Ed, I was reading that governor-elect Chris Christie has vowed to take a look at New Jersey’s pension system because he heard the story of that lawyer in private practice who earned a public pension of $100,000 by working on 12 part-time public jobs. How did this happen in the first place? How many more people are getting away with this?

Hmm

I guess we’ll find out. Better late than never. Go get ’em, guv. —Ed. Note

Ed, I live on South Broad Street in Hamilton. I was wondering why they are fixing every other road except South Broad Street. My car has a flat tire because of the giant pot hole outside a convenience store. I am tired of dodging around potholes while driving. When are they going to fix the road?

Pot Holed

Woe is you. No one likes you or your road. Boo hoo. —Ed. Note

Ed, about the father who received his son back from Brazil. It is a wonderful thing. I read that his son is not calling Mr. Goldman “Dad.” I think the father should realize this boy was brought up by the stepfather in his formative years. I know Mr. Goldman lived with him until he was 4 years old but how much of that time the boy remembers is a question. The boy has been with this other father whom he loved and who loved him. Even though he is not a blood relative, he was still with this boy most of the time. And also, the stepfather was with the mother when she passed away and they probably had a special bond. It is way too premature for Mr. Goldman to expect this child to call him “Dad.” I know people who have gone through this, and it is very difficult. He needs counseling for him and the boy. And maybe someday make sure that Mr. Goldman and the boy’s stepfather try to have a relationship with each other for the boy’s sake.

International Therapist

Mr. Goldman has made it clear that he will allow the boy’s Brazil family to maintain a relationship with him — but they’ll have to visit America to do it. That’s more than fair. But they’re still fighting to re-abduct him to Brazil, so that’s not a good start. —Ed. Note

Ed, about the comment on state vehicles operating after “business hours.” Whether your readers know it or not the state is a 24-hour business. We work in developmental centers, we work at psychiatric hospitals, we take care of DYFS children, and the developmentally disabled. There is no “end of the day” for some of us. As for why people see us in neighborhoods in state vehicles at 1 a.m., many times they are DYFS case workers called out to investigate abuse, or inspecting conditions at foster homes. I am tired of state workers being criticized for driving state vehicles after “business hours.” If you see a state vehicle at Kmart or Sam’s Club that may be a case worker in there buying clothing for a child who just got removed from their home.

State’s Rights

Thanks for clearing that up. We’ll never again question the righteousness of state spending. —Ed. Note

Ed, I live on a dead-end street in Hamilton Township. My street has not been plowed in years. This year it was! I would like to commend Mayor John Bencivengo and the public works people for doing a great job.

Benci Backer

Ah, but now you have to go to work when it snows. No more calling in snowy. —Ed. Note

Ed, I would like to comment on Ewing Mayor Jack Ball, who handed out bonuses with municipal taxpayers’ money. This has got to be a first. It is not fair to the taxpayers to shell out money supposedly for the use for the operation of the township. Every dollar counts. Just because there is money left over in the kitty it doesn’t mean you have to spend it. Think about next year.

Ball Buster

A “first”? Yes, this was the first time in the history of the universe that taxpayer money has ever been used to pay a bonus. —Ed. Note

Ed, despite the wave of justifiable criticism over the United States Senate’s use of bribes to get the 60 votes necessary to pass Obama’s health care bill, politicians have been getting away with this technique on all sorts of pet projects and programs for many years. Consider beach replenishment, which takes sand from the bottom of the ocean and places it on our beaches, only to have mother nature wash it back into the ocean. Bureaucrats buy votes by pandering to property owners at the shore, ignoring that their approach is not a rational approach to this enduring reality.

Beachy

Does the bill for the beach thing get into the trillions? —Ed. Note

Ed, I don’t know why that watershed up in Hopewell allows guys on their property hootin’ and hollerin’ to scare the deer so they can go out and shoot them. Recently I was almost run over by a bunch of deer they had chased out of the woods. All I know is if the deer run in front of my car and I hit them, I know where I am going to go for a lawsuit against the watershed. They should think twice before letting those guys run all over that place.

Deer God

Those scared deer deserve at least some of the blame. They never learn. —Ed. Note

Ed, I was at the scene of the house fire in the South Ward last Thursday. It wasn’t the police who pulled the old lady from the house. It was two city workers, I think one of them was a sanitation worker, who went into the house, picked up the old lady, carried her out of the flames and put her in the back of the patrol car. I didn’t see anything in the paper about them and I think they should get credit for that.

What I. Saw

Um, there are always several sides to every story. Let’s leave it at this: Congratulations to all the heroes who prevented a tragedy from occurring that day. —Ed. Note

Ed, what is wrong with the Brazilians and those lawyers and judges who won’t let this poor guy have his son? And what is wrong with Obama (even though I voted for him) that he can’t get this kid back? If we as a country supply Brazil with any imports then stop them. This is an American kid that should be back at home. Stop this insane going back and forth. Thanks to Chris Smith, who is doing a wonderful job otherwise nothing would have moved at all. What is wrong with us we let the world walk all over us? Stop going to parties and get this boy back.

Proud American

In the day since this comment was called in, the story has come to a happy conclusion, and we don’t have to go to war with Brazil. Phew! And Congrats to our hometown boy, Chris Smith, for winning the battle as the world watched! —Ed. Note

Ed, maybe you could check with the readers to find out why the city stopped decorating on Hamilton Avenue, especially the intersection at Hamilton and Chambers. That whole area used to be nicely decorated. Now there are no decorations to be seen. Don’t tell me the Grinch stole that too.

Intersected

It’s seems in Hamilton there’s always someone complaining that (A) the town is spending too much money on something or (B) the town stopped spending money on something. —Ed. Note

Ed, just want you to know neighborliness is still high on someone’s list. We the residents of Briner Lane in Hamilton Square would like to thank our neighbor, Fred, who cleared all our sidewalks and driveways from one end of the street to the other in this recent snowstorm.

In the Clear

Here’s to you, Fred! We could all learn from your example. Go out and shovel out a neighbor. You’ll feel better about yourself. Merry Christmas, everyone! —Ed. Note

Ed, I live in the small town of Fieldsboro, and we have maybe seven streets. We have had a major snowstorm. For three years now I have been working to get the quarter of a mile in front of my house plowed. There are two roads in Fieldsboro that actually belong to Bordentown Township, but they will only plow the empty parking lots. Then we wave as we watch the borough snow plow go by with the plow up. So much for shared services; we can’t get two towns to cooperate, Fieldsboro and Bordentown Township. Good luck, governor, because you will never get these people to cooperate.

No Co-op

Nice of you to wave, though. There’s that small-town spirit! —Ed. Note

Ed, I read that the number of foreign children adopted by Americans has plunged 27 percent. If you are really looking to adopt a child, why not start here at home? There are so very many children that are desperate for love and a good home. Give our children a chance to have parents who love them, a loving home and a good education. Merry Christmas.

Parent Power

There are tons of kids who need homes, but everybody wants a cute little baby. It’s a hard-knock life for older orphans. —Ed. Note

Ed, about “Don’t let the Dogs Out.” It is rather amusing to think that a Yorkie could be picked up by a hawk, maybe a puppy Yorkie, but not an adult Yorkie. Also, I sure would like to know what a duck hawk is? It is not in my bird books. On a serious note, please make sure that your cats and dogs have access to a dog house if they are left out during the winter. Yes, even the cats have to have houses and you can be fined for it if your neighbors report you for not providing shelter. Also your pets’ water bowls will freeze outside unless they have a heater especially designed for them.

Bob Barker

I dunno about the dog house suggestion. I heard there’s a moose hawk out there big enough to pick up the whole house. —Ed. Note

Ed, I want to commend Mayor Fried about what he is going to do in his township — keep the taxes stable, even possibly maybe even lower them. Maybe his buddy in Hamilton Township could follow his example. We did not need the call center, the golf center which is closed, all that new furniture ordered. I hope he follows what my mother’s mayor in Washington Township, Mayor Fried, is doing.

