We should live in peace

We're proud of our students who have been published in the local newspapers!

Learn a lesson in saving money from a fifth grader

Wednesday, March 19, 2008, Neighbor News

To the Editor:

As a fifth grade student at The Wilson School, I think it is important to save money. These days, people have to spend too much money on gas, clothes and even food. Inflation is hitting everyone, Some clothes at the mall that used to be $10 are now $50. Even milk, chicken and snacks have increased in price.

As a result, people have to tighten their belts and spend less on nonessential items. Overspending has caused the sub prime mortgage crisis and will make our economy even weaker if it doesn't stop. Try to spend less on daily items, especially luxury items. If you have the urge to splurge, make sure you have the money rather than buying on credit. Building up debt will only hurt you and the economy.

Olivia Kennedy

Denville

Driving alternatives could help

Thursday, March 13, 2008, Daily Record

To the Editor:

As a fifth grade student at The Wilson School, I have become aware of the problems caused by car exhaust. Pollution emitted by car fumes is destroying wildlife. Too much CO2 is destroying the ozone layer and letting the sun's ultraviolet rays into our atmosphere. Rising temperatures are melting icebergs and destroying the habitat of polar bears and other arctic wildlife.

The UV rays are also hurting humans. If we keep polluting the planet, melting icecaps will cause more flooding.

As a result, we should carpool more, or find less polluting methods of transportation, such as the maglev, which is a magnetically levitating train currently used in Europe and Asia. The next time you drive, please think about the impact you are having on the environment.

Joseph Orrico

Boonton Township

All of us can help turn tide

Wednesday, March 12, 2008, Daily Record

To the Editor:

As a fifth grade student at The Wilson School in Mountain Lakes, I am writing to encourage your readers to take action to stop global warming. Many animals in the North and South Poles are suffering. Evidence shows that animals such as polar bears are dying because the arctic ice is melting. These animals are losing their homes because of humans.

Global warming means that the Earth is getting hotter because pollutants in the atmosphere are trapping the sun's heat. We must stop polluting the air before it's too late.

The next time you buy a car, consider a hybrid. We have to stop relying on gas and look for cleaner energy sources, such as wind farms. Think about how much better our world will be in the future if we stop global warming today.

Frankie Yi

Boonton

Worried about endangered species

Wednesday, March 12, 2008, Neighbor News

To the Editor:

As a fifth grade student at The Wilson School I am concerned about endangered species. If some kind of tropical fish becomes extinct, for example, the smaller fishes in the food chain will be over populated. The animals before the tropical fish in the food chain will have nothing to eat but the very tiny fishes. There are many kinds of animals threatened by extinction such as sea turtles, whales, seals, spider crabs, manatees and more.

In recent years, we've seen an increase in endangered species because more people are killing them for their meat, such as spider crabs. We all must keep them alive for the sake of the food chain. Tell your friends and adults to help protect precious animals. You can help this by reducing your waste. Garbage such as plastic, candy wrappers, and bags often blows out of land fills. It ends up in the ocean where marine animals mistake it for jellyfish and eat it. Many turtles and whales die this way.

The next time you throw garbage away, please stop to think about how many animals you can be harming. Recycle wrappers and plastic bags, or better yet, don't use them at all. Please help the animals from becoming extinct.

Dmitriy Uskach

Mountain Lakes

Rain Forest Depletion - Help to Protect

Monday, March 10, 2008, Daily Record

To the Editor:

As a fifth grade student at The Wilson School, I have learned that tropical rain forests are endangered. Animals are dying because people are polluting forests and cutting too many trees. This is harming jaguars, leopards, cougars, tigers and ocelots.

I urge everyone to help protect our rain forests. Instead of buying teak and mahogany, look at buying woodds like pine or bamboo. Remember to ask what kind of wood it is and where it came from when buying furniture.

Todd Andrew

Green Pond

Opportunities to help plentiful

Sunday, March 9, 2008, Daily Record

To the Editor:

As a fifth-grade student at The Wilson School in Mountain Lakes, I am concerned about the environment. We are not recycling enough, and we are polluting the air too much. We are polluting the air by burning fossil fuel for energy. We are not recycling enough because we think nothing of it, and people say they don't have the time. People don't know how much recycling helps the environment.

I feel that we should recycle paper, bottles and anything else that is recyclable. In recent years we have been seeing more and more garbage piling up in landfills. Our sidewalks often have paper, gum and bottles on them. We are burning too much fuel in factories, and we are using cars too much. If the artic ice keeps melting at this alarming rate, the coastal cities will be flooded with water. Eventually there will be less land to live on.

