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.
Bullying ladies
Lord save us from the “holier than thou” bully crowd. I am not a fan of Cuomo, but I am glad that up to this point he is not being bullied by arrogant self-righteous politicians and a certain subset of women.
He was “boorish” but thoroughly in keeping with how certain men have acted in the past. It is sad that these “accusers” obviously thought so little of themselves that, instead of responding back in a feminine way to a boorish man, or quitting, they stewed in their anger and “hurt.”
By not defending themselves at the time over these “unwelcomed sexual advances” and for speaking out now for their moment of fame, they have demeaned all women who have suffered real sexual harassment and violence.
Susan Puretz
Saugerties
Recycling plastic is not the answer
For a long time, most of us have been very diligent recyclers and feel okay about buying things packaged in plastic because we recycle. Unfortunately, I have learned via a college course I am taking that as consumers, we have been intentionally deceived by the manufacturers of plastic to believe that if we recycle, we are being green and can feel good about all that we do for the environment. The truth is that at best, plastic can be downcycled maybe once to a lower-grade product, but ultimately it will either be incinerated, landfilled or shipped to a developing country where they are even less capable of dealing with it.
Plastic manufacturers using fracked gas can make virgin plastic cheaper than anything that is made from recycled material. These manufacturing plants are commonly called cracker plants because they are cracking ethane, which is a biproduct of fracking. As the oil companies see their market share shrink as we move more and more to renewables, their Plan B is to make money by making plastic. Once plastic is created, however, it is with us forever. It never biodegrades, but only breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces of plastic until they become microplastics. Research is now showing us that even in remote locations, plastic particles are raining down on us every day. Plastic rain is the new acid rain. Plastic is in the air we breathe, the water we drink, the fish we eat and even in the plants we grow.
It is time to say no to all single-use plastic. I am not just talking about straws and plastic cutlery, but we all need to take a close look at our groceries and even the clothes we buy. Most clothing is now made of polyester and sheds microfibers when it is worn, washed and finally discarded. Even if your curbside waste hauler collects all forms of plastic, it does not mean it is actually being recycled. Become informed. Watch the movie The Story of Plastic.
The easiest and most direct way that you can get started is by reducing your own use of single-use plastics. Single-use plastics include plastic bags, water bottles, straws, cups, utensils, dry-cleaning bags, takeout containers, plastic packaging and any other plastic items that are used once and then discarded. Buy in bulk. Buy “naked” fruits and vegetables. Buy other things in paper, cardboard or cans whenever possible. Instead of washing yet another plastic container for recycling (wishcycling), your time is better spent contacting product manufacturers, passing local single-use plastic bans and by writing your legislators to demand extended producer responsibility and other meaningful actions through the passage of the Break Free from Plastic Pollution Act.
Janelle Peotter
New Paltz
Ten old rules for revolution vs. the Ten Commandments
Recently, an American patriot wrote me he and his family visited Utah. They stopped at a small town to eat.
He picked up the local newspaper and read a letter to the editor about the coming Communist takeover in America. Immediately, I envisioned the online news photos I’d seen of the barbed wire and added security for the Biden-Harris White House.
The letter to the Utah editor also contained the “10 Rules of a Communist Revolution,” supposedly found in 1919 Germany by the Allied forces. I’ve listed those rules below, to counter the anti-American Trump letters repeatedly sent to and published in Hudson Valley One. Certain letter-senders are clearly detached from reality. These disinformation subversives regularly send twisted repetitive diatribes to Feedback. Their constant tear-down mantras are boring half-truths and tedious lies. Please, if you consider yourself a practical, loyal citizen of our village and the USA, reject their propagandizing. Read the following factual list, especially Number 5. In reading, you’ll surely validate your support for the Constitution of the United States of America. Donald Trump did a great deal of good for Americans. If you reach the age of 40 and you don’t have a few enemies, you must not have done anything.
Thankfully, America has loyal citizenry, including politicians who uphold that sacred document, which, with the Bill of Rights, is the foundation of American liberty, slowly eroding since 1962:
1. Corrupt the young, get them away from religion. Get them interested in sex. Make them superficial. Destroy their ruggedness.
