Letters to the Editor

April 30, 2009

Synagogue vandalism damaged more than a building's door

To the editor:

We were saddened and angered to read the report in Tuesday's Herald-Mail of a swastika drawn on an exterior door at Congregation B'Nai Abraham synagogue recently. Such vandalism goes far beyond the graffiti that is sometimes found around the city.

We appreciate that the Hagerstown Police Department is treating it as a hate crime, for this incident clearly targets a particular "ethnicity, race or religion." This symbol of the Nazi Party is clearly anti-Semitic. We applaud Police Chief Arthur Smith in his commitment to pursuing all avenues that will lead to an arrest.

We. the religious leaders of Hagerstown, representing Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Baha'i and Hindu faith traditions, join Rabbi Fred Raskind and his congregation in deploring this incident and seeking ways to address the larger issues of racism and hatred in our community.

We call on the citizens of this community to double our efforts in educating people that incidents like this are harmful, hurtful, and wrong. We have much work to do together in learning respect and compassion for all persons regardless of religion or culture.

In an increasingly diverse community such as Washington County, we can do more than simply tolerate one another.

Our thanks to The Herald-Mail for calling this incident to our attention and not marginalizing it for the benefit of conformity. Together let us be committed to the welfare of one another in light of our deeply held religious beliefs and practices.

Rev. Ed Poling
vice-chairman,
Interfaith Coalition of Washington County

Rev. Tim Leighton
president,
Hagerstown Area Religious Council

To learn all about torture ask its victims

To the editor:

U.S. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., was on "Hardball" recently, claiming that waterboarding is not torture.

He ought to talk to Sen. John McCain, who learned about torture on the receiving end. Sen. Ensign claims that it's not torture because our Navy SEALS go through tougher training than that.

I have news for him; SEAL training is torture. It is designed to find out if a candidate can take the toughest that the enemy and the environment can throw at him, and overcome that and still perform his mission.

But Sen. Ensign wouldn't know about that. He never served in the military. He's a wimp, trying to look like a hawk. If he's a spokesman for the Republican Party, they're in deep trouble.

Burr Loomis,
CAPT, USN, retired
Chambersburg, Pa.

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