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C o m m u n i t y J n o r u m views of r ead ersAn Open Letter To Mayor Koch:Writers And Publishers Say City Is Inconsistent On Nuclear IssuesBY DANIELA GIOSEFFI-LUTTINGER With the recent tragedies of Challenger and the Chernobyl nuclear plant, and the failed rocket launches by NASA, and the disclosure so long hushed up concerning a missile fuel tank ignited at McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey, (when a destroyed nuclear warhead containing the most lethal substance known to science, plutonium, leaked irradiation over ten acres of New Jersey and into the air), with the fact that 1985, according to my Honorable U.S. Congressman Solarz, saw more nuclear mishaps in the nuclear industry than any since Three Mile Island, we wonder how in the name of decency and humanity and the welfare of your city, you can welcome a dangerous and unwanted nuclear port to our busy harbor %u2014 where many fires and accidents occur every year in the midst of this huge civilian population?Your harping that someone has to take on le country%u2019s defense does not wash either, as it is clear, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists, Lawyers for Social Responsibility, Educators for Social Responsibility, Physicians for Social Responsibility, and the Center for Defense Information inDaniela Gioseffi-Luttinger is a Brooklyn Heights resident and a member of the Board of Directors of Writers and Publishers Alliance for Nuclear Disarmament (WPAND).Washington, D.C., made up of former Navy admirals, that this nuclear port is an unnecessary porkbarrel, boondoggle and a hazard to the life and safety of our city. Many of our Congressman and City Councilpeople agree!Why aren%u2019t you with the peoples%u2019 right to health and safety on this one? You do a good job of talking about gay rights, why not everyone%u2019s rights in general? It is baffling to see you take such a hypocritical stance, when you have been supplied with the facts by scientists, U.S. congressmen, teachers, lawyers, citizens%u2019 groups, etc. Seymour Melman of Columbia, Dr. Kaku of the City University of New York, the Center for the Study of the Military and the Economy, the Center for the Study of War, Peace and the Media, so many learned organizations made up of prize-winning journalists, economists, scientists, etc., have told the people and you, their mayor, the truth, and still you persist in buying the lies of economic prosperity and defense.The homeporting of nuclear Cruise missiles is not a matter of defense, but a matter of dangerous overkill which will make the citizens of our city even less defended and more in jeopardy than they are already. It has the fail-safe quality of a Grumman fleet of buses! Your bald-faced false statements on nuclear homeporting are impossible to swallow. The South Street Seaport sort of a civilian development is the way to go in increasing the economic stability of New Yorkp o R t h e R e c o r d n e w s o f the political s c e n eWants Gun ControlIn the wake of a recent series of tragic shootings in Brooklyn, Congressmember Ed Ibwns from north Brooklyn 11th C.D. has called for tougher federal gun control laws.%u201cOne of the highest priorities in the next session of Congress should be to pass a tough, lational gun control law,%u201d says Ibwns. %u201cThe orces that defeated this needed measure in she last session must be stopped. At New York Technical College six people were shot, >ne fatally, by a madman who had bought a jun in Georgia.%u201cThe only way to make sure people can%u2019t juy guns in one state to kill in another is to lave a national law so gun controls will conorm all over the country.%u201dIbwns says he favors a nationwide com- >uter system to make it possible for gun lealers everywhere to check the histories of lotential customers before selling a gun. %u2018The system would work the same way credt card checks do in most stores, rejecting hose whose credit is no good,%u201d Ibwns says.%u201cOur feelings are that the Democratic Party has sat on its hands for the past four years while crime and drug problems in the Black community have reached a crisis level,%u201d says Jackson.In addition to its support of O%u2019Rourke, the Brooklyn Task Force will also be working for other local Republican candidates including: Nathaniel Hendricks, in the 11th Congressional District, Diane Picucci in the 52nd Assembly District and Joseph Voyticky in the 57th A.D.Jackson says the task force is now recruiting new volunteers. The Brooklyn office is located at 422 State Street, Suite 14. Call 643-6965 for more information.D.A. Cracks DownDistrict Attorney Elizabeth Holtzman, Deputy Chief Administrative Judge for the Courts of New York City Milton L. Williams, and Judge William Miller, Administrative Judge of the Criminal Court in Brooklyn, announced a new cooperative effort to handle crack cases in Brooklyn by creating the city%u2019s first court parts devoted exclusively to crackCity. That was a good development scheme, but nuclear homeporting will only hurt the city and make it less safe. You cannot and must not insist on supporting a project which jeopardizes your city and its constituency. How can you? We the writers and publishers of New York City %u2014 so many of us in the book industry %u2014 want you to hear our protest and explain why you ignore the facts concerningIt was sickening to see the Iowa litup in port, next to the Chileanship where so many had beentortured and murdered. To talk o fliberty while a dangerous nuclearport is shoved down the throat o fN. Y. is a sad spectacle indeed.our safety and economic welfare? We offer you all due respect, b u t...We know the facts from all the experts in science, journalism, government, professionals not hired by the military to lie and slant the truth. Why are you on the side of the crazed profiteering militarists, instead of on the side of the people? All the people of New York!We want to know. We the writers, publishers, and editors of New York City are asking and watching. The fuse on the timebomb is growing shorter. Our famed city can make a difference in salvaging the life of the planet.trials. Using new judges to be added in the Criminal Court, two new special misdemeanor court parts will work full time to put crack defendants on trial, they said.D.A. Holtzman said the volume of crack cases going to trial in Criminal Court is expected to grow because of her office%u2019s tough new plea bargaining restrictions in crack cases. The new policy will require jail sentences for many more offenders and more defendants are expected to choose to go to trial rather than go along with the new gettough policy.%u201cCrack dealers and users are inflicting pain and misery on others and themselves full time,%u201d Holtzman said. %u201cNow we will have special courts working full time to make sure that they are brought to justice more swiftly and effectively.%u201dLess than one percent of the misdemeanor cases in Criminal Court now go to trial. Until now, crack defendants, who knew the system lacked adequate resources to bring them to trial, could get revolving door treatment simply by asking for a trial. D.A. Holtzman said, %u201cThe new system is intended to stop the revolving door.%u201djreen Courts BrooklynContinuing his campaign for the Jemocratic nomination in the race for U.S. Senate, Mark Green has spent an enormous imount of time courting Brooklyn voters.On Aug. 28, spending the entire day in various parts of the borough, Green appeared it the St. Charles Jubilee Senior Center in Brooklyn Heights with Assemblymember Eileen Dugan.That visit was followed by a stop at the Senior Council Center with local Assemblynember Dan Feldman and an appearance with State Senator Marty Markowitz at a Senior Citizens%u2019 Concert at Midwood Field. Green ended his tour on Labor Day by marching in the Caribbean Day Parade on Eastern Parkway.Blacks Go RepublicanThe New York State Black Republican Task Force plans to open an O%u2019Rourke for Governor campaign office in downtown Brooklyn.The Brooklyn Task Force Chairman,lo n lr c o n tm iro +Hq + R l a p l r c Q rO t ir p H * '%u2022 * * \%u00a5 %u00bb w %u00bb w v %u00bb i| %u2014---------------- - - --------with Governor Mario Cuomo%u2019s leadership and combined with his lack of action on drug abuse and crime problems Black people will vote for Republican candidates this year.Congresismember Edolphus %u201c Ed%u201d Towns recently met with the mem bers of Local 259,United Auto Workers at Pepper and Potter B uick%u2019s Maintenance Departm ent. Among theitem s d'scussed were tne dom estic content legislation ana tne importance ot institutingnew programs in high schools to prepare for the use of computerized diagnostic equipm ent now being used in autom obile repair facilities. Also attending the m eeting was SamMeyers, the President of Local 259.It was sickening to see the Iowa lit up in port, next to the Chilean ship aboard which so many human beings had been tortured and murdered. To talk of liberty while a dangerous nuclear port is shoved down the throat of New York and torture ships of dictatorial regimes are welcomed to New York/New Jersey Harbor is a sad spectacle indeed. We are patriotic Americans who want the true dream of democracy to bloom here, and we are disgusted by xenophobic jingoism as it does not help to make our country or its people beloved throughout the world. It threatens our defense. This is our Greenham Common and we must take a human stance.We don%u2019t see why you are not with the people of your city and the good of your city on this one, Mr. Mayor. We the wordsmiths of your city are watching and asking. We know the truth. The New York University Center for the Study of War, Peace and the Media knows the truth and we are affiliated with that organization made up of some of the finest fact finders of our time. How can you deny the facts and the truth when there is no doubt what people want? There is no doubt that this would be a popular cause for you to join in, with the informed citizenry of this city. Can you, will you, explain your insupportable position on homeporting? We are ready to welcome you to the people%u2019s side on this issue, and we are hopeful that our mayor will see the light %u2014 the truth of I^ady Liberty.Locals Aren %u2019t EndorsedUpon direction of the Executive Council of the New York State AFL-CIO, the delegates to The 24th Constitutional Convention voted today to withhold their support and endorsement of five incumbent New York State Congressmen, including Charles Schumer and Stephen Solarz from Brooklyn.The delegates, representing 2.1 million workers and over 40% of the workforce in the State, voted not to endorse on the basis of their defection from the New York State Congressional Delegation%u2019s bid to override President Reagan%u2019s Trade Adjustment Assistance Act.New York State AFL-CIO President Edward J. Cleary commented on these decisions, %u201cThe actions of these representatives sends a clear message to the working people of this State that their right to fair employment and a just wage has been overlooked.%u201d He continued, %u201cWe will withhold our endorsement and support because of the vital need for the Textile and Apparel Trade Enforcement Act.%u201dCuomo Against DrugsGovernor Mario Cuomo has announced a comprehensive drug education program to prevent crack abuse by school-age children. The program will include classroom instruction, teacher training, parent awareness and wide distribution of educational materials.%u201cPreventing drug use through an all-out educational effort that makes everyone keenly aware of its devastating effects is our goal,%u201d says Cuomo. %u201cWe have the information to make our kids choose emphatically to avoid drugs. We have to get this information to all of them in its convincing form.%u201dThe drug education program will include the following elements: At the beginning of each school year, every student will receive an information card outlining the danger of drug abuse; an additional 60,000 copies of the drug education curriculum is being printed to ensure its availability in every school; an intensified multi-agency teacher training program will be initiated in the fall for 24,000 teachers; a state-wide conference will be held in Syracuse Sept. 20-23 to coordinate grass-roots efforts; a health education conference for 350 Drofessionals will be held Sept. 23-24 as well; Oct. 23 has been named Statewide Drug Awareness Day and schools will try to conduct special teach-ins and programs on drug-abuse.Septem ber 4,1986, THE PH O EN IX, Page 39