a small thing.” The powers that be at the Prep apparently concur with that assessment.

Patrick J. Hagan, Ardmore

While there is disagreement about whether Vladimir Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine was provoked by the U.S. and NATO reneging on a promise not to bring NATO to the Russian border, I hope all can agree that nuclear war would be the absolute worst outcome of this crisis. Yet that remains the dangerous path we are on. Instead of advocating for a cease-fire and negotiations, we have provided the Ukrainians billions of dollars in military aid and are preparing to train them to fly F-16 fighter jets.

Given that since WWII, the United States has been the preeminent invader of other countries (Korea, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Vietnam, Panama, Grenada, Afghanistan, Iraq), it is the height of hypocrisy for us to punish Russia for committing the same crimes we are guilty of and in the process risk nuclear war. Sixty-one years ago, the Cuban Missile Crisis brought us to the brink. At the time, we had two leaders — John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev — who understood very personally the horror of war and were able to reach a negotiated settlement, saving the world from catastrophe.

On June 10, 1963, Kennedy, with the dangers of the crisis seared into his memory, delivered his remarkable Peace Speech: “Above all, while defending our own vital interests, nuclear powers must avert those confrontations which bring an adversary to a choice of either a humiliating retreat or a nuclear war. To adopt that kind of course in the nuclear age would be evidence only of the bankruptcy of our policy — or of a collective death wish for the world.” I fervently hope that Putin and President Joe Biden will heed the words of JFK and change course.

Jeff Vogel, Sunnyside, N.Y.