Hello Mr. Wolfe,

Thank you for your email.  My understanding is that the propriety of
a public holiday display depends on the contents of the display.  Generally
speaking, a municipality can allow a holiday display that combines a
variety of secular symbols as a tribute to the secular traditions of
the holiday season, and not as an endorsement of any particular religion.
Town Counsel has advised that in his opinion the holiday display at
Town Hall comports with Constitutional principles should the 
Board of Selectmen exercise its policy discretion to display them,
as the Town has done for many years.  

Julian M. Suso

From: Harold J. Wolfe [mailto:hjw2001@gmail.com] 
Sent: Monday, September 27, 2010 2:06 PM
To: Julian M. Suso
Cc: Cherry J. Manuel
Subject: No public funds should be spent on religion at any time

                                                     65 Delmar Avenue
                                                     Framingham, MA 01701
                                                     508-877-5541        
                                                     hjw2001@gmail.com     
                                                     September 27, 2010

        Framingham Town Manager
        150 Concord Street     
        Framingham, MA 01702   
        Attn: Julian Suso      
              town.manager@framinghamma.gov

        Dear sir,

        I understand that you are a Roman Catholic by faith.  Is that correct?
        As our town manager, you decide where taxpayers monies should be spent
        and one of those decisions is to spend it on Christmas decorations.
        Please don't try to call this period "the holidays" unless you
        move "the holidays" to say July 3.

        The word Christmas comes from Christ Mass and is very specific to one
        religion.  There are no Jewish, Islamic, Hindu, Bhuddists, or Satanic
        holy days anywhere near December 25 but the pagans have one.

        As a flaming atheist (the-militant-atheist.org), I take offense that you
        should spend the taxpayers monies on your religion and on your
        three-headed god and on your Jesus (there is no historical record
        of his existence).

        Before you spend more of my monies, I would ask that you respond to the
        following questions.

        Question 1:
        Will the Town of Framingham spend any public funds celebrating specific
        Jewish, Islamic, Hindu, Bhuddists, or Satanic holidays?
        If so, please let me know the dates and what we are allegedly
        celebrating. 

        If not, why are we spending public funds celebrating Christian holidays?

        Question 2:
        Does God exist?
        If so,  please feel free to provide scientific proof.

        Question 3:
        Do you believe that there is life after death?
        If so, please feel free to provide scientific proof.

        Question 4:
        Is God, Yahweh, Elohim and Allah the same?
        Even if Yahweh and Allah has one head and yours has three?
        If so, please feel free to provide scientific proof.

        Question 5:
        Can you provide me with historical references to Jesus outside
        your bible (the imaginary guy whose birthday you celebrate with my
        monies).

        Question 6:
        Given that taxpayers may be atheists, Hindus, Bhuddists, Muslims,
        Satan worshippers or pagans who worship the sun, is it appropriate for
        the town to spend the taxpayers monies on Christmas decorations.
        Christmas is the alleged birthdate of your imaginary Jesus that was
        determined by a Catholic church synod after 324 AD.

        Several years ago, I had noticed daily entries in the police logs
        about checks on the Jewish temples.  I had always wondered why
        just the Jewish temples.  Now that we know our police chief is a
        Jewish citizen (wherever Jewi is), it make sense.  He was showing
        religious preference and inappropriately spending public funds
        for his religion and only his religion and you know how religion
        poisons everything.

        Question 7:
        By choosing to place Christmas (er! Holiday) decorations around
        Christmas day (er! the holiday season), are you showing preference
        for your Catholic faith?

        I believe you have a customer service policy that requires you
        to respond within two weeks.  Remember that anoying motto of the
        town that you supposedly manage.

        Dedicated to Excellence in Public Service.

        A failure to respond will just make me come before the Board of
        Selectman to make fun of your religion.  If you don't want people
        to make fun of your religion, you should not have such funny
        beliefs.

                                                 An inquisitive atheist,



                                                 Harold J. Wolfe.


        

Cohn's deck is lined with woven reeds, ancient-looking farming tools and baskets of fruit and flowers. At the center of the arrangement is a small hut constructed from bamboo.

Called a sukkah, the hut is a vestige from the Exodus, when the nomadic Israelites lived in temporary shelters they could pack up and carry with them as they traveled. Today, many Jews are reviving an old tradition of building their own sukkahs to celebrate the holiday Sukkot, a seven-day festival that ends today.

Yesterday, Cohn's sukkah played host to third-graders from the MetroWest Jewish Day School in Framingham. They visit the Harvard Road resident's home each year to admire and learn from his handiwork.

