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+++ PLEASE VISIT OUR SPONSORS:
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Letter to the editor: Dear Warwick taxpayers, I’d like to bring to your attention the following muffled facts. The School Department budget is NOT balanced. The schools’ independent union W.I.S.E. (absolute backbone of the system, i.e., bus drivers, custodians, teacher aides etc.) hasn’t had a raise in two years. They are still in negotiations with management for a new contract. There have been painful layoffs and position eliminations. The union contract stipulates that all workers are to be “bumped” in order of seniority! Not one independent school worker lost their job if they were based at the administrative building, at Warwick Lake Avenue. Coincidence or luck? As usual, not one job was abolished from the inflated school administration management staff. Many were rewarded for incompetence. For example, one manager and one administrator were recently berated by School Committee member Paul Cannistra. He was questioning why software that was newly purchased would be outdated in 5 to 10 years. Mr. Cannistra asked why this software was not compatible to teach students and achieve a proficiency diploma required for graduation. The response from two of middle management’s finest was silence. In essence, the technology department was compensated for choosing the wrong software (Rsmart digital portfolios) last year. Unfortunately, they along with the other managers and administrators received ANOTHER 3 percent raise for wasting and spending our hard-earned tax dollars. Could you, the taxpayer, make such an expensive mistake where you work and be given a pay raise? Another appalling abuse of taxpayer money is the hiring of retired School Department employees. Did you know that the supervisor of athletics, Emo Dinitto, was paid $62,100 back in 2004 for a 75-day work year (According to the Warwick School Department Policy Handbook!) I wonder what his salary, benefits and pension are now? He still holds this part-time position with two full-time secretaries! Why is his position so vital? Have the recently “retired” Mr. Dooley and Mr. Shapiro joined this debacle? Are Warwick taxpayers paying them a pension and a $600 daily rate? It takes an independent School Department employee 10 years to become vested in the pension system. However, all School Committee members, administrators and other non-union employees only need three years for this perk. Let’s demand that the School Committee “chop the top.” While we are at it, let’s ask the School Committee to put its money where its mouth is and decline free health care and a pension for part-time work. Here’s an idea: how about combining services from City Hall and the school system like the information technology department. Why not eliminate a few administrators? This fiscal hypocrisy must stop! This action alone would ease our tax burden. Gloria Kennedy Fleck Deputy Majority Leader Emeritus Rhode Island Senate $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Trim the big salaries! I have a solution to help ease the state budget crunch. Don’t eliminate the 1,000 workers Governor Carcieri plans to do, even though it is not only breaking into legally binding contracts, it is unethical as well. Take 10 percent of the top salaries of the highest paid state workers (like $7,000) and that’s $700,000 right away. They are still getting their pensions built up on the salaries they earn. Why take from the bottom? And when you take the median salary of state workers, you are giving a skewed, inaccurate picture of what the majority of state workers really earn because of the highest salaries raising the median wage. ( Since when does a basketball coach merit earning $286,000 a year?...oops I forgot — $301,000, with overtime ) In fact, people blame the unions for the pension shortcuts. How many of the people at the top of the list even belong to a union? How many of these administrators have college and higher-level (doctorates, Ph.D.s) educational credentials? How many high school principals across Rhode Island (administrators) are earning $119,051 like the vocational administrator listed in Sunday’s 7/29 Projo? And what about overtime of these highly paid administrators? Is this “overtime” added to their pensions, too? Are they not only getting pensions on their yearly salaries but on the overtime hours as well? And when they do collect their pension, how many years do they have to work and what percentage do they get? And is it equitable and fair for all? Do some get a higher percentage pension than others for the same years worked? These are the questions citizens want answered. Why is it so difficult to find out what the top state public employees earn when taxpayers are footing their salaries? Not only should top state salaries be made available for the public to access, but every city and town’s top municipal and school administrator salaries should be made available to the public as well. After all, it is the public whose hard earned taxpaying dollars go to these salaries….. As for [Warwick City Councilman Robert A.] Cushman’s editorial, R.I.’s Budgets on Verge of Collapse, (July 30,) he misinforms the public with his unclear and false statement. He writes, “Employees currently pay a fixed $11 per week for single and family coverage. Retirees pay nothing.” This is simply not