LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (10/11/98)

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

A call to voters to support Pascrell

Dear Editor:

As Tuesday, November 3 - Election Day - nears, voters will be called upon to make some very important decisions. These choices will have a great impact on our future, and the future of our children and grandchildren. This is why I wholeheartedly support Bill Pascrell for re-election as our congressman from the 8th Congressional District.

Bill Pascrell has been a true friend and supporter of the Ukrainian American community in north Jersey. He has voted for appropriations aimed at providing financial aid to Ukraine and is a member of the Congressional Ukrainian Caucus. Also, he worked to raise public awareness of the Ukrainian Famine of 1932-1933 by co-sponsoring a resolution commemorating the 65th anniversary of the Great Famine.

Since his election to Congress two years ago, Rep. Pascrell has done what he said he would do. He has worked to improve education by making college more affordable for students and parents, and has led the fight for smaller class sizes and school construction and modernization. As the former vice-president of the Board of Education, I know first-hand the importance of these issues to the families in Clifton.

Additionally, Rep. Bill Pascrell is fighting to ensure that Social Security will be there for future generations by sponsoring legislation that would require all of the budget surplus to be put back into the Social Security system. He is also committed to expanding Medicare coverage and has been working to see that a real Patient's Bill of Rights is passed, one that puts the health of the individual ahead of the interests of HMOs. Despite the fact that Rep. Pascrell and I belong to different political parties (he is a Democrat), he has always been willing to put partisanship aside to do the work of the people. Rep. Pascrell has gotten real results, and been a strong voice of common sense for Clifton and the other towns he represents. I believe he deserves all of our backing.

Come Election Day, please cast your vote for Clifton's member of Congress, Bill Pascrell Jr.

Stefan Tatarenko
Clifton, N.J.

The writer is a councilman in the city of Clifton.

Vitvitsky, too, deserves thanks

Dear Editor:

Some things never change. When I saw Bohdan Vitvitsky's recent letter to the editor reminding everyone to "do something" and to acknowledge those who have, my thoughts returned to events of many years ago, when Gov. Brendan Byrne convened the first Ethnic Advisory Council in the state of New Jersey in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

It was during that period that the Education Committee first dealt with the Holocaust studies curriculum, that had already been prepared by the Jewish Federation and presented to the council for approval. Few had the initiative, the backbone and the courage to raise their voices to insist on the addition of our own Ukrainian holocaust victims, and to work on the presentation of a more balanced view of the tragic events of World War II. Ukrainian internees of Aushwitz and Dachau were not included in the original count as presented in the study, nor was it even an easy task to point out that the names of many of the victims were Ukrainian. The Deychakiwskys, Czajkowskys, Latyshewskys and others would have been lost to history as Russians and Poles.

One of the foremost to help with this issue, along with Zenon Onufryk, was Dr. Vitvitsky himself. It was he who offered to help me, as chair of the Education Committee, analyze the prepared material, add relevant reference sources and create links to other educational materials. He wrote many articles for the study and about it. Dr. Vitvitsky was lionhearted then and it's encouraging to note that he continues to urge others to do the same.

Finding a person with so much dedication and energy "to doing the right thing" is a rarity in any community - and a true blessing.

Camilla Huk
Nutley, N.J.

Readers should write to the FCC

Dear Editor:

Recent reports in The Ukrainian Weekly described the legal battle regarding the 1994 "60 Minutes" segment called "The Ugly Face of Freedom," which depicted purported rampant anti-Semitism in Ukraine.

The Ukrainian American community was deeply offended by this inaccurate and highly inflammatory report. It has been called a distortion. However, it is much more than that, as it is full of prejudices, half-truths and outright lies. This is hate-mongering - beginning with the ugly title.

In 1995 the FCC rejected an appeal to rectify the situation. The FCC decision was appealed to the D.C. Appeals Court. The court has directed the FCC to reconsider its decision.

Malevolence should not be tolerated on the public airways under the guise of freedom of the press. Therefore, I ask fellow readers to urge the FCC to hold full-scale hearings on this matter. CBS should be made to rectify the situation. It must admit its errors, apologize, and offer a correction. The public deserves to know the genesis and author(s) of the CBS report.

The address of the FCC is: Federal Communications Commission, 1919 M Street NW, Washington, DC 20554; telephone, (202) 418-0200.

Eugene L. Kuz M.D.
Savage, Minn.

The Ukrainian Weekly welcomes letters to the editor. Letters should be typed (double-spaced) and signed; they must be originals, not photocopies.

The daytime phone number and address of the letter-writer must be given for verification purposes.

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