Letters to the editor (5/11/22)

Amnesia isn’t a good look

It was four days after the attack on the Capitol when House minority leader Kevin McCarthy convened a meeting with other House GOP leaders. McCarthy was sharply critical of Trump and some hard-right members of Congress. The McCarthy tapes are maddening. He’s recorded talking about the 25th Amendment, impeachment and asking Pence not to pardon him.

Fact: He said he didn’t say it. Fact: They have it on tape. McCarthy’s contribution to the problem became glaringly clear when he was caught on tape saying he was going to ask the then-president to resign from office following the January 6 riot – then turned around and punished Republican Congresswoman Cheney for saying “literally” what he already said himself. McCarthy: “Who are you going to believe, me or your lying ears?”

Holy crap, he’s been hit with “January 6 amnesia”: He can’t remember talking about or even how he felt about the insurrection. Amazing how Kevin McCarthy’s memory was completely wiped, isn’t it? Obviously, at this point there is no relying on the veracity of anything Minority Leader McCarthy says, even if it is on tape. He got caught having a conscience, but he’s since apologized profusely about it. When it dawned on him that the GOP base was behind Trump and not the Constitution or democracy, he knuckled under.

Stoopid libs. There’s no such thing as January 6. It’s the only month that goes 4, 5, 7, 8. Duh. How can McCarthy not feel emboldened and untouchable? This is a very slippery slope. We can only laugh about it today; let’s hope we don’t cry about it in the future. So sad that these GOP invaders with “amnesia” continue to have support from their sheep.

We knew Republicans had many luxuries, but this ongoing luxury to forget when it suits them takes it all. I guess if you are a clown, you just gotta stay consistent and in character all the way, right?

We knew as a group they failed miserably. All for the greed of power! The ultimate price of party over country: a fast track to fascism. Fact: Not one Republican will acknowledge the truth; yeah, again we have selective amnesia. As a group. They’re just a lying sack of shit!

Gaslighting should be illegal. Dishonesty is rife. Kevin McCarthy plays his supporters for chumps. Now, what’s a conscience again? You must have character and integrity to have a conscience! McCarthy and these Republicans call themselves “the Party of Responsibility.” What a joke. Kevin shits out honesty and speaks BS. He has no morals, ethics, conscience or spine.

It’s people like this that make us cynical about our political system. This dude wants power, nothing more. McCarthy prefers having someone pulling his strings. Nothing to see here, folks. It’s sad; his voters don’t care about him not having integrity, honor or decency. Just a thought: Maybe it’s time to teach our children not to trust or respect adults. In fact, they should fear them.

Republicans right now think they have nothing to fear from tapes of conversations with Mr. McCarthy or each other. The question is to voters. Does any of this matter to us? I hope so.

Neil Jarmel
West Hurley

Oath-taker

Nightly watching the Ukraine war on television, a remembrance of patriotism arose in me. I am reminded of preparing to defend the United States against the enemy I trusted was killing my countrymen in Vietnam. True patriotism where life and limb are to protect the community spawns heroes, myth and ironclad trust in those being defended.

Now, knowing I fought in the unjust Vietnam war, I still believe to survive we need a system where we take oaths to protect our citizens, like the one below I took on October 3, 1967 to join the United States Marine Corps.

“I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me, God.”

I’m still unsure if it included the God I chose to believe in. Politics is not God’s domain, so using God in the oath that politicians asked me to give up living for worked for them as long as they were in control.

In a hooch in Phu Bai, Vietnam, I realized the United States Marines had no ethical business in this war. I’d just heard our sergeant major say, to our squadron, “I can replace you Marines easy, but it cost a million dollars to replace one of our birds.” Confused, I did my duty anyway because I took my oath seriously.

Today’s politicians have confused freedom, security, liberty and capital. When appointed, these politicians have taken oaths; those oaths do not offer their lives and limbs as part of their commitment. As a result, political oath-takers have lost touch with the reality we all live with.