We all need to help by buying cars that use less gas. We must recycle paper and bottles. We can use old newspapers and wood and renewable sources for fire in the winter to save energy. We should use our car only when absolutely necessary. Find creative ways to use your household items rather then throwing them out. Please consider these simple things we can all do to help.

Shane Brennan Burchard

Flanders

People down on luck need help

Daily Record, Saturday, March 8, 2008

To the Editor:

As a fifth-grade student at the Wilson school, I urge you to think about all of the homeless people in New Jersey. Imagine that you just lost your home in the subprime mortgage crisis, you have nowhere to go and you have to beg for money. You might even have to put your kids in foster care and never see them again. About 8,000 people in New Jersey are homeless.

To help them you can donate your extra clothes to the homeless. You can organize fundraisers to donate to homeless shelters or soup kitchens. If you have extra time, please think about volunteering for the Community Soup Kitchen at 36 South St. in Morristown or any other soup kitchens you might know.

Mckenzie Melius

Boonton Township

Indiana bat important to protect

Daily Record, Thursday, March 6, 2008

To the Editor:

Do you know that there is a federally endangered species in Morris County? The Indiana bat is in peril because people are cutting down too many trees for the development of residential and commercial areas. You may not think it is important to care about a little bat, but there are many reasons why you should.

First of all, last year there were many cases of the deadly West Nile virus, an illness that can only be stopped by controlling the mosquito population. Each summer, ponds and lakes have been sprayed with pesticides, but the virus has been on the increase. Encephalitis is another potentially deadly mosquito born illness. A single Indiana bat can eat several thousand mosquitoes per hour. They also eat insects that devour your garden. Insect destruction of crops has been on the rise as insects grow resistant to pesticides. For all of these reasons, New Jersey needs its bats.

You can help the bats and yourself in two ways. Indiana bats like to raise their babies under the loose shaggy bark of trees like oaks and hickories.

When possible, leave dead trees standing. If a tree must be removed, do so from September through March when bats are not nesting. Secondly, set up a bat house in your backyard. A good bat house is about $40 and can be purchased at a local nursery or online. You can also build your own. Standard bat houses hold about 150 bats, which can eat up to 300,000 mosquitoes each night.

BRENDAN JAMES

Mountain Lakes

Sixth-grade student encouraging everyone to recycle

Neighbor New - January 16, 2008

Dear Editor,

As a sixth-grade student at The Wilson School, I would like to make a point about why recycling is so important, both during the holidays and all year. Did you know that it only takes an apple three days to decompose, but it takes an aluminum soda can 100 years? And a glass object, like a wine bottle, 1,000 years!

It's not a big inconvenience to separate your trash from your recyclables. My school has a paper-recycling crate in each classroom, and every week my class collects them and puts the paper in cardboard boxes that we have from all the lunch deliveries. We tape them closed, weigh them all together (to determine how much we recycle annually), and throw them into the recycling bin outside.

We've found that recycling papers and boxes is really fun to do. Recycling cans and glass is also important.

If more kids try convincing their schools to do the same, it could make a huge difference. We need to conserve the environment and save the planet for the generations to come. We decide. It's in our hands how we want our world to be, so what are we waiting for? Recycle!

Amanda C.

The Wilson School

Gossip

Daily Record, December 17, 2007; Neighbor News - December 19,2007; Star-Ledger - December 20,2007

Dear Editor,

As a seventh grade student at the Wilson School in Mountain Lakes, I am writing to encourage other middle school kids not to gossip.

Secrets can be hurtful if you are left out, but become even more so when they are spread. I know from experience that when people gossip, lies form and kids are teased and made fun of. Some people will give away their friend’s private stories and feelings to become popular or be friends with someone else. This is wrong. It is fine to say, “Oh, I won’t tell anyone,” but the truth is that it is hard to resist telling when another person says the same thing.

Once I told a secret to my best friend. The next morning, the whole school knew my secret. When I questioned my friend, she said it was not her fault; it was the fault of the one person that she had told it to. He had told just one other person, too. Secrets can spread this way, with each person believing that only they and one other person know.

It may seem amusing to find out new information about someone, but I believe that secrets are secret for a reason.

Sincerely, Flannery J.

