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Big busts
Trump’s arrest may have been the most lucrative in history.
Sparrow
Phoenicia
Onteora reconfiguration is bitterly debated
First Terramor and the Saugerties Planning Board, now the Onteora School District. Are we afraid of offending them, too?
Once again, Woodstock deserves to know where its town board stands. HV1 says there has been almost NO input from you.
So here’s a multiple choice question. Feel free to pick more than one.
1. These are the times that try men’s souls. (Thomas Paine)
2. We have met the enemy and he is us. (Walt Kelly)
3. Qui tacet consentire videtur, ubi loqui debuit ac potuit (He who is silent, when he ought to have spoken and was able to, is taken to agree) — Latin proverb
Please step up, for our kid’s sake. Onteora stands ready to throw them under the bus.
Richard Buck
Woodstock
Off the road or off the truth?
In HV1’s article “Off the road again,” Hurley Highway Superintendent Mike Shultis blames the supervisor and town board for the problems at the temporary highway garage location. But as a concerned taxpayer, it appears to me that the Town Board has bent over backwards to accommodate the move from an obviously unsafe workspace.
Why does Mr. Shultis refuse to cooperate with the town board? It seems he is still bearing a huge grudge over not getting his way as to where the new garage will be located, his preference being on town land in back of the condemned garage. We have yet to see exactly where that would be, but a look at Ulster County Parcel Viewer shows wetlands (not legal), buried rubble (not legal), parkland (not legal), and core forest (discouraged by groups such as Catskill Mountainkeeper). Further, the infrastructure required to support a highway garage that far back from the main road would be very costly.
Former Supervisor John Perry, who said in 2019 that “Mike Shultis was found guilty of Anti semitic (sic) remarks towards the [former] highway secretary,” has now found an ally in Shultis as both are unhappy that mismanagement of the former landfill under their watch is now coming to light.
Yes, we want and need a new town highway garage. But rushing to build without doing due diligence, and refusing to cooperate with the Town Board on the temporary location is no way to run a highway department.
Joseph Letendre
West Hurley
Earth’s renovation
I was walking my dog and thinking about Earth Day and how Earth is really our actual home, and somehow it made me think of how much money and time and effort we spent on renovating our house. When I think back on the time, not long ago, we renovated our kitchen, the endless conversations I had with my husband about the color of the floor and the skylight, the countertop and the shelves vs. cabinets. We spent thousands of dollars on that little kitchen. How many weeks and months and how many thousands of dollars have I ever spent on Mother Earth?
I just spent a little money on flowers in my garden