Touching citizenship story

Letters to the Editor

Touching citizenship story

I was touched by columnist Tom Eblen’s account of his recent visit to the citizenship ceremony presided over by U.S. District Court Judge Joe Hood. I am sure Eblen’s account brought back memories to others like me who witnessed their parents or other family members go through this impressive and meaningful ceremony.

For me, it happened on Oct. 1, 1945, in the federal courtroom in Charlotte, N.C. My father had endured 17 days in the Buchenwald concentration camp after Kristallnacht, Nov. 9, 1938. Fortunately, we had been able to immigrate to this country on Feb.22, 1940, on one of the last ships to leave Holland. My father found work in Spartanburg, S.C., as a janitor in a textile mill and as a lay rabbi for the Jewish community. A few years later, we moved to Gastonia, N.C.

I can remember my parents studying hard to prepare for the citizenship test described in Eblen’s article, and their being sworn in with others in the courtroom. After the ceremony, we walked across the street to the Piedmont Diner for a celebratory lunch. Having deprived themselves of all but the basic needs, my parents never went out to eat. However, this occasion was so special that it was marked by the first time our family ate out. I will never forget that day.

John Rosenberg

Prestonsburg

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Letters to the Editor

Cringe-o-rama: Mitch McConnell, lower standards for nursing home inspections, UK shoe fetish, us. Us?

By Herald-Leader readers

February 15, 2019 04:51 PM

Cringe-worthy McConnell

In opinion pieces in the Herald-Leader and on the floor of the U.S. Senate, Sen. Mitch McConnell has opposed the Democratic Party’s legislation to reform the methods states use for electing members of Congress. He characterizes the bill as an unprecedented power grab by Democrats. He casts himself as a defender of the constitutional rights of state legislatures to prescribe the time, place and manner for holding elections for U.S. senators and members of the House of Representatives. He pledges that he will not let such a bill come before the Senate for a vote (as an aside, how democratic is a system based on procedures that allow one person to block a bill from being considered by the full Senate?).

As a retired University of Kentucky law professor, I cringe that one of our graduates would make an argument that ignores a basic tenet of constitutional interpretation — read the whole sentence/clause. The Constitution, Article I, Section 4, states: “The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations...”