Right/Wrong Fish

Daily Record - December 12, 2007; Neighbor News - December 19, 2007; Star-Ledger - December 20, 2007

Dear Mr. Snowflack,

As a fifth grade student at the Wilson School in Mountain Lakes , I am worried about what plastic grocery bags are doing to turtles, seals and other marine life. Almost half of debris blown away from landfills is plastic, mostly plastic bags. The bags are often carried by streams or blown hundreds of miles into the ocean. Scientists say plastic bags kill over 100,000 marine mammals, birds and turtles every year. For example, endangered species like the albatross are dying because they think the bags are squid or jelly fish floating on the water. Sailors report that plastic bags are the most common man-made thing they see in the ocean. Even the bags that don’t escape from landfills are a problem - we use them for such a short period of time, but they take hundreds of years to break down.

There is one easy way to help lessen this problem. Keep some big canvas bags in the trunk of your car and use them when you go shopping instead of plastic bags. We can all do our part to help keep the sea plastic free.

Sincerely. Brendan J

Take sea bass off your menu

Response to Right/Wrong Fish

Daily Record, December 17, 2007

To the Editor:

I applaud sixth-grade letter writer Brendan James for his letter about preserving certain fish that are disappearing from our oceans because they are over-fished.

Brendan mentions the ubiquitous Chilean sea bass, which is served in many restaurants throughout the United States.

Most people who order this fish don't even realize that there is no such thing as Chilean sea bass. Chilean sea bass is scientifically known as Patagonian Toothfish or Anarctic Toothfish. It is not from Chile, nor is it a sea bass.

It was named, "Chilean sea bass" some 10 to 15 years ago by a U.S. importer of fish who decided to call it that, because it would not sell in the U.S. as Patagonian Toothfish. It is over-fished because it is in high demand by U.S. consumers who love the name. I agree with Brendan. Stop ordering it.

WILL COFNUK

Mendham

Organ Donation

The Neighbor News - December 19, 2007

Dear Mrs. Fox Tamblyn,

My name is Tyler Schicke; I am a sixth grader at The Wilson School. Through personal experience I have become aware of what I believe is a very important issue and wanted to make your readers aware, the subject is organ donation.

In the past two years two friends of mine have been in a life or death situations and in need an organ donor. One was a 59 year old man who needed a kidney. The other, only 8 years old at the time, needed a liver. Each had very different situations health wise, but both desperately needed the organs. The child received the liver in a shorter time frame; however one year later another donor was needed because of complications. My other friend went through the process of getting on a donor list in many states, and had a long and hard wait before a donor was finally found.

As of Dec. 2007 there are 97,900 people in the US on a waitlist for an organ; each month over 300 new transplant candidates are added. Becoming a donor is easy; all you have to do is Register with your state donor registry, designate your decision on your driver’s license, and sign and carry a donor card.

Becoming a donor is an easy thing, and could help save so a life. Therefore, I urge your readers to do a little research and help save the life of someone else’s friend. During this holiday season, please consider giving the gift of life.

Yours Truly,

Tyler S

Homework

The Daily Record - December 20, 2007

Dear Editor,

As a sixth grade student at the Wilson school, I’m concerned about homework.

I think that homework should be optional and students can choose if they need homework for that day or not, of course the kids would have to be truthful or this system wouldn’t work. I think home work should be optional for many reasons, an example would be that some students worry too much about homework, and get overstressed that it will affect their grade even though they have no need no need to do homework because they already learned and remember every thing from class. The stress will effect how they do on tests and their social life. In my opinion, I feel that making homework optional will reduce this stress and cause kids do better on tests and improve their social life. This would make a better society for kids to live in. Therefore I think homework should be made optional for the sake of children.

Sincerely,

Zachary L

League Appeals to Neighbors

Daily Record - November 22, 2007

To the Editor:

As a 13-year old student at the Wilson School in Mountain Lakes and football fan, I am writing about NFL games being played overseas. This year, the Miami Dolphins and New York Giants played a game at Wembley Stadium in London.

Despite an excellent turnout, I implore the NFL to drop any remaining plans to play in Europe and Asia. The plane ride from England and back messes up the players' sleeping patterns and gives them an unfair disadvantage the next few weeks. I believe that the league should capitalize on nearby foreign markets, like Canada and Mexico.

The Buffalo Bills are in the process of asking the NFL for permission to play a preseason and possible regular season game in Toronto, where a lot of their fans are located. However, the main factor that will back the deal up for Buffalo is a game played two years ago in Mexico, between the San Francisco 49ers and Arizona Cardinals. The contest drew 100,000 fans, setting a new NFL record. If the league wasn't so obsessed about appealing to our neighbors across the pond, an area overrun by soccer, the game might be spread to millions of Latino and Canadian children,

Alex

Succasunna

Global Warming

The Neighbor News - January 2,2008

Dear Ms. Tamblyn,

As a sixth-grade student from The Wilson School in Mountain Lakes , I strongly encourage you to write more op-ed pieces about global warming and to tell people how to go green.

