The views and opinions expressed in our letters section are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Hudson Valley One. You can submit a letter to the editor here.
We will laugh again
The decade is almost over. Here is to a blessing of friendship. The gravitational pull of friendship has a cumulative effect on the quality of our lives — strong support and affection is a magical elixir that bubbles with equal parts of helping, encouraging, sharing with, and of course loving one another.
We cross our fingers and hope that as we inch our way into and through this new decade, the continuous soft crackling of liveliness and effervescence that we generate bursts open with a joyful spirit as we help each other realize a 2021 which provides a fresh start of personal uplift and planetary well-being.
Let’s begin the New Year celebrating the release of the past while at the same time embracing the wholly now while our inner eyes gaze toward the future. With a heartfelt “peacefulness always” mantra to ring true, our love must abound without limits or restraint.
So remember — there is light at the end of this 2020 Covid-19 tunnel, and with continued fingers crossed there’ll be a noticeable lessening of f-bombs uttered. We want to see things as we are and not feel resigned to see things as they are. Please cozy up with warm wishes and see the morning in each other’s eyes, while serving up good cheer to all in your sphere. As a result, we’ll sing in the sunshine and laugh every day again.
Neil Jarmel
West Hurley
Time for We the People
We are a nation founded on the principle of “All persons are created equal and entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” We the People have allowed the diminishment of our freedoms and opportunities by the growth of government and “identity politics.”
The genius and gift of our nation has been the rise of individual achievement and creativity and a culture predicated on The Law of Love, as political leaders try to disguise their malfeasance of huge budget deficits, self-aggrandizement, destruction of small businesses, communities and attacks on the elderly, disabled and handicapped. We have allowed them to corrupt our educational systems and media with the separation of rights and responsibilities with the elites as the know-bests, not the deplorables responsible for defining our freedoms, culture and economic and health decision-making and opportunities.
It is time for We the People to wake up, fight for our rights, communities and values guaranteed by the gift of our Constitution and the Law of Love, or we will be reduced to a segregated and elite-driven nation. The choice is ours to what we want to gift our future generations and the world.
Paul Jankiewicz
Ulster Park
Bridge for sale?
In response to a taxpayer questioning [Woodstock town supervisor] Bill McKenna’s accepting a 2.25 percent raise, McKenna said, “My contracting business, I put it aside because the town needed me to get through this pandemic. Occasionally, I will go and help my brother from time to time on weekends doing a couple little things.”
Bill McCloundy, Canada Bill Jones, William (Bill) Thompson. What do you think; does it fit the “Bills”? You tell me.
Howard Harris
Woodstock
How members of the Brannen-van den Berg VFW Auxiliary to Post 8645 in New Paltz offer support
Established in 1947, the VFW Auxiliary is the nation’s oldest veterans service organization auxiliary.
Members of the VFW Auxiliary are the relatives who have served in overseas combat from all wars.
We serve the veterans of this country and our communities in honor of the sacrifices and commitment of every man and woman who has served in uniform.
It is our mission to assist the VFW in any way we can. We share a common goal of serving veterans, their families and our communities.
Some of the ways members offer support are:
• By being a voice for veterans, locally and on Capitol Hill; we are instrumental in assisting the VFW pass or block legislation that impacts veterans and their families.
• By assembling and mailing care packages to active-duty troops.
• Spreading the word about PTS and military/veteran suicide awareness.
• Participating in Stand-Downs and assisting homeless veterans.
• Visiting veterans in VA hospitals, nursing homes and veterans homes and donating clothing and personal care items.
• Offering youth scholarships and educating youth about the American flag.
• Spreading patriotism and educating our communities about America’s patriotic holidays.
• Attending naturalization ceremonies.
• Buying holiday gifts for children in care.
New members are always welcome. Learn how you can get involved at www.vfwauxiliary.org or send us a message on our Facebook page New Paltz VFW Auxiliary or by email to tunkelh@new paltz.edu.
We look forward to hearing from you.
RomaJane Simpson, President
Lori Tunkel, Treasurer
Cindy Dates, Secretary
Brannen-van den Berg VFW Auxiliary to Post 8645, New Paltz
Water savings benchmark
We did it! We used less than one-million gallons of water each day for the first time in recorded history.