There will always be poor, wounded veterans, hungry children, inept workers, insane in our institutions and confused and nonproductive human beings in our society. Many politicians see these folks as their enemy because they cost taxpayers money business wants. Therefore, many political oath-takers put their energies into passing legislation suitable for only the wealthy. Morality is just not a moneymaker. War is a moneymaker. Your political job becomes sending others to war.

Larry Winters
New Paltz

Manchin torpedoes electric vehicles

Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) is at it again, hacking away at proposed legislation that would improve the lives of Americans and Planet Earth. Earlier, it was the expanded Child Tax Credit, which, if it had been extended, would have brought millions out of poverty. Now, it is legislation that broadens the federal tax credit for buyers of electric cars and trucks.

He calls it “ludicrous” for the government to “throw…a credit” to consumers when there are currently waiting lists for EVs. Instead, he calls for more research into hydrogen-powered cars, a technology that is woefully behind the advances of the electric vehicles Americans want to buy, today – at least, those with higher incomes.

Proving himself a flack for his state’s coal industry and his own financial interests in fossil fuels, and cocooned in his millionaire’s lifestyle, Manchin might not understand – or care – that the average American cannot afford even the lower-cost, available electric cars like the Chevy Bolt without the federal support. Instead, they must continue to buy cheaper gas-guzzlers as the Earth spirals toward a climate disaster. Meanwhile, Joe Manchin polls well in the reddest state in the union and entertains on his houseboat other politicians who try to stand in the way of the inevitable transition to cleaner electric vehicles.

Dreaming of buying a Bolt? Too bad. We need to elect more Democrats to take away Manchin’s power to obstruct.

Tom Denton
Highland

Poem of thanks to New Paltz Rescue Squad

How lucky we all are

With a rescue squad so great.

They do their excellent work,

Whether early or quite late.

I saw them at their best

When I fell and bumped my head.

They responded very fast

(Though I was far from dead).

But I surely could not ask

For a more efficient crew.

Talented they are –

These folks know what to do.

So, I offer up my thanks

To each great volunteer,

For the awesome work they do

Day and night throughout the year.

Ann Guenther
New Paltz

Incentive for fraud

Lynn DelliQuadri recent letter “Stop the biggest threat to Medicare” nails it: The pilot program REACH, if left unchecked, will completely privatize Medicare, allowing Wall Street investors, in DelliQuadri’s words, to transform our currently efficient, admired, fee-for-service citizen benefit of Medicare to one “managed” by Wall Street investors, which rations and restricts care for their own benefit and profitability.

This is all too true – but sadly, the tip of the iceberg. For this program incentivizes bad behavior by paying not for the service provided, but a lump sum for each beneficiary, telling the company in effect that what they don’t spend on the patient they can keep. What an incentive to cut corners on patients’ care! When these corporations find ways to impede patients’ care – and they invariably do – their shareholders love it! So what if the patient suffers? The stock price goes up! And to add to their profits, they indulge in the medical fraud called “up-coding” – that is, making patients seem sicker than they are, so that the government will pay them extra money to care for them. And who pays the tab? The taxpayer does, and the Medicare Trust Fund is drawn down prematurely. The taxpayer loses and the beneficiary loses. The only winner is Wall Street.

If none of this sounds appetizing to you, please call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121, and ask to be connected to the office of Congressman Delgado or whoever is your congressional representative, then ask them to sign on to Representative Jayapal’s letter demanding that the REACH program be stopped. More than 40 representatives have done so; your representative should, too!

Sherrill Silver
New Paltz

Delgado as lieutenant governor

Dear Representative Delgado: I am deeply dismayed to hear that you have accepted appointment as lieutenant governor of New York. You’ve done a good job in Congress, and I believe you will be reelected if you run again. I have continued to donate regularly since your first campaign. The whole country needs you and people like you in the House. If you become lieutenant governor, although I have no doubt you will do a good job, you are opening your Congressional seat to attack by the Republicans.

