Ed, about that pay raise for Mayor Bencivengo. Personally I think this mayor does deserve a raise. You can’t compare him to Gilmore; that is a slap in the face. Gilmore didn’t take a raise, but you mean to tell me he didn’t take anything under the table? Please tell me why we got into such a terrible debt, Mr. Gilmore. He went about taxing us little by little until he built up a surplus. Mayor Bencivengo is a good guy, a family man, and he is doing the best he can. What about the police chief, I understand he is a very lax police chief. If he needs to make more money, pay him a dollar more than what his highest paid police officer gets. Let’s see what he does for the community. I do feel that you can’t put Bencivengo and Gilmore on the same square. Please use your intelligence. And Capodanno, don’t know what his problem is, but you can probably guess.

Cash Machine

So, yes on the Benci raise, nothing for the chief. You’ve solved the town’s problem’s just like that. —Ed. Note

Ed, golf doesn’t need Tiger Woods; Tiger Woods needs golf. He has countless sex with women. Has he been tested for AIDS? He should be. There are plenty of good young golfers coming up. He has the money to retire; he should just go away and let golf be golf again.

Tee’d Off

“Countless” sex? I bet he could give you a rough count. He’s not in Wilt Chamberlain territory or anything. —Ed. Note

Ed, L.A. Parker’s article on Tiger Woods was one of his best. It was filled with compassion and hope. I know that it took someone who had been there to make us understand the depth of an addict’s suffering and pain. One thing L.A. didn’t mention, though, was that if he had not walked out of the darkness we would not have had his insightful articles in The Trentonian. I have come away with a new respect and admiration for L.A. Parker.

L.A. Story

Ed, I just read L.A. Parker’s article in Saturday’s paper. I can attest to everything he said about walking out of the darkness and into the light after recovery. It is a beautiful journey. Everything he said is true. I hope that his article can bring someone else out of the darkness.

L.A. Confidential

Few would have the courage to reveal expose themselves to the masses, as L.A. did in that column. I’m not sure I buy Tiger’s apology, but I know L.A. is sincere. —Ed. Note

Ed, this is in regard to Mayor Palmer’s outburst the other night over the sale of the water works. You know, his motive is to look good as far as balancing the budget etc. and holding down the job of mayor of a large city for 20 years, but Palmer is all about promoting Palmer. He is charming and knows how to schmooze to get what he wants. But when his feathers get ruffled like they did the other night he resorts to street talk. He should have left politics 15 years ago. Anything he tries to do is too little, too late.

Timing

“You better check yourself.” —Ed. Note

Ed, I sat through the water deal presentation by Mayor Palmer in City Council. To the residents of Trenton, I wanted to inform them that this is the worst case of corruption that I have ever seen, including cases I have studied in school as a political science major. It includes the mayor and the council and all the top people in the administration. I would encourage the residents to come out for the next presentation and watch it unfold in front of their eyes. That water deal did not happen overnight. It is corruption at it’s best.

Allie Gations

If it were corruption “at it’s best,” wouldn’t it have gone through without attracting so much attention? There’s nothing “at it’s best” going on here. —Ed. Note

Ed, recently in a story you said that a woman involved in an auto accident in which a man was killed was charged with DUI for using prescription drugs. I am calling about the law. There is a law for determining if you have consumed too much alcohol; I think the limit is .08. Where is the law for prescription drugs? The only way to know if you have any drugs in your system is to take a blood test. How can you tell if anyone was consuming anything if you can’t smell it on their breath? They should really straighten these laws out.

Prove It

If your eyes are glazed over and you’re slurring your speech and you just crashed your car, and I’m a cop, I might have a good idea that something’s up. And I might determine I have cause to arrest you, and a subsequent test might confirm my suspicion that you were whacked out on pills. Or something like that. —Ed. Note

Ed, I saw on the TV news last night that the city of Philadelphia sent their public works department people out to pick up all the chairs in the street and throw them away. That way people can park on the street like they are supposed to.

Bad Seats

Good. Makes our chair-filled Trenton streets all the more special. Charming, even. —Ed. Note

Ed, this is in response to Vinnie Capodanno’s remarks. I just want to say that we finally have a surplus under Bencivengo. Gilmore squandered the township money. If Benci wants a raise, give it to him, he deserves it. I guess Capodanno would do his job for free? He should remember how the township was run under Gilmore before he opens his mouth.

Zip It

Just to be clear, you’re asking Vinnie to acknowledge that Benci’s doing a good job? You got the wrong guy. He’s stuck on the “Bash Benci” setting, and there’s no changing that without sending him back to the factory. —Ed. Note

Ed, are you kidding me? I just read where Benci and the crew were up for raises. Just because Hamilton Township has a surplus, we have to blow it on raises. Don’t they realize that we are still in a recession? I haven’t had a raise in three years. These folks should be grateful they have a job, let alone trying to get a raise.

