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.
Rittenhouse of horrors
This 17-year-old “Little Shit” Kyle Rittenhouse couldn’t wait to “get his gun off” IMHO! The teenager killed two people and shot another during unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin and was acquitted of first-degree intentional homicide and four other felony charges. His defense is that he felt threatened in the moment, and that justified his killing two people and severely injuring a third person. Self-defense or not, he created the situation and should not have been there walking around (he was underage and it was during curfew) with a weapon for all to see. He basically self-deputized himself, took to the dark streets during the “unrest of protest” to undertake the role of vigilantism/white terror.
The Rittenhouse murder trial had been a shitshow from the beginning. The televised homicide trial has also shined a light on the man presiding over the proceedings: judge Bruce Schroeder. The judge said the prosecutors can’t call the murdered people “victims” because that could possibly “influence the jury,” but defense attorneys can call them “rioters” or “looters.” Judge Schroeder said the prosecutors can’t reference the video showing Rittenhouse saying that he wanted to “shoot people” at an earlier event where he assumed someone was stealing from a store. The judge said prosecutors can’t reference the photos of him hanging out with the Proud Boys.
This judge has the theme that Trump starts his rally with as his ringtone. He went off on CNN in front of the jury about how they are “biased” in their reporting in the case. Then the judge went off on some biblical rant in front of the jury about “the law.” And finally, the judge allowed Kyle Rittenhouse to blindly choose the jurors who would decide his fate. This judge was protecting Rittenhouse as if he were his own son.
Imagine seeing this farce of a trial and maintaining the illusion that the US has a “justice system” that is “fair and lawful.” This was nothing more than a kangaroo court designed and organized to protect white terror. Kyle Rittenhouse’s victims and their families never had a chance to receive justice. The judge had already guaranteed there’s only one victim in this case, and his name is Kyle Rittenhouse. This looked like a setup that would allow Rittenhouse to walk, since he already had the best defense attorney available working on his side: the judge.
All disgusting, but not unexpected. And now in the aftermath of being found “not guilty,” the Republican Party, the NRA and aggressive and/or violent white terrorist groups have made Rittenhouse their poster boy, while creepy Rethuglican US House of Representative Matt Gaetz (who is being investigated himself regarding his alleged sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl, and whether this violated federal sex trafficking laws) now wants to possibly give the criminal Rittenhouse a congressional internship. White extremist Republican representative Paul Gosar is also considering Rittenhouse for an internship position. Yes, extremely flawed Gaetz and Gosar run freely in Congress and would now like a “little white supremacist” named Kyle Rittenhouse to be there with them – totally disgusting, in my opinion.
Bottom line: The white justice system is designed to be permissive of white violence – and until we (white people) reckon with that as a society, we will not go any further as far as justice and equality goes. Our current system with focus on white violence tries to empathize, sympathize and excuse it, allowing the biases to help the Kyle Rittenhouses of our country and others like corrupt police who are given legal authority to abuse it (remember, the officer who shot Jacob Blake seven times in the back was not charged by the State of Wisconsin or on the federal level) to go scot-free, too.
Neil Jarmel
West Hurley
Mr. Rothberg’s Fantasyland
I am new to Hudson Valley One and, therefore, didn’t see Mr. Rothberg’s recent letter but, according to Messers Habersberg’s and Mr. Civile’s letters last week, Mr. Rothberg’s letter must have been a doozy.
The reason why Mr. Rothberg had no rebuttals to Mr. Habersberg’s Biden criticisms is because Biden and his many failures are indefensible. So, what is Mr. Rothberg left with? Name calling.
Mr. Habersberger points out just a few of Biden’s calamities and knee-jerk decisions negatively impacting our nation’s safety, security and finances resulting in hard times ahead for us, our kids and grandkids. If Mr. Rothberg sees no problems with any of these disasters, then he doesn’t seem to care much about what dangers may befall his own kids and grandkids, just as his hero, Joe Biden, displays the same lack of concern. He believes that “anyone who is thoughtful or informed” is a member of his camp. Ironically, apparently unbeknownst to Mr. Rothberg, many of these people are fleeing from his camp and heading back to reality, in large numbers.
I had to chuckle at Mr. Rothberg’s apparent comment that, because of Messers Habersberg’s and Civile’s letters as well as possibly other letters, also from the realm of sanity, Mr. Rothberg threatened to cancel his subscription to Hudson Valley One. That gesture clearly defines the typical blindly partisan liberal who, when confronted with an opposing view, either runs for the hills or reaches for his cancel culture playbook to figure out his next move. How to enter into civil discussions based upon facts, evidence and real statistics from both sides of any issue is definitely nowhere to be found in his sacred playbook.
Referring to Mr. Civile’s musical parody, it depicts the sad lemmings who blindly voted for Biden, not knowing or even caring about what he stood for. Their only aim was to vote AGAINST Trump instead of FOR Biden based upon any intelligent and meaningful campaign promises. So now, these grossly uninformed voters are suffering from a huge case of buyer’s remorse.
So, I have a question or more aptly, a challenge for Mr. Rothberg: In light of everything outlined in Messers Habersberg’s and Civile’s letters as well as anything I’ve said, can you provide all the Hudson Valley One readers with a comprehensive list of all of Biden’s and his phantom VP’s REAL accomplishments that have actually been positive for ALL Democratic, Republican and Independent voters in our great nation?
John N. Butz
Modena
Still the one
Hitler is still famous, but Stalin’s fading.
Sparrow
Phoenicia
Uphold the noise ordinance in Woodstock
When baby boomers were kids — in the 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s — cigarette smoke was everywhere: in stores, offices, restaurants and movie theaters, on trains, buses and airplanes, in the teachers’ lounge in elementary school, on the front stoop at high school and even in college classrooms. That seems like ancient history, doesn’t it?
I saw my first “Thank you for not smoking” button at a Quaker conference in 1975. It took decades after that to establish in the public mind, that, while “this is a free country,” as they say, being able to breathe clean air is also a kind of freedom. It is a right. We have the right to breathe clean air without someone else’s cigarette smoke. Now we take that concept more or less for granted.
A similar concept is slowly making its way into the public consciousness regarding noise in Woodstock. There are restaurants and music venues that seek to boost their popularity and profit margin by invoking the historic Woodstock Festival and the Town’s moniker, “Colony of the Arts.”
But artistic freedom and love of the arts does not justify sending electronically amplified waves of one particular genre of music all over town, day after day, night after night. In that town are many artists: writers, poets, painters, classical musicians, not to mention children doing their homework, who find this music invasive and distracting. We have the right to hear ourselves think, to march to our own drummers.
Three years ago, this issue was hotly debated in Woodstock and fortunately, the “peace and quiet” faction prevailed. A noise ordinance was passed. Life in Town became much more pleasant.
But now our peace and quiet is being threatened by a proposal by the Colony Cafe to place an outdoor stage and 65 tables in their rear yard. The Colony has been permitted to play amplified music outdoors because of the pandemic. Although I live on the other side of Woodstock, about half a mile away, I heard their music nightly. That’s fine. We all make adjustments during this trying time.
But to make this arrangement permanent is in total contradiction to the noise ordinance and unfair to the residents of the Town.
This Thursday, December 2, at 6:30 p.m., the Woodstock Planning Board will hold an online public hearing on the Colony’s proposal. The Colony is waging a campaign on Facebook to get their patrons to write to the Planning Board in support of the proposal.
Please let the Planning Board know the down side of outdoor amplified music. Tell them you have a right to hear the ambient noise in your neighborhood, not amplified music from across town. Email: planning@woodstockny.org and ask to speak at the hearing or email the planning board and tell them you want them to uphold the noise ordinance and that you have a right to peace and quiet.
Nancy Schauffler
Woodstock
Zachin’s Googled misinformation
Regarding the letter/rant in the November 17 issue of HV1 by Anthony Zachin, alleging that I have submitted “hyped-Ivermectin-propaganda,” 150 studies, 84 peer-reviewed, (https://c19ivermectin.com/) and 27 of all 31 existing Random Controlled Trials on Ivermectin (https://ivmmeta.com/#fig_fpr) documenting its remarkable effectiveness with COVID-19 (CV-19) is not “propaganda.” Slanted articles not peer-reviewed obtained from Google’s algorithm search engine are part of a smear campaign by Big Pharma, generating the real “propaganda” if they deviate from the scientific consensus of existing peer-reviewed studies. US Supreme Court ruled only peer-reviewed scientific research is admissible as credible scientific evidence, which Mr. Zachin apparently is unaware of, besides how algorithms work (https://embryo.asu.edu/pages/daubert-v-merrell-dow-pharmaceuticals-inc-1993). It is really interesting to see how these pro-vaccine antagonists are in such an uproar about Ivermectin, when after 3.7 billion doses administered worldwide, only one serious adverse event per million people were reported.
Meanwhile, VAERS reports in 11 months, 2,620 fetal deaths after pregnant mothers received a vaccination, which is more than all the reported fetal deaths after vaccination of pregnant mothers in the past 30 years. The usual rate in the US is 74 per year. This alarming data spurred the latest peer-reviewed study (November 2021) out of New Zealand to scrutinize the existing evidence more closely and concluded on page 137 to call for “immediate withdrawal of mRNA vaccine use in pregnant women and those breastfeeding, alongside the withdrawal of mRNA vaccines to children or those of child bearing age.”
Contrary to the FDA’s assurances of safety of Pfizer’s vaccine for children and the unborn, Pfizer admittedly confesses: “Available data on COMIRNATY administered to pregnant women is insufficient to inform vaccinated associated risks in pregnancy, and…the effects of COMIRNATY on the breastfed infant” (https://cf5e727d-d02d-4d71-89ff-9fe2d3ad957f.filesusr.com/ugd/adf864_2bd97450072f4364a65e5cf1d7384dd4.pdf).
Coincidently, a Freedom of Information Act request was filed by a group of scientists for the data the FDA used to license the Pfizer COMIRNATY vaccine. Amazingly, the FDA asked the court for 55 years to fully comply with furnishing the requested data (https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/wait-what-fda-wants-55-years-process-foia-request-over-vaccine-data-2021-11-18).
Alternatively, Ivermectin’s effectiveness with CV-19 is also documented by a meta-analysis of 66 peer-reviewed studies, reporting: 85 percent for prophylaxis (n=8,789), 81 percent early disease (n=1,937 subjects), 43 percent hospitalized patients (n=6,831 subjects), 76 percent overall reduction in mortality (n = 7,267 subjects) (https://ivmmeta.com).
Contrary to Mr. Zachin’s Googled misinformation, Ivermectin is one of the most effective and safest “multifaceted drugs” on the planet and why its inventors received the Nobel Prize for Medicine (www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2052297521000883).
Steve Romine
Woodstock
Uncle Sam needs us!
After mass I met an old friend today. Wonderful to catch up, but he told me something troubling: his daughter was 55 and retiring. In my experience, 55 is a very productive age, and our great nation needs more good people who know how to work; led by example, nurture those just starting out.
When I entered the world of adult work, I was lucky. American business had just discovered that people who did not work for just one company, or in one career, were often better ‘hires’ than promoting people up a career ladder within the company.
The freedom to change careers was a blessing for many of us, and it gave us a huge benefit! Changing challenges, working on entirely new projects, with new workmates, sometimes moving around the country, all prevented burn out.
My friend’s daughter could work another 20 or 30 wonderfully productive years, further secure her personal old-age finances, and best of all, help our nation by helping bring younger people along.
Retirement is way overrated. Instead, quit and enjoy something new!
Paul Nathe
New Paltz
Working to improve lives of average working Americans
I am writing to express my pleasure that the Build Back Better (HR 5376) bill passed in the House of Representatives last week. There is so much in this bill that will benefit Americans trying to be rebound from our recent difficult times. Briefly, these are some of the provisions of the bill:
Children and families: Free universal Pre-K for all three- and four-year-olds, subsidized child care for children up to the age of five, extended child tax credit, expanded paid family leave.
Seniors: Greater Medicare negotiation of drug pricing (creates a safeguard against price-gouging), coverage of hearing-aid expenses, a $2,000 cap on out-of-pocket medical expenses, as well as vast improvements for those needing home care.
Low-income Americans: Healthcare premiums would be reduced to an average of $600 per year, dramatically helping the three million Americans who are presently uninsured.
Affordable Housing: Provides funds for construction and rehabilitation of more than one million affordably priced rentals and single-family homes, financial assistance to first-time homeowners as well as major improvements to current public housing.
Climate Change: Sweeping environmental changes which will benefit generations to come.
I think I am most pleased to see the provisions which benefit children. Often other segments are heard much more so because they have a voice with which to voice their wants and needs. In addition, they vote. Children are at a disadvantage in this respect, and thus their important needs are not always met. That has got to change for their sake as well as our entire country, for it is they who are the future of this country.
I would like to thank representative Antonio Delgado for supporting this bill and helping with its passage. Based on how the representatives voted, I am not sure that would have happened if we had a Republican in that seat (something to remember the next time we vote).
This historic bill has passed the House and is now on to the Senate, which may be a greater challenge, as there are many Republican senators who are opposed to it. If you are in support of HR 5376, you could call Senator Schumer, (202) 224-6542, and Senator Gillibrand, (202) 224-4451, to express that support.
You also might want to find out more about Citizen Action of New York (citizenactionny.org), an organization working to improve the lives of average working Americans.
Linnea Masson
New Paltz
Thanks for supporting Republican/Conservative candidates
On behalf of the Saugerties Conservative Party, I’d like to thank the Saugerties voters who came out to support the Republican/Conservative candidates in the 2021 election. Unfortunately, not all our candidates were successful, but to those who were, “Congratulations to you, as well.” Regrettably, Greg Roque was sidelined with COVID; thus, his ability to get out and campaign was severely limited. Greg has so much to offer, so we hope that he will continue to find ways to serve our community.
And we’d like to give a very special thank-you to Al Bruno, who diligently served his constituents as their legislator for the past two years. Al Bruno has been an asset to this entire community during his years of service as legislator; we encourage him to stay involved and continue supporting the causes of our community. We are happy to say that a longtime favorite in Legislative District 3, Dean Fabiano, will continue as legislator.
We are so proud and extremely honored to have Zach Horton, our true registered Conservative candidate, and Peg Nau elected to the Town Board for a four-year term. What a breath of fresh air it will be to have these two dynamic people on board. Once again, we want to extend our thanks to Supervisor Costello for his praise and endorsement of Peg Nau when she was appointed to the Town Board last year to fill the vacancy of Paul Andreassen. Costello stated, “Peg is a very valuable member for the Town Board.” LeAnne Thornton echoed that praise as well, and the voters obviously agree.
And finally, congratulations to Lisa Stanley, reelected as a competent town clerk, and a special thanks to our new and extremely qualified highway superintendent, Raymond Mayone. Job well done.
The Saugerties Town Board is no longer controlled by one political party, and that’s a good thing. The board now consists of two Democrats, one Republican, one non-enrolled and one Conservative. Now that elections are over and the people have chosen their representatives, let’s put politics aside and work together to make Saugerties a better place to live and raise our children and support all our first responders.
George Heidcamp
Chairman, Saugerties Conservative Party
Saugerties
America should dig two graves
I wrote this poem when I returned to Vietnam in 1994. I went there with a group of healthcare professionals from the West Haven Veterans’ Administration to study PTSD in Vietnamese veterans.
If a soldier kills an enemy,
He must dig two graves.
One in the earth for his enemy.
One in his soul.
Or he will not return.
The continuous high numbers of veteran suicides have prompted me to write about the topic of moral injury. I worked at Four Winds Psychiatric Hospital for years and was head of veterans’ treatment. I learned that suicides continue in veterans’ populations not from what occurs on the battlefields, but from the moral codes they become aware they have broken for unjust causes.
Of course, there is great fear of death on the front line, but if you survive, the primary response is being grateful. What gets overlooked by the mental health field, religion and philosophers is that the aftereffects of killing your human enemy last until you die.
Killing other humans is welded into us as an immoral act. The core of all our religions tells us, “Thou shall not kill.” Civilization succeeded because humans made laws and severe punishments, sometimes death or life in prison, for murder. Within our first 18 years, we become educated that killing another human being is wrong unless they try to kill you or your family. This particular point gets used by politicians and the military to enlist and send soldiers to war. Truth gets distorted to provide moral reasons for killing those whom politicians label human enemies.
When veterans become aware of being emotionally and spiritually manipulated to break their moral codes, moral injury is the result.
I believe only when the human soul enters recovery from war will veterans be able to step from the battlefields. I believe the 22 veterans who commit suicide each day are motivated by their own moral injury.
Historians haven’t satisfactorily explained why morally we entered our most recent wars. Today’s battles with drones and advanced weaponry force those who press buttons and pull levers into the dilemma of morally killing vast numbers of unseen humans.
Moral injury is viral. It reaches into the mailroom, the toolshed, the mess hall, everywhere soldiers who support those who are doing the killing. We will carry this truth for the rest of our lives. We must also include the American politicians who have decided to enter unjust wars.
All of America needs to dig a grave in its soul to start to heal our collective moral injury.
Larry Winters
New Paltz
The right & wrong way to get an injection
Do you know what “aspiration” means in the context of receiving an injection? You may not, and alarmingly, many of the people who’ve been deputized to give injections of various sorts appear not to know either.
Vaccination injections are supposed to be given intramuscularly, never directly into blood vessels. The only way to avoid this potentially serious medical error is to aspirate the syringe, which means to pull back the plunger after needle insertion and before injection. If blood is present, you know you’ve hit a blood vessel and need to try again.
Healthcare workers seem to be able to manage this in most places around the world, but news footage from the US, including Ulster Country, reveals over and over again that many practitioners in the world’s #36 ranked medical system were either never taught this or forgot it if they were.
Please show this information to your injector as well as to all local busybody vaccine propagandists and public health oberstleutnants and their superiors. Maybe they could devote a fraction of the public resources they’re spending to push families into vaccinating their children into making sure injections in this country are administered correctly and safely. It could save lives.
Personal injury attorneys take note: The injector, the supervising physician and local governments sponsoring these “jab-and-go” operations have financial immunity only insofar as the vaccine itself is concerned. Medical malpractice in the details of its delivery is actionable. For officials who like to hear things straight from an MD with accompanying scientific references: https://bit.ly/3qBUgR9. Your consciences may not bother you, but if there is justice, some plaintiff attorneys will.
This Letter to the Editor published in a newspaper of countywide circulation constitutes a Public Notice in Ulster County, State of New York.
Ken McCarthy
Tivoli
Donna Murray purchases Royal Dry Cleaners in New Paltz Plaza
Hello my friends! Most of you don’t really know who I am unless I say dry cleaners. Then I get the comments: “You’re Donna from the dry cleaners?” Or, “Aren’t you that little blonde from the dry cleaners?” I’ve bumped into some of you in the strangest places: a campground in the Florida Keys, a musical in the City, a concert at Bethel. The list goes on and on, but the greeting is always the same: “OMG the little blonde from the cleaners back home!”
I’ve worked for Royal King Cleaners for 36 years! Crazy, right? Even I shake my head when I think about it, but it is the job I’ve loved all these years. Aside from the experience I’ve acquired, I have also made many great friends and have had some of the most incredible employees. Most don’t work for me anymore, but don’t get me wrong: I didn’t fire them, they moved on! I encourage that when I hire my staff, because most of the employees that make up the staff at the cleaners are college students and they have to start somewhere. I guess I can go on and on; after all, it’s been 36 years.
I know this letter to my community might sound like a farewell, but it’s just the opposite. After many years of working for my dear friend AJ, I have purchased the cleaners. He was ready to move on, but I was not, so… I bought it!
First, I want to give the biggest and best shout-out to AJ Jamal. I’ve worked for AJ for the last 20 years (and a great 20 years it has been, as I went from employee to friend), and before that for Burt and Stanley, the original owners of the dry cleaners. I remember taking this job when I first moved to New Paltz. I saw the Help Wanted sign on the door of the cleaners and I thought, “This might be a good place to start meeting the locals, and let’s face it, what’s a better way to meet people in this cool town I just moved to than to work at a local small business?” I am so excited to now own this great local small business and to continue to offer excellent service to our community and beyond. I will, of course, tweak a few things, put my own into it and even have some fun doing so.
We will be having a celebration at the cleaners on Friday, December 10. It’s not so much a grand opening as it is a grand celebration. I’d love for everyone to stop by to celebrate with us. Even if dry cleaning isn’t your thing, stop by anyway, just to say hello! Maybe I want to share my achievement as a woman in business here in New Paltz, a business I actually love. (Yep, seems crazy, even to me!) So, stop by on the 10th. We will be celebrating from open to close (8 a.m. to 6 p.m.). Discounts and gifts to all who come in that day; 20 percent off all dry cleaning brought in and prepaid on December 10; and try your luck at receiving a certificate for up to $20 off your next dry-cleaning bill.
Thank you all! I am looking forward to many, many more years as your local dry cleaner.
Donna Murray
New Paltz
COVID-19 treatment: Follow your NOse
Several years ago, I learned of a belly-breathing technique that might ease my exercise-induced asthma. As well as centering respirations from the diagram, belly-breathing includes inhaling/exhaling through the nose, a practice that anyone who meditates will find familiar. I tried it successfully during sessions of sprinting, mountain biking and rock climbing. My asthma inhaler is retired. Now, it turns out that this breathing technique releases in the nasal passage one of our first defenses against airborne pathogens: nitric oxide, whose chemical formula is NO.
NO is an antimicrobial, vasodilating nanomolecule whose discovery 30 years ago earned its researchers a Nobel prize in medicine. NO is being employed in all phases of COVID-19 treatment. Respiratory physicians from Vancouver, BC developed an inhaled NO delivery system for respiratory ailments, including for Covid-19: https://eyewire.news/news/mallinckrodt-and-novoteris-receive-clearance-from-health-canada-to-start-pilot-trial-of-inhaled-nitric-oxide-therapy-for-covid-19. Boston’s Massachusetts General Hospital, the country’s oldest and largest teaching hospital, used inhaled NO successfully as an adjunct treatment for pregnant women with severe/critical COVID, highlighted in this article from Harvard: https://www.massgeneral.org/news/press-release/nitric-oxide-benefit-pregnant-covid-patients.
The Vancouver team also developed an over-the-counter NO stimulating nasal spray marketed as SaNOtize that has been approved for both pre/post COVID-19 infection in Israel, Canada, India, the UK and other nations: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8117664/.
This University of Pennsylvania study found that quinine in tonic water/beverages stimulates NO production: https://www.pennmedicine.org/departments-and-centers/otorhinolaryngology/about-us/newsletters/latest-newsletter/quinine-the-tonic-for-covid19.
John Hopkins University prescribes these Coronavirus recovery breathing techniques: https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/coronavirus/coronavirus-recovery-breathing-exercises.
The John Hopkins’ recommendations include humming, which this peer-reviewed COVID-19 infection study found increasing NO production 15-fold v.s. quiet exhalation: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8340570/
As I read this week in HV1 that COVID-19 cases are again rising in the region and that the Omicron variant is on its way, I find it sublime that one treatment for COVID-19 has been within us all along and may be summoned simply by humming one’s favorite tune.
Christopher Spatz
Rosendale
Join the family! 
