The debate over Gov. David Paterson’s proposed “obesity tax” on non-diet sodas continues among our letter-writers, as health advocates weigh in on the subject. Nancy Huehnergarth of Chappaqua, director of the New York State Healthy Eating and Physical Activity Alliance, maintains that “Sugary soft drinks have been pinpointed repeatedly in medical studies as the biggest contributors to our obesity epidemic” and that “it makes sense for soft-drink consumers to pay an 18 percent tax to help offset the state’s growing obesity-related medical costs, and to fund obesity-prevention programs.” (Letter not yet published.) In a letter sent to newspapers around the area and already published elsewhere, James R. Knickman, president and CEO of the New York State Health Foundation, feels that the proposed tax “wisely exempts diet beverages, pure fruit juices, and water, providing a strong financial incentive for consumers to choose these lower-calorie options.”

Our readers, however, remain unconvinced that diet soda is the “healthier” choice. A letter published today cites “Recent studies, easily located online by entering ‘Diet Soda-Contents’” to claim that “More obese people drink diet soda than regular soda.” Another letter-writer, who identifies himself as a medical doctor, refers to studies showing a link between diet-soda consumption and diabetes. (Letter not yet published).

So what do you think? Send your opinion, pro or con, to letters@lohud.com

A 19-year-old is getting his hair cut at around noon Christmas Eve. The store owner says he and other barbers were working when two gunmen wearing hoodies and ski masks walk in, go directly to the teenager and shoot him five or more times. “They came specifically for him,” the owner says of the victim.

A 22-year-old, who spent his early days in a Russian orphanage but later was adopted along with his brother and sister by a Westchester County couple, is stabbed multiple times. His body, dumped in a garbage bag outside a Bronx apartment, is discovered this week by the building superintendent.

Opening scenes from grisly novels about inner-city life, and death? No, two real-life crimes, still under police investigation, still being covered by our news reporters. For each, the crime, the investigation, any arrests, a profile of the victim, perhaps his funeral, and, if and when the whole terrible tale ends up there, the courtroom and its outcome all will be covered.

Lots of people, including many of our readers, say we cover too much crime, too much “bad news.’’ Newspapers and their Web sites do cover crime, do cover bad news. Whether it is “too much’’ is left to the judgment of each of us.

Are the brutal deaths of two young men during the week of a joyous holiday, among the holiest for millions of people the world over, worth covering? Of course they are. And not for shock value, not for any titillation, not even as morality tales. These crimes, these deaths are facts. They happened here in the Lower Hudson Valley to young men, and by extension, to their families, friends and communities. They happened.

They are, of course, easily ignored or avoided. A glance at a headline, a flip of a page, a click of a mouse, a shrug, even a shudder, and it’s over, these reminders of mortality and brutality around us.

In the meantime, law enforcement will do its job. And the media will do theirs.

The New York Times on Monday published a letter by someone identifying himself as Bertrand Delanoë, the mayor of Paris, critical of Caroline Kennedy. Later that day, they posted a retraction on their Web site:

“. . . This letter was a fake. It should not have been published. . . . This letter, like most Letters to the Editor these days, arrived by email. It is Times procedure to verify the authenticity of every letter. In this case, our staff sent an edited version of the letter to the sender of the email and did not hear back. At that point, we should have contacted Mr. Delanoë’s office to verify that he had, in fact, written to us. We did not do that. . .”

The New York Post was quick to gloat over this in a Tuesday story headlined, “Les Chumps Elysees,” but, truth be told, fake letters get sent to newspapers all the time, and verification procedures aren’t always enough to stop them from being published. We’ve run our share (and I’m sure the Post has, too).

Our verification process requires that letter-writers include their full name, address and a daytime telephone number for confirmation. We call each and every writer (including our “regulars”) to confirm that he/she is the author of the letter and grants permission to publish it. Occasionally, the person contacted will deny having written the letter in question, and it will be rejected. This does seem to have prevented “identity theft,” as we’ve almost never had to retract a faked letter purporting to be from an official or prominent person during my tenure here. (For such a letter, we would be extra careful by noting whether the letter had included an official letterhead or seal, and check for other clues to see if anything struck us as not legitimate).

However, while our method does prevent Joe X from getting published as Mayor So-and-So, it does little to stop Joe X from making up the name Bob Y and simply saying, “Yes, I’m Bob Y” when called. If there are no obvious clues indicating the letter may be a fake (such as a Yonkers street address with a Mahopac ZIP code, for example), such an individual can get away with having his letters printed under an assumed name for years. Sooner or later, though, they usually give themselves away – they forget how they spell their “alternate” name (we caught a woman named Morgenstern after she kept switching from “Morgen” to “Morgan”). Or they figure if they can get away with one fake identity, why not two? Or a dozen?

Back in the late ‘90s, we ran a number of letters and Community Views from a “Sean O’Regan” of Yonkers. “O’Regan” had some rather pointed opinions about some of his city public officials, as demonstrated in his Oct. 29, 1997, “endorsement” letter for City Council elections:

“In the 6th District, a highly intelligent and capable Jeff Balancio should replace the incumbent, who is a poster boy for “term limits,” and who has sat too long on the council while accomplishing little. In the 3rd District, the forward-looking Sam Borrelli should replace a man whose only qualification seems to be his family name, and whose ideas represent the worst of the bad old past in this city. In the 4th District, not only is Carlo Calvi by far the best qualified, but voters there should remember that his chief opponent is, like the 3rd and 6th district incumbents, solidly in the pocket of individuals who have failed miserably while holding elective office, who hold no elective office now, but who dictate the most important stances taken by several current council persons.”

Problem is, “O’Regan” got a little greedy – we started to receive similar-sounding letters, signed with different names, with the same street address and contact numbers as “O’Regan.” A call to the Board of Elections revealed the true identity of the person living at the address, and “O’Regan” and his alter-egos were kept off subsequent Letters pages.

So what’s the big deal about fake names? While “O’Regan” went largely unnoticed by Yonkers leaders, I will get a call every so often from an official who has been criticized by a letter-writer, complaining that “there isn’t any registered voter in my village named Jane Smith!” If a writer wants to take pot-shots at a policy-maker, fine, but he needs to own his comments by being upfront about who he is. To try to keep things honest, we will continue to do our best to confirm the identity of letter-writers before publication.

“Merry Christmas Eve,’’ we used to say as kids, when Dec. 24 dawned. We got a jump on the countdown to all-important Christmas Day itself.

This Christmas Eve is awash, quite literally, in cold rain in most of the Lower Hudson Valley, helping to melt treacherous ice from sidewalks, roads and vehicles, but leaving a gray hangover.

The news is, relentlessly, about the economy, in all its bleak incantations. But for some hours today and tomorrow, the “news’’ will be what we make it, as individuals, couples, families and communities. It can be about money or lack thereof; it can be about bitter humor (search “Christmas sarcasm’’ on the Internet and you get 1.8 million hits); it can be about dread for a shaky 2009 for our state and our nation.

The answer to all our problems, of course, is infrastructure — the roads, bridges, tunnels, railways, airports, public buildings, universities, communication lines, sewer and water systems that are the bones of our country. Into them, President-elect Barack Obama plans to pour billions of dollars to rehab or build anew, in the process bringing back jobs and stability to our lives. New York leaders, facing billions of dollars in deficits, naturally are salivating at the prospects.

Yet right now, during these holidays, we can rehab and rebuild the infrastructure of our lives, of our bones. And it barely costs anything. We can sit down and write a letter — a real letter — and mail it to an old friend, cementing that bridge with a patch of paper and a stamp. We can hug, really hug, the people we love — no air kisses, no quick cheek presses, no hearty back-slapping. Chest to chest, we can allow the warmth of our hearts to seep into each other, using human touch to reconnect often frazzled lines of communication. We can pick up a book and read aloud, teaching ourselves and others how to listen, without electronics. We can put on boots and walk, to nowhere, anywhere; just together, family, friends, kids, pets, all sloshing and joshing, breathing in deeply the gratitude of having each other to hold us up.

It is the very nature of our infrastructure to always need attention, always need repair. We cannot afford to ignore any of it.

Merry Christmas Eve.

Photo: Judah Duncan, 6, left shopping at PetSmart in Nanuet for the rain Dec. 11. Peter Carr/The Journal News

Yesterday, The New York Times admitted to a kind of amusing mistake. The Grey Lady was duped by a letter writer who pretended to be the Mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoe. The letter from the fake mayor criticized the consideration of Caroline Kennedy for Senate as being supremely undemocratic— something on the scale of, say, Marie Antoinette. 

 

“We French can only see a dynastic move of the vanishing Kennedy clan in the very country of the Bill of Rights. It is both surprising and appalling,” the letter read.

The hoax was amusing as long as you’re not the Mayor of Paris, or the Times’ Letter Editor, I guess.

In an Editor’s Note on its online Opinion page on Monday and the printed newspaper today, the Times apologized to Mayor Delanoe and explained that the letter had not been properly verified. Here at the Journal News, Letters Editor Chris Mautone is scrupulous about verifying every letter received before we run it in the paper. 

But in the internet age, there is plenty of room for anonymous comments (though not falsely attributed comments). Those who want to express their opinions without attaching their names to them are free to post comments on the Web site, instead of writing a Letter to the Editor. Online, the standards for authorship are much more relaxed and as long as posters follow our guidelines and don’t write profanity or abusive comments, the opinions stand. New standards for a new age.

Photo Credit (AP Photo/Annie Lieboviitz, Vogue)

If it costs money to make money, as the saying goes, it also cost money just to get to work to make the money you need to live on. Never is that more apparent than with bridge, Thruway and public-transit fare tolls.

I happen to take Interstate 95 North out of New York City yesterday (LaGuardia pickup of a family member) and because it was rush hour, had decided on the interstate instead of the Hutch. I usually avoid I-95 because of the especially, um, assertive truck drivers.

Nevertheless, there I was, ready with my quarter for the I-95 New Rochelle Thruway toll when I realized I had better use the E-ZPass lane instead. The toll is not 25 cents anymore; it’s been $1.50 apparently for some time now. Just not for me, in my transit oblivion. ( OK, so I think a pack of gum still costs 25 cents, too.)

Well, news flash: Starting Jan. 4, that New Rochelle toll will go to $1.75, and the Thruway tolls at Harriman and Yonkers will go up 25 cents to $1.25. Gee, I remember when politicians were trying to get rid of those once 25-cent “silly” traffic-stoppers.

Under the proposal, cash toll on the Tappan Zee Bridge will go to $5, from the current $4.50, the second toll increase on the 53-year-old bridge in two years, staff writer Khurram Saeed reported yesterday. E-ZPass users will pay $4.75; just a year ago it was $3.60.

Then there’s the “new’’ worst-case scenario being considered by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. To close a projected $1.2 billion shortfall next year, The Associated Press reported yesterday, the authority is looking at jumping subway and bus fares from $2 to $3.  MTA-operated bridges and tunnels, like the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge (formerly the Triborough), could increase to $7.

There will be public hearings on all this, with the first set for Jan. 14. It will be at the Hilton NY, Trianon Ballroom, 1335 Ave of the Americas, Manhattan.

For more information on both the proposed hikes and hearings, visit: www.mta.nyc.ny.us/

Be assured: However you get there, it will cost you.

Photo: The New York State Thruway toll plaza on I-95 in New Rochelle in 1999, when it cost a quarter to drive through. Photo by Stuart Bayer

The Seinfeld-inspired holiday Festivus features the “Airing of Grievances,” as illustrated by a Washington Post story that we published on Sunday about the Festivus bulletin board in the Adams Morgan neighborhood in Washington, D.C., where residents have posted dozens of notes with complaints ranging from the petty to the heartbreaking.

Today, Dec. 23, is the “official” celebration, but our readers observe Festivus year-round, as evidenced by the steady stream of letters we get from people wanting to vent their anger at the little (and not-so-little) annoyances in their lives. Most of these people seem to just be looking for a way to blow off steam rather than see their letters in print, because they come to us without any ID information at all (we received a number of these recently regarding the Westchester County budget).

Other letters will include the required contact information but be signed “Anonymous” or will include a request to withhold their name. An example came to us yesterday from an “Elizabeth A.” in Elmsford, who was fired up about the behavior of some kids in Pleasantville during Friday’s snowstorm:

“The kids, who were in a pack of about 20, were playing in the road and in the driveways, slipping and sliding around, using their bodies as sleds, as if Washington Avenue was an ice rink and, more importantly, as if the roads were there for their personal fun and games. . . . In my concern for their safety I approached the group of kids and advised them that it would be wise if they stopped playing in the street and in the driveways, that is wasn’t a safe play area given the weather conditions. I suggested that if they wanted to play in the snow they should relocate to the park (In good weather they do the same with their skateboards). In return I was met with jeers and was cussed at by the kids. . . .” This was followed by more criticism of “Pleasantville kids” and their parents.

Her letter may have been publishable had she been willing to give her full name (and thus bear responsibility for the subsequent wrath of Pleasantville residents), but without proper ID, and with her letter clocking in at 675 words, well over our 250 limit, she will have to be satisfied with the cathartic effects of firing off an e-mail to someone.

We also generally avoid issues where a specific individual or business is targeted, such as custody battles, consumer complaints, allegations of police brutality, etc., since we are not in a position to ascertain the facts in such matters, and don’t want to open our Opinion page up to personal feuds that are not of interest to the general public (nor risk being named in a libel suit). If we feel the topic is of public interest, we will turn the letter over to a news editor for possible coverage as a news story.

Or, in the case of a woman who wrote us in October, outraged at a local pastry shop for not putting the gold foil doilies underneath her wedding cakes like she had asked for, we merely consider it a “Festivus Miracle” that the reader apparently doesn’t have any really serious issues, like job loss or ill health, to complain about!

Lower Hudson Valley readers have had plenty to gripe about since Gov. David Paterson released his proposed 2009-2010 budget that contains a host of new taxes and fees on things like iPod downloads to soda to haircuts. However, unlike most New Yorkers, many here in the southern part of the state are in a unique position in that we live fairly close to the borders of two states, opening up a world of untaxed shopping opportunities that others many not have.

Over the weekend, reporters James Walsh and Ben Rubin looked at how residents in Rockland County on the border of New Jersey, are reacting to the proposed budget fees and potential increased costs to their bottom line, from the perspective of shoppers as well as business owners. Here’s the full story.

This story sparked a lot of discussion among readers, many of whom said they already head over the border to Jersey to get their gas (which is at least 20 cents cheaper a gallon thanks to lower state gas taxes in Jersey) so what’s the big deal if they pick up their soda there, too.

Here’s what a few others had to say:

Be buying my Coke and Pepsi in New Jersey where they won’t tax me for sugar. Paterson has to go.

I do almost all my shopping in New Jersey, even though I live in New York. … Stick it to the man any way you can!

I have not bought gas or clothing in Rockland for years. Rockland will continue to lose customers as taxes go up. It is a lose-lose situation for Rockland as there will be fewer jobs and other forms of revenue for the county.

About 12 or 13 years ago, when the revenues were down, the state sent inspectors to take down New York license plate numbers in New Jersey malls. I don’t know that they ever went after anybody to collect New York sales tax, but that is how pathetic they were.

Anthony Devanzo, left, and Bill Rizzo, both of Suffern, speak from Robert’s Barber Shop Dec. 18 about how the proposed new taxes on goods in New York will impact the Village of Suffern, which borders New Jersey, already a magnet for cheaper gasoline.

The saga of a Rye family whose 10-year-old son Jarrid died in April 2006 after being struck and killed outside his Rye home while riding his bicycle is sad. And infuriating.

Jarrid Amico’s family, led by his father, Jim, has been trying ever since to get the city to place a stop sign on Midland Avenue at Palisade Road, something the family believes would have prevented the accident.

So far, the city hasn’t acted. Officials say that a stop sign on the two-lane road could actually cause more dangers because, as Assistant City Manager Scott Pickup told staff writer Theresa Juva for a story yesterday, drivers aren’t prepared for mid-block stop signs.

Which begs the question as to why there are so many around Westchester County. Signs act to slow the speed of vehicles, especially in residential areas, where many drivers act as if they were speedways because, well, there are fewer stop signs and traffic lights.

Jim Amico also called on the county Board of Legislators for help at a recent public hearing on the Westchester budget. He choked up, but made his plea in honor of his son, who would have turned 13 this year. Lawmakers listened politely. Legislator Judith Myers, a Democrat who represents Rye, said the county is only responsible for the surface of the street; adding a stop sign there is a city decision.

City officials haven’t given a final “No,’’ and have conducted two speed studies, determining that speed is not a major problem at the site.

Yet Jim Amico said he is trying again because several few weeks ago, he had to dodge a speeding car there.

Myers said state law recommends against using stop signs to control speed on a road—yet, as stated, there are many around, as well as speed bumps, other traffic warning signs and police patrols.

The Amico family still, of course, struggles with Jarrid’s death; in fact, the grief and loss intensify each holiday, they told Juva.

Surely something, or someone, can stop this stalemate by, at the very least, cutting through the bureaucracy and seeing that “Dangerous intersection’’ signs are posted before the intersection to warn drivers. It would be a significant comfort to the Amico family—and maybe save a life.

Photo: From left, Jim, Maggie and daughter Allye Amico are photograph with a portrait of their son, Jarrid, at their home in Rye Dec. 15. The Amico’s son Jarrid two years ago, was hit by a car traveling on Midland Avenue while he was riding his bike, and died. His father has been lobbying to have stop signs put along Midland Avenue.

Matthew Brown/The Journal News

Mark Felt, the number 2 man at the FBI during the Watergate years died this weekend and we hope his legacy didn’t pass with him. Felt admitted to being Deep Throat, the anonymous source who pointed reporter Bob Woodward in the right direction in order to unearth the Nixon White House’s involvement in the Watergate conspiracy and subsequent cover-up. 

Felt enabled the dogged Watergate reporting of The Washington Post’s Woodward and Carl Bernstein, which in turn inspired a generation of would-be journalists who saw the job as a calling. That generation of journalists were often on a mission to keep government honest. 

Let’s hope today’s young journalists remain inspired by the Watergate story and journalism’s role in preserving the democracy, instead of being distracted by the gossipy Gawker-style Web sites that offer more attitude than reporting.