Our Readers Respond...

A Soldier Remembering His Injured Comrades

Dear Editor:

You have all been very supportive of me while I was away in Iraq. Since Veteran’s Day has just
passed and the Holiday Season is quickly coming upon us, here is an idea which will bring happiness
to our families and to our injured men and women who have served in Iraq as well other battle fields for
freedom.

Please, when making out your Holiday cards this year, make out an extra one and send it to the following:

A Recovering American Soldier
c/o Walter Reed Army Hospital
6900 Georgia Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20307-5001

If we pass this on and everyone sends one card, think of how many cards these wonderful special
people who have sacrificed so much would get.

First Lt. Andrew Schaarf

Editor’s Note: Lieutenant Andrew Schaarf, United States Army, who just returned from a tour
of duty in Iraq, is the nephew of Westchester’s own Maureen Keating Tsuchiya, our late Bureau Chief
and tireless advocate for the disabled.

In Our Opinion....

A Thanksgiving Day Message

We, at the Westchester Guardian, would like to take this opportunity to express our thanks to all of our loyal readers who look forward to sharing the news, and our thoughts, each week. As many of you have lately come to realize, that very special relationship which we have now enjoyed for some 68 weeks, can never be taken for granted.

As We have discovered through our own recent sad experience with the Mayor, and City of Yonkers, there are those in government who have little, or no, respect for the First Amendment; perhaps viewing it as a roadblock to their absolute control and ambitions. Nevertheless, our Founding Fathers were very determined when they made the guarantee of Freedom of Speech, the first of ten Amendments to the Constitution, collectively known as the Bill of Rights.

Those founding framers of what we still believe is the greatest democracy on earth, were so concerned with every aspect of one’s ability to freely express their thoughts and ideas, that they specifically identified Freedom of Religion, Speech, and the Press, as well as the Rights of Assembly and Petition.

Over the years, and clearly within our adult lifetimes, we have witnessed the price paid by journalists all over the globe, for exercising such rights. Daniel Pearl was one such dedicated individual, as were the five Australian journalists killed 32 years ago in East Timor by the Indonesian military, as were so many journalists who have lost their lives covering the Iraq conflict The blood of men and women who have struggled to expose the truth everywhere must never be forgotten anywhere.

And so, on this thanksgiving Day, We are reminded of all We are thankful for, particularly the guarantee of freedom to ply our profession, granted by our Forefathers, and entrusted to our practice and preservation.