One way we can tell that global warming is occurring is that here in Boonton , NJ , we haven’t had “real” snow in three years. Also, whenever we have rain, it is often a drenching downpour and that causes local places to flood. There have also been an increased number of drought periods, and there are more instances of heat waves than previously during the summer months.

I think that there are not enough alternatives to fuel consumption and overuse of electricity. Some ways to fight global warming are by using solar panels, hybrid cars, wind and water power, fuel cell power, not driving as much and trying to stay local when possible, improving our mass transportation systems, not leaving cars idling, and using a computer’s “sleep” function instead of the screen saver.

Sincerely,

Aaron S

Dear Ms. Anne Frank,
I am writing to you to thank you for giving me the opportunity to read your most personal thoughts and feelings in your diary. Whether you realize it or not, your diary has affected the lives of many people, including mine. Up until now, I never really thought much about how cruel people could be to one another and how hate could do so much damage. Your diary has taught me that everyone’s life is important, and how we must all work together to stop hate from ruining our world.

Like you, I have been keeping a diary since I was very young. After I read your diary though, my writing has become more serious. I used to just write short summaries about what I did and where I went each day, but now I write more about what is going on in the world and how it is affecting me. Your diary has inspired me to write about more important things. I think this is because in some way, I grew older and wiser when I read your diary. I have to tell you though, that the writing in my diary could never compare to the atrocities you wrote about. My life is a piece of cake compared to what yours was like.

Recently, I have been thinking about some of the acts of terrorism that have been going on in the world. Like during the Holocaust, people are still so hateful of each other that they feel the only way to fix a situation is to kill the person they do not agree with.

I cannot understand why some people feel that this is the answer to all of their problems, just like I cannot understand why some people hated you and your family just because you were Jewish. After all, your family was just like most other families in the world. You had loving parents and people who cared about you. Your family was not a threat to anyone and you never did anything that damaged the world in any way.

A few years ago, a group of people filled with hate planned an attack on the World Trade Center and killed many people. Again, they chose to kill people who were just living their lives. The people they killed were not a threat to anyone, and most of them had no idea why this horrible thing happened to them and their families.

Your story inspired me to not just sit back and accept the world as it is. I believe that in this world there are many, many, more people who want to do good rather than do bad. The majority of people want to solve their differences in peaceful ways and unfortunately, they do not do enough to stop the minority of people who prefer violence as a way to solve their differences. When I read your diary, it made me think about how the Holocaust affected actual people. This is much more effective than the way the Holocaust is treated in history books. I read your diary over a year ago, and I am surprised that even now, I am still greatly affected by the letters you wrote.

No one has the right to pass judgment on, or to torture and kill a human being. I hope that someday I will be able to inspire people the way you have, by writing books encouraging everyone to stick together and work hard to stop the hate and violence in our world.

Keep the sea free of plastic bags
January 31, 2007
As seen in the Neighbor News

As a fifth-grade student at the Wilson School in Mountain Lakes, I am writing to let your readers know what plastic grocery bags are doing to turtles, seals and other marine life. About 47 percent of debris blown away from landfills is plastic, mostly plastic bags. The bags are often carried by streams or blown hundreds of miles into the ocean. Plastic bags kill over 100,000 marine mammals, birds and turtles every year.

Endangered species like the Albatross are dying because they think the plastic bags are jelly fish floating on the water. Sailors at sea say plastic bags are the most common man-made object they see in the ocean. Even the bags that don't escape from landfills are a problem. We use plastic bags for a very short period of time, but they take hundreds of years to break down.

Keep a big canvas bag or two in the trunk of your car and use them when you go shopping instead of plastic bags. Keep the sea plastic free!

No reason to demote beloved Pluto
December 21, 2006
As seen in the Daily Record

The International Astronomical Union wants to demote Pluto. It changed the definition of what a planet is and Pluto does not fit it anymore.

To begin with, Pluto fits the dictionary definition of a planet, which is a round sphere, like the earth, that revolves around the sun and has its own gravity. The IAU is saying that this is no longer the definition. Instead they say that a planet is a close to round sphere with sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes that shape. Since Pluto does not fit such characteristics, some astronomers have attempted to demote Pluto from being a planet. I feel that if they demote Pluto they should also demote Neptune and Jupiter because they do not fit the new definition either.