No matter who the Democrats run, that person will not have the advantages of incumbency and of your fine record. The Democrats must hold the House and gain seats in the Senate this year. If not, gridlock will continue and our democracy is in peril. In my judgment, your change of direction contributes to the risk.

I am reasonably happy with Governor Hochul’s record, except for the Buffalo stadium and the failure to properly vet Brian Benjamin. But I am not at all sure she will win nomination to run as governor; given the probable Republican candidate, the Democrats need all the firepower they can get. You will probably strengthen the ticket if nominated as lieutenant governor, no matter who is nominated as G\governor, but I think you are needed more in Congress.

Just sayin’…

Judith B. Kerman
Woodstock

The right experience

Seeing the governor of Connecticut, I had the urge to kneel.

Sparrow
Phoenicia

Jack of all…

People have pointed out to me various sightings of our part-time supervisor. For instance, they have seen him with a plow, leading me to believe he is clearing the Comeau Drive or his customers’ driveways. On other occasions they have seen him with an extension ladder, leading me to believe he is checking the Town’s buildings’ roofs for leaks or he is doing repair work for one of his customers. But when I was told that he was seen carrying a shovel into Woodstock’s Cemetery, I had no idea as to what he was going to do.

Howard Harris
Woodstock

Garden help

A leader in the Pollinator Pathway movement pointed out how we used to want only one thing of our gardens: that they be pretty. Now they must support life, sequester carbon and feed pollinators.

If you’d like to see how to begin such a garden, come to the Gardiner Library on Friday, May 13 beginning at 11 a.m. Then, if you’d like to start your own pollinator garden, or just add to what you already have, come to the pollinator plant sale on May 21 from noon to 4 p.m., also at the Gardiner Library.

Doris Chorny
Wallkill

Support AARP & NCPSSM

Ever since I have been submitting letters to the newspaper regarding the antics of the 45th POTUS, D. Trump, particularly the possible catastrophic collapse of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid as we know it now, no other item discussed is of such concern to the reader than the three benefits just mentioned. Let me elaborate.

First of all, Social Security will not be eliminated, although Trump did try to muscle through a Payroll Executive Tax Bill which would eliminate payroll taxes. If this went through, this meant no more FICA; this meant no more Social Security as we know it. Without payroll taxes there “ain’t” no Social Security, boys and girls. But this did not go through. But it is just one more attack on our benefits that the GOP will try, and have tried, to eliminate. At my age of 83. and millions of you out there as well drawing these benefits, we cannot be at the whim of these tap-dancing, bought-off politicians, proclaiming that the benefits have to be addressed in order to bring the budget under control!

The budget deficit has to be addressed; that’s for sure. But why do the boys and girls in those “golden years” of their lives have to be the avenue of redress? The problem, according to the NCPSSM and AARP, is that there are very, very wealthy individuals and organizations in this country who have numerous ways to hide their money, not pay taxes, offshore accounts et cetera. 

Given that fact, what are some of the other “sneaky” things the GOP will try to do? Privatization is one way. This means money is not taken out of your paycheck along with the employer’s matching funds. This is your money to do as you want. Sounds reasonable, doesn’t it? But there are always those emergencies arising where the recourse is to utilize these savings to address these emergencies. And what about the depressions, recessions, downfalls et cetera that continually arise? This is where your money goes out the window unless you invested prudently. How many of you seniors are up to prudently investing your money?

Another attack comes from the Time to Rescue United States Trusts Acts (TRUST). This gives lawmakers the power to recommend cuts to the programs. These “rescue committees” approve of these cuts and then fast-track them through the House and Senate without any prior discussion by the rank and file!

Another attack comes from REACH (Realizing Equity, Access and Community Health). According to the NCPSSM, seniors across the country are quietly being enrolled in this program. Medicare then allocates corporate middlemen a defined portion of each senior’s medical expenses. What they don’t pay for each senior’s expenses, they keep for themselves. Here is a profit motive for these middlemen. Guess who loses out?

