Letters to the Editor (issue 1)
"Rough Justice"
The Gotham Times's editorial of November 22 ("Dent's Anti-Corruption Crusade Long Overdue") paints a regrettably sunny picture of Harvey Dent's media crusade against Gotham's police officers. Last year, 4 policemen were killed in the line of duty. Every day these brave men fight against a crime wave never seen before in the city. Yet Dent slanders all the good men and women in the department for his own political purposes. Sure, it makes a good headline. But in the meantime, fine men are being thrown overboard.
One such case is Detective A. Flass. Mr. Flass put himself in jeopardy to protect Gotham citizens in our darkest hour, in the Narrows during the Fear Toxin release. Mr. Flass suffered severe psychological damage after his exposure to the toxin. He now lives in a mental hospital, with so many other courageous heroes of that day. But Harvey Dent continued to persecute Mr. Flass, charged him with corruption and other misdeeds and secured a guilty verdict by whipping up a media frenzy.
Due to Dent's unfair persecution, Detective Flass lost his disability pension. Flass now sits in a mental asylum, broke, troubled, and discarded by a city that he gave his life for. Dent's witch hunt against good cops must end.
Detective George Black
Vice President , Police Officers Association of Gotham
"Major Letdown?"
It's not enough that the Gotham Police Department is basically an arm of organized crime, is it? Instead of quietly taking their blood money, the GPD every so often has to pretend they are really doing something about the soaring crime rate.
And so we are witnessing another chapter in this farce. Just recently, City Hall started the "Major Crimes Unit." Run by "Gotham's Eliot Ness" Lieutenant Jim Gordon, the MCU is supposed to show that the cops are solving crime and not just profiting from it.
But now, what is the MCU actually doing? They do nothing as good citizens are robbed, knifed, and killed. The MCU is just a PR move by an administration more interested in talking about cracking down on criminals than actually cracking down.
Just last week a gangland execution occurred in an alley where the kids in my neighborhood play. And the Major Crimes Unit did nothing.
When the only force standing up against crime is a caped nutcase with a good silhouette, you know this town is in trouble.
Mrs. Ella Murgayne
Pine Hollow, Gotham
"Just a businessman?"
George Mazzala's continuing quest to cozy up to mobsters, criminals, and thugs is getting out of hand. His last bootlicking column on November 16 ("Lamb Chops with Sal Maroni") seemed like complete satire. Do we need to know that Sal Maroni has cholesterol problems? Or that he loves his daughter so much that he bought a white pony for her?
When will we, as a culture, realize that mobsters are not glamorous individuals bringing back flinty, self-sufficient values? That all mobsters are the heroic, pater familias as seen on cable television? Organized crime has sapped the life's blood out of this city, turning it into a dark, bloody shell of its former self. Unfortunately, George Mazzala's love affair with the mob world is just another obstacle in our fight to rid Gotham of these common street thugs and make the city safe again.
Shame on George Mazzala and The Gotham Times for printing this garbage.
Name Witheld Upon Request
Gotham Heights, Gotham
"Narrows Betrayed?"
I lived through the Narrows Disaster. I witnessed the explosions, the terror, the good people turned into raving lunatics. And then the photo-ops, the politicians making speeches, assuring us that the air and water quality was fine, guaranteeing us the funds to rebuild.
These were all lies. We know now that the Fear Toxin was still in the water or air supply. Today neighbors are still turning into monsters from the toxin. It took weeks for the Health Department to even acknowledge that the Fear Toxin was the cause of the outbreaks.
All the Health Department did was videotape residents to see how screwed up they were by the events. Has anyone seen these videos? Or are they another useless action by a department that's failed us all?
If the Narrows was a richer neighborhood like Ocean Heights, we'd already have a functioning light rail in the neighborhood. Instead, the traffic is unbearable and developers are already muttering about razing the entire neighborhood and putting up pricey "live-work" condos.
When the klieg lights were on us, every politician was ready to visit the Narrows and vow solidarity. But now, the Narrows has been abandoned. Shame, Gotham, Shame!
Retired US Army Captain
Joe Needles
Correction
A classified ad in our last issue was incorrect. The ad should have read:
