Antidote to fear is love
Coronavirus is causing an even more widespread epidemic of fear. This fear is real. Fear of death and suffering is a universal human experience, regardless of faith or culture. Fear itself is infectious, and feeds on the unknown and the unseen. This kind of fear will not solve any crisis; it will leave us paralyzed.
How can we roll up our sleeves to help stop the spread of fear? The antidote to fear is love, which will give clear thinking and positive action.
Some will walk into the line of fire and tend to the sick and dying at risk to their own life, perhaps laying down their life as the initial “whistleblower,” Dr. Li Wen Liang, did in Wuhan, China. Many others will spend untold hours on disaster preparation, including those who serve in health care, law enforcement, education, and other areas of public service.
But the rest of us can also act in small or big ways. We can pray for those who suffer from the disease. We can act rationally and prudently to prevent its spread. We can comfort and reassure those who are fearful. If prevention measures prohibits public gathering, we can pick up our mobile devices to reach out to the isolated. We can pray for government leaders instead of criticizing and second-guessing them.
And we can remind one another of these words of Jesus: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life … Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”
J. Heinrich Arnold
Pastor, Bruderhof
Rifton
The malefactors
Two bad actors are blocking the economic resurgence at TechCity. Alan Ginsberg is the malefactor that all of Ulster County loves to hate for botching the campus. Less obvious is the once-beloved IBM, which is still protecting the purity of its brand from the harmful industrial solvents it dumped, contaminating 66 acres of groundwater on the east campus. Both NYS DEC and Region 2 EPA label IBM’s chemicals as hazardous materials.
IBM and Ginsberg have compounded their ill effects by handcuffing the deed to legally-filed self-protecting restrictions. In 1996, one year after closing shop, IBM filed an attachment to their deed that obligates future owners and users of these 258 acres to seek certain permissions and abide by lists of restrictions.
After 65 years, IBM has been unwilling to complete the cleanup of its hidden mess. Their protective covenants will remain in place until 2025, after which they will be renewed automatically every 10 years. Like Dupont in West Virginia or GE in New York, IBM practices pollution with impunity. Legally, this goliath has us by the short hairs. Their sin of omission continues to wound this community and our efforts to develop the economic value of this property. Our competent Town and County officials have been coloring between the lines drawn by IBM itself to no avail. It is time to shame IBM’s legally despicable behavior and prevail upon them to clean up their mess completely and immediately, nullify their deed restrictions, and leave town.
Regis Obijiski
Town of Ulster
Pass the police reforms
It is time to safeguard justice for all Kingston’s citizens. I call on the Common council to move meaningfully and without undue further hesitation toward passing Rise Up Kingston’s Police Accountability legislation. This proposed and robust legislation:
• Creates transparent appointment guidelines and procedures for members of the commission,
• Ensures appropriate training requirements and procedural guidelines for commissioners’ conduct of duties, and
• Revitalizes and revolutionizes the complaint process for citizens wishing to file complaints without undue hardship or fear of retribution.
As an elected councilman on New Paltz’s town board, I am charged with the additional responsibility as one of five members of New Paltz’s police commission. In this role, I feel the gravity of ensuring that our police are accountable to serving all of our citizens and visitors equally, with respect, fairness and justice under our laws. It is certainly one of the most difficult responsibilities I face.
I believe that real accountability to department policy and best practices supports police officer safety as well as public safety. And, most importantly, it promotes mutual trust between the police and the community they serve. I believe that this agency-community partnership ultimately leads to reaching the goals of community policing. Clear accountability and representative oversight and support makes the whole community safer, including our police officers.
Let’s pass Rise Up Kingston’s police accountability legislation, and take this courageous step toward more transparent practice and more representative community engagement in policing. It’s time!
David Brownstein
New Paltz
Empower yourself
I am not a healthcare practitioner but simply a researcher.
According to Orthomolecular News Service, the coronavirus can be dramatically slowed or stopped with a few simple, affordable, antiviral, daily supplements.
They include the following:
Vitamin C: 3,000-plus milligrams can be taken throughout the day in divided doses. (“Whenever I am getting sick I take 2,000 before going to bed. Sleep is when the body does its best healing. Excess vitamin C will be peed out.” — Linus Pauling)
Vitamin D3 IU/day: start with 5,000, then reduce to 2,000. For myself I also include vitamin K2. (“I get most of my vitamin D from the sun, 10 minutes a day on the hands and face.” — Jack Soltanoff, chiropractor/ nutritionist.) Magnesium: 400 mg. daily in citrate, malate, chelate, or chloride form. Zinc: 20 mg daily. Selenium: 100 mcg daily (I actually get my selenium from about five Brazil nuts a day.)
It is most important to maximize the body’s natural immunity when a virus attacks the body. Prevention is easier that treating severe illness.
Whenever I am fearful of an illness (like Lyme disease) I educate myself. I become a researcher. It is most empowering. Please read the following article published on www.orthomolecular.org by Andres W. Saul, editor for a more complete recap of this writing.
There may be more viruses like this in the future. Our immune system is our best defense, always working to protect our body.
Barbara Adrienne Rosen
West Hurley
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