 Instead of supporting policies to strengthen Social Security – like boasting benefits, raising the payroll tax so that millionaires pay their fair share into Social Security and lowering prescription drug costs by allowing Medicare to directly negotiate prices with drug companies – the GOP is fundamentally opposed to these innovations and are determined to destroy the existing social net. This is the one we are paying into now.

If the GOP can manage to get a program into effect that chips away at our benefits, then they will be emboldened and resume with their chipping. Support the AARP and the NCPSSM; that’s the American Association for Retired Persons and the National Committee for the Preservation of Social Security and Medicare. More to come.

Robert LaPolt
New Paltz

Freedom of speech

Twitter is a private company. I repeat, it’s private. That, Mr. Butz, means that they can make the rules about what they will allow on their platform. That means they can choose to prohibit unsubstantiated propaganda, nudity or references to golden retrievers if they want. Your First Amendment rights are not affected in any way if a private company restricts content. It’s not unlike the argument, supported by the Supreme Court, that was used by a bakery that refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple (I wonder where you stood on that issue). They argued an exemption, on religious grounds, because they’re a private company, not a public entity. That was the distinction between that case and Kimberly Davis, the court clerk who refused marriage licenses to gay couples.

If Elon Musk buys Twitter and opens it up to everyone with an opinion and a typewriter, that’s his prerogative. If he chooses to ban anyone critical of the Tesla, he can do that, too. None of that has anything to do with your freedom of speech.

Then we get the claim that it’s “delusional” to think the Mueller Report found Trump guilty of collusion. Have you read the report, or just AG Barr’s partisan summation of it? The report states that Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election was illegal and occurred “in sweeping and systematic fashion,” but was welcomed by the Trump campaign. (In contrast, when the Gore campaign came upon illegally obtained information in 2000, they turned it over to the FBI.) The Mueller Report shows links between Trump campaign officials and the Russian government, and documents false statements made by campaign officials. Trump himself obstructed the investigation by prohibiting staff from testifying. Mueller has stated that his investigation’s conclusion on Russian interference “deserves the attention of every American.” Mueller didn’t charge Trump with a crime because the Office of Legal Counsel decided that a sitting president was immune from prosecution. He did say, however, the investigation “does not exonerate him.”

There are files and folders on Hunter Biden’s laptop that were written after it was turned in for repair. Many of the e-mails have been shown to be fake and many of the log files that would aid forensic investigation have been deleted. I’m sure Fox News is convinced of a smoking gun, but to call Nina Jankowicz a liar because she doesn’t trust the chain of possession of that drive is, I don’t know, delusional?

Steve Massardo
Saugerties

Hope in a stamp

With thanks to Christopher Spatz, clearly an historian of note, for his long and interesting reply to my article, “Hope in a Stamp.” Indeed, if the syllabus in American schools included all the links and references in the letter, schoolchildren and adults would be prepared to digest, interpret and contextualize events – both past and present – for the benefit of our nation and the world.

Carol Bergman
New Paltz

Standardized terms

Once upon a time we had the brilliance of William F. Buckley, Jr. to read (thesaurus in hand). He rarely used a nickel word where he could substitute one that was worth a buck. Now we have the head of the Federal Reserve finding words without standardized meanings that I suspect he hopes will have the effect of baby pacifiers on us while his team zigs and zags through this inflation mess they created.

Bill was rarely quoted after he went to the Great Library in the Sky, and I am quite sure the lawyerly Fed Chair Powell will not be quoted down the road much, either.

“Speak plainly and be memorable” might be something the truly wonderful Will Rogers might have advised. He defined an honest politician as one who, when you bought him, stayed bought! DC is where you take your career to get rich. Now our congressman has jumped ahead in this real-life game of Chutes & Ladders in his lust for the big payday called the White House. Holy cow!

My book, From Chappaquiddick to Chappaqua, has been slowed by my astonishment of the collapse of the reputation of the FBI, the purchases of three magnificent homes by the Obamas and now my Pope suggesting NATO caused Russia to attack Ukraine. Who picks these characters?

Paul Nathe
New Paltz

Correction to letter

Due to my own copy/paste error, my letter about Winston Farm in last week’s edition of HV1 appeared in a way that might have encouraged a misinterpretation. The sentence reading, “And what regard or obligation, not to mention loyalty, will such people have for the Town, Village or residents of Saugerties? None whatsoever,” which appeared in error as the first sentence in the published letter, is in fact embedded in the third paragraph of the letter as, where “such people” has been replaced by “outsiders.” In proper context, it’s clear that the people I’m referring to are those to whom the farm would be sold off in pieces for development, not the three local developers themselves. I sincerely hope that readers didn’t mistake the objects of my concern in this aspect of the proposed development. My apologies to anyone who was misled by my careless proofreading.

Janet Asiain
Saugerties

Gun buyback

Here are just a few comments on the gun buyback article by Rokosz Most:

1. If you want to make intelligent comments about guns, you should know the difference between a caliber and a gauge. You can fool the city folks, but not us upstaters.

2. Those “satanic”-looking assault rifles are just the type of guns meant to be protected by the Second Amendment. The Second Amendment was not written to protect deer hunting, but to ensure that the citizens of this country had the means of defense against all foes, both foreign and domestic.

3. I hope before melting down these guns the serial numbers are traced against reported stolen guns and the guns get back to their rightful owners. A better idea might be to not melt them down at all, but send them to Ukraine to help them defend their country in the true spirit of the Second Amendment.

Gregory Kleen
Saugerties

Follow the money

In previous letters about Medicare REACH, we’ve been reading about how this program cheats the taxpayer of money and the Medicare patients of healthcare, all in the name of private profits. And I’ve been wondering why is it that hundreds of hedge funds and the like are lining up, like pigs at the trough, to get in on the action. Are they motivated by healing the sick, or is it the smell of big, big profits that has them salivating?

That’s the thing that worries me: When I was young, I was led to believe that doctors and nurses were motivated mainly by the desire to heal, the desire to help. I still think that most doctors try to be like that. But now, if Medicare REACH becomes entrenched, I fear that the emphasis will shift to a culture of profit, where the doctors, like so many businessmen, will be interested mainly in helping not patients, but themselves. It’s starting to happen already, but with Medicare REACH the law of the land, a doctor whose main interest is in patients, not profits, may be the saintly exception.

If you agree that the rights of patients to live are greater than the rights of corporations to make huge profits, then I urge you to call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected to the office of Congressman Delgado or whoever is your congressional representative, then ask them to sign on to Representative Jayapal’s letter demanding that the REACH program be stopped. More than 40 representatives have done so; your representative should, too!

Alex Passas
New Paltz

Neil’s endless Tucker obsession

With all the serious and dangerous events going on in our world, Neil Jarmel chooses to overfocus on Tucker Carlson’s opinion on testosterone levels in men and Red-Light Therapy. It’s extremely difficult, at times, to see who Neil despises more: Tucker Carlson and Fox News or Donald Trump.

Let’s remind Neil that, if Carlson and Fox were as ridiculous as he imagines, then Carlson and Fox wouldn’t continue to demolish his idols, CNN, MSNBC et al, in the ratings any longer. Instead, Neil’s fake news champs would be at the top of the ratings heap. Neil’s “hot air and fake” reference to Fox would make it impossible for Fox to maintain its consistent top rating. And, quite curiously, if Neil can’t stand Carlson and Fox, why does he spend so much time watching them, instead of watching his usual outlets, where he amusingly deludes himself into thinking that he’s actually watching and hearing truth, objectivity and facts?

Neil questions whether “Republicans could get any more ridiculous if they tried.” If he believes this, then how does he even begin to explain the bizarre and dangerous mentality of Biden, his administration and many Democratic voters as they continue to defend Biden, Harris and the rest of their progressive far-left circus?

