Letters to the Editor
A new Christmas poem
The embers glowed softly, and in
their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I
  cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my
  chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in
rest.
Outside the snow fell, a blanket of
  white,
Transforming the yard to a winter
delight.
The sparkling lights in the tree I
  believe,
Completed the magic that was
Christmas Eve.
My eyelids were heavy, my
breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I
would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it
  would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to
dream.
The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't
  too near,
But I opened my eyes when it
  tickled my ear.
Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite
  know,
Then the sure sound of footsteps
outside in the snow.
My soul gave a tremble, I struggled
  to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see
  who was near.
Standing out in the cold and the
  dark of the night,
A lone figure stood, his face weary
  and tight.
A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty
  years old,
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in
  the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and
  smiled,

Standing watch over me, and my
  wife and my child.
"What are you doing?" I asked
  without fear,
"Come in this moment, it's freezing
  out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow
from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold
  Christmas Eve!"
For barely a moment I saw his eyes
  shift,
Away from the cold and the snow
  blown in drifts..
To the window that danced with a
  warm fire's light
Then he sighed and he said "It's
  really all right,
I'm out here by choice. I'm here
every night.
"It's my duty to stand at the front of
the line,
That separates you from the darkest
  of times.
No one had to ask or beg or implore
  me,
I'm proud to stand here like my
  fathers before me.
My Gramps died at 'Pearl on a day
  in December,"
Then he sighed, "That's a Christmas
'Gram always remembers."
"My dad stood his watch in the
jungles of 'Nam',
  And now it is my turn and so, here
I am.
  I've not seen my own son in more
  than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he's
  sure got her smile."
Then he bent and he carefully
  pulled from his bag,
The red, white, and blue... an
  American flag.
"I can live through the cold and the
  being alone,

Away from my family, my house and
my home.
I can stand at my post through the
  rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to
  eat.
I can carry the weight of killing
  another,
Or lay down my life with my sister
  and brother,
Who stand at the front against any
  and all,
To ensure for all time that this flag
  will not fall."
"So go back inside," he said, "harbor
no fright,
Your family is waiting and I'll be all
  right."
"But isn't there something I can do,
  at the least,
"Give you money," I asked, "or
  prepare you a feast?
It seems all too little for all that
  you've done,
For being away from your wife and
  your son."
Then his eye welled a tear that held
  no regret,
"Just tell us you love us, and never
  forget
To fight for our rights back at home
  while we're gone,
To stand your own watch, no matter
  how long.
For when we come home, either
  standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought
  and we bled.
Is payment enough, and with that
  we will trust,
That we mattered to you as you
mattered to us."
Thomas M. Hall
Bath

Picture the future without the Dana Lyon

To the Editor,

To the residents of the Village of Bath: Are you having difficulty making a decision regarding preservation of the Dana L. Lyon vs. construction of an Eckerd Drugstore? Try this:

Stand on the corner of West Washington and Liberty Streets (near the Centenary Methodist Church), look across the street at the magnificent school building and imagine that it has been turned into residential apartments and condominiums with a park-like setting of trees, pathways and benches. There is a peaceful atmosphere with minor traffic and very little noise.

Now visualize this: The school building is gone; a box drug store is constructed in its place. There are now 75 parking places, two or three entrances and exits, macadam replaces the quiet park areas and Eckerd signs beckon.

Is this the future for the Village of Bath?

Attend the December 14 Village Board meeting and let our elected officials know that you are against demolition of the Dana L. Lyon School building.

Margaret A. Hogan Bath U.S. needs to respect its own legal traditions

To the Editor,

Bush's war of choice against Iraq has demanded patriotism from our people. Success in war requires people pulling together and displaying unity of purpose. If, however, the very reasons for our nation's plunge into war's orgy of death and destruction are set upon a foundation of deceit, lawbreaking and incompetence, the definition of patriotism deserves close scrutiny.

The oath of loyalty taken by military personnel is not to a flag, a party or a president but to "defend the Constitution against enemies foreign and domestic." Timothy McVeigh was evil as al Qaeda, yet our judicial procedures operated within the framework of the Constitution honoring human rights and the right of habeas corpus to bring that terrorist to justice.

Before G. W. Bush, our nation was regarded in high esteem for those same rights and judicial procedures now under attack through legislation supported by Congressman Kuhl. The Military Commissions Act (HR6166) dangerously expands the power of our incompetent and deceitful president while depriving those accused of terrorism a just forum to ascertain guilt or innocence. HR6166 abrogates provisions of the Geneva Conventions and denies the accused the right of habeas corpus. Legislators who support HR6166 are unpatriotic and disloyal to the Constitution and the founding fathers' efforts to perpetuate a just society.

If we want justice regarding terrorists but abandon respect for law and human rights in the process we become obvious hypocrites in the eyes of the world with our flag symbolizing tyranny and fear rather than freedom and justice.

Wayne Wells Cameron Mills