B. Like Dave

I’m sure they’re comparing notes. —Ed. Note

About “Follicle Fight.” What ever happened to freedom of choice in this country? Here they are trying to make the kid cut his hair because long hair does not conform to what they want at the school he attends. When are we going to stop bowing to whatever anyone else wants and go back to what our founding fathers meant by whatever they drew up? I guess freedom of choice only applies when they want it to apply.

Hairnet

The founding fathers would put the kid in a nice powdered wig. —Ed. Note

Ed, about the handicapped ramps in Trenton. Don’t blame the contractors. The contractor has to put it in as per plan. Blame the engineer. They did not do their job.

Bob the Builder

Good point. It was probably built exactly to spec. —Ed. Note

Ed, real quiet, the state of New Jersey has given 50 million dollars to doctors to help pay for their insurance premiums. Of course the lawyers want this. The state doesn’t have any money for a property tax rebate. Boy, do we need a revolution in this country.

Tea Party

Dang lawyers. And doctors. And state. Grrr. —Ed. Note

Ed, I am a lifelong resident of Trenton. I am just noticing we have a lot more crows in the city. Is there a reason we have so many crows living in Trenton in recent years? Are they going to do something about the overgrowth of birds?

Bird Land

Ah, the crow. A powerful symbol in both Old World suspicion and Native American spiritualism. It’s been everything from an omen of death to the creator of the world. Let’s try to stay positive in this case. —Ed. Note

Ed, I heard they caught the people involved in that robbery at the pharmacy over the weekend. Why didn’t you put that new information in the headline in large print? Then people would not be so scared to go to the pharmacy. I have talked to quite a few people who are afraid to go to the drug store because of that first large-print headline, “pharmacy heist.”

Pharmascared

Hmmm. Here are the facts, ma’am: On Monday we broke the news that the robbery happened Sunday night — with a photo and the information we could gather — under the headline “Rx FOR ROBBERY.” On Tuesday, we ran another story with the surveillance camera image under the headline “Police show pic of pill-freak gunman.” On Thursday, we ran another story under the headline “Hamilton cops: Landscaper admits to CVS heist.” —Ed. Note

Ed, I read in The Trentonian about the Trane Co. moving another plant down to Mexico. They started to move down there in 1989. What I can’t understand is why all these people from Mexico are crossing the border illegally looking for work in the United States because they can’t find jobs in Mexico. We are sending all the jobs to them down there. Something stinks. Our government should try to keep these jobs here in in America. Everybody out there wake up, because your job might be next.

Warning

Remember Ross Perot used to talk about the “giant sucking sound” of jobs going to Mexico? Is he still around? I always get him mixed up with the chicken guy, Frank Perdue. —Ed. Note

Ed, this is Jamie. I have a five-gallon container with lids from aluminum cans and I would like to donate it to help make a difference for kids with cancer. I am filling another five gallon container now, my friends are helping me. If anyone has a direct number that I can call to donate these containers for free to help kids with cancer, put it in the paper because I read your paper every day.

Lid on It

Keep saving those lids. BackTalkers will have that number shortly. —Ed. Note

Ed, there is a larger-than-normal hawk living in Ewing right at the Dunkin’ Donuts at Parkway and Pennington, or at least he is spending a lot of time there. It looks like a duck hawk. It is big enough to pick up a small dog. And I know there are several tiny Yorkies living in that area, the Glendale area. This would be the best way to let people know, through your paper, please do not let your little dogs out, keep them on a leash. If you do let them out tie them out on the leash so they if they get grabbed by this thing they won’t be taken away and eaten.

