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Folks:
Today I received the #4 December 2014 cover (of the Juniper Berry), however the rest of the magazine was missing! This is the one with “The plan to defend our neighborhood.” Apparently our wonderful post office did not do their best to deliver in rain, sleet or snow as it was raining down here today. I am enclosing 4 bar codes, well, what the heck, I’ll enclose the entire rear page containing them. I guess one is for the FBI, one for National Security Agency, and one for the Department of Justice, and a spare for whomever else is monitoring us. I just love when the postal propaganda comes on TV with those smiling All-American faces pleading for the taxpayers to save their jobs along with the “temporary” three cent increase this year.

I remember when I was a child living on Cowles Court, our mailman, a WWII veteran and a gentleman, delivering the mail with a smile on his face. Go to the post office here and you get a scowl on their face. Incidentally while I was still living in Middle Village in 1965 I had petitions signed (door to door work) protesting (Mayor) Lindsay’s plan to build a low income project on the old Western Electric plant on Metropolitan Avenue. A bit of Déjà vu.

Please re-send a copy of this enjoyable magazine; believe me it’s one of the more wonderful periodicals I receive.

Thank you,
Robert Wieland
Leland, North Carolina

Followup letter from Mr. Wieland:
Thank you so much for replacing my Juniper Berry after the original was destroyed during delivery, especially since June Glaser so eloquently corrected me in my erroneous claim of being in the wrong PS49 graduating class of 1952. The original picture was quite small and I thought I was the kid in the back, having assumed that was my graduating class.
You know what they say about assume and it proves it. Nevertheless I enjoyed both her letter and the correct picture, All of the kids in our class were truly terrific and I shall cherish that picture. Mrs. Gibbons was one of very many fine teachers we had. If a teacher or the principal called home because we messed up our parents would “remedy” the problem. We had a great education in a great time in America in the greatest neighborhood. Just take a look at the boys with ties and white shirts and the girls all dressed up.

Sincerely,
Robert Wieland
Leland, North Carolina

New Postal Lows

Dear Editor:
An inscription on the Farley Post Office in Manhattan reads: “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.”
Yes, that might have been appropriate for the USPS years ago but certainly not today. A few inches of snow and today’s postal service shuts down. On January 26th and 27th most parts of our neighborhood were without mail delivery for two days. Even rain hampers normal delivery, I often get thoroughly soaked mail that’s illegible and looks like it was fished out of the ocean.
And when your regular mail carrier is on vacation… good luck if you even get you mail. The substitute carrier often delivers other people’s mail to my house and God only knows where mine goes.
And it gets worse when you have to visit the Middle Village Post Office. The lines are often very long and the morale of the workers is at an all-time low.
Congress must act to revamp our postal service to prevent it from becoming a third-world post office which it’s on the way to becoming.

Name Withheld
Middle Village

Longtime Midville family

Dear Juniper Berry:
I very much enjoyed Art Linnemann’s article “The House on 62 RD” in the December 2014 Juniper Berry. What a wonderful thing to come from such a fine family, to know it’s history and to have deep roots in the Middle Village community. Mr Linnemann’s family and others like them made Middle Village the great community it is today. At the end of the article, I was saddened to learn that Mr. Linnemann appears to be moving away from Middle Village and his family homestead. I have one thing to say to Mr. Linnemann: Please Stay!

Sincerely,
Joseph E. Sullivan
Eastchester, NY 

50’s & 60’s Maspeth

Dear Editor,
I just found and read the story about Maspeth 1950’s and 60’s (Juniper Berry, Sept. 2010 by Richard Polgar). It took me right back to my childhood. I grew up there back then. My Dad owned a fruit & vegetable store on Grand Avenue near 71st St. If my memory is correct there was a Walters German deli and a bakery next to it. I have told the same story about running to the LIE to watch the President’s motorcade. I grew up with Randy & the Rainbows, my best friend’s two brothers were in the group. I could go on and on about the PAL and the bus rides we used to go on to the amusement parks in NY and NJ. the talent shows the dances, the Gay Nineties parades, Bohack, and Fontera Park. As I said I could go on and on forever. Thank you for remembering those days, wish our society could be as simple and have the values we had then.

Pat Sala
Colorado

Small world

Dear Juniper Berry Staff,
I enjoy receiving the Juniper Berry. I see names of people and streets that I remember from my real estate/ landlord /builder days. I saw the article on Al Banke. His wife Rita worked for me.

Herbert Roleke
Stuart, Florida

Ice Age

Dear Mr. Holden,
I am a Middle Village resident and homeowner. After snowstorms, I've noticed that the sidewalk on Eliot Avenue between 75th St and Lutheran Avenue is often not cleared of snow and ice. A few days ago, I walked up to 74th St and Eliot Avenue to go to the bank, and, even with a walking stick, it was extremely dangerous to walk on that sidewalk. On my way home, I actually detoured quite a few blocks out of the way and walked on Caldwell Avenue instead of Eliot Avenue so as not to be threatened with falling.

