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.
Three important propositions
In contrast to all of the distressing news currently out there, it is a real pleasure to support three very important propositions that will be on the ballot in Gardiner on November 8:
The New York State Environmental Bond Act, which will serve to provide funding for trails, recreation, open space, infrastructure and flood protection. Vote Yes.
Also, Local Law No 1: the Community Preservation Fund, a local effort which will serve to safeguard our drinking water, preserve farmland and preserve our open space. Vote Yes.
Finally, Town Proposition No 2: The Library Board, as required by New York State Law, must ask local voters to approve an increase to their overall budget. You can play your part by voting Yes on the library budget.
Glenn Gidaly
New Paltz
Think, man, think!
Ah, yes. If only Donald Trump were still president, hurricanes wouldn’t be allowed in Florida. That’s true because he would have black-Sharpied in, using his fine-point permanent marker and “best-ever” draftsmanship, a different path for the hurricane to follow.
Hmm, or just maybe, with a fireworks factory brainchild-like idea, and with a big yeah, “I’m going to see it through till the end, don’t worry” harebrained-scheme determination, he could have set off a nuclear device to break up the storm. Better yet, with a laser-focused mind-trick visualization, our “stable genius’’ bearing down and thinking away the hurricane definitely could declassify them as sunshowers.
And remember, for 70 million of our neighbors, he was chosen by our Lord, from before the beginning of all time as a special dispensation to this, his beloved country, to save us from the twin scourges of drag-queen story hour and higher top marginal income tax rates.
Bottom line: It’s always darkest just before it goes completely black.
Neil Jarmel
West Hurley
Thank-you from Gardiner Library
The Gardiner Library held its annual craft/fabric/yarn sale on Saturday, September 24. The sale was a huge success, making $11,000 for the Library. Many members of the community helped make the sale a success. I’d like to thank the following for donations and/or helping us advertise: Beetle & Fred, Beacon; The Endless Skein, Cold Spring; Lowe’s, Lloyd; and The Yarn Shack, Gardiner.
A big thank-you to Joe and Chris at Lightning Express in Gardiner for helping us move donations and to Gavin at New Paltz Electric for helping with cleanup.
The Town of Gardiner was instrumental in getting this sale to its new home at Majestic Park. Thanks to Town supervisor Marybeth Majestic, Parks and Recreation Committee member Brian Houser and Highway superintendent Brian Stiscia and his crew.
This sale was made possible by the countless hours given by our dedicated volunteers, for which I am truly grateful. This event could not take place without donations of items from the public. Thank you to all who so generously donated and to everyone who came to the sale.
Melissa Fairweather
Coordinator, Gardiner Library CFY Sale
Commentary on life
Pasta primavera, sesame noodles, egg fu young. Alka-Seltzer, Bromo-Seltzer, Maalox. Fundamental. Overeating surely promotes their sales.
Why do we have so many choices, most of which are nutritionally challenged? Right? If it’s not high salt, it’s high sugar.
I too shall never trust some guy named Ian again.
Our lawmakers (a/k/a aging-in-place old guys), move over and let us peeps get a chance at saving America. Yes! We can!
Ta-ta, I am off to give ya an after-Ian falling leaf count!
Myrna S. Hilton
Ulster Park-on-Hudson
Quit stalking me
A stalk of celery is half a flute.
Sparrow
Phoenicia
Radcliff is right
I doubt anyone who is living in and is involved with the Town knows more than I, a 15-year member and former chair of the Zoning Board of Appeals, about the zoning law. Mass gathering permits are issued when events are on public property and potentially could strain Woodstock’s resources. They are not issued, nor are they needed, for allowable events on private property.
Reinforcing my understanding is the Zoning Enforcement officer’s response to a question regarding mass gatherings: “In general, no, I do not see where a mass gathering permit is needed on private property in our zoning.” Note too this statement from the Town Clerk’s Office: “We typically only issue mass gathering permits which affect the Town – re: streets or property.”
The validity of a mass gathering permit issued by McKenna was questioned at a Town Board meeting. Councilman Radcliff said McKenna had shown him at a previous meeting in his office “a May 25 [mass gathering] permit that turned out not to be a permit at all and that [he] had given to the Bearsville Center.” What our supervisor did was to take it upon himself to circumvent our noise ordinance by filling out mass gathering permits as a means to allow several events on private properties. As usual, McKenna “defended the permits he issued and said they are not bogus. He said he is using a form designed by the late Town supervisor Jeremy Wilber, which is a mass gathering permit.” What McKenna failed to note was the public purpose of a mass gathering permit.