Big Bird

I love dogs. But there’s still a curious part of me that would like to witness a hawk flying away with Yorkie. —Ed. Note

Ed, I am an employee of the U.S. Postal Service. We have managers and supervisors in this area who are just rude and ignorant, and I am sick and tired of it. And to the people who are paying for express mail, the policy is that the customer is supposed to receive the packages overnight by 12 o’clock. We have managers who are lazy and just sitting around and not scanning that mail because the policy says that if the packages aren’t there by 12 the sending customer gets their money back. To my understanding, they are covering it up and falsifying documents. I would just like to make you aware of it.

Inside Source

Can you get me some free stamps? —Ed. Note

Ed, this message is for L.A. Parker. I just want to wish you luck and we will miss you while you are gone. I wish you could write more often in the paper. You are a wonderful person.

Fan Club

Cue the Randy Newman record ... “I love L.A. (We love it!)” —Ed. Note

Ed, to the man who deferred $130,000 in his mortgage for 40 years. Mister, are you crazy? In 40 years you are going to owe the bank $130,000. Where are you going to get that? How old are you, 60 or 70? You are going to be kicked out of your house when you need it the most.

Bank on It

If’s he’s 70 now and can eat soup in 40 years that’s a victory. —ED. Note

Ed, loved Jeff Edelstein’s column and jokes about the Tiger Woods situation. I agree with Jeff. Apparently Tiger has lost sight of his goals and is no longer interested in breaking Jack Nicklaus’ record of winning 18 major golf championships and instead is chasing Wilt Chamberlain’s self-stated record of bedding 20,000 women in his lifetime. God bless Mary of Tender Hearts for all of the wonderful work she does year to year. Merry Christmas, Ed, to you and your entire staff, number one in the region, and to all your loyal readers too.

Holiday Cheer

Man, what a segue. From Wilt’s sexploits right to the Tender Hearts. Somewhere Mary is blushing. —Ed. Note

Ed, this is to the superintendent of the Ewing School District. As a parent it was very disheartening to hear from your children after they got home from school that there was a drug arrest of a classmate at Fisher Middle School. It would be nice for the parents to have a heads-up from the school superintendent first at least to be prepared to handle a very uncomfortable situation with your children. Please correct this policy going forward. It was clearly a rookie mistake.

Parent

You’re right. But I’m glad a drug arrest at a middle school is still considered a big deal. —Ed. Note

Ed, everyone tells me that the unions killed the manufacturing jobs in the United States and that is why the companies left. Can the same thing be said about state, county and government unions? Do you think they will drive these state workers out of their jobs? In 10 years we will see Pakistanis, Indians and Chinese doing these jobs for half price and no benefits.

Outsource

The state will never be that efficient on its own. But it might outsource more and more to companies that will do exactly as you describe. —Ed. Note

Ed, in response to “Banks Keep Secrets.” If I were a bank I’d keep secrets too. Why should I be suffering to modify your mortgage that you agreed to and signed off on? You are over 18, you are working, you know what you can or cannot afford. You were stupid enough to go in and buy a mortgage for a $400,000 home and you are making $60,000 a year and then you buy that pretty car. Now you can’t afford it. Why should the bank suffer trying to straighten out your mortgage? That’s your problem. What they need to do is to bring back the debtors’ prison and put them in jail. Instead they take our tax money to try to bail these people out. They punish the good people all the time in this country.

Good Person

A refreshing perspective. While I reserve the right to condemn the banks, what’s the deal with no one holding foolish homeowners accountable for their roles in the mortgage crisis? I can’t fault you for feeling that it’s the average responsible, bill-paying, taxpaying person who gets screwed. —Ed. Note

Ed, I just got finished reading Matthew Osborne’s article about Tim Tebow and the Heisman Trophy. Excellent article. It’s about time that somebody stands up and speaks out about people with faith and stuff. Well done. Merry Christmas, guys.