In 2015, we began taking a harder look at our community’s consumption of municipal water. We have been minding various metrics and operating procedures to see how we might save more water and, therefore, ratepayer money. One simple action involved counting the number of days in a year that our water plant produced more than one million gallons in a day.
In 2015, there were 80 days where more than one-million gallons per day were used and 86 days in 2014. After we started thinking more about consumption, we averaged using more than one million gallons for 13 days in 2016 and 2017. Then in 2018 and 2019, we continued to improve and only used more than one million gallons for two days and then for one day respectively.
Then for 2020, we did not have a single day where we used more than one-million gallons. Our daily average for the year was approximately 710,000 gallons per day (493 gallons per minute). We averaged 725,000 per day in 2019.
Records at the water plant date back to 1996. In every single year from 1996 through 2019, there was at least one day where New Paltz’s municipal water system used more than one million gallons.
The pandemic contributed to softness in demand for water in 2020, but that was partially offset as we completed an important multi-year project in late ‘19 and early ‘20. We installed nine master meters where water entered the SUNY New Paltz campus from the village instead of only keeping track of individual building or ballfield use. We believe this update led to more accurate accounting of campus water usage.
Village staff and engineers, as well as the SUNY New Paltz facilities department, worked jointly on this master meter plan. The $470,000 project was co-funded by the NYC DEP and SUNY New Paltz.
If we were still using the older metering system, New Paltz’s ratepayers and the water fund would have taken an even tougher hit in 2020. As reported previously, we are in the midst of evaluating how to fund the cash flow shortfalls caused by fewer students living on campus. Less revenue impacts our water fund’s ability to meet debt obligations that funded the recent upgrades to our water filtration unit at the plant.
Our fingers are crossed that we generate more water revenue in 2021 in order to service our debt and preserve our high-quality credit rating. We will also continue to attempt to limit using more than one million gallons daily.
Mayor Tim Rogers
New Paltz
Develop within the zoning law
I am a homeowner in West Hurley, and very involved and concerned with what has been going on regarding the Cedar East proposal.
With the push for more development throughout our area, we need to all move forward responsibly and grow in ways to provide housing for new residents while considering the situation of the current residents. It is with this in mind that the Town of Hurley, along with a committee of residents and professionals in the field, worked hard to create an updated multifamily zoning law. The purpose of this law is to ensure that the proper type of multifamily housing is built in the area.
The Cedar East proposal is a perfect example of what is not wanted in our community and why the zoning laws were put in place. However, it seems to me that the town is being threatened by this developer. Now more than ever the town needs to stand firm supported by the zoning law. What happens now will set a precedent.
Under the new zoning, a multifamily project of this magnitude is not permitted on a narrow residential street like Cedar Street. Should this area be developed, as proposed, there will be an immense increase in vehicular traffic on the narrow streets to what will be dangerous levels. Many older people walk the narrow streets for exercise, others walk their dogs, children play and ride their bikes. Since there are no sidewalks, all this activity occurs on the narrow, quiet streets.
This proposed development also presents environmental concerns. There is an issue of water, since all homes in the community have wells. There is no doubt that this proposed development will affect the aquifer upon which townspeople depend on for their home water supplies. We also all have septic systems and issues with drainage during heavy rains. This will also be negatively impacted by this development.
Even before the zoning update, this project failed to be acceptable on many levels. With the updated zoning, this type of project should not even be considered!
I am very supportive of my town in retaining an attorney to defend the multifamily law and make sure this zoning law is upheld and put into effect.
Jackie Oster
West Hurley
Governor signed a bad law
I just read your report that police stopped a vehicle with a 39-year-old driver and one passenger, an eleven-year-old girl. The car took off, the cops gave chase, the car crashed, the girl died, and the cops are being investigated because of another bad law our governor signed.
I hope you provide editorial comment that for our brave lawmen to have done anything less would have been inexcusable.
Our great cops were the good guys. The driver gave them no choice. I have no doubt our finest mourn the little girl’s death and have seen something horrible most of us are spared from seeing.
The governor signed a feel-good, progressive-initiated, cop-hating bad piece of legislation.
