Editorial comment: Here's to you
The day may be dawning when electrons on a screen, not ink on paper, will convey the news to you. But ink is not the lifeblood of a newspaper; the rumble of a printing press is not its heartbeat. Its life is found in the relationship between the newspaper and its readers.
The vitality of The Riverdale Press is in the connections it helped forge when Riverdale's Curves for Women decided to collect supplies to ease the lot of troops in Iraq. It's in the 40 boxes of donated food and games and toiletries and clothing and in the funds to ship them the Kiwanis Club provided after reading that the post office offered no discounts on gifts headed for the battlefield.
It's in the calendar of activities that keeps readers informed of the doings and plans of local civic, religious and cultural organizations and in the record of milestones and accomplishments that families want to share with neighbors.
But most of all, the lifeblood of this newspaper is in the dialogue that helps shape our neighborhood's character - the argument and interchange on our opinion pages.
Respect for the activities and opinions of every reader distinguish a community newspaper like this one from a metropolitan or national newspaper like The New York Times.
The Press does not pick and choose among its correspondents, favoring letters from the well-known, the expert or the public figure, or rejecting the offerings of those who do not write in an elegant or elevated style.
This newspaper opens its letters and "Point of view" columns to all. It publishes virtually every letter it receives.
Too often, people feel excluded from communal life. Believing that public participation is a citizens' duty, we're proud to provide a forum that allows everyone to participate. Some of the ways people choose to make use of that forum make us angry and some make us sad. But if at times a letter is used to revile or divide, the answer is to respond, to offer good ideas to counter bad ones.
These days, the blogosphere also offers ordinary citizens the opportunity to have a say, but its worldwide reach can be a hindrance rather than a help. You may (though you may not) reach more people with a Web posting than with a letter to the editor, but you will not reach an audience that shares your concern with the few square miles we call home.
What you write to these pages makes our community livelier and makes it better. So it's become a tradition to raise a New Year toast to say thank you to those of you who took the trouble during the passing year to voice your complaints and your praise, your concerns and hopes.
Here's to the 2007 honor roll of correspondents. Join it in the year to come by sharing your thoughts with our neighbors.
Orunema Aarunee
Ita Aber
Annette Acosta
William Adams
Rhoda Alben-Aronson
Joy Alessi
Marcia Allina
Aelita Alperovich
Karen Argenti
David Aronowitz
Walter M. Arsenault
Vicky Auerbach
George Avakian
Gary Axelbank
Nadine Baker
John H. Banks
Fuat Baran
Florence Barnett-Schwartz
Herb Barret
David Barwinski
Helene Benardo
Louis H. Benjamin
Ian S. Berger
Gene Binder
June Bingham
Paul Birnbaum
Harriet Blaiwas
Leon Bleckmen
Judith H. Block
Stuart Block
Rich Boatti
Stephen Boatti
Grace Bova
Pamela Boyle
Lois Bricker
Philip Brieff
Dr. Beth Brodsky
Paul Brown
Norma Buckeridge
Michael Burke
Sylvia Burnett Elbaz
Rabbi Steven D. Burton
Melissa J. Bykovsky
Stephen F. Byrns
Lucas Cahn-Evans
Enzo Caltaissetta
Sean Carlin
Mark Carpman
Thomas X. Casey
Anthony P. Cassino
Ruben Cevallos
Vilmaris Cevallos
Benjamin Chaidell
Dana Charlton
Arlene Chavel
Yoshen Chen
Gene Christian
Joseph Cohen
Stephen R. Cohen
Howard S. Cohn
John Congdon
Ted Conover
Laura Correa-Carpenter
Janis Crohn
Bill Cwiekalo
Taffy Dabby
Sohla Daniel
Margaret Danishefsky
Norman Danzig
Dhriti Das
David Davis
Diana Dean
George Deane
James C. DeSimone
Alec Diacou
Jeffrey Dinowitz
Frederick Dolber
Warren S. Dolny
N.T. Donegan
Nancy Dorris
Katherine Dorsey
Joyce Dutka
Anita Dutt
Marta Ehrlich
Harriet Eisenberg
June M. Eisland
Marilyn Elie
Paul J. Elston
Rachel Encarncion
Eliot Engel
Daniel Eudene
Louis Falkenstein
David Farbman
Frank Farkas
Louise Farkas
Richard Feldman
Beverly Fettman
Theodore Fettman
Rachel Field
Lillian M. Fischer
David Fisher
Norman Fisher
Tom Fitzgerald
Jessica Flagg
Raymond Fleishman
William J. Fleming
Mildred C. Foster
Ginny Fox
Dr. Edith Frank
Martha Frazer
Alexi Friedman
Judith Frisch
Lora Frisch
Naomi Beth Gans
Anne Marie Garti
Isaac Geld
Mickey Gensler
Peter Geoghegan
Robert Gibbons
Richard L. Gilbert
Francine Gladstone
Ezra B. Glaser
Florence Gold
Brian Goldman
Hank Goldman
Isolda Goldman
Sam Goldman
Linda Goodman
Joshua A. Gordon
James J. Gormley
Michael Gotkin
Karen Green
Margaret Groarke
Tony Gronowicz
Laurie Gross
Manny Grossman
Margot Guralnick
Grace L. Guthrie
Abbas Hamideh
Deborah L. Harris
Margaret Hartmann
Mary Hehir
Michael F. Heller
Lukas Herert
Deborah Hersch Johns
Dr. Sidney Hirshorn
Leslie Hogan
Tom Hurwitz
Jean Ingberg
Ron Isaac
Rob Jacklowsky
Beverly Jacobs
Melvin Jacobs
Robert Jacobs
Sofia Jacobs
Fern Jaffe
Giselle Jimenez
Rose Jimenez
JoAnne Jurcic
Valerie Kalaidjian
William Kalaidjian
Mildred Kalish
Elaine Katz
Lyber Katz
Valerie Kaufman
Wini Kaufman
Bill Kennedy
Razel Kessler
Jodi Kirschbaum
Hilary Kitasei
Jeff Klein
John C. Klotz
Janna Kohout
Ariane Koizumi-Gomez
Sigmund Kolatzski
Michael Konrad
G. Oliver Koppell
Pearl Korn
Remi Kumar
James Kusnir
Joan Kuzniar
Irving Ladimer
Jim Lahti
Richie LaMothe
Paul Landis
Kristine Larsen
Karin Laugh
Sam Lehrer
Lillian Leibowitz
Alexa Lee
Ronnie Levine
Debra Levy
Joel Levy
Faye Lieman
George Lind
Mary Lindberg
Daniel Jean Lipson
Lance Lipton
Harry Lishtenstein
Claire Lobel
Rachel Loomin
Dr. Arthur Lowenthal
Carl Lundgren
John Maddocks
Mark Mandarano
Susan Mann
Marcella Marcus
Marcia Marcus
Steve Markbreiter
Malka Margolies
Susan Maskin
Judy Matthews
Sha-Tehl Mayo
Tara S. McCaffrey
Bert McLaughlin
Damian McShane
Barbara Meara
Paul A. Mencher
Al Mendlovitz
Sarah M. Mendlovitz
Michael G. Mills
Martin Minsky
Rosalie Molloy
Reggie Moore
John Moran
Pat Moran
Rosemarie Moreno
Frank A. Moretti
Helen Morik
Tanisia Morris
Frances Moss
Richie Moss
Nancy Moukas
Fay Muir
Jeanne B. Mullgrav
Billye Jones Mulraine
Patricia Muniz
Robert Muniz
June Munzer
Miriam Muravchik
John Muzio
Mark A. Niven
Unjoo Noh
Ann Noonan
Ray Anthony Norberto
Jim O'Connor
Emily O'Leary
Edward Oleen
Vivian J. Oleen
Ellie Omanni
Judith O'Meara
Dr. Maria Oquendo
Alison O'Reilly
Costa L. Papson
Maria Elena Papson
Alison Pavia
William Pedoty
Joan Perkiel
Margot Perron
Dr. I. Persico
David Pincus
Emma Pincus
Peter J. Pitts
Helene Plotkin
Natasha Plotkin
Mike Popwitz
Ethel Posner
George Prans
Robert Press
Alice Pyne
Ed Ravin
Denise Reich
Nina L. Reid
Fran Reilly
Marilyn Reinhardt
Howard Ring
Haile Rivera
Anthony Rivieccio
Anita Romm
Susan Rosenbaum
Ellen Rosenberg
Bruce Rosenbloom
Anita Rosepka
Shirley Rosepka
Paul Rube
Debra Rubin-Margolin
Todd Rubinstein
Kevin Saer
Jennifer Scarlott
Saul Scheinbach
Jessica Schick
Eric Schneiderman
Judith Schneider-Veder
Blanche Schustack
Lynn Schwarz
David Seader
Edan Segal
Roberta Seidner
Eric A. Seiff
Dallas Selsey
Elana Selsey
Harishchandra Shah
Frieda W. Shaviro
Charles Shayne
Brian Shelton
Tracy Shelton
Anthony Siclare
Sy Siegel
Bobbi Siegelbaum
Bruce Silverman
Ed Silverman
Nilsa Slepin
Lee Slonimsky
Barbara Smith
Catherine Smith
Bruce Snowden
Nat Solomon
Lillian Y. Song
Angela Spano
John Spiegel
Phyllis Sprieser
Peter Stamelman
Dr. Barbara Stanley
Bernard Star
Paul Steely White
Deborah J. Stepelman
Eric Stern
R. L. Stern
Bob Stoeth
Terry Stoeth
Adam Stoler
Arlynne Stoll
Bill Stone
Kerry Stout
Dr. James J. Strain
Carol Stricker
John J. Sweeney
Francine Szymanski
George Tabor
Bruce Tallerman
Don Tannen
Phyllis Tashlik
Aye Aye Thant
William Thom
George Thomas
Priscilla Thomas
David Thompson
Bruce S. Ticker
Robert B. Tierney
Robert Tilitz
Liz Tingley
Ben Treistman
Florence Treistman
Ceil Tureck
Grace-Marie Turner
Llyod Ultan
Judith Veder
Mark H. Vogel
Jessie Wallerich
Shirley Walzer
Christopher Ward
Cali Watson
Joel White
Lisa Whitfield
David Wichern
Dorothy M. Wildhagen
Stephen Winiarski
Richard Witherspoon
Deborah Wolfe
Scott Wolfson
Ed Yaker
Dr. Howard Young
Miriam Young
Howard Yourow
Ellen Zablow
Leonard Zablow
Martin Zelnik