A second reason Pluto should not be demoted is that it is the most beloved planet among school aged children.

Pluto is the same name as Mickey Mouse's dog. Bottom line: Pluto is a body that orbits around the sun like the other planets.

Dear Editor,
As a sixth-grade student at the Wilson School in Mountain Lakes, I am writing to urge Neighbor News readers to take action to help polar bears.

Why are polar bears in trouble? Global warming is melting the ice around the poles. Scientists predict that unless something drastic reverses global warming, there majestic animals will be extinct by the turn of the century, or possibly sooner.

Ice shelves are melting and spreading farther apart, forcing polar bears to swim farther to find food. For the first time there are reports of bears drowning. Lack of ice is decreasing the seal population, so bears have to travel to different places, using more energy. Females lack sufficient fat to reproduce and feed healthy cubs.

Within the past two decades, the frozen ice season has decreased by three weeks. Just last year, 53 cubic miles of ice melted, compared to only 20 cubic miles a few years ago. There are only between 20,000 and 25,000 polar bears left worldwide.

We can help stop the extinction of polar bears and many other species by doing a few things. First, try to do things like can opening, leaf raking and snow shoveling manually instead of using electrical appliances. Next, turn down the heat and wear that sweater that Great-Aunt Mildred knitted.

Finally, make your next car a hybrid. By conserving energy we will help polar bears by reducing the pollution caused by the use of fossil fuels. Also, write to your senator and congressman to ask them to support legislation to stop global warming. Why should polar bears suffer when we can save them?

Dear Editor:
I think it is ridiculous that teens will go to store that are “high end” and spend fifty dollars on a shirt just because it says a brand name on the label. Discount stores sell almost the same thing just much cheaper. Teens shouldn’t really care so much about the brand of the clothing. Teens now are so much more materialistic then they used to be, its all about who has the newest purse, nicest shoe, and most expensive shirt. I’m a 14 year old and I think its better to spend fifty dollars on three shirts rather than on one.

Sharyn, Chester

Global Warming Harms the Earth
February 7, 2007
As seen in the Neighbor News

As a fifth grader at the Wilson School in Mountain Lakes , I am writing to encourage your readers to take action on global warming. Global warming causes a rise in Earth’s temperatures, causing various harmful effects to the environment.

Lately, while flipping through your newspaper, I spotted something in the opinion page that caught my eye. It was a global issue and the topic was global warming. I was inspired by that letter to write this letter. Here are some facts about global warming. Pollution from automobiles, trucks and factories belching thick black smoke out of their smokestacks pollute the air by releasing harmful chemicals it. The chemicals that are released cause something called the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect traps heat under the Earth’s atmosphere, causing the Earth’s temperature to rise. The results of this alter the climate of different environments around the world. For example, ice in Antarctic regions will melt, causing unhealthy effects on the animals that live there. Melting of ice in the Antarctic regions will also increase the amount of water in the ocean, flooding sandy beaches and eventually, coastal towns and cities.

Therefore, I urge you to take an action to stop global warming. Write to your senator or congressman, and use a bike, public transportation, or carpooling to reduce one car on the roads.

After Gerald R. Ford's unfortunate and recent death, many have loosened their tight views on the "full and unconditional" pardon Ford gave to Richard Nixon on Sept. 8, 1974. As a 12-year old student at The Wilson School in Mountain Lakes, I am writing to encourage more of your readers to change their opinion of Nixon's pardon.

At the time, Nixon's pardon was widely considered unjust, or possibly a conspiracy between the two men. Ford did not pardon Nixon as part of an agreement. In fact, Ford said, "I am indebted to no man and only one woman - my dear wife..." People argued that Nixon should be tried for his crimes just like any other citizen. Ford, however, did not issue the pardon for Nixon's sake.

The highly controversial proclamation was issued for the benefit of the country; it was a way to end what Ford called the Watergate nightmare. Ford's vision was that his pardon would help the divided country heal its scars left by the Watergate scandal. Ford also knew that years of trial would split the country even more.

Therefore, if your readers still resent Ford's decision to pardon Nixon, I urge them to reexamine the topic with an open mind and realize that Ford was a great man, one of integrity and honesty. He had the best intentions for America, all of which can be proved by understanding his motive for pardoning Nixon.

As a sixth grader, I am concerned about the amount of homework that middle school children have to cope with. Everywhere, kids are getting their freedom (however small it is) taken away by the tyranny of math problems, tests, and English papers.

