Letters
 Congratulations
May I congratulate and compliment you on your magazine celebrating The
Top 100.
The whole issue is excellent. Your choices of Carmel and Peter O’Reilly,
Larry Reynolds, Fr. Bill Leahy and Kathleen O’Toole show you have
top notch spies in Boston.
The O’Reillys are true artists, loyal to Ireland and to the Irish
theater. The Irish American Partnership has been quietly supporting them
for several years. Larry Reynolds [Comhaltas Ceolteori Eireann] is a good
friend. His music has supported many of our events without charge. Fr.
Bill Leahy [Boston College] replaced a brilliant Fr. Noonan and built
Boston College with little controversy and total honesty about the church’s
recent troubles. Kathleen O’Toole [Police Commissioner] has more
talent in her little finger than the entire city. I can’t get over
how she deals with controversy.
New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd is an all time favorite of mine
and the “Those We Lost” feature added a respectful note to
our heritage.
I had to write and tell you these things. My sincere praise and admiration.
Joseph F. Leary, Jr.,
President, The Irish American Partnership
Boston, Massacusetts
Irish-American of The Year
That was a fine article on Ray Kelly, accurate, measured and authentic.
Writer Keith Kelly captured the man.
There is, however, another dimension which may be of interest –
Ray has a superb understanding of business and business people. I was
privileged to serve on the Crimestoppers Committee of the New York City
Police Foundation during both of Ray’s tours of duty. (We reward
anonymous tipsters who help solve crimes). His ability to motivate our
members and to understand the views of entrepreneurs and financial executives
was consistent and impressive. He would do just as well as a bank president
as he does as the top cop.
Stanley Goldstein
Scarborough, New York
It was good to see new names and faces in the top 100. Especially gratifying
to me was the recognition of the Irish in Space and Director Jim Kennedy
at Kennedy Space Center as I spent 30 exciting and hectic years with NASA.
Disappointing was the selection of Ray Kelly as Irish-American of the
year. I didn’t recognize the Ray Kelly in your write-up as the same
guy who, pandering to Bush and the Republicans, had arrested peaceful
protesters without due process, denying them their civil and constitutional
rights.
J. P. Callan, Sr.,
Cocoa Beach, Florida
It is a great honor to be selected amongst Irish America magazine’s
Top 100 honorees. Unfortunately, due to prior commitments my schedule
prevented me from attending the gala awards dinner. Thank you again for
the wonderful honor and please extend my congratulations to all the other
honorees.
Mariah Carey
NewYork, New York
Those We Lost I just want to thank you and the staff at Irish America
magazine for your profile on my son, Lt. Michael P. Murphy, U.S. Navy
SEAL who was killed in Afghanistan on June 28, 2005. It was very well
written and I wanted you to know how pleased Michael’s family was
with both the picture and the article. I know I’m talking as a father
but Michael was special and the world is a lesser place without him in
it. God bless you all
Daniel J. Murphy
Received by e-mail
Citizenship Query
I subscribe to Irish America magazine and read in your October/November
2005 issue, that if you have parents or grandparents born in Ireland,
then you can apply for Irish citizenship. My sister and I sent for our
grandmother’s birth certificate from Ireland and now have it in
our possession.
We sent for the application to apply for citizenship and in the process
of looking over the paperwork, I noticed that it says to clarify the position
of our government. After consulting with our congressional office we were
informed that if we moved forward and applied for Irish citizenship it
may jeopardize our American citizenship.
I don’t think applying for Irish citizenship is a very good idea
for an American.
Mary Ann Thomas
Visalia, California
Editor’s Note: While the U.S. Government does not encourage the
acquisition of dual citizenship, it does recognize the right of certain
eligible citizens to choose to do so. Applying for or obtaining Irish
citizenship in no way affects the privileges you enjoy as an American
citizen and your congressional office was misinformed to tell you otherwise.
Correction
Irish America wishes to apologize to Nick Flynn, author of Another Bullshit
Night in Suck City. We mistakenly identified him in our April/May issue
as being the Nick Flynn who, while on a visit to the Fitzwilliam Museum
in Cambridge, England, fell down a flight of stairs smashing a set of
three-hundred-year-old Chinese vases. We sincerely regret the misidentification
of Mr. Flynn. |