"This is just special," said Francine Rothkopf, a parent and school "champion" who accompanied the students. "Most sukkahs don't look like this."

Rothkopf, who has a sukkah of her own, said most of the students' families also have their own huts. But none of them are as intricate or as rich in tradition as Cohn's.

Adorned with reed baskets, shofar horns and various types of crops, Cohn's sukkah is an "evocation of what was used 1,000 years ago in the Middle East."

"This is not common," he said. "People feel like they're stepping into ancient times."

Cohn has erected his current sukkah each year for the past six years. Before that, he had a smaller hut.

He began building his own sukkahs after his father, a rabbi, passed away.

"I used to go to him," he said. "I felt like someone had to pick up the tradition."

Although the custom of constructing sukkahs during Sukkot went unobserved for many years, Cohn said more Jews are now returning to the tradition.

During the seven days of Sukkot, families celebrate by eating their meals in the hut and sleeping there at night. In chilly New England, that isn't always possible, but Cohn said his wife and grandchildren slept in their sukkah one warm night this past week.

Yesterday, students ate lunch in the hut, which was covered with a tarp to keep out the rain.

"We're having a lot of fun," student Elizabeth Schnur said.

The students also admired the interior of the sukkah, which was covered in traditional decorations. Their teacher, Orly Bejerano, pointed out the decorations one by one, having the students identify them in Hebrew.

"(Cohn) was really nice to let us come here," student Sarah Kraus said.

The sukkah visit is reflective of the school's overall theme of combining tradit ional education with a strong focus on Jewish life and learning, Rothkopf said.

"(It gives them) an understanding of what our traditions bring, what our books say, what our wisdom says," she said. "Having that background helps them have something to ground them."

Cohn spends three to four days each year assembling the hut. When the holiday ends, he reverses the process, packing the pieces in a "humongous number of boxes. "

But the work is well worth the effort, he said.

"It's the most wonderful holiday for kids," Cohn said. "I wanted something to inspire them, to connect them to the old ways."

To say that the establishment will be a 'gentleman's club' seems to imply that it is a decent and wholesome activity. If gentlemen want to corrupt their minds, it is evidently okay. Does saying it's a gentlemen's club mean it will be a shirt and tie evening? Should one be a college graduate in order to be let in? Can a gentleman bring his lady (wife) in with him? Can a single fellow bring his girlfriend in also? How will the establishment keep the non-gentlemen out?

This kind of club is not worthy of Framingham. The very fact that such an establishment has to be out in a special part of town shows how demeaning such a business is.

Another proof of the socially sordid nature of such a place is, if a public figure is caught in a scandal, like fraud, or cheating on his wife, and the media finds out he frequented strip joints, they're sure to publish that as another coal to heap on his head. And, if his crime was rape or rape and murder, his frequenting of strip joints is sure to be looked at as one o fthe causes of his crime.

Having places like strip clubs so close to our homes and businesses causes temptation that we don't need. Pornography and its related practices, like strip clubs, denigrate women, make them mere objects of pleasure (or make men such objects on specialty nights) corrupt young men and women and destroy marriages.

Giving licenses to such businesses shows how far we've gotten from recognizing that certain practices do not contribute to society, but undermine fundamental institutions, like marriage, and lead us to accepting and blessing more and more immoral practices as though they were beneficial to society.

My vote is against such clubs and I would hop Framingham's vote would be the same.

REV. ALBERT H. STANKARD,

Team Pastor, St. Stephen Parish Community

Framingham

"I'm offended," said Carl, who is Jewish. "That's a well-known hate symbol. I'm offended as a police officer and I'm offended as a Jewish citizen."

But, Harold Wolfe of Framingham, the creator of A Better Framingham, said the swastika has nothing to do with Carl being Jewish, but rather how he believes the Framingham Police operate like Nazis.

Wolfe said he had no idea Carl was Jewish, but does not plan on changing the website. He said the two photos have been on his site since 2007.

Wolfe said he put the photos up after he was arrested on June 15, 2007, by Officer Greg Reardon and charged with assault and battery on a police officer. Wolfe was found guilty by a Framingham District Court Jury on May 29, 2008, fined $800 and put on probation for one year.

"If he's offended by that swastika, too bad," said Wolfe. "I was even more offended by what they did. They arrested me like the Germans arrested the Jews. I think the police department acted like a bunch of Nazis."

Carl said, "I think he's crossing the line of free speech."