Howard Harris
Woodstock
Letter sent to senator Lamar Alexander, June 22, 2019 – Part Two
Senator Lamar Alexander
Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Senator:
“War is a racket. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses of lives.”
In order to support these wars, though the justification is to “trim the benefits outlays” as they are getting out of control. The Republicans hated the benefit state, and any justification they can devise to attack them is fair game. And what better fair game than “drumming up” the dangers from another country, necessitating the defense outlays, with millions of seniors feeling the effect of this “drumming up”?
Senator, I’m a selfish man. Trump’s threat upon my benefits has driven me out of the Republican Party into the Democratic Party, where I donate money to the party as well as the AARP and the NCPSSM. I don’t want anyone, even Christ himself, screwing around with my benefits that I have paid for!
I write letter after letter to the 4,200 subscribers in the 19th Congressional District, bringing to their attention the hell that waits for all seniors with Trump in the White House and both chambers Republican.
When Congressman Delgado was running for the seat of representative John Faso, I went all out with letters to our consumers warning them that Faso has to be defeated and Delgado elected to his position in the 19th Congressional District. Needless to say, Faso was defeated. The Democrats took control of the House. The seniors now have a block against “His Lordship’s” agenda, not only with our benefits but other aspects as well.
I have received kudos for my letters after Delgado was elected, bringing to the forefront information that was needed for some of them to make an informed vote. But the fight is not over for the seniors. The 2020/2022/2024 elections will be a nasty, personal attack on both sides that will be absolutely disgusting. They have already started.
I don’t want to take any more of your time, Senator, but I want to leave you with a thought. When 80-year-old men who have been party members for years, and others as well, are so disgusted with the Republican Party which allows someone like the present occupant of the Oval Office (Trump) to bully their representatives, “hissy fit” them, then it is time to leave the party.
Subsequently, June 22, 2019, I submitted an official request to enroll in the Democratic Party. And that, Senator, should be a concern for the Republican Party. I will copy other senators with this letter.
Robert LaPolt
New Paltz
CC: Senator Charles Grassley, 135 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510 (202-224-2524 & 712-233-1634); Senator Susan Collins, 413 Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington, DC, 20510 (202-224-2523 and 207-622-8414); Senator Lindsey Graham, 290 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, DC, 29510 (202-224-5972 and 803-933-0112); Senator Elizabeth Warren, 309 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, DC, 20510 (202-224-4543 and 617-5665-3170); Senator Ed Markey, 255 Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510, (202-224-2742 and 617-565-8519); Congressman Antonio Delgado, 1107 Longworth, HOB, Washington, DC 20514 (202-225-5614 and 845-443-2930)
Women, unite! Think!
Mitch McConnell just broke the straw of the camel’s back, so the saying goes. He advocates a national ban on abortion. In the name of all that is holy, these men have to get off their control issues regarding women, ancient dictums that declare us subservient to the human race, that we came from Adam’s rib et cetera.
My views on this issue for years: Abortion should not be used as a convenient birth control device. Women having six, nine, 12 is bad for no other reason than their bodies take a toll. Abortion is okay up to the first 15, 18 weeks. After that, a resounding “No!’
There should be a record kept when a woman has an abortion. After three, no more. She/her partner, if they have any brains, should work out proper birth control methods that suit one another by the time the third abortion takes place.
There is a soul. Reincarnation (concept once in church doctrine) states that a soul comes into a life knowing of “lessons” it has to learn. Read of, been told by many who have memories of former lives, leaving bodies at death, being at weddings hovering around their parents knowing they would be born of them. A soul knows there will be a termination of a body. His/her choice to experience. Cultures around the world believe in reincarnation. Live and let live, to the anti-abortionists.
What about crib deaths? Anyone solve that yet? Easy: A baby’s soul decides to check out. Plan decided upon, lesson to be learned, life ahead? Not ready. Same as you pick up a book. At some point, just can’t finish it. Soul checked out.
Each woman has her own destiny. In ancient times women were given chastity belts when men were away. How would men like it if their destinies were so controlled? If a law went out dictating that all men must wear their chastity belts? They wouldn’t.
Only 16 nations have any legislation referring to sexual assault. A child knows at birth how they were conceived. Their soul knows. When will men take responsibility towards this?
Check out violence against women at web.amnesty.org/act for women/index-eng. “As long as societies around the world cling to archaic, indefensible views of male superiority, however subtly or blatantly expressed, the plague of violence against women will continue.” (Joe Patrick Bean, editor.)
I’ve stated this before: A count has determined 56 million abortions worldwide every four years, 76 percent of children today being raised by women only. So much for responsible men. Very difficult times. Can we afford 56 million more people on this planet every four years and feed them all? Thank goodness for abortion. Been around since the beginning of time.
Joyce Benedict
Hyde Park
Jim Quigley’s dishonest campaign
When a slippery character – a politician, a salesman – tried to slip a fast one, my mother used to say, “That really frosts my liver.” She didn’t like to be taken as a fool. A recent mailer from the Republican candidate for Ulster County executive, Jim Quigley, hopes that Ulster County voters are a gaggle of fools and, well, it frosts my liver. It is highly deceptive and dishonest.
The mailer promotes Quigley as a problem-solver who, as Town supervisor of Ulster, led an effort to bring a renewable energy project to the Town, replacing a proposed fossil fuel power plant. He claims to be a leader who “reached across the aisle” for the project, and on the flip side of the mailer highlights a quoted statement supporting the renewable energy project from his current opponent for County executive, Jen Metzger: “This is huge, huge and exciting news.”
This mailer needs some unpacking with facts. In 2017, Jim Quigley supported the Lincoln Park Project, a fossil fuel fracked-gas power plant to be located in the Town. It was quickly opposed by various citizens’ groups, including the Citizens’ Climate Lobby, led by Jen Metzger. Quigley’s comments, often dismissive of the concerns of these groups, can be researched in public records. In sum, the Lincoln Project was ultimately rejected by the County because of its potential harm to the environment and local residents. That it ultimately became a reenvisioned renewable project was because of citizens who fought the original plan, not because of Quigley. Problem-solver? Quigley was the problem. He has the chutzpah in his mailer to distort Metzger’s comments, which were about the announcement of the green energy project and were nevertheless offered with the understanding that Quigley would no doubt try to take some credit for it. Metzger’s actual gracious response is met with her opponent’s falsification of reality.
There isn’t space here to list Jen Metzger’s legislative accomplishments as State senator, but one would find a passionate commitment to a clean environment and green energy developments through tax incentives and agricultural supports. Her public record is authentic and consistent. Ulster County voters can be confident that she will be a champion of sustainable growth and preservation of our natural resources.
Jim Quigley’s campaign tactics are also consistent: deception and dishonesty. He has already had to retract a mass e-mail to county residents that claimed their absentee ballots were “on their way” – a direct contradiction of current election law that regulates the distribution of absentee ballots. Sadly, deceptive campaign tactics aren’t new, but they’ve reached a higher level in the current era when bald-faced lies substitute for facts. If my mother were here, I know what she would say.
Tom Denton
New Paltz
Don’t be mean
Recently, Rebecca B. Wilk, who claimed she doesn’t like to engage in repetitious argument, wrote in her third letter on the subject, “I am unequivocally pro-life for living, breathing human beings including but not limited to women and girls…” Apparently, not included in her pro-life stance are these same women and little girls when they were still in the womb, where all human life begins and starts to develop. Rebecca also wrote that “terminating a pregnancy is a difficult and morally complicated decision.” In light of her failure to acknowledge developing human beings in the womb as living, breathing human beings, I wonder why she considers “terminating a pregnancy” (which is actually the killing of a developing human being in the womb) a difficult and morally complicated decision?
Moreover, Rebecca misrepresents “Civile” by suggesting that he’s implying that government must think for women and is thus insulting women’s intelligence. However, what Civile actually thinks is that women, if they understood and admitted what abortion really involves, are intelligent and moral enough to protest governments giving physicians and women a license to kill human beings in the womb. (It should be noted that although she attacked “George Civile and John Butz” by name, Rebecca failed to mention fellow female Joanie Jones, who wrote a scathing Feedback rebuke of Ms. Wilk’s parody song. I guess Rebecca’s caricatured presentations of pro-life men are less risky targets for her reckless attacks.) And, as Civile noted in a previous letter, the lyrics from “Desolation Roe” were inspired by actual conversations with women who had abortions and regretted it because they realized that the termination of their pregnancies resulted in death in the place where nature intended life to be nurtured and protected.
Furthermore, Civile said that the reason he didn’t present lyrics about Trump in his “Desolation Roe” letter was because the subject raised by Rebecca was abortion. Civile also wonders – since she is so offended by Trump’s behavior – why Rebecca didn’t mention that Tara Reade accused Joe of some pretty nasty behavior when she worked for him, as well as Joe’s daughter Ashley’s following claim in her (Florida court case-verified) diary regarding her father Joe: “Hypersexualized @ an early age. What is this due to?… I remember having sex with Friends @ a young age: showers w/my dad (probably not appropriate).” (Taken from an article in The Intercept by Ryan Grim, September 7, 2022.)
Civile also said the following song is a parody of the hit song “You Didn’t Have to Be So Nice” by the Lovin’ Spoonful and is a further response to Rebecca who, apparently, likes to engage in repetitious argument more than she is willing to admit.
You didn’t have to be so mean
I would have heard you anyway
I hope that if you’ve more to say
You’ll say it in a kinder way
(bridge)
Your words were reckless and so full of bile
I bet they made Neil Jarmel laugh and smile
For a while!
(stanza)
You said that you were so pro-life (ooh)
As long as life was breathing air (ooh)
But for living beings in the womb (ooh)
It seems that you don’t really care (ooh)
(bridge)
You said my patronizing song was fake
Its dishonesty was more than you could take
(Please stop for Gaia’s sake!)
(stanza)
You think that I should hate old Trump
For things that he has said and done
But Biden did some nasty things
Tara Reade didn’t think were fun
(bridge)
Joe’s daughter says she showered with her dad
As she grew up it made her feel so bad
Now she’s sad
(stanza)
There’s so much more that I could say
With words that make you sad and sore
No candidates are pure as snow
Except the ones you’re voting for
(bridge)
I hope you’ll think about life in the womb
And admit that abortion turns wombs into tombs (wombs into tombs!)
(bridge)
And if you write again it’s true (you write again it’s true)
I’ll get to say once more to you (to say once more to you)
(stanza)
You didn’t have to be so mean (so mean)
I would have heard you anyway (heard you anyway)
I hope that if you’ve more to say (to say)
You’d say it in a kinder way (in a kinder way)
(repeat to fade)
You didn’t have to be so mean (so mean)
You didn’t have to be so mean (so mean)
George Civile
Gardiner
Free financial talk for seniors
“Getting old ain’t for the faint of heart,” a friend once said. Not for those challenged by financial decisions either. HomeShare Woodstock, Family of Woodstock’s new program in our community, is sponsoring a free talk on Saturday, October 22 at noon at the Woodstock Community Center on Rock City Road with David Sterman, President of Huguenot Financial Services and an active supporter of many local non-profit organizations. David will help unravel the maze of confusing financial options for healthcare, housing and long-term care. Bring your questions! Registration is required. Call Family at 845-679-2485 or email homesharewoodstock@familyofwoodstockinc.org.
HomeShare Woodstock is an innovative program matching qualified home owners with additional living space with home seekers looking for safe rental situations in or near the Town of Woodstock. Our skilled volunteers do thorough background and reference checking in order to make home share matches that help both home owners and renters. Interested? Information about the program will be available at this talk, by calling Family or by sending an email to the address above.
Susan Goldman, volunteer
HomeShare Woodstock
Gardiner’s Community Preservation Plan and Fund
How does one assess the emerging Town of Gardiner Community Preservation Plan (CPP) and the related Community Preservation Fund (CPF)? One way is to compare them to other similar endeavors and to consider the impact they have had and their reception. Clearly the Town of Warwick’s CPP and CPF in Orange County, is the most comparable. The two projects are very similar, the Gardiner plan being modeled after the Warwick plan. Both plans are intended to protect prime agricultural land, open space, wetlands, aquifers, potential park and recreational areas, historic places and public water supplies.
The Town of Warwick CPP emerged out of a comprehensive planning process in 1999. Their CPF was implemented after a Real Estate Transfer Tax (RETT) to support the CPF was approved by Warwick’s voters in 2006. Since that time over, 6,000 acres of targeted land have been protected, including 34 farms, trails, recreation areas and historic places. The project has been well received by the agricultural community, town residents, businesses, conservation organizations and regulatory agencies at the state and federal level. The Warwick program operates under the town’s planning, zoning and building umbrella. The program is able to draw assistance as needed from these and other related areas of town government. The program’s credibility is well established and recognized by regional, state and federal funding sources.
Turning to the proposed Town of Gardiner CPP and the related CPF: in terms of design and fit, an immense amount of effort has gone into these plans. One might be concerned about the adequacy of available planning, legal and technical resources to undertake a project of this size, Gardiner being a much smaller community than Warwick. However, the actual preservation projects that the CPP program will generate, typically unfold over a period of years due to landowner hesitation and funding availability. In other words, due to the pacing of the projects, much of the CPP workload can probably be fit into the myriad of tasks that the town needs to accomplish. Technical and legal assistance beyond that can be obtained from conservancies and land trusts which are likely to want to partner with the process.
Having provided a number of CPF appraisals of farms for Warwick over the years, I have had an opportunity to observe the Warwick CPF program in operation from a variety of perspectives. Based on that experience, I think that the Gardiner CPP and CPF programs as proposed, are well designed — and if implemented, will make a significant difference to the future of the Town of Gardiner, in terms of quality of life and the amount of open space which can be protected.
If one is looking for an example of the impact CPP can have, I suggest the following: When next you find yourself going south on Route 208 near Ireland Corners, take a right turn on Marabac Road. As you go west down the hill, just before the intersection with Sand Hill Road, take a gander to the northwest across the Albert Hess Farm, a conserved precursor of the Gardiner CPP.
Richard Butler
Gardiner
Neil’s hallucinations continue
Regarding the title of Neil Jarmel’s letter of 9-29-22, “Keeping Madness to a Boil,” I think it accurately describes Neil’s frame of mind as he sits at his keyboard, drilling out his weekly TDS tirades.
It’s hilarious to see Neil describe Governors Abbott and DeSantis’s “disgusting” behavior as they do, on a much smaller scale, exactly what Biden’s been doing for the past year. Biden flies plane loads of illegals all over the U.S. in the middle of the night while Abbott and DeSantis bused far fewer illegals in broad daylight. Biden’s actions were described as “resettlement” while Abbott and DeSantis’s identical actions were smeared as “human trafficking.” I’m sure many readers find this hypocrisy well beyond rich.
The governors of Texas, New Mexico and Florida as well, have continually asked Biden and Harris to do their jobs and protect our border. Ranchers and others in U.S. border towns have been overwhelmed for 20 months with illegals trespassing, stealing, causing property damage, committing other crimes including rape, incredibly taxing their resources, etc. and the Biden/Harris three-ring circus does NOTHING! As a matter of fact, our pompous and incompetent VP Harris just went to Texas last week to fundraise and, of course, trash Abbott in another of her failed, slow motion teleprompter word salad “speeches.” She had the perfect opportunity to visit a couple key spots, revealing the overwhelming chaos and consequences of illegal entries but, of course, she refused to do her job as “Border Czar.” No surprise, at all. So, the only way to get anyone’s attention is to bring the problems to such “sanctuary cities” as Chicago, New York City and Washington, DC. The whining mayors of these cities immediately cried foul and declared states of emergency while also wanting to call up the National Guard to do their babysitting and paperwork. And, Martha’s Vineyard? We all got to see, first hand, how the rich and influential, spearheaded by the Obamas, immediately protected THEIR border by deporting their “guests” within 24 hours! Again, isn’t the hypocrisy of these places so rich as they all display their charter membership in the NIMBY Club — Not In My Back Yard. In showing their initial behavior and attitude and suddenly having the full spotlight on them, they quickly had to remove the egg from their faces while rapidly doing a 180, left with no choice but to pretend to accept the illegals with open arms.
And, Neil whines and moans about how cruel the Republicans are in pulling their “political stunts.” Well, how about all the deaths at the border, including children, due to drownings, deadly auto accidents with traffickers smuggling in illegals at high speeds, the admission of unvetted criminals, record numbers of lethal drugs, a truck load of dead bodies, countless “gotaways”, etc.? Guess who’s responsible for THESE “political stunts,” Neil? Let me give you a little hint. It’s NOT the Republicans!
John N. Butz
Moena
For women’s lives: Not “lost,” just logical
I extend sincere thanks to Rosalyn Cherry and Susan Puretz for their clear and forceful defense of women’s reproductive rights, to Neil Jarmel for his appropriate criticism of traitor and would-be dictator Donald Trump and to the New Paltz Women in Black for organizing a well-attended rally for women’s rights and women’s lives on Saturday, October 8.
Like many Americans, I have moral reservations about abortion, but like most Americans, I recognize that abortion is sometimes medically necessary and doctors are best qualified to determine medical need. Additionally, like anyone with elementary scientific knowledge, I can distinguish a fertilized egg, a zygote or an embryo from a viable human baby. If anti-abortion crusaders are offended by accurate language, they are out of touch with reality.
John Butz’s most recent diatribe hardly deserves a response, as it seems to be a personal attack rather than a presentation of his viewpoint. It goes without saying that the content of my letters would be lost on right-wing ideologues, but my refusal to take an oversimplified position does not mean that I am “lost,” and neither does Butz’s deliberate distortion of my statements. As Butz vacillates between direct accusations and first-name references, despite his never having met me, any rational reader should wonder just who is “lost.”
However, I thank Butz for repeatedly saying the quiet part out loud, thereby proving my point by exemplifying right-wing hypocrisy. As Butz knows, guns are more likely to kill gun owners’ family members than to defend them, and military-style assault weapons have no purpose except the perpetration of massacres. No proponent of unrestricted gun rights can credibly claim to defend life. Butz’s repetitious rants invariably characterize women as “immoral,” “irresponsible” and/or “selfish” for asserting personal autonomy or demanding our right to stay alive. His continual contention that “abortion is murder” indicates his wish to impose harsh criminal penalties on women who terminate or lose pregnancies and on doctors who save women’s lives. Moreover, when Butz takes an occasional break from anti-woman polemics, it is only to repeat Fox News talking points for deadly policies, such as perpetuating the fossil fuel industry or defending structural racism by pretending it does not exist.
Anyone who doubts the validity of my observations can read Butz’s previous letters and check news reports from more reliable sources than Rupert Murdoch’s conglomerate. If other readers are “confused” by my letters, I hope they can understand Ms. Cherry and Ms. Puretz’s letters in the October 5 issue. Finally, I hope other readers become bored with Butz’s repetition.
Rebecca B. Wilk
Woodstock
Ulster County – an election for the future
Currently, I am not in the Hudson Valley, so I am jealous of the options available for residents. This letter is my chance to share how I feel about the research I have done and hope this leads at least one person to take my opinion to heart when voting this election season.
Jen Metzger is a public servant at heart and a forward thinker devoted to continuing the work done by Pat Ryan as the previous County Executive. It can easily be seen the connection she is building with the community, each member of Ulster County. Public servants like Jen Metzger are one of the many reasons why the Hudson Valley will be a destination in New York that so many people want to live in for many years. Protecting the community is vital, at the end of the day the person in the executive role must share the values of the area they represent. With Jen Metzger, Ulster County will get someone that not only has State government experience, but someone that is a dedicated advocate for Ulster County.
Every election cycle is important, but I want to use this platform to make a push that emphasizes the importance of voting in local elections. Early voting will take place on October 29 to November 6. The future of the Hudson Valley happens at the local level and works its way up to the state and federal. Please make sure to have your voice heard and examine every candidate.
Vote for Jen Metzger for County Executive on November 8
Ulster County needs Jen Metzger to be our County Executive. Her position as Executive Director of Citizens for Local Power from 2013 to 2018 exemplifies the kind of nuts-and-bolts effectiveness typical of Jen’s endeavors.
For the third summer running one CLP program offered 20 local residents eight weeks of paid onsite training in solar panels installation, energy auditing, home-sealing and weatherization. Trainees needn’t have a high school diploma or even a car. They can go on to earn certifications by studying at SUNY Ulster. What an opportunity for youngsters who might be very much in need of one.
Other CLP energy initiatives aimed to lower electricity costs, establish cleaner energy sources and simultaneously promote local economic development. By contrast Jen’s opponent, Town of Ulster Supervisor James Quigley, tried to establish a fracked-gas burning power plant in the Town of Ulster. He even blocked public hearings on the issue. Jen Metzger and CLP succeeded in repurposing the facility to one using renewable energy; Quigley now tries to claim credit for that. State Senator Jen was able to go further and proposed legislation to permanently ban fracking in New York State. The ban passed as part of the 2020-2021 state budget.
Jen has similar nuts-and-bolts successes in the areas of housing, mental health and the extension of broadband and cell service.
Please stand with Pat Ryan and Juan Figueroa and vote for Jen Metzger for County Executive on November 8.
Doris Chorny
Wallkill
Romine v. Public Service Commission
Last September 12, I stood before five judges of the Appellate Division, Third Dept. in Albany, New York, which is an appeal level in New York State Supreme Court, and delivered an oral argument in case #533446. Opposing me was the lawyer from the New York Public Service Commission (“Commission”), who asserted that the Commission’s two previous determinations, the “Modification Order” and the “Rehearing Order,” held that smart meters were biologically safe to be installed on power customer’s homes. This was because of “more than 100 peer-reviewed scientific studies on meter safety” that were “plainly identifiable on the record” as the Commission’s lawyer asserted in his oral argument and in their documents.
Sounds like an airtight case for the Commission, right, but actually wrong. There are only a few peer-reviewed studies on smart meters and certainly not more 100 peer-reviewed studies on meter safety in existence, let alone on the record of this case.
Apparently, these folks at the Commission have no compunction to lie to the Appellate Division Court, or the New York public, whom their name derives. I have documented in two sworn affidavits that the alleged 100+ peer-reviewed scientific studies do not exist and the Commission has refused to supply a counter-affidavit that the studies do exist, probably fearing a perjury charge, which means that I should have a prima facie case having two uncontested affidavits.
Evidently not, according to the judge of the court of original instance (Albany Supreme Court). Judge Walsh ruled against me in March, 2020, and again on April, 2021, disregarding in both proceedings, abundant compelling evidence in addition to disregarding the uncontested affidavits. It was exposed in a January 2020 Freedom of Information Law response from the Commission, that they have never done any reviews of peer-reviewed medical studies, since smart meters were first introduced in 2005, and that they now claim to have relied on seven out-of-state jurisdictions, “who in turn did the reviews of more than 100 peer-reviewed studies.” That would be Vermont, California, Michigan, Texas, British Columbia, District of Columbia and Maine.
After a careful review, it was discovered none of those out-of-state jurisdictions even mentioned the word peer-reviewed in their reports on smart meters, let alone a single reference to a peer-reviewed study. The exception to that was Maine who mentioned they reviewed “numerous peer-reviewed studies,” without referencing any in their decision. So the plain fact is the Commission lied again as there are no peer-reviewed studies in those out-of-state jurisdictions referenced reports either, while alternatively, I have provided abundant compelling evidence, including 56 peer-reviewed studies, on the very real harm of chronic low-level EMF radiation exposure.
The Appellate Division, with its five judges, will review the decisions of the lower court for allegedly committing abuses of discretion by disregarding compelling evidence in my abundant paperwork. To see the September 12 exchange of oral arguments between the Commission and myself, view the video at this link: https://wowza.nycourts.gov/vod/WowzaPlayer.php?source=ad3/CourtSession&video=533446. The Appellate Court’s decision will be around mid-November. Visit thetruthsayerswoodstock.net.
Steve Romine
Woodstock
Truth versus lies
The truth: Josh Riley, the Democratic candidate for Congress in the 19th CD, strongly supports the National Alliance for Mental Illness’s concept that “folks having a mental health crisis deserve help, not handcuffs,” and recently said just that. The lie: Marc Molinaro’s attack ad, complete with dark music, adds one ominous word and quotes Riley as saying “for Criminals, Josh Riley supports help, not handcuffs.” Molinaro goes on to describe Riley as “dangerous” and “extreme.” Really? Riley grew up in a law enforcement family in Endicott, NY, has a young family of his own, cares deeply about community safety and victim’s rights and has a track record to prove it. He worked in the U.S. Senate on the Violence Against Women Act, the Victims of Crime Act and the Mental Health Collaboration Act. Does that sound “dangerous” and “extreme?”
Josh Riley does not spread fear-based or misinformation. He is running a hopeful campaign focused on abundance for all, protecting and advancing women’s rights and, perhaps most important of all, protecting the fragile experiment that is American democracy. We hope that voters will see through Mr. Molinaro’s lies and choose home-grown Josh Riley to represent the 19th CD on November 8.
Ed Kornbluh
Stuyvesant