Paul Nathe
New Paltz
Letters make a difference
On Sunday, December 13, members of our community gathered for Amnesty International Mid-Hudson’s (AIMH) annual Global Write for Rights on Zoom! We hold this event every year close to Human Rights Day on December 10.
Thank you to the community members who joined our AIMH chapter to write letters for the seven Amnesty International (AI) cases, and to the local performers who made our event entertaining and special. We joined hundreds of thousands of people worldwide all writing letters on behalf of prisoners of conscience, human rights defenders and others at risk of human-rights violations.
This year we are urging ICE to release families from detention, advocating for the rights of two college students in Turkey prosecuted for celebrating LGBTQ+ rights and demanding safety for a woman in Colombia threatened for defending the Amazon.
This is the largest human-rights letter-writing event in the world. All our letters together will make a difference. As in past cases in AI’s 59-year history of human-rights activism, prisoners will be freed as a result of our combined efforts worldwide.
We are inviting Hudson Valley One readers to continue to participate until the January 31 AI deadline. Go to write.amnestyusa.org for more information and a sample letter for each of the seven cases. Hand-written letters are more effective. Each letter you write can change a life; our united voices cannot be ignored. After you write your letter(s), please email amnestyhudsonvalley@gmail.com for AIMH to record it with our chapter, and we will report it to AI.
If you would like to join our AIMH chapter to support our efforts to fight for social justice, we meet the third Tuesday of every month at 6:15 p.m. via Zoom. For information and the Zoom link, please contact Diana Zuckerman at 389-3779.
Thank you to Hudson Valley One for the coverage.
Rosalyn Cherry
Amnesty International Mid-Hudson
New Paltz
5G untested and unsafe
This past week, Andrew J. Campanelli Esq., the top lawyer in the country on telecom issues who has completed 1000 litigations and won 75 percent of them, completed an analysis of Woodstock’s zoning law regarding personal wireless facilities. The 45-page document, at a cost of $8500, was paid for by benevolent contributors in league with those of us who have been calling for a Woodstock town ordinance against untested and biologically unsafe 5G technology. 5G is being deployed around the country without the informed consent of an unwitting public.
We measured small cell transmitters at two locations in Kingston (Albany/Ulster Avenue) and one location in Port Ewen, with our RF meters. These 4G/5G small-cell transmitters put out twice the radiation of 4G macro-cell towers, which are the big ones you see sticking above the trees.
The problem is that unlike the macro towers, which are usually placed outside of town and up high and still documented to cause cancers and other biological effects within 1200 feet, the more powerful small cell transmitters could possibly be placed on a telephone pole or a street lamp 20 feet or less from someone’s bedroom, as is the case with the Port Ewen unit. These small-cell transmitters would be required to be placed every 200 to 300 feet from each other to complete the 4G/5G network, the pillar of the “Internet of Things” (IoT) matrix that will interface with every electronic device and the internet “Cloud” and “Artificial intelligence” (AI).
These developments would usher in a 1984. Even George Orwell could not have imagined and has the telecom industry drooling at the prospects of astronomical profits awaiting the completion of their matrix network. This will come at the expense of the biological health, including compromising the immune function, of every living being chronically exposed to the unceasing 4G/5G artificial man-made radiation.
It is for these reasons and many more documented with peer-reviewed scientific studies, which the telecom industry has admitted they have none, that the Campanelli analysis was undertaken in the hope to convince elected town representatives to take important preemptive steps to protect its residents.
Contact your town officials (town boards, trustees, councilman and alderman) who have all received a copy of the Campanelli analysis this week and let them know you want your zoning laws revised in accordance with Campanelli’s recommendations to protect against the planned 4G/5G small-cell invasion (thetruthsayerswoodstock.com).
Steve Romine
Woodstock
Created to create
The more I learn about modern art, the less I know about dance.
Sparrow
Phoenicia
Warm up to winter
Every fall for several years the New Paltz Climate Action Coalition and Interfaith Earth Action brought us the Welcome to Winter Energy Expo. Unfortunately, due to Covid-19, the 2020 Expo was canceled. However, on January 14 at 6.m., the first Warm Up to Winter, an energy showcase. will be held virtually.
Providers of services and products for homeowners, renters and landlords will answer all your questions about free home energy audits, rooftop solar, geothermal and air-source heat pump installation, as well as community solar subscriptions (a great way to save money and get 100 percent renewable electricity).