Today, kids are getting over two hours of homework per night. Even parents say that their kids are getting even more homework than they did back when they were in school. Alfie Kohn, an author on homework and human behavior, writes about a study that shows too much homework does not raise grades and can cause stress. Professors Gerald LeTendre and David Baker research also shows that more homework does not mean higher test grades.

Homework has become unreasonable. t keeps us up all night and from doing what we want like playing games and sports. Basically homework takes away our free time to have fun!

Children and adults who agree that kids are getting too much homework should start a writing campaign to schools, Boards of Education and the New Jersey State Department of Education.

I am a sixth-grade student writing to you about the war in Iraq. I think that we should have pulled our troops out of the war zone long ago. When we went into Iraq, it was to take Saddam Hussein out of power, even though he had nothing to do with the attack on the World Trade Center. When we got there, though, we realized how bad the situation was. After that, we thought we could win, unaware of the danger we were getting into.

Now, we are being threatened daily by insurgents, and we should stop the suffering of our soldiers and pull out of the war. If we pull out, however, the country will go into a civil war. This will not be particularly good for the world.

As you know, the president wants to send 21,000 more troops to Iraq. I think we should split our forces into three huge battalions. One would go to Israel and Lebanon, one would go to Afghanistan, and the third would stay in Iraq.

This holiday season, more than 77 million kids surfed the Internet, more than ever before.

As a 10-year old, I would have liked to be one of them. Playing on-line games, talking to my friends online, and meeting new people from all over the world would be awesome. However, my mom will not let me because gaming and chatting expose our computer to all sorts of dangers.

The Internet should be a fun and interesting place, instead it's full of worms, spyware, and macroviruses that could delete files, corrupt your hard drive, and steal important personal information.

In addition, botnets, as explained in John Markoff's article, "Attack of the Zombie Computers Is a Growing Threat, Experts Say," can "automate and amplify the effects of viruses and other malicious programs." They can also use other computers remotely to commit Internet crimes.

One of the reasons kids play online is to make new friends. But, how can you be sure that the people you meet are friends? There are predators, who pretend to be nice and friendly in order to extract information from kids, like who they are and where they live.

I think there should be more security for on-line games and kids' chat rooms. I urge your readers to write a letter to their congressional representatives advising them to pass laws that increase Internet security. In addition, if they have children, they should supervise their computer usage and make sure they know what they are doing online. The Internet can be a fun, but dangerous place, so we must use it wisely.

As a sixth-grade student at the Wilson School, I am writing to alert your readers to the plight of homeless dogs. Pounds and shelters often don't have room for older dogs, and many are put to sleep. If you need a family pet who is calm and loving, yet fun, adopt an adult dog. They are generally quiet, learn quickly, are housetrained, and settle down easily. In addition, they don't make the demands puppies do, but rather give you a good night's sleep, and offer lots of love.

If you already have a dog, please ponder these facts: One unaltered female dog and her unspayed offspring can produce a multitude of puppies over just a few years. Also, neutered males get into fewer fights and fewer altered dogs get hit by cars than unaltered dogs. Please consider neutering or spaying your pup.

If you just have to have a cute puppy to cuddle, head for the rescue groups. Sadly, purebreds sometimes live shorter lives due to inbreeding. The cute puppy at the mall may be bad tempered or sick from cramped cages and other bad conditions. While rescue dogs could need special care, there are many who do not. When adoption is not possible, donate money, collars, leashes, beds, and other useful doggie items. They will be greatly appreciated by rescue groups, shelters, and pounds. Countless dogs have sad stories. Maybe you can make their lives happier.

As a 12-year-old student at The Wilson School in Mountain Lakes, I am writing about the Mexican pesos controversy that is taking place at several Pizza Patron restaurants throughout the Southwest. Pizza Patron is a chain of pizza restaurants in Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado. Since 60 percent of its customers are Latino, the restaurant set up a promotion where you can bring in Mexican pesos and exchange them for pizza.

This has been very controversial among the U.S. population, as everyone is pointing the finger at Pizza Patron for catering to "illegal Mexicans." The restaurant is getting death threats from hundreds of people.

I believe that Pizza Patron is not guilty of promoting illegal immigration. Just because it is trying to gear a promotion toward its fan base doesn't mean that all Latinos are illegal. Countless businesses --including one of the biggest store chains in America, Wal-Mart --have accepted pesos as currency even before the Pizza Patron scandal. Canadian money also has been used in the United States. The United States is a melting pot of nationalities, and we have to learn to live in peace and harmony.