WWTTD

And Merry Christmas to you. —Ed. Note

Ed, about the Rev. Toussaint, who lied about his name. I have worked in the prison system for over 14 years. People should know that there is one thing you learn in prison and that is how to manipulate people. I have seen prisoners talking to ladies on the phone they have never met and getting them to fall in love with them and send them money. The reverend is someone who spent a long time behind bars, and now you want to give him the reins to the power over people’s minds. I am all for giving someone a second chance, but don’t give him a second chance to take someone’s life. Also, the reverend is a great speaker, but so was Hitler, and look where it got him.

Beware

Whoa. —Ed. Note

Ed, the caller in a recent BackTalk said that we need to forgive the Rev. Toussaint. This is true, this idea about forgiveness in religion, but that is also assuming we knew what was going on there with the reverend. He wasn’t forthright with the information in the first place; he was dishonest. It was not like he stole a piece of candy or kicked someone in the shins, he was a partner in a murder. That is nothing to play with. It is not something that is easily forgiveable.

Remember

We want to believe that people can change. And they can, I hope. But it’s hard to give the guy the benefit of the doubt when he can’t even start with the truth. Also, for the record: His murder conviction was eventually tossed (but he was guilty of partaking in an armed robbery in which two people were shot dead by his accomplice). —Ed. Note

Ed, this Gordon Reibman — why don’t they put him in a cell with Ambrose Harris and have Ambrose kick the life out of him? Then he will realize what he did to his dog, if he gets out of there alive.

Dog Daze

Ambrose must be flattered by how often the “stick him in a cell with Harris” suggestion comes up for hated criminals (or in this case, a suspect) in BackTalk. —Ed. Note

Ed, I just want to reply to that caller who said that “banks keep secrets.” I just had my $200,000 mortgage remodified for 40 years. They deferred $130,000 to the end of that 40 year term so that I am only paying on a $70,000 mortgage. The first five years I am paying 2 percent, which includes my escrow account. People really need to look into this and have the bank offer this package to them.

In the Bank

Dang. How many bankers did you have to sleep with to get that deal? —Ed. Note

Ed, I would like to issue a complaint against Hamilton Township Mayor Bencivengo. We have no Christmas tree on Gropp’s Lake as we usually do. I understand somebody complained because it represents Christmas, which it does not. What is next, will he take down the American flag on the lakeshore now? I hope you didn’t cave in on this. We would like our tree back in Yardville.

Treeless

We’ve had Benci in the paper making a big deal about other Christmas trees, so you can’t claim he hates the holiday. Or trees. —Ed. Note

Ed, I am an amateur radio tinkerer. I was playing with my scanner and I happened to listen to a conversation between the Trenton Board of Education office and their school bus drivers. I found out today that the bus drivers and aides are babysitters. If they make a stop and the parents aren’t there to pick up their kids, the buses don’t leave the children. People don’t have to be home because they know the city is going to watch their kids until they get home. How much are we paying the drivers and aides to do that?

Route of the Problem

Just drive ’em around until they fall asleep, right? Works for babies. Then just drop them back at school in the morning. —Ed. Note

Ed, to the person with the Rottweiler with finicky feet, Melanie (the groomer) is now with Golden Grange Kennels in Chesterfield, N.J. Their number is (609) 324-3647. And you are right, she is awesome.

Furry

Ed, looking for a good dog groomer? I can recommend Nancy from the Curry Corner in Lawrenceville at (609) 896-0778. Nancy has been grooming dogs for 35 years and I know she can handle that Rottweiler.

Scratchy

Ed, for the person looking for a dog groomer, try the people at Crosswicks Clippers at (609) 298-8854. They handle dogs who have those kinds of problems and they are excellent.

