A powerful, thought-provoking Letter to the Editor in today’s Times-Tribune by Tony Acquaviva. Thank you!
Times-Tribune, Scranton, PA
March 9, 2015
Appeal to morality
Editor: “So my question to you, with all your resources and your wealth and your power, is there a better way to dispose of garbage in an environmentally friendly way that would not negatively impact our future or our children’s future?”
That was a question Katherine Mackrell Oven posed to Keystone Sanitary Landfill owner Louis DeNaples at a recent public meeting with state environmental regulators. The question was really more an appeal to Mr. DeNaples’ sense of ethics and morality in the face of overwhelming community opposition to the proposed landfill expansion.
His response, “It’s the business we’re in, the business (my family) started.”
Like the familiar movie line “…it’s just business….” If a business passes legal muster regarding all phases of its operations, does that provide absolution of any responsibility toward the communities in which those operations take place?
Seemingly so. The moral and ethical implications of Ms. Oven’s question were completely lost on Mr. DeNaples. The surrounding communities are increasingly pleading, “Enough is enough.”
He should not regard these pleas as just another business and public relations challenge to be overcome, but a direct appeal to his sense of morality and responsibility to the communities that have supported him and enabled him and his family to succeed.
By the gardens they nurtured, my Italian grandparents taught our family love and respect for the very dirt that is the source of our health and the health of our community. They never lost touch with their humble roots. Mr. DeNaples should look deep into his own roots and deep into his own heart and do the right thing.
TONY ACQUAVIVA
ELMHURST TWP.
http://thetimes-tribune.com/opinion/letters/letters-to-the-editor-3-9-2015-1.1845257