2. Get control of all means of publicity.
3. Get people’s minds off their government by focusing their attention on athletics, sexy books and other trivialities.
4. Divide the people into hostile groups by constantly harping on controversial matters of no importance.
5. Destroy the people’s faith in their natural leaders by holding the latter up to contempt, ridicule and obloquy.
6. Always preach true democracy, but seize power as fast and as ruthlessly as possible.
7. By encouraging government extravagance, destroy its credit and produce fear of inflation with rising prices and general discontent.
8. Foment unnecessary strikes in vital industries, encourage civil disorders and foster a lenient and soft attitude on the part of government toward such disorders.
9. By specious argument cause the breakdown of the old moral virtues: honesty, sobriety, continence, faith in the pledged word and ruggedness. [1962: No more Ten Commandments; no prayer in schools et cetera.]
10. Cause the registration of all firearms on some pretext, with a view to confiscating them and leaving the populace helpless. [This is what Hitler did.]
In conclusion: That they keep on calling our ex-president a Nazi or Hitler is older than sin.
Patience Hutty Kotorman
Woodstock
The second half
Where are we in the pandemic? I believe we can safely say we are somewhere in the second half of the pandemic. Certainly the end is in sight, but there is a lot left in this game.
We are seeing decreasing numbers around the country overall. Testing at our office is less than half what it was at the peak; currently about 60 tests daily. However, in the last two weeks we have started to see more positive tests than we were, but it may be just a blip rather than a trend. The day I wrote this we had 15 positive Covid patients, which was an increase over several weeks ago. You just never know with this virus. At the time of this writing, there are over 1700 active Covid infections in Ulster County and this number has been somewhat stable for the last month.
Those who are vaccinated can certainly relax. If you are vaccinated, you do not need to quarantine if you contact a Covid-positive person and have no symptoms. You do not need to quarantine if you travel. There is a theoretical risk of transmission of the virus via a vaccinated individual, so you wouldn’t want to rush out and hug an unvaccinated person after contacting a Covid-sick person. Vaccines should be widely available and easily obtained before summertime.
There are some questions that we hear pretty frequently. I’ve said it before; if you have questions ask your primary care provider; don’t refer to Dr. Facebook. But many people don’t have a provider; we see many of these folks at our office. I thought I would take this opportunity to answer the questions we get frequently.
Should I get vaccinated, and which vaccine? The answer is yes, absolutely. The science is clear and you should get whatever vaccine is available. The Johnson and Johnson vaccine is somewhat less effective, but it is a single dose and it will do what it needs to: keep you from getting extremely ill. The difference in effectiveness means the symptoms you get if you are exposed may be somewhat worse than if you received a different vaccine, but that just means you would have a worse “cold.” I would take that vaccine in a heartbeat and I would also recommend the Astra Zeneca vaccine without hesitation with a possible exception of women under 50, but even in this demographic the odds of having a problem are astronomically small.
How can I have Covid-19 if I don’t have a fever? Many patients have minimal symptoms, some have no symptoms. You don’t have to have a fever with Covid. Unfortunately, and for reasons still unclear, some people get extremely ill with Covid-19 and have symptoms that persist for months, perhaps even permanently. 239 people have died from Covid-19 in Ulster County since the beginning of the pandemic.
I was exposed, when is the best time to test? Five to seven days after exposure will give you the most accurate test result.
How accurate are the rapid tests? There is variability in the test results from the many different companies that produce the rapid tests. While the results are somewhat reliable, a PCR test is really necessary when the results will impact others; for work, school, travel, etc.
When do you think we won’t have to wear masks anymore? That’s the hardest question. I would safely say by spring of 2022 but maybe earlier. It seems like with the Covid variants emerging and the somewhat slow speed of vaccinating worldwide, we will likely be masking indoors around non-family members until at least winter of this year.
Will Covid vaccinations become a yearly thing? I think they will. They will likely be combined with flu vaccines so it would be one shot for the various seasonal viruses
Should I trust Dr. Fauci and the CDC? Yes. The time of politicizing the pandemic has passed. Dr. Fauci and the CDC present the best advice they have based on current scientific evidence, which continues to evolve. They won’t get it right 100% of the time. They can’t. But they are the best we have, and they are great resources.
Stephen Weinman, MD
FirstCare Medical Center
Highland
Bump-outs
I was interested in Alex Wade’s dismissal of bump-outs as a nuisance to drivers. The bible for traffic engineers describes pedestrians as bothersome impediments to vehicular traffic. As a planner assigned to the New York City Housing & Redevelopment Board in the mid-1960s, I initiated the design of bump-outs (we called them neck-downs) in the West Side Renewal Area, along with widened sidewalks and double rows of street trees bordering a five-lane avenue.
Bump-outs save lives. The most deadly crashes between pedestrians and motor vehicles, especially trucks, take place at intersections where the views of people walking at crosswalks are blocked by parked cars. A bump-out not only allows pedestrians both to be more easily seen, but to have clearer views of oncoming traffic.
Sometimes our opinions are shaped by our experiences rather than our thinking. Those of us who drive to our destinations are likely to be concerned with getting to them more quickly without the time and effort of walking, whereas those of us who walk want to get there safely and conveniently while enjoying a stroll through our beautiful historic village.
Barry Benepe
Saugerties
CCA is most efficient way for a community to reduce dependence on fossil fuels
Last March, just before COVID hit us, the Gardiner Town Board passed a local law to explore the opportunity of joining Community Choice Aggregation with the hope of providing every household and small business with electricity produced by 100 percent renewable energy sources. Subsequently, the town chose Joule Community Power as the administrator of the program. Gardiner will join other nearby communities including New Paltz and Marbletown in the Hudson Valley Community Power CCA, if the terms of the upcoming contract with an energy supply company meet the town’s requirements.
Simply put, the benefits are:
• A large majority of households in Gardiner will receive electricity from 100 percent renewable sources in New York State without doing anything. This will grow the demand for renewable energy in New York, providing incentives to developers of solar and wind farms, as well as low-impact hydro facilities and battery storage.
• The town’s dependence on fossil fuels (gas, oil and coal) will be reduced and so will our greenhouse gas emissions.
• The price of the electricity CCA members purchase will be stable for the length of the contract (currently two years) with the energy supplier. This price will be competitive and possibly lower than the price of the electricity provided by Central Hudson. You’ll also be able to save as much as 10 percent more by joining community solar through the CCA or on your own.
The drawbacks:
• While the CCA price for electricity is stable, it may at times exceed the price you would pay Central Hudson for the purchase of electricity on the open market. (CCA has no impact on the largest portion of your electricity bill, which is the price you pay Central Hudson for the connection and delivery of your electrical service.)
• Low-income households on the Home Energy Assistance Program are not eligible for CCA because CCA cannot guarantee a lower price than those households already pay.
• A household can opt out of the CCA or Community Solar at any time, but that will require the account owner to make a phone call or send an e-mail.
CCA is the quickest and most efficient way for a community to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels. It is also the only way we will meet New York State’s goal of generating 70 percent of our electricity with 100 percent renewable energy by 2030. That’s only nine years away.
Mark Varian
Gardiner
Complement the Comeau!
At a past Woodstock Town Board meeting, the response to Councilperson Ricci’s statement “that the Commission on Civic Design (CCD) should have a say” regarding Walker’s design of the Comeau building addition was: “[The] CCD has been looking at it for months,” making it sound as if the CCD was being updated with the proposed design. The truth, according to the following letter from the CCD (shown in part), is otherwise: “We [CCD] had two design reviews with Walker Architects on 6/10/19 and 9/23/19. The CCD wrote an ‘Interim D&R’ on 9/24/19 with our request there would be future design reviews because there remained serious design issues. No design reviews were held after the last one on 9/24/19.”
The CCD believes, “If built, [the new addition] should last 80 or more years. It’s difficult enough to convert an old house into well-planned, accessible municipal office functions, but given the challenge it’s very possible to provide new and improved office functions on that site in a manner that functions well and is architecturally compatible with the special, existing town office building.”
Howard Harris
Woodstock
Disappointed in the police report
The New Paltz Town Board-appointed steering committee report on reimagining law enforcement is a disappointment.
There are many problematic aspects to their report. Here are just a few:
a) Their suggestions will result in a huge increase in town budget resources going into policing.
b) It was not inclusive of the community and the grassroots organization most vested in changing the structures of law enforcement the way they are now.
c) It is heavily focused on more equipment and more training of police officers: reforms that have not been shown to work.
d) It wants police officers to also be mental health crisis facilitators – a role incompatible with being armed to the teeth.
e) There is little in terms of accountability for police misconduct in the report.
All of this extra training, equipment and recruitment means that the resources that’ll go to the police from the town budget will be even larger than it was. This is totally contradictory to the spirit of Executive Order 203. We can surely come up with better answers.
The New Paltz Coalition for Community Safety & Well-being has a proposal that is truly aimed at community safety and well-being. Contact us at communitysafetyandwellbeing@gmail.com.
Gowri Parameswaran
New Paltz
News flash: It didn’t work!
Whaaattt??? A newly declassified US intelligence report finds that Vladimir Putin/Russia tried to influence the 2020 presidential election and to sway it to help Donald Trump get reelected. Well, duh! You don’t need an intelligence report to know that Putin would try and get his best agent elected again. The Russians wanted a weak American stooge as a leader…Why? Because Trump didn’t do democracy!
Trump is a lifelong cheat in every part of his life. Who is really surprised by this? To discredit Biden during the campaign, people inside the Trump administration and some of his elected Congress cohorts repeated Russian propaganda and misinformation under Putin’s direction. No shock [well] of course cooperation and congruity of aims between the Trump campaign and Russia again. Yes, once a Russian asset, always a Russian asset.
Yet, with Russian involvement, President TRE45ON Trump still lost…Moose and Squirrel foiled your plans this time, Vladimir. (Thank goodness democracy won out!) Glad to see so many realized Trump sucked. Too bad he hasn’t figured it out yet.
Neil Jarmel
West Hurley
Mirror image
I never hated Osama bin Laden, since I look almost exactly like him.
Sparrow
Phoenicia
Bezos’ anti-union website
It’s not enough for Jeff Bezos that his workers have made him a grotesque $70 billion during the pandemic. He wants to squeeze them even further. Amazon workers in Alabama want to unionize, so Bezos whips up a website, doitwithoutdues.com, where one sees the façade of happy employees giving the thumbs-up amid words of warning, “Don’t pay for what you don’t know… [it’s] legally binding…it won’t be easy to be as helpful and social with each other…Don’t buy that dinner, don’t buy those school supplies, don’t buy those gifts because you won’t have that almost $500 you paid in dues.”
Alabama workers, I wish you a landslide victory in your fight to unionize on March 29. Hey, Senator Schumer, Senator Gillibrand, Representative Delgado: Where are our antitrust laws?! In the meantime, I’m shopping elsewhere.
Joanna Dempsey
New Paltz
Village of Saugerties stands out as well-managed, caring
I am writing in response to your recent article concerning candidates for the upcoming Village Board election. I have lived in a dozen places over the years. The Village of Saugerties stands out as very well-managed and caring. With much of the rest of the country mired in ineffective and slow vaccine distribution, Saugerties is exemplary. Special clinics have been held for first responders, senior housing residents, all seniors over 65 and restaurant workers. Outdoor dining spaces have been provided for restaurants, as well as revolving loan funds for financially suffering businesses. During the lockdown, food service was provided for hundreds of local families. The efforts of volunteers and local officials have been amazing.
It is refreshing to see a new outside candidate running for the board. Even though Justine Tomksiell says that she is a fast learner, there are a couple of misperceptions which need to be corrected. First, the senior center is located adjacent to Cantine Field in the Town of Saugerties; it is not operated by the Village. Second, The Village just finished spending almost $400,000 replacing and repairing the bluestone sidewalks on the south side of Main Street. New York State DOT requires that property-owners maintain their own sidewalks. Our Village helps out whenever they can by obtaining grants for repairs. All major intersections have now had handicapped ramps installed by the DPW or outside contractors.
The Village has obtained millions in grants to bury the power lines and install street lighting in the business district. We have recently upgraded these lights with higher-efficiency luminaires. The only complaints we have received on lighting are that they are too bright.
I attend all Village Board meetings and had never seen or heard of Justine until this article. Good luck to all the candidates.
Alex Wade
Village of Saugerties
A veteran’s gratitude
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
— Margaret Mead
Since November, we had a presidential election won by Joe Biden, and all courts acknowledged the legitimacy of the election. We had a special senatorial election in Georgia, on January 3, won by the two Democrats, who are now representing Georgia in the Senate. Senator Warnock was sworn in as the first black Senator voted in by a Southern state. Senator Ossoff was sworn in as the youngest senator ever elected. With the two Democratic successes, the Senate now has 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans, with Vice President Harris being the tiebreaking vote in the Senate, if needed.
Then, on January 6, we had what is now being called the “insurrection of the Capitol” in Washington, DC. Our democratic way of life was shaken to its core, but we survived the attempted overthrow of our government.
And then, on January 20, with thousands of National Guard troops protecting the Capitol, we had the inauguration of now President Biden and now Vice President Harris. Although things are going much better for our country at this moment, we cannot forget that we still are fighting against the deadly coronavirus, which has now taken over 530,000 of our country’s men and women. Unbelievable! Fortunately or unfortunately, we are all living in the middle of historic times.
With all that has already been, and with all that is still going on, I have made the decision to make this the 17th and final newsletter for the Why Can’t We Serve documentary project. I have experienced such a heartfelt and continual amount of support from all of you, over the more than five years that we have devoted to the project. We’ve had our ups and downs, our wild successes and our disappointments over the years. But I personally feel incredibly proud of what we accomplished. Anybody in the world can now go to YouTube, search for Why Can’t We Serve and then watch the documentary. How awesome is that!
We’ve shown the film in many places in the last two years, although we had to curtail the scheduled screenings this year because of the virus. I can’t tell you how many veterans who saw the movie, and then came up to me after, with tears running down their faces, and thanked me for my efforts. Some told me that I made a movie of their lives. Those moments were worth their weight in gold!
Of course, there were disappointments along the way, too. I won’t list them here, but I really think that the ideas in the film, if implemented by the military, could make a big difference in helping to reduce the veteran suicide rate. It’s painful to me that we couldn’t find the kind of national support that would have helped us secure the kind of recognition needed to get the attention of those in power. However, the film will stay on YouTube, and you never know who may watch the film tomorrow, and then choose to get more involved. I will keep my fingers crossed and quietly hope for such a miracle. Only time will tell.
Making this film was obviously a stretch for me. But I grew in the process. Although my father passed away a long time ago in 1983, still, creating the documentary brought me closer to him and I am grateful about that. I also made many new friends along the way – some who will be friends for the rest of my life.
Special thanks go out to Bill and Tony Forte and Larry Winters for their willingness to share honestly their unique perspectives on the situation. Without them, we have no movie. I wish all three of them many years of peaceful living, free of regrets or pain from the past. They are all good men. Special thanks go out to Lanette Kristen Hughes and Ivan Castro, as their interviews were crucial in pointing out the depth of pain from each suicide, as well as helping us understand the real possibilities for some disabled soldiers to get the chance to remain in the military.
Special thanks to the Kingston Veterans’ Association for their consistent support over the years.
Special thanks go out to Mike Nelson, for Mike was the perfect person for me to work with on the movie. He knew nothing about blindness and I knew nothing about making a movie. But together we got it done; we learned a lot about each other and we continue to be good and respected friends.
Special thanks to Charlotte Tusch, my partner in life, and now my loving wife. Charlotte did so many things behind the scenes to help with the visuals in the film, as well as in lots of places where her editing really made a big difference. I was able to depend on her, because she would not let me have a scene get by if it didn’t appear to her as professionally done. I deeply appreciate her for those important decisions, as well as many discussions I had with her late at night when I wasn’t sure which way to proceed. Thanks, Charlotte, for your love and your desire to help me be all that I can be.
I’d also like to acknowledge two angels who are no longer with us. Sandy Palmer Shaw believed in me and was one of the first who let me know that the project was too important to not be pursued. And my dear friend Allan Sachs, who helped in many ways, listening to me, giving me creative ideas and basically letting me know how he would always be on my side, cheering for me through the whole filmmaking experience. Their love for me and their support for the project will remain dear to me forever.
Lastly, I want to thank all my friends, my caring family members and all you amazing and generous donors who supported me and cheered me on over the years. Your support was incredible and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
With deep gratitude,
Marty Klein
Woodstock
PS: The film is an attempt to reduce the veteran suicide rate in our country. The Why Can’t We Serve webpage will continue, as well as the Why Can’t We Serve Facebook page. The website, among lots of other things, has a link to the three-minute trailer and the 52-minute documentary. It also has a link to the theme song, “A Veteran’s Anthem.” The Facebook page has clips and videos of past events and screenings of the documentary. They both have lots of good information about the project and about what everybody needs to know about all veterans.
That’s not defense
Why do Democrats trying to defend Governor Cuomo against charges of sexual harassment with cries of “Trump did worse”? A few points: One, it makes no difference what Trump did or didn’t do. That’s not a defense. When I was a teenager and my father caught me doing something wrong, saying some of my friends did the same thing or worse never mitigated my punishment.
Two, the alleged Trump incidents took place before he was president. He wasn’t working for us at the time, while Cuomo was using the governorship.
Three, the most publicized was the Stormy Daniels case, where she never claimed it wasn’t consensual – only that he paid her off to keep quiet. If true, it’s not nice, but it’s also not illegal.
Remember, the case was filed by lawyer Michael Avenatti, who some Democrats, at the time, were saying should run for president. That was before he was caught stealing from clients, disbarred and sent to jail.
Finally, Cuomo’s accusers, with the exception of the one reporter he tried to intimidate, were Democrats who worked for him.
Personally, I think there should be an investigation where he gets the chance to dispute the charges. What I’m afraid of is that this might be a red herring to divert attention away from the nursing home scandal, where elderly patients were put in danger and many died. It seems strange that the New York Post was reporting this story months ago and our attorney general Letitia James only discovered it after the election. Meanwhile, Cuomo was receiving an Emmy and Joe Biden was calling him the gold standard of governors for his handling of the COVID pandemic.
Finally, do you remember during the Obamacare debates one of the advisors, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, talking about rationing limited health care, like transplant organs and vaccines for younger patients? Now we have four Democratic governors from New York, Michigan, New Jersey and Pennsylvania putting patients who test positive for COVID into nursing homes because they needed hospital beds and respirators for younger patients. Not accusing, just saying.
John Habersberger
New Paltz
Respect for all of our brothers and sisters
As we enter into the most sacred season for both Jews and Christians, remembering and celebrating God’s steadfast love for His creation and for all people, we remind ourselves of the shared heritage and of the many commonalities of both traditions of faith. And we ask God’s forgiveness for the fact that we have not always acted toward one another in accord with this reality.
We too easily forget that Jesus Christ was a faithful and devout Jewish man and that our Christian faith is grounded in Jewish tradition and spirituality, and so it is a scandal that even some Christians have been guilty of having awful prejudices against their Jewish brothers and sisters, in all times and in all places. Indeed, this is hardly a thing of the past; throughout Europe in the past several years, for example, there have been many terrible instances of anti-Semitic threats and attacks. And we don’t have to look very far from our own area to come across similar biases and slurs and even attacks against the Jewish people who share our communities.
And of course, this terrible situation is not only experienced by the Jewish people; these expressions of hate – whether they are subtle or outright, in words or actions – are perpetrated against many, many other groups as well, none of which deserve to be treated that way and all of which deserve to be treated with respect and with love, despite our differences and despite our sometimes very real issues we have to deal with.
So, when Jesus said that we must love our enemies (Matthew 5:44), He wasn’t saying that we have to agree with everything that our enemy says or believes – rather, we have to approach him or her in humility and realize that he or she is just as imperfect and broken as we are. It is only then that a true dialogue can begin, and we can start to eradicate the feelings of hate and superiority and then help one another to survive and to prosper in a world that is difficult enough without malicious feelings getting in the way.
And so, as I prepare for the liturgies of Holy Week and Easter, I remember and I celebrate that God has fulfilled His promises to His people and to His world, a world that He came not to condemn but to save. And I remember and I celebrate that God is continuing His salvation of the world through His people – Jews and Christians and all people of faith, and also people of no formal faith at all, but who are people of goodwill and respect for their neighbor and for the world around them.
Fr. Salvatore Cordaro, OFM, Cap.
New Paltz
The secret way in and out
Living in New Paltz since 1980, having the Ulster County Fairgrounds separated from the New York State Thruway by our little village and our narrow Main Street, with very determined and active walkers and bikers crisscrossing the road from the Thruway exit to well out past the only bridge we have over the Wallkill, is a problem we can solve with help from your newspaper.
State and county roads connect the fairgrounds to points south, west and north, and visitors will find fun shops and beautiful scenery in all three directions, both coming to the fairground events and leaving.
A two-page map of the area surrounding the fairgrounds, sponsored by advertisers, showing routes to Poughkeepsie, all points south, Route 84 exits, routes over the mountain and north through the rustic village of Rosendale and routes to Exit 19 for northbound traffic on the Thruway, will save a lot of wasted time and gasoline and help protect the climate.
It’s far nicer being a good neighbor than keeping our secret routes secret. Temporary traffic signs along many of the routes would help keep speeds down and people heading in the right direction. Along with the nearly ubiquitous GPS devices in cars and on phones, “Voilà!” a happier experience for everyone.
Paul Nathe
New Paltz
Don’t trust the PSC
For people who don’t know, the New York State Public Service Commission (“PSC”) regulates the utilities. The utilities need PSC approval to do anything new, like introducing wireless technologies onto the electrical grid. The PSC, when confronted with the lack of regard for the biological safety of the smart meters that emit into one’s home environment microbursts of intense pulses of microwave radiation every ten seconds, claimed: “The evidence supporting this determination includes more than 100 peer-reviewed scientific studies.”
When asked in a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request for the identifying titles of the alleged 100+ peer-reviewed scientific studies they reviewed for their approval, they said as follows: “The Commission made no such claim. Rather, it stated it had determined, in a previous order, that research has not established any negative health impacts allegedly caused by low-level RF transmissions from utility meters, and the evidence supporting this determination includes more than 100 peer-reviewed scientific studies.” The claim they said they did not make was to review the studies.
Now it should be clear the PSC is now contradicting themselves in their PSC Order and the FOIL responses. This next quote really exposes the fraud they have been playing on the public and New York State Supreme Court where we are litigating. Here is what they said:
“The commission has reviewed the available studies and determines the best available scientific evidence in terms of quality and quantity of studies, both independently and when considered together – supports a conclusion…consistent with the provision of safe and adequate service.” The last quote alleges an awful lot of analyzing was going on and was from the same PSC Order where they said the decision was based on 100+ peer-reviewed scientific studies they rejected any claim to have reviewed.
Seeing the obvious fraud, they were asked in another FOIL request for records of any peer-reviewed scientific studies that the PSC reviewed since 2005 when the smart meters were first approved for deployment. Their response was: “Insofar as you reasonably described the records, no records responsive to your requests could be found after a diligent search of the records maintained by the Department.” Bottom line is there is no record of the PSC having reviewed any peer-reviewed medical studies whatsoever to support their claims of biological safety. It should be clear the PSC is committing fraud and putting the public’s health at risk. Don’t trust the PSC.
Steve Romine
Woodstock
Propaganda is phony
A Republican senator being questioned by George Stephanopoulos on his Sunday show stated that the Democrats – rightly concerned about the violence at the Capitol on January 6 – weren’t concerned about the violence at rallies in which Black Lives Matter and Antifa members participated during the summer of 2020. George interrupted the senator to point out that 99 percent of those summer protests and protesters, despite burning buildings and multiple murders, were peaceful. It’s interesting: I’ve never heard George – or any other mainstream media personality or journalist – point out that during the January 6 Capitol building “armed insurrection,” that of the hundreds of thousands of people present, a mere 600 went to the Capitol building. (It should be noted: Jill Sanborn, the FBI’s assistant director for counterterrorism, testified in front of the Senate’s Homeland Security Committee that precisely zero firearms were found among the hundreds of people who made their way into the Capitol that day.) Since 600 is less than one percent of even 50,000, the qualifier that over 99 percent of those attending the “unarmed” insurrection of January 6 were peaceful would be accurate. How come George and his fellow propagandists…I mean “journalists”…never brought that fact to the attention of the viewers?
George Civile
Gardiner
Coffey talk
For the last 25 years, I have been an avid runner on the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail. During that period of time, I have often parked at what appears to be a schoolbus turnaround at the end of Coffey Road in New Paltz. Decades went by and nobody seemed to mind. I assumed it was public property. A week ago, I pulled into the usual spot only to see a half-dozen brand-new “No Parking Anytime” signs installed at the town-paved turnaround and along the town-paved roadside for 50 yards. There was no indication as to who ordered this.
I contacted the Wallkill Valley Land Trust, who advised me that this was “essentially private property” and that the owners were having problems with too many cars parking there on the weekends. Is it “essentially private property” or is it “essentially public property?” If it is New Paltz town property, then there would have to be a town ordinance passed to designate the area as “no parking.”
I e-mailed both the highway superintendent and the town supervisor, but neither of them responded. This looks like an overreach by a property owner who feels that it is their privilege as the landed gentry to extend beyond legal boundaries in order to protect their own possessions. The fact that representatives from local government will not comment only deepens my suspicions. This kind of thing happens all the time in the Hamptons and, as more people buy recreational property in the Hudson Valley, we will also become subject to the same snobbery and sense of entitlement.
Richard Carr
Rosendale
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