true. Retired school employees in Warwick pay the same amount as if they were working. Nothing is free for the retiree! And he forgets to add one more fact that you may not have been aware of, in his editorial. As chair of the Warwick School Committee, not only did he help negotiate the teacher bargaining agreement in August 2006, but signed it as well. Jo Ann Fonseca Cranston $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Pictured left are Karyn A. K. Fleck (myself), Senator John Kerry & State Senator Gloria Kennedy Fleck. We were attending a political function for former Providence Mayor Joseph Paoliono Jr., May 2003. Senator Kerry inspired me that day to run for State Rep. (District 20 in Warwick) in a special election. It was an amazing leaning/growing experience. I had grown up in a political active family. I saw a tremendous change in the political process. There really is no such thing as a "grass roots campaign" anymore. This should bother Americans, they haven't got it yet. I guess when it hits their pockets enough perhaps they'll get enraged with the system? I enjoyed campaigning but also realized I can do innumerable things for people with out being elected! It was actually a God send not being elected. Everything happens for a reason. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ |
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" Fed up yet? Are you finally outraged by the atrocities committed in the name of freedom? What ever happened to freedom? Search and seizers without a court order; wiretapping as well; people being detained without due process; overseas torture centers in the name of "National Security! " If not, you really haven' t been paying attention. Our foreign policy is based on the continued dependence of big oil and where the insider circle of Bush & company earns their vast wealth. Remember what the 1st Bush said about the "Gulf War when he was caught off guard actually telling the truth, "Oil, Oil, Oil!" The elites of this nation are only concerned about the preservation of their life style and the coming generations of their gene pool. This administration does not care for the working class of the USA. If they did, we would not be totally dependant on Middle East oil, there would be no tax cuts for the wealthiest and we would have universal health coverage for the 44 million uninsured citizens. How in good conscience can you govern for so few when the vast majority of our hard working citizens are struggling day to day to survive from pay check to paycheck? Where is the shame? I
bet most of you are complaining about the price of gas. Did you
know
that there are alternatives already available in this big old world of
ours
that is environmentally safe and CHEAP. Yes I said CHEAP.
Perhaps
you are not aware of our neighbors to the south in Brazil. Their
government realized a long time ago that the tyrants in the Middle East
were
holding them hostage. To break away from this dependency, they
came up
with a simple solution...sugar. That's right sugar is now fueling
the
cars of Brazil and it is pennies to the gallon. This nation could
follow
suit. As my daughter is correct in saying, "How many lives per
gallon" are we spending in Iraq? In Brazil, ethanol is produced
from sugar cane which is a more efficient source of fermentable
carbohydrates
than corn as well as much easier to grow and process. Brazil has the
largest
sugarcane crop in the world, which, besides ethanol, also yields sugar,
electricity, and industrial heating. Another benefit is that emmissions
from an
sugar ethanol car is water. Can you
imagine reducing pollution while saving money? Sugar cane growing
requires
little labor, and government tax and pricing policies have made ethanol
production a very lucrative business for big farms. As a consequence,
over the
last 25 years sugarcane has become one of the main crops grown in the
country. This crop could boost our
economy, help our
struggling farmers without adding subsidies and
create new jobs. I
know that there is a concerted effort to produce ethanol, however, this
is a political move as well by the gang that holds all the power in
DC. In an attempt to raise this administrations plummeting poll
numbers, the producers of corn have been given tax benefits and the
green light to convert corn to ethanol fuel. Are you aware that
the cost is as high or higher than gasoline? Did you
know how difficult it is to produce and provide this product to
anywhere outside the farm belt? In order for ethanol to be
effective and efficient, the corn has to be converted and sold in the
same location. Sugar is easy and cheap to grow and can be
converted and shipped as fuel for our gas guzzling vehicles. The only
problem with sugar is no one can control or monopolize the process and
charge outrageous sums in return for its use. Big Oil, the
Bushes the Chenies and Rumfeld's of the world would be out of luck
with their oil heavy stock options. Oil would be worth
nothing and sugar would fuel the way for the nation to concentrate
on the issues like: health coverage for the
uninsured; curing health problems like cancer and heart disease,
cutting taxes and returning the men and woman serving in
Iraq. Let's help sugar put an end to dollarocracy and
urge our elected officials to consider this safe and successful
alternative.
Deputy
Majority Leader Emeritus Rhode Island Senate |
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