Support Metzger
There are some very important decisions that the Town of Rosendale will be making, both now and in the years ahead — about the Williams Lake Project, about managing the town’s finances as state funding dries up, and about finding a balance between attracting development and maintaining clean water, safe roads, and adequate town services.
These are difficult issues. And the good people of Rosendale have been blessed with stronger than average opinions about most things, which means that there are also plenty of strong feelings on all sides of every issue.
But there is a best outcome for every one of the issues Rosendale faces. The key to finding the best outcome is to hear and respect all points of view, to find the values we hold in common, and to work together to find the right way forward. Leading this process will be hard work.
I am running for Rosendale town supervisor because I believe I am the right person to do that work. I am currently the Rosendale deputy supervisor and a member of several town committees, and an active community volunteer. I have a reputation as somebody who does the work and gets things done, by listening to people, and often by reaching across party lines. I have been working with the Williams Lake developers, trying to help this project along the difficult path between bringing jobs and business into town, while preserving water quality and lessening the burdens on our town infrastructure. You can read more about my experience and work at jenmetzger.com.
I believe the role of the town supervisor is to protect the well-being of the people of Rosendale, promote a vibrant, sustainable local economy, and responsibly manage the business and finances of the town. I want people to be proud of their town government and feel like it is something they are part of.
Please support my nomination for supervisor at the Rosendale Democratic Caucus, Monday, Aug. 8 at 7 p.m., at the Rosendale Rec Center. Any registered Rosendale Democrat can vote at the caucus. Your vote at the caucus is just as important as your vote in November!
Jen Metzger
Rosendale
Teen GLO party
In the recent past, there have been concerns raised in your paper about teens not having enough to do. To ameliorate that problem, the Woodstock Youth Theater/Stages in the Arts is sponsoring a Teen GLO party at Backstage Studio Productions, 323 Wall St., Kingston on Friday, Aug. 12, 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. Admission is $10 at the door and the first 120 teens will receive GLO favors. There will be a cash bar for water, soda and juice with all proceeds going to support the youth theater after-school program. Music will be provided by PeakDJ. This is a substance-free event. For more information, call (845) 679-9797.
Woodstock Youth Theater has a 30-year record of excellent programming for young people, so this event continues that tradition. And we are now accepting registration for the fall season.
Marcia Panza
Woodstock
Can’t silence God’s truth
All week long, New York newspapers have published articles celebrating gay marriage, with front-page photos of men (or women) kissing each other. Almost everyone appears to be rejoicing; nevertheless I wonder how happy these couples really are.
I would like to believe that they are happy, and yet I know that marital bliss can be attained only when God’s order — that is, marriage between one man and one woman — is adhered to. Such marriages were long considered to be the bedrock of civilization, but civilization as we know it is now doomed, because what was foundational is being destroyed and redefined.
By declaring God’s laws irrelevant, we are sending a wrong message to our children. Instead of congratulating ourselves on being open-minded and tolerant, we should start worrying about the confusion and emotional trauma we are bestowing on our children and youth.
My family was expelled from Germany at a time when Hitler had perfected the art of propaganda. They knew that if you tell a lie often enough, it eventually becomes accepted as truth. This is exactly what happened in Germany, and it is happening in our country now. Lies are proclaimed as truth, and any opposing voice is silenced.
I pray that the many people in our country who still believe in right and wrong will have the courage to express themselves publicly on this important issue. A national referendum to decide what direction we want for our future is needed. Please pray for our children and youth, who are fast becoming confused by the behavior of us adults.
Let us return to the time when our nation put its full trust in God. In the end, God’s truth cannot be silenced, and will be victorious.
Johann Christoph Arnold
Pastor, Woodcrest Community
Rifton
Scrooge Nation
In 1843 Charles Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol as an indictment of the gross inequities created through the Industrial Revolution. Scrooge, the embodiment of the rich and powerful, had no conscience for those whose work made his fortune.
Today we have our own Scrooge(s). Wealthy individuals, corporations and politicians feel entitled to flaunt their wealth and power while demanding that the rest of us foot the bill. We fund their wars with lives and money, give tax breaks to companies whose windfall profits have not maintained nor created new jobs (recently, 2.9 million U.S. jobs have been eliminated, while 2.5 million new jobs have been created overseas) and lose our homes to unscrupulous financiers and their shady deals! Latest demand: give up Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, unemployment benefits and unions. Most remarkably, some overwhelmed and/or unknowing middle-class working Americans actually support these efforts, thus eliminating their own rights! Please pour the tea!
Like Dickens’ classic tale, we have our ghosts too: Americans dying from poverty; Americans going to bed hungry; seniors made to choose between food and medication; war veterans returning home to no job opportunities and diminished/eliminated services; union busting.
Like Scrooge, our society has evolved to believe that the accumulation of wealth and power is the ultimate goal. Let us hope that, again, like Scrooge, they will realize compassion and fairness are the true measures of success! Ultimately, we are the ones who must rise to the challenge and demand that the wealthy and powerful grow a conscience and accept their responsibilities as Americans. Our ghosts of yet to come: the death of our country’s credibility, both home and abroad, as a functioning democratic republic of, by and for the people.
Sydni Washington Downey, John Downey, Gladys Brodsky Plate
Kingston
Join the family! 