Energy Navigators from The Cornell Cooperative Extension, a new sponsor this year, will address grant programs and financing for renters and low- to moderate-income households. Attendees will also get tips for DYI projects to reduce home-energy consumption. Spanish speaking Energy Navigators will be available. Register online at https://www.newpaltzclimateaction.org/ or on Facebook.
Mark Varian
Gardiner
Only a heartbeat away
The saying “politics makes strange bedfellows” expresses the thought that political alliances in a common cause may bring together those of widely differing views. Joe Biden’s choice of one-time rival Kamala Harris to be his presidential running mate, has certainly proven the saying to be true.
It should be noted that Kamala once said she believed the Tara Reade accusations of sexual assault against Joe. I wonder if any of the talking heads at CNN and MSNBC will ask her why she was willing to be Biden’s VP despite this belief. (I’m only kidding…I don’t really wonder.) With this in view, it seems appropriate, no, necessary, since Harris is only one heartbeat (or one scandal) away from the presidency, to recall how the unlikely but inspirational relationship between Joe Biden and Kamala Harris began: (The following seven-stanza recollection should be sung to the tune of the Monkees’ hit song “Valeri.”)
Ka-a-a-a-mala … her name is …Ka-a-a-a-mala
She’s the gal who questioned Jo e about his racist, busing views
What she said to him made the front-page of the Daily News
They call her Ka-a-a-a-mala
The Dems love Ka-a-a-amala
(oh yeah come on)
She said I knew a little girl from Californ-i-ay
she was among the Black children bussed, to her school every day
They call her, Ka-a-a-a-mala
Joe chose her, Ka-a-a-a-mala
What she said next surprised everyone as you will see
Because what she told us all was “That little girl was me”
We love her Ka-a-a-a-mala
Joe calls her Ka-a-a-a-mala
The Dems told Joe he needed something to win the race
So, Joe said he’d choose a Black woman with a pretty face
Her name was Ka-a-a-a-mala
Joe chose her Ka-a-a-a-mala
And now this little girl who was a west coast resident
Is the first black woman nominated Vice President
Joe chose her Ka-a-a-a-mala
Dems love her, Ka-a-a-a-mala
So, if you are a little girl who wants to make big news
just be willing to abandon all your long-held views
You’ll be like Ka-a-a-a-mala
Joe chose her Ka-a-a-a-mala
Her name is Ka-a-a-a-mala
the little girl was Ka-a-a-a-mala
Joe chose her Ka-a-a-a-mala
Dems love her Ka-a-a-a-mala
George Civile
Gardiner
There is no climate vaccine
As an extra precaution this year, Santa affixed pontoons to his sleigh and saddled each of his reindeer in a flotation device — although in December it is safe to assume that an emergency landing would be on the ice pack.
However, each year there is more open water in the Arctic Circle than in the previous year, from August through October. NASA has been taking “minimum ice” satellite photos in September since 1979 (very disturbing).
The good news (?) is that the proverbial Northwest Passage is open for business during August through October. And in 2018, the first container ship crossed from the Pacific to the Atlantic over the Arctic Sea.
To help appreciate this achievement, you must understand that container ships, often with an excess of 10,000 containers on board, travel at a speed of at only 17 miles per hour. This shortcut could save close to 3000 miles (!) each way, depending on origin and destination. However you do the math, it is a huge saving in time, labor and fossil fuels.
The sad news is that the long, dreamed-of opening of this passage is really reflective of a nightmare in progress. The polar regions of this planet are warming at a far greater rate than the models and scientists predicted. The loss of snow cover, which is highly reflective, allows the polar regions to absorb far more heat, making the whole equation non-linear.
Compounding this, is that the warming of the Arctic will thaw the permafrost and emit huge amounts of methane (many times more damaging than carbon dioxide).
All of this will, we hope, help us to appreciate the importance of global cooperation, incredible action on the part of the new U.S. administration and a commitment of each and every American because there is no climate vaccine.
Dan and Ann Guenther
New Paltz
Scotty, beam me up now
I’ve seen and read the epitome of ridiculousness. A stimulus package agreed upon. However, whoever put all those ridiculous items in the bill that are fluff has not an inkling of the cares, concerns, and suffering of the American people. A $2000 amount would easily have been agreed upon without the following totally absurd allocations! My God! We’re in a pandemic! Thousands and thousands of lives lost and the following being spent on fluff. What planet do our politicians/government live on?
• A statement of policy regarding the succession or reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, part of an entire section on Tibet
• The establishment of two new Smithsonian museums
• $2 billion for Space Force
• $35 billion for clean energy research and development
• Giving West Virginia a national park
• The decriminalization of various minor violations, including the transportation of water hyacinths, alligator grass or water chestnut plants across state lines and the unauthorized use of the Swiss coat of arms, the 4-H Club emblem, the “Smokey Bear” character or name, or the “Woodsy Owl” character, name or slogan, or “The Golden Eagle Insignia”
• The establishment of an anti-doping program for horse racing, as well as a new racetrack safety program.
A teacher’s comment wishing name withheld, “The only way the extraneous, stupid stuff will stop being added to bills is when the politician or lobbyist who included it/them has his/her name announced or published for all to know. Who thinks new Smithsonian museums are necessary right now? Who thinks ten million given to gender programs in Pakistan is needed right now? For God’s sake, are people insane? The immediate need is to take care of American citizens, not send our money all over the world!”
How can most of the folks in Congress identify with all the suffering, going hungry, fear, anxiety current now? Huge incomes, private jets, secretaries, excellent food, health insurance paid for, little refrigerators packed with top-of-the-line ice creams, and at least three-quarters of the lot millionaires or billionaires? Even the long delay to decide a crime.
Urgent actions should have been the norm! Very poor leadership all around.
I’ve seen it through the years, rags to riches and the poor forgotten. I’ve known hard times raising my kids alone. Never knowing where, when rent will be paid. I’ve known that crippling fear/anxiety. In a country where wealth is screamed at us daily, you question, “Why can’t I even get $2000?”
Bernie Sanders is correct. Every family under a certain income $2000 a month until pandemic ceases. This would be the right thing to do!
We’re in a killing pandemic, for God’s sake!
Yes, Scotty, beam me up now. It is more than I can bear.
Joyce Benedict
Hyde Park
Wreaths Across America thanks
On December 19, 2020, Wreaths Across America National Wreath Day, over 900 wreaths were placed to Honor and Remember all Veteran’s laid to rest at the New Paltz Rural Cemetery and the Ulster County Veteran’s Cemetery. With each of the sponsored veterans’ wreaths placed on December 19, an American hero’s name was spoken out loud so they would not be forgotten.
On behalf of the Wreaths Across America organization, The New Paltz Rural Cemetery, The New Paltz VFW Post 8645 and the VFW Auxiliary, we want to thank you for your support of the mission to remember the fallen, honor those that serve and their families, and teach the next generation the value of freedom:
Ulster County Composit Squadron NY 395 Civil Air Patrol, Local 279 Carpenters Union Sisters in Brotherhood, Copeland-Hammerl Funeral Home, Michael Torsone Memorial Funeral Home, Ulster Savings Bank, New Paltz Rural Cemetery board and staff, Rycor HVAC, Tillson American Legion 1219, PDQ Printing, Heart of the Hudson Council of Girl Scouts, Rip Van Winkle Council of Boy Scouts, Hudson Valley Drones, Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan, Ulster County Veteran Service Agency director Mark Cozzopoli, Stewart’s Shops, New Paltz Fire Department, New Paltz Police Department, Ulster County Law Enforcement, SUNY New Paltz Police, VFW Post 8645, Hudson Valley One, Elting Memorial Library, Southern Ulster Rotary and the Town of New Paltz highway department.
Our raffle donors included Marie Girard, Dolly Wodin, Guy Wright, Mohonk Mountain House, New Paltz Golf, Hudson Valley Renegades and John Casulli.
Special thanks to all the individuals who sponsored wreaths and supported our various fundraisers. We could not have reached our goal of honoring and remembering our Veteran’s without you!
Thank you to the volunteers who came out at the crack of dawn to unload the delivery truck!
Thank you to all the volunteers who came on wreath day to lay wreaths in honor of our veteran’s! We express our tremendous gratitude to all who made this possible.
Ron and Kathy Mironchik
Cindy Dates
Wreaths Across America
New Paltz
Listening to youth
Today’s winter slant of bright sunlight coming through the window is in contrast to what I’m feeling as a member of the human species. We are unlike other animals on the verge of extinction because we know it’s coming. The rest of the animal world don’t seem to reflect on the ending of their existence. This may not be true and we humans don’t see or understand their awareness and desperation.
I have never seen something living want to die except humans. Not the cockroach or the savanna lion offers their life willingly. Whereas homo sapiens offer others their lives in wars, as well as endless life-threatening tasks, to comfort and protect other humans who are more wealthy or more powerful.
We humans know about our coming extinction, but are ignoring this truth. This can be gauged by observing our behaviors instead of listening to our own verbal rhetoric. We know that avoiding global warming is one of the common denominators for our extinction, the other being war. Yet, we act to end wars as ineffectively as we do at stopping the emptying of the world’s oil wells.
Some say this is bad. This kind of inaction makes room in our human psyche for false hope. Most humans are hoping a major event or spiritual entity will change our destructive course. Perhaps a scientific genius will come up with a vaccine to cure climate warming.
Maybe a woman will be elected to president, with a no-war platform. In the back of my mind I believe this and I don’t think I am alone. In my life experience, hope is an idea that takes minimal effort and is often driven by fear. I know stopping climate warming will take enormous efforts of hard work and it will challenge every level of our beings, physically, spiritually and culturally. These actions have little relationship to hope, but will be seen as hope, if we are successful.
2020 has held an abundance of fear from the pandemic and global politics. The resolution I intend for 2021 is to listen to our youth. I had a recent conversation with a college-age woman who spoke about global warming the way I once heard college students in my youth speak about ending the Vietnam war. Her desperation at how our leadership is ignoring global warming, moved me to listen. Sadly, I recalled that a few years after I came home from war, the youth who’d protested had hung up their peace symbols, put on neckties, and fell in line with their parents who’d paid for their college education. As I watched their hair turn gray, I saw them ignore the string of American incursions and terrorist wars in aberrant silence.
Global warming is not a war. If nothing can live on or off a battlefield, war will end. Our youth is aware their end of life years will add up to fewer than their parents. My New Year’s resolution is to youth listen more than my parents did.
Larry Winters
New Paltz
Response to Susan Slotnick
I can’t imagine that the family of this man’s victim could every see him as the great guy Susan [Slotnick] does. She showers him with loads of compassion and not one word of compassion for the victim. If her daughter had been his victim, would some journalist calling him “a good-looking kid” at the time of the rape and murder be of any comfort to her? Or would it rip open scars that will never heal in the first place?
Is the reason of his being on drugs a legitimate mitigator? It always seems to be a good excuse when people say, “Well, he/she was on drugs at the time.” The drugs did not commit the crime. He did.
And to call the crime “one moment” of his life! For the victim, it must have seemed like an eternity. For the family, who will never see their loved one again, they get a life sentence. No hope for a change in fortune for them.
Barbara Davison
New Paltz
Wonderful neighbor
We moved to the hamlet of Bloomington in the midst of a pandemic. Needless to say, these were not ideal conditions for meeting new neighbors and making new friends. We have managed to exchange names with a handful of locals and pleasantries from the social distance of our front porch, but that’s about it.
The one exception being our next-door neighbor. During the snowstorm of late December, he proved himself to be the epitome of a good neighbor! Our new battery-powered snowblower proved to be pretty useless with over twelve inches of snow to contend with, so my spouse and I were out shoveling for a long time. When we came back out to tackle more of the mounds of snow, we discovered our neighbor Lionel had come over and snowblowed our driveway without even asking or telling us. Later in the day, he came over and offered to do a little more! We were not the only recipients of his generosity that day, as he pushed his snowblower to help in front of the post office too. In the spring, he offered to trim our hedges, he advised us regarding moles in our yard and he invited our 20-year-old son to come swim in his pool anytime.
His kindness and generosity are quite remarkable! We are looking forward to having a post-vaccination party to meet the rest of our community, but feel so grateful that we have the good fortune to have the best next-door neighbor ever.
Tracy Grant
Bloomington
Join the family! 