Barky

So there you have it. BackTalk is your headquarters for pet grooming and general dog wellness —Ed. Note

Ed, this is for Sen. Frank Lautenberg and his moronic liberal friends. Are you kidding me in saying George Bush abandoned the Afghanistan war? That was his top priority, much to the dismay of you idiotic liberals. The only reason it was “abandoned” was because his term was up and frankly I would rather have had four more years of Bush than the current president we now have. And as for the other idiotic comment some local Democrat made (think his name was Gross, which is cool cause he grosses me out), he said he does not know why we are fighting in Afghanistan. What, are you serious? But I guess liberals like him believe 9/11 was made up by Republicans like Rush Limbaugh and Bill O’Reilly. Where is Ronald Reagan when we need him? Liberals are the biggest group of self-righteous morons since, well, you fill in the blank.

Ranter

Um, since BackTalkers? Just kidding. —Ed. Note

Ed, it is unfortunate that so many BackTalkers are focused on the “people from Trenton” comment in the flap over the Popeye’s expansion. The real issue is one of traffic and safety: The restaurant is seeking zoning exemptions to add a drive-thru window, from which exiting cars will be forced onto Winslow Avenue, a residential street. Those of us who live in the Creston section of Mercerville have legitimate concerns about how all those vehicles, whether they come from Trenton or Princeton, will find their way back to the major arteries of Nottingham Way and Whitehorse-Mercerville Road. Call us parochial for not wanting our neighborhood to turn into a traffic watershed for Route 33, but please can it with the racial implications.

Neighbor

OK, you’re parochial! There, I said it. —Ed. Note

Ed, I think that Tiger should not have been lion (get it). He is now in a rough situation. It is not a fairway to treat his wife Elin, which spelled as an anagram is lie’n. He now has had his balls in at least two other holes. I wonder if he is going to play all 18 holes. He must be a good driver with his putter, but not his car. Maybe with time he can iron things out with his wife, but for now I think he has put a wedge between himself and his wife. I guess he thought life would be green-er on the other side. These other girls must have been mulligans. In the end the tiger was trapped. The new name for Tiger’s mansion can be the clubhouse.

Poet I. Knowit

I hope you came up with at least two or three of those yourself. —Ed. Note

Ed, I just read the article in the paper on Nov. 25 about how New Jersey wants to cut more state workers to balance the budget. This upsets me. What people do not know is that New Jersey has an estimated 2,000 temporary employees and a host of bogus contracts. I think before Chris Christie comes into office, he should look into getting rid of all temporary workers, all political appointees, and all of the bogus state contracts. State workers have already given enough! We are required to take unpaid days off, we weren’t given the raise we were promised in the contract (and will probably never get it), and in this economy, we can’t afford to raise the unemployment rates! Despite what people think of us, we are hard workers! You can’t balance the budget on the back of the state workers alone. Please, Mr. Christie, look into this and do the right thing.

I.M. Right

The cuts you suggest sound like a good warmup for him. Then he can get out the big ax. —Ed. Note

Why do inmates have weight rooms? I can see maybe a library. Why are they allowed to grow larger than the guards? It doesn’t make sense to me. You seem to be the type of person that would let them have any benefits they can. Me? Anyone doing 30 to life should be executed three at a time.

Bang Bang Bang

I think we should give inmates color TVs and all the McDonald’s they can eat. That should settle them down to a life of sloth once they get out. — Ed Note

Ed, I read the BackTalk column about God condoning homosexuality and I disagree with it. I have a Holy Bible that was printed in 1943, and it doesn’t say God condoned homosexuality, but only destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because of their homosexuality and wickedness. That guy better get the facts straight. P.S. The Bible back in 1965 has been changed to suit the will of man, not the will of God.

Ol’ 43

Yeah, ’65 is when it all went downhill. —Ed. Note

I’m calling about this idiot who called in about the whole gay thing. He said God condones homosexuality. I guess he’s not a man of faith who reads the Bible. If you read the Bible, you’ll see marriage is between a man and a woman. Got it? A man and a woman.

Finger Pointer

God needs to start speaking to people again. There’s too much confusion over His previous comments. — Ed Note

This is in response to the whole gay thing. What people don’t realize is the Bible spells it all out. It’s the devil that makes children gay.

S. Atan

Glad we’ve cleared that up. Next! — Ed Note