Call to arms
Reading the letters from Gaetana Ciarlante recently, and the columns by Donna Greco, I have an inspired idea! Maybe these great American gals could run for president and vice president! Sarah Palin could be their campaign manager! Sure, Gaetana didn’t win the election last year for town supervisor, but now that Donna has her column, and Gaetana’s writing just about every week, they’re going to get us all to put on our “dunce caps” and “listen up” to their sage words of wisdom, fear and loathing, and we will, together, take this country by storm, starting right here in Saugerties! We, the Tea Party, the right-wing know-it-alls … we, the ungrateful, the very unhappy, uninformed … we the ignorant, the proud, activist base of the Republican Party will be heard, and we will undo what was done in the 20th century, by our parents and grandparents. To hell with them: we know better!
We are patriots on steroids, growing in numbers ever since our hero, Reagan, started us on the path of privatizing everything, so we the worthy can keep what is ours! We are severely right wing, we call ourselves “Conservatives” but that is just to fool the dunces. We are really radical, and will stop at nothing until we destroy all taxes, and all “public goods.” Post Office? No thanks. That’s no longer what Ben Franklin had in mind, according to Gaetana! Help for the poor, elderly, unemployed, partially employed, the working poor, the disabled … losers is the word that covers them all! Let them sink or swim on their own. We want to keep our money, and we hate seeing a nickel of it go toward any good for those unworthy parasites! They didn’t save, now they are old, and they want us to pay for their safe housing and their heat? Or they work 60 hours a week for minimum wage and can’t keep their body and soul together — that’s the way the cookie crumbles in America! Or maybe they are illegal immigrants, stealing food from the mouths of our babes. Yes, our grandparents were immigrants, but they were different; they deserved this great country!
Sorry, if you don’t own your own property, please do not join our cause. We despise renters, because everyone knows that in order to love your home, in order to be a decent respectable person, to belong to a town and contribute anything, well … renters need not apply! To own something is to love something, otherwise, why bother? All they do is bring us down and demand services. We don’t care what happens to them, just let them sink or swim, but we don’t want anything to do with them or their hoards of children. “Gaggles” of children, as Donna Greco so aptly called them, crowding out our precious chosen ones who really deserve an education. Those hoards can’t really be educated anyway, and there are so many of them, that we can’t even get to the school anymore to pick up our little darlings. Causing traffic jams, these children of people living in (gasp) “affordable housing”! It’s them or us! You pick! Not that we don’t love children, like Donna says, some of us have spent our lives helping them! But enough is enough!
In addition to eliminating any and all fruits of the welfare state (housing subsidies, food assistance, unemployment assistance, Medicare and Medicaid, and Social Security, to name the most noxious), we will bring sanity to our gun laws once and for all, and eliminate every single, solitary shred of a law limiting who can get a gun as easily as we get a loaf of bread. And for God’s sake, there should be no limit on how many rounds of automatic shots we can get off in a few short seconds. As Donna Greco told me at a Town Hall meeting recently, that whole Newtown shooting rampage never happened! Somehow they got us all to put on our dunce caps and believe that story! No EMTs were allowed in the building! Cover-up! It’s another Obama, left-wing trick to take our guns away. Somehow, I don’t know, I guess they are all in on it, all those people in Newtown. So, we don’t have to defend guns in the face of that horror, because we have declared it never happened! Now, we will be free to demonize any and all gun-less hippies, or whatever they are, probably commies, who feel they don’t need guns, never had guns, and don’t want guns. We want our guns! And, with Ciarlante/Greco as our Ladies Liberty, we will have them!
So, take heart all of you who see so much awfulness every day! You, who are armed to the teeth, waiting for some thug or some homeless person to come and plunder your treasures! You’ll be ready! And, while those liberals are enjoying the spring flowers, we will be organizing! While they are supporting and enjoying their public library, and the Post Office, and museums, and parks, and loving their neighbors, and getting by and not complaining about taxes, even though they also pay taxes, the dummies, and don’t seem angry about it, we will be mobilizing for the great victory. While they are looking around at all the “good,” we see all the bad, and we will be eliminating it.
Laurel Lindewall
Saugerties
So it was in Stuyvesant Town
In regard to the issue of affordable housing and our “tax burden,” a crucial point is that the rent that affordable housing tenants pay goes to the landlord/developer who does pay taxes. And can the town not insist that, once developers are given a tax break to build affordable housing, they should pay adequate property taxes over whatever subsidies are involved? I myself was a renter for over 30 years in Stuyvesant Town in Manhattan, with “multiple” children — that is, two, one of whom went to public school, the other being ill. It was an early example of affordable housing and worked very well, giving fine shelter to many people, including myself, who could not have afforded to live in the city otherwise.
If renters don’t take care of a landlord’s property, isn’t it up to the landlord to see that they do, or they can’t remain there? So it was in Stuyvesant Town.
As for “flooding our schools,” children have to go to school somewhere, and there’s no reason to suppose renters have more kids than those who already live here. Renters do not necessarily have a “gaggle” of children, and the landlord of any apartment, whether “affordable” or not, surely puts some limit on how many people can live in it. So it was at Stuyvesant Town.
While more than “50 percent of village residents” may be renters, there is no reason to suppose that they “don’t pay taxes”: all are, of course, obliged to pay state and federal taxes.
I believe strongly in the principle of the “social contract,” which underlay the formation of our government: that is, that we citizens cede some of our individual prerogatives to the federal government so that it may act for the larger interests of us all — as in providing affordable housing. I am glad that some of my taxes go for this purpose, and thus wrote to the town clerk that I support affordable housing.
As for the supposed risk that affordable housing “would alter the character of Saugerties,” I think it’s high time it was altered to be more “mixed” than it is.
Phoebe Hoss
Saugerties
Ham and Schirmer deserve reelection
My name is Richard Petramale. My brother, Frank, and I are the proprietors of Saugerties Carpet. I am a member of the Saugerties School Board and have been a member of the board for the past eleven years.
During the past six years I have had the pleasure of working with fellow board members Tom Ham and Chuck Schirmer and have found both men to be intelligent, knowledgeable and experienced in school matters. They are hard-working, dedicated individuals who are not afraid to roll up their sleeves and extend the unlimited volunteer time necessary to resolve school issues, whether it’s contract negotiations, special board meetings, committee meetings, PERB hearings, or any other duty that calls. One of the best things about these two men is the fact that neither one of them have a personal agenda.
I am proud to serve with both of these men and ask all who believe and trust my judgment to please support Tom Ham and Chuck Schirmer as well on May 20. Thank you.
Rich Petramale
Saugerties
A voice for children
I am writing to endorse Krista Barringer’s candidacy for Saugerties School Board.
I first met Krista through Girl Scouts, and I was impressed with her commitment to helping children learn valuable skills, develop their leadership potential and cultivate personal and social responsibility.
As town supervisor, I worked closely with Senator Bonacic’s office on many projects. Krista was the Senator’s Ulster County Liaison. She was professional, knowledgeable, and willing to go the extra mile to seek out creative solutions and resources.
Krista currently serves as deputy clerk of the Ulster County Legislature. She works collaboratively and in a bi-partisan manner with all of the legislators that serve Ulster County. She does research on issues to assist the legislators, and works with county, state and federal officials to bring resolution to legislative and constituent concerns.
After I got to know her, I learned that she has a master’s degree in social work, and previously held the position of director of the Ulster County Youth Bureau, for 10 years. She is the mother of three children in the Saugerties School District, and is actively involved in Scouting and other youth activities. I am very impressed with her dedication to the youth in our community, her enthusiasm, her honesty, and her sense of fairness in all that she does. She is bright and capable and does things for the right reasons. She’s a good listener, a strong advocate, and she really cares about children developing to their full potential.
I feel very fortunate that we have a good field of candidates to choose from in this election.
Krista’s education, work experience, volunteerism and personal characteristics make her and excellent choice for Saugerties School Board and I encourage you to vote for her.
We need Krista, as a voice for children in Saugerties.
Kelly Myers
Saugerties
Join the family! 
