Dear Editor:
I join Pastor Will Henkel in the concern he expressed over substance abuse in our town and I applaud you and your senior staff writer Al Sullivan for the detailed coverage you provided relating to his appearance before the Secaucus Town Council.
I lack Pastor Henkel’s intimate knowledge and expertise but I was a member of the School Board when Bob Hestefer presented the findings of the 1997 school survey, as well as the 1998 County survey of alcohol and drug usage. The results were scary. The Board formed a committee to 1: propose remedies and 2. to unite the schools, churches, police, social and health services in a focused effort. We even proposed a name – Zero Acceptance Program, or ZAP – for the effort. The net result was zero cooperative enthusiasm and the drafting of a code of behavior for our recreation leagues.
Monitoring student behavior or praying for informants aren’t even remotely sufficient. We are facing an enormous social problem which requires the united energetic focus of all our social institutions, including parents. We may need buildings but buildings will not solve our problems.
Furthermore, the creation of the Secaucus Youth Alliance is primarily a way for a politically wired outdoor sign broker to get around zoning laws. He needs to show that his variance request will finance public good and is not simply to enrich himself and his partners. In business we call this “a widows and orphans strategy.” The town’s inability to explain their advertising deal in any way that meets the tests of simple arithmetic or mature business practice suggests that we are being used.
Pastor Henkel asks that we get our priorities straight. I join him. Bricks and mortar are a result of significant programs and not the cause, or substitute for serious commitment.
William J. Donnelly