Cash Flow

You see, mayor, it’s not even that most people think you don’t deserve the money. But they deserve raises, too, and they’re not getting them, so it’s tough to swallow paying for yours. They expect sacrifice. —Ed. Note

Ed, the new attorney general just got into office. She is already talking about giving her employees raises, her lawyers. The attorney general needs to stand down. I bet the average lawyer down there makes twice as much as the average New Jersey taxpayer. There will be no raises for anyone in the near or distant future. People are putting their pets up for adoption because they can’t afford to feed them and take them to the veterinarian.

Dog Gone

On the bright side, maybe those pets will find a new home ... with a nice lawyer. You think your dog wouldn’t rather be eating leftover steak tips than that crunchy discount crap from Walmart you’re feeding him? —Ed. Note

Ed, I know how that guy got into the police station. I bet “Capt. Sleepy” was in charge of security that night.

U. Better

Um, he wasn’t. But if we can find out who was supposed to be in the bubble that night we’ll have a whole new hero with his own nickname. “Sgt. Smoke Break,” perhaps? —Ed. Note

Ed, I am not surprised that the police station was broken into. My sister went there to report that her boyfriend was beating her up. While she was there her boyfriend came in to the station and almost choked her to death.

Stationary

Maybe the sign’s not big enough. Perhaps a flashing sign. This is the police headquarters, people! Where the cops are! Wrong place for a crime! Hello! But when you don’t give a damn, you really don’t give a damn. —Ed. Note

Ed, whoever wrote that article about the six-day weekend for state employees is off a wall. Number one, it is not six it is five. Monday is Presidents Day. We don’t have off on Presidents Day. We did not ask for the snow day. Don’t make light of it like state employees are lazy; I hate that because they are not. Thanks for nothing.

Fiver

Um, you’re welcome? —Ed. Note

Ed, I am calling about the people who put chairs or other objects to reserve their parking spot on the streets of Trenton after a snowstorm. I think this is absolutely ridiculous. I have every right to park in the city of Trenton when I find a parking spot. I don’t know why the Trenton police are not doing something about this. I think they should drive around and take the chairs out of the road and put them on the sidewalk, and then try to find out who put the chairs there in the first place.

Parallel

This should be the top priority of every detective on the force. —Ed. Note

Ed, I am calling pertaining to the Super Bowl halftime show. I just want to say one thing, and then I am going to be very brief. I have been watching the Super Bowl for many years and that was the worst halftime show I have ever seen. God, that was horrible.

Beer Run

Yep, it sucked. You know you’re washed up when they let you lipsync and you still sound like crap. Warning to the NFL: “We won’t get fooled again.” —Ed. Note

Ed, this is just a very grateful resident who wants to publicly thank a Hamilton Township road crew worker who really helped me out after the recent snowstorm. On Wednesday night around 9:30 p.m. I was doing my best to dig out my residence on Flock Road in Hamilton. A worker must have seen my efforts and was kind enough to use his front-end loader to clear out the end of my driveway, doing in 10 seconds what may have taken me two hours or more to accomplish, assuming I could even find a place to put the snow after shoveling it. To this worker, if you read The Trentonian, and I sincerely hope you do, I wanted to extend my heartfelt thanks for your help. You did a great job on the road and a truly wonderful job on my driveway. Thank you very much.

Positive Gratitude

First of all, everybody reads The Trentonian. Even the people who won’t admit it. Secondly, can you send that guy over to Edelstein’s house next time so we don’t have to hear him whining about his sore back? —Ed. Note

Ed, today after one of those Civil Defense tests on television where the screen goes black and a loud alarm sounds, waaaa, waaaa, my television did not switch back, it switched to a radio station. And it said something crazy like if I don’t want to listen to the Spanish version of Martha Stewart I should switch audio back to main audio. I called Comcast, and NBC 10. But it is still like that. I wonder if anyone else has experienced that — where after the Civil Defense test was on then their audio did not go back to TV it stayed on a radio station?

Notta Test

Um, did you ever see “Poltergeist”? Yeah. You might wanna call somebody. —Ed. Note

Ed, we don’t send morons to Congress but when they get to Washington they sure do get stupid. New Jersey has two prime examples in Sens. Lautenberg and Menendez, who don’t have a clue about how the average state residents live but must believe that they are far smarter than the rest of us.

Smarty

They are smarter than the rest of us. They’re United States senators. They make more money than us, they have a better pension than us, and they control the world. Not a bad gig. — Ed. Note

I see where Goldman Sachs had record profits in 2009. The average salary per employee is $498,000; that includes janitors. And we are supposed to help these big businesses that are too large to fail? I say tax ’em, 99 percent tax.

Taxed

Great idea! And your mortgage rates will be roughly 98 percent. — Ed. Note

Ed, I am out here in Ohio on business. We have had six inches of snow overnight. It is now 2:47 p.m. and the side streets are as clear as can be, just like the main drag. The kids went to school on time in the morning. Out here they did not prep the streets with beet juice or beetle juice on the highway like Hamilton Township does. This Ohio city puts sand down. Maybe Mayor Bencivengo should come out here and learn something about the way it should be done. All we need in Hamilton is sand and good ol’ manpower.

Sandy

You can have your Ohio. Don’t come back. So they have “clear roads” and “kids who make it to school” ... booooo-ring. —Ed. Note

Ed, I see where our illustrious homeland security secretary, what’s her name, Janet Napolitano, is touring the site of the Super Bowl. She is quoted as saying, “We are doing everything we can in preparation for such a great event.” You know what? I ain’t going down there with her settin’ up the system.

Getting Bombed

I hear you. With her at the helm it might even be dangerous to watch the game in HD. —Ed. Note

Ed, first of all, I apologize for my dog barking in the background. This is for the man who commented that the police were texting all the time in their squad cars. They are not texting. That is ludicrous. The computers they have in their cars are there for NCIC checks. If the police did text I am sure they would get reprimanded, if not suspended. The computers make it possible to enter information instead of broadcasting it over the airwaves. It makes it impossible for those who have scanners to eavesdrop.

K-9

Ed, in reference to the BackTalk article from the man who complained about cops texting. What they don’t realize is if the police are on duty they need to have the scanners so they can see what is going on, to see if there is a crime being committed. Also if one police officer is driving, it is the other police officer who is using the computer. I think the man who made the comment should think before he talks.

Thinker

It’s hard to believe, but the cops are actually doing work with their mobile devices. Unlike everyone else who’s using them to reduce American productivity. —Ed. Note

Ed, Gov. Christie has only been in office a short time, and one of his first official acts is to try to cancel a scheduled rap concert in Trenton! Should we expect that no rap concerts will be held in the state of New Jersey in the next four years? If they are allowed, will the promoter be forced to hire state police officers as security for each event? That would make it costly for the promoter. I am a 38-year-old woman who rarely attends these shows, however I am appalled at the blatant discrimination to the rap and hip-hop community, which is comprised of people from all racial and cultural backgrounds.

Dissed

Don’t blame the guv. I hear he’s a big Wu-Tang fan. Good dancer, too. It’s that lieutenant of his that’s all stiff. —Ed. Note

I just wanted to congratulate you on the wonderful article you printed in your paper, the tribute to our local high school students’ academic achievements, athletic performance, and community service. The photography was great, a really classy piece of news. Keep up the good work.

— Hugs and kisses

We aim to please. — Ed. Note

I was reading about New York not wanting to hold the terror trials there. Obama is about to attach $200 million to the area that does hold the trials. This is a great opportunity to help out the state of New Jersey. We could hold the trials at Fort Dix. They already have the security in place and they have prisons in that location also. We have the ability to make that happen. Best law enforcement in the country.

A vote for Dix

Actually, the new name of the base is called McDixhurst. And it could probably use a few hundred million bucks, even if we have to bring a terrorist here to get it. — Ed. Note

The New Jersey 1040 tax book is not available in libraries this year. When you call the tax line at (609) 292-6400 to request the book, their first suggestion is to print the entire book and its forms on your computer. Yeah, right. Their second suggestion is go to the library and they will print the entire book and its forms for you. The Hamilton Township Library is charging 10 cents a page. Their third suggestion, only if you push, is to tell you they will mail you only one copy. I say to the State of New Jersey — no book, no taxes. Signed, A computerless senior.

Computerless senior

Well, you might be a 1040-formless senior, too. — Ed. Note

Ed, for the reader who has the 3,000 books to donate, there is a place down in Kentucky, the Christian Appalachian Project, they accept donations of everything except food. You can get a hold of them at www.christianapp.org. They have a truck that comes around and picks stuff up. Take care, Ed, and have a good day.

Mr. Binder

Another classy BackTalk reader coming to the rescue. — Ed. Note

Ed, I want to respond to the article about providing low income housing. In my opinion that is nothing but just spreading a cancer. These people move into those houses and then find they can barely make the mortgage payments. Then they rely on taxpayers to pay all their utilities, free energy, free welfare, free everything else courtesy of the taxpayer.

I. Rate

It’s the class system. Life counts on the bottom-feeders to make every one of us feel better about themselves. — Ed. Note