This Red-Light Therapy to which Neil refers is actually an up-and-coming therapy still being tested in several areas, but helpful already with conditions such as wrinkles, redness, acne scars and other signs of aging. We can all only hope that, maybe, Neil might be secretly looking into this therapy in hopes that it just might restore some objectivity, reasoning, logic and common sense into his thinking and views.

Bottom line: When will Neil focus on and write about any of the real relevant and important events occurring all around us, in real time, as his hero, Biden, simply fiddles while our USA burns?

John N. Butz
Modena

Threat to democracy

In speaking of the coming midterms, Nancy Pelosi recently stated that she “fears for democracy” if Republicans take control of the House. Indeed, she asserted that, “It is absolutely essential for our democracy that we [Democrats] win…Democracy is on the ballot in November.”

In considering her statements, I thought it odd for the speaker of the House to propose that the results of a democratic election could be a threat to democracy. Apparently, Nancy thinks that if the democratic process doesn’t yield the outcome she desires, the election results would not only be harmful, but even illegal, and democracy itself jeopardized by the democratic process. (Think about that for a minute.)

With this in mind, the recent unprecedented leak of the Justice Alito draft regarding Roe v. Wade has caused many in the media and many Democrats to criticize the conservative members of the Supreme Court for, apparently, declaring the original Roe-Wade ruling unconstitutional. If the draft is truly a reflection of the Court’s vote, the question of abortion’s legality will now be determined by the democratic process state-by-state, and not by the undemocratic judicial fiat that made the original Roe-Wade decision “the law of the land.”

The following (based upon Bob Dylan’s “Desolation Row”) proposes that, despite Speaker Pelosi’s fears, the greatest threat to our democratic republic and human life itself has proven to be legislation by judicial fiat, and not when the democratic process is followed.

They’re selling postcards of the leaked draft

They’re telling people up is down

Angry pundits are shouting out with passion

“They’re ending abortion in your town!”

Many women seem so anxious

And many men are filled with regret

They’re troubled the leaked draft will reveal

What’s truly democracy’s greatest threat:

It’s not elections that are duly scheduled

But a Court that stops democracy’s flow

By giving us unlawful rulings like the Court

That gave us Desolation Roe

(stanza)

A former governor of our blue state

Spoke of hunters to his political crew:

“They can kill a deer without 10 bullets

In fact, most hunters always do”

He told his staff and faithful press choir

“Anti-choice people should pack and go”

Never mentioning the “choice” is abortion

‘Cos that word would’ve ruined his show

And though this governor’s words were spoken

It seems oh so very long ago

New York’s hunters will still hunt and abortionists still kill

Despite the end of Desolation Roe

(stanza)

Nat Hentoff was a great liberal icon

He wrote a column for the Village Voice

He was a critic and first amendment expert

An atheist who opposed the pro-death choice

All his liberal friends once admired him

They loved his politics and music reviews

But when they learned that Nat was pro-life

They were angered by the “tragic” news

And some people who believed in free speech

And said “Democracy supports choice, you know”

Wished that Hentoff’s voice would be silenced

Because he “chose” against Desolation Roe

(stanza) 

The right to privacy assures freedom

It’s found in Amendments 4, 5 and 9

It protects beliefs, the home and info

And most people think this right’s just fine

But there were some false-hearted judges

They heard a case that blew my mind

It said the 14th Amendment included abortion

Though it was a “right to privacy” of a fatal kind

They spun a legal web to do their will

But there’s an irony they refused to know

There’d be no “due process” for over 60 million lives

Killed by Desolation Roe

(stanza)

Yes, I received your letter yesterday

About the Supreme Court’s decision leak

You wrote “They’ve voted to overturn Roe-Wade”

You were so angry that you couldn’t speak

Those who fought to make abortion legal

Helped you think it was just about choice

They didn’t mention that abortion ended human life

They didn’t speak of the life who had no voice

So, if you care about saving democracy

And you hope that it will prosper and grow

It’s time to rejoice in the Court’s new ruling 

And to mourn the victims of Desolation Roe

George Civile
Gardiner

Join me on May 17 in voting for Scott Polston, Christine Bellarosa and William Ball

As a former teacher and psychologist, I approach school board candidate elections with diligence. The belief that all students deserve a first-class education that will prepare them to succeed in an ever-changing world informs my vote. I always do extensive research on the candidates because nothing is more important than the future of our children. While I don’t know any of the candidates personally, my research has led me to believe that the children of our district will be best served by Scott Polston, Christine Bellarosa and William Ball as members of the Saugerties School Board. This became even more apparent to me when I learned that two of the other candidates sought and received the endorsement of the Republican Party. Partisan politics do not belong in schools. Can’t we agree that our children’s education should not fall victim to political ideology?  I hope that the citizens of Saugerties will join me on May 17 in voting for Scott Polston, Christine Bellarosa and William Ball, candidates who will be guided by what’s best for our students.

Christine Dinsmore
Saugerties

Ulster County reapportionment

During the last reapportionment in 2012, I advocated to have the Town of Ulster represented by a County Legislator who would be entirely within the town boundaries.  The reapportionment committee did not listen and split Ulster into 2 districts, neither of which is entirely in the town boundaries.

With the current plan for 2022 Ulster will once again, be denied a sole representative.  The Town of Ulster, with a population to support 1.6 legislators, is left split.  This time the reapportionment committee decided that three districts with no legislator entirely within Ulster’s border would be a better solution. Under the current plan, each legislator in the this plan will represent two towns — Ulster/Saugerties, Ulster/Town of Kingston or Ulster/Esopus. Ulster is being chopped up in pieces which dilutes the representation and makes it very difficult to have a unified voice on Town of Ulster issues. I realize that it is not an easy task, but it is also not impossible. It is my opinion that this map should be changed giving the Town of Ulster one representative entirely within its borders. I encourage all town residents to speak out and demand fair representation for our town.  The public hearings will take place at 7 p.m. on Monday, May 16, at the Modena Fire House, 1953 U.S. Route 44/state Route 55 in Modena, and at 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 19 at the Saugerties Senior Center, Cantine Memorial Field, 207 Market Street in Saugerties.

Brian B. Cahill
Ulster County Legislator
District #4 Towns of Ulster and Kingston

Onteora School Board election

I am writing this letter confidently endorsing Meghann Reimondo for a seat on the Onteora School District School Board. I know Meghann well as she lives on Long-Year Farm with her husband Mike and her two children. Her daughter is a teenager with special needs attending BOCES and her son is a freshman at Onteora. 

I know Meghann as a friend, but also as an invaluable contributor and supporter on Long-Year Farm. She also is co-owner with her husband of Mira’s Naturals which produces all natural homemade home and body products using honey and beeswax from their hives in Woodstock. 

Meghann has the traits and character to be an excellent school board trustee. I am always impressed by her organizational skills, strong work ethic and ability to get things done — all  with a positive attitude. Through the years of advocating for her daughter, Meghann has learned that each student deserves fairness in learning. She is committed to looking at education from all sides and encouraging available resources for students, teachers, support staff, parents and families. 

I hope you will join me in voting for Meghann Reimondo for Onteora School Board Trustee on Tuesday, May 17th from 2 to 9 p.m. at either Woodstock, Phoenicia or Bennett Elementary School. A vote for Meghann is a vote for integrity, respect, honesty and hard work.

Kathy Longyear
Woodstock

At a crossroads

The world is at a crossroad. The Ukranians have set the pace heroically, despite all the carnage that they have endured.

We have continued to support their efforts and should continue to do so, no matter the cost or how long it takes and, it may take very, very long, but, likely Putin perseveres and so should we.

Susan Nickerson
Woodstock