HarryHurley.com
 
THIS IS THE UNEDITED
LETTER WRITTEN TO
THE ATLANTIC CITY PRESS BY GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP RESIDENT
IYATA SHYMANSKI
 
Read on and see how much of it never made it to print ... But, it will be seen now!
 
This decent and honorable family has found out the hard way exactly what kind of fraud Bob Levy is.
 
 
 
 "BOB LEVY....WHAT A ROLE MODEL!!!"
     
"I don't understand how a man like Bob Levy can show his face anywhere.  Up until recently, I was a 26 year resident of Atlantic City from birth.  My name is Iyata M. Shymanski.  My family personally became associated with Bob Levy in June of 1999, when my now 21 year old brother (Private 1st class James. J. Anderson) tried out and made the Atlantic City Beach Patrol.  At that time Bob Levy took my brother under his wing saying my brother reminded him of his own son.
     So, with the bond that the two of them began to share with my brother looking up to the then Chief of the Atlantic City Beach Patrol.  It was no wonder, Bob Levy was one of the first people my brother told when he got accepted into the Army.
      Growing up in our household, the first military role model he had was our father, Jerome "JJ" Anderson, a marine veteran who served 2 tours in Vietnam.  Our father received a purple heart as well as the Navy Commendation medal with Combat "V" for valor (that was reported in the AC Press 09-03-87).  Along with his stories of how the war was, we also lived with the remnants of that war...namely the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder that my father suffered from the Vietnam War.  This consisted of many emotional outbursts and bouts with depression that led to many counseling sessions with the Veterans Administration and stays within Veterans mental health facilities.
     After his graduation in Fort Benning, GA and returning from his work in New Orleans with Hurricane Katrina, my brother switched from the Army Reserve to the full-time army and was advised he was being sent to Iraq.
     Due to the demise that the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder that was brought onto my father, communicating with him was very difficult. 
     So, who did Private 1st class James Anderson turn to with his elated news???  You guessed it....Mayor Levy!!!
I am now speaking for my brother who is still currently serving in Iraq and has been notified as Levy's actions via e-mail. 
     My brother advised me how disappointed he was in Levy stating to me that Levy sat him down before his deployment and pulled out his "green beret" (which we have now all learned was not a US military issued Green Beret at all.) and told my brother that the Green Beret was the expectations he was giving to my brother.  He told my brother he wanted him to be just like him and follow in his footsteps. 
       My brother left for Iraq with every other sentence consisting of "I'm gonna make Levy proud."  My brother has even called the Mayor from Iraq to tell him how things were going over there.
      With such a devotion to Levy, it was only natural when Levy was running for office on the Democratic ticket, that my entire family switch parties to vote for him as well as continued support through posting signs and word of mouth.
     My brother is an Infantryman in the US Army (1st armored division, 2nd brigade battalion, 1-6 Company, 2nd platoon) serving in Iraq since February 2006.  That's what he is, no more no less.  He lives by honor and code which was instilled in him by the US Army.  Even at his young age, he has not disgraced anyone like his former role model Mayor Bob Levy. 
      Bob Levy has not only misrepresented himself to his family, friends and supporters.  He has disgraced himself.
      And as far as his claims of pressure from PR agents and dealing with Post Traumatic Stress....give me a break!  All that is, is the burden of the lie he has been carrying over his head for the past 42 years.  If he wants to know about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, he should spend some time with an HONORABLE veteran who suffers from this or better yet spend an hour in a Veterans Mental Health Facility  Maybe he would learn a thing or two before he jumps from his Green Beret lie to his concocted PTSD claim.  Bob Levy is a disgrace and has made a mockery of Atlantic City.  How can we ever believe another word that comes out of a man's mouth that has lived this dishonorable, shameful lie for so long?  Why doesn't he just step down from office rather than continue to disgrace himself, his family and former supporters?
 
Iyata M. Shymanski
Galloway Twp.