The strip of sidewalk on Eliot Avenue between 75th St and Lutheran Avenue is used by many people including schoolchildren, people going to church, people going to stores and restaurants, and the bank. Some of these people are elderly. Regardless of your age or ability, walking on snow and ice is dangerous and can cause you to fall and get hurt.

When snow and ice falls, we all need to be diligent about clearing our property so that we do not put ourselves and others at risk. I, as a homeowner, am diligent about clearing my property. I do not understand how the City, especially being that it is the authority and enforcer of the laws of clearing property of snow and ice, is allowed to continually not clear their property and leave others at risk.

I am asking for help in getting the City to do what's required of them to keep their property safe for pedestrians.

Thank you.
Annette Manzi
Middle Village

The New York City Dept. of Sanitation Rules for Snow Removal ss16-123 reads: In the New York City area, every property owner, lessee, tenant, occupant, or any other person who is in charge MUST clean all snow/ice from the sidewalk within 4 hours after the snow has stopped falling, or by 11a.m. if the snow has stopped falling after 9p.m. the previous evening. In the event ice occurs, some sort of ice melt must be applied within the same time limits. Each sidewalk MUST be thoroughly cleaned as soon as the weather allows.

Waste Haste

Dear Editor,
The Department of Sanitation as of January will no longer collect electronics such as TV's, computers and printers, etc. People will have to lug their things to a Best Buy or Staples, a Goodwill or Salvation Army thrift store or to a community recycling event.
This will truly be a hardship on many people and will have negative effects such as the dumping of electronic equipment on the sides of roads in the city. How can they expect someone to carry a heavy TV on the buses and subway, or even in their cars or a taxi? This is a waste of our time and energy and a potential cause of many injuries.We have a great system where Sanitation trucks come right to our homes. What could be easier and more energy efficient than that? It is the same with the deposit law, where we have to return items to the store for a refund when a truck comes each week to pick up cans and bottles.

The DSNY should make electronic pickups as it does for air conditioners and refrigerators, where you call 311 and arrange a date to put it out. Otherwise we will wind up with more things just piled up by trash bins on every street in New York, or just dumped into a black garbage bag to avoid detection, thus defeating the recycling program.

Richard Polgar
Maspeth

Can the Collectors

JPCA:
Please help! How do we stop people from coming on our property to collect cans? 6 o'clock on a Saturday morning I see someone walking up my driveway, dog starts barking and waking up everyone in the house. This has gotten to a point where something needs to be done. I don't want to bother 911, but if I need to do that to have a trespasser arrested I will.

Thank You.
Dennis Mc

Vaccinating Dogs & Cats

To the Editor,
Christina Wilkinson’s article, Our Nocturnal Neighbors (Juniper Berry, Dec. 2014) was an excellent overview about skunks, raccoons and possums. She is to be especially praised for two of her major points: the importance of vaccinating cats and dogs against rabies and the dangers of leaving pet food out overnight.

Ms. Wilkinson noted that opossums have a natural resistance to rabies infection, but it is important to remember that they do sometimes succumb. In our own neighborhood in Maspeth, an electrician came to work one morning in October 2010. He grabbed his tool bag, reached inside and felt a sharp pain in his finger. When he looked inside the bag, he saw an opossum! The animal was submitted to the New York City Rabies Laboratory where it tested positive for rabies. Additional testing revealed that the opossum was infected with the raccoon variety of the rabies virus.

We have another type of “nocturnal neighbor” that perhaps should also be mentioned in this context: the local bat population. Most bats are healthy and, like opossums and skunks, have an important role in keeping the insect population in check.

Unlike these terrestrial animals, though, an infected bat is capable of exposing even indoor apartment animals to rabies. Because cases of rabies have developed when infected bats entered through a window or terrace, the New York State Department of Health requires that ALL dogs and cats, even those who never go outside, be vaccinated against this deadly disease.

This article is an important reminder that all three of the nocturnal species described by Ms. Wilkinson (in addition to our local bats) can transmit rabies. Please be vigilant!

Dr. Jay Luger
Forest Hills Cat Hospital
Middle Village

76ers at 87

Dear Editor:
On Friday February 13th 2015, PS/IS 87Q in conjunction with NBA FIT hosted an NBA FIT Celebration as part of NBA All Star Weekend. Michael Carter Williams, Nerlens Noel and Robert Covington of the Philadelphia 76ers visited our 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grade students. They worked out with the students in a variety of basketball related drills, and spoke about the importance of eating healthy, being active, and respecting their parents and teachers. These three young players displayed such a level of maturity and respect, I was overwhelmingly impressed.

I want to thank Caryn Michaeli our principal for allowing me to apply for this grant which only 100 schools throughout NYC received. I want to thank NBA FIT for choosing our school and donating equipment that will be put to good use.

Most importantly I want to thank these three players and the whole 76ers organization for inspiring and entertaining our students. As I said when I introduced them, “Even though we're in New York, today we are all 76ers fans!”

Willy Termine
PE Teacher @ PS/IS 87Q
Middle Village Resident