Jews and the Blues

I am writing to supplement your June 5 article “Jews and the St. Louis Blues: 7 things you might not know.” 

There is one more “thing” your readers may not know. My late brother-in-law, Joseph Oppenheim worked for the St. Louis advertising agency of George Savan when Sid Salomon, owner of the Blues, asked the agency to develop a logo for the Blues. The task of designing the logo was assigned to Joe. In an interview shortly before his death in 2018, Joe explained that he got the idea of adding the wing to the music note from the Roman god Mercury, who had little wings on his feet and was known for speed. He felt the speed of the game needed emphasis in the logo.

Harvey Tettlebaum, California, Mo.

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Village of Westwood should welcome Miriam Academy   

As a 59-year resident of the Village of Westwood, I want to thank you for the accurate and well-written article and editorial about the rejection by Mayor Fred Berger and two other trustees of the excellent proposal by the well-funded and respected Miriam Foundation to use the site of the former B’nai El Congregation for a much needed high school. 

At a packed April meeting, all of the Westwood residents — with the possible exception of one resident and one trustee — spoke in favor of the school. Those in favor included a former mayor, residents who live around the proposed school and Westwood residents whose children would use the school. 

The three of five trustees opposed the plan because they want to keep the property one-acre residential. However, since it is vacant, no developer has come forth with an affordable plan to build. 

This school would enhance, not reduce the value of Westwood village. It is worth remembering that heart is also a value.  

Marlita Weiss, Village of Westwood

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Pulitzer’s impact

I want to thank Dick Weiss for his inspiring June 12 commentary on the legacy of Joseph Pulitzer and the many distinguished reporters the Pulitzers brought to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, including Richard Dudman, Bill Woo, Sally Bixby Defty, Dick Weil, Harry Levins and Jim Millstone. 

Testing the memories of long time  readers of the Post-Dispatch, Weiss has brought back stories of the contributions of these great reporters to the welfare and the quality of life in our local community and nation.

With the internet, cable news, social media and much more, print journalism has faced many changes that has made it more difficult to maintain the kind of coverage our community so desperately needs, and yet quality journalism is still practiced at the Post-Dispatch and many other newspapers. 

Newspapers are in a continuing struggle to challenge efforts to discredit journalism as fake, treasonous and the enemy of the people. These criticisms undermine our civic bonds and faith in our country’s most important institutions. This criticism of “the media” is essentially an attempt to avoid accountability, misinform voters and undermine the core principles of our democracy. 

It is also useful to remember that readers of the St. Louis Jewish Light have benefited enormously from the contributions of many retired Post-Dispatch reporters who write for the Jewish Light. These names include the editor of the Light, Ellen Futterman, as well as Dick Weiss, Eric Mink, Judy Newmark, Dale Singer, Patricia Corrigan and Repps Hudson.

Dennis Lubeck, Brentwood

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Planned deportations

President Donald Trump said that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will deport “millions” of people living in the country illegally starting later this month. How will that happen? Will agents stop every Hispanic-looking person or person with an accent and demand proof of citizenship? Will white people be subject to the same scrutiny?

I’m interested in what Sheldon Adelson and his fellow travelers in the Republican Jewish Coalition, along with the mostly Trump-supporting ultra-Orthodox communities, think of this new push to drive out the undocumented.

 How about Israelis who have overstayed their tourist visas? What would the members of our tribe think if ICE swept through Brooklyn or any of the eastern Hasidic enclaves and demanded evidence of citizenship? I think they’d play the anti-Semitism card, because they haven’t learned the lesson that we Jews are always “the other” even when we are white and are targeting others as “the other.”

Norman Pressman, Crystal Lake Park