Setting the record straight

To the editor: The Photo News of Friday, Dec. 2, had a partial quote from me giving an incorrect impression of what I actually said. Let me set the record straight. I am in favor of all legitimate labor or trade unions. They are the last bastion left in our country to protect the embattled working middle class. At a recent public meeting held in Monroe I spoke to Assemblywoman Annie Rabbitt about two concerns. My first concern is to provide the best possible education for our children in order to ensure the success of our nation. The two most important ingredients in a good educational system are good positive parental cooperation followed by good teachers. The cost of education, however, is putting many taxpayers between a rock and a hard place. I noted that some states are considering “merit” or “performance” pay for teachers. I am not for or against this concept. I have heard that some unions are against it. If this “merit pay” for teachers is ever inacted in New York then there should also be “merit performance” for parents. Merit performance for parents would be all of the following: parents should send their children to school fed, groomed, rested, homework done and well behaved. Anything less than this is fraud on our taxpayers, on our children and on our country. I also believe many parents and teachers are doing a fine job, but unfortunately not all are. My second concern for Ms. Rabbitt was the question of annexation(one municipality taking another’s land) in New York State. New York is a home rule state, meaning that every municipality is in charge of their internal affairs. This concept has worked reasonably well except when it comes to the process of property annexation. There are at least two sides in the property annexation process. The first side is the “taker” or the municipality that wants to gain land and the second side is the “giver” or the municipality who may or may not want to give up their land. If there is a mutual agreement everything is fine, but the process should stop if the “giver” does not want to give up their land. The process, however, does not stop here in New York. New York State allows the “taker” to go to the courts where more often than not the municipality with the biggest and best law firm wins. This process of our courts making annexation decisions is in violation of the “home rule” concept and should be outlawed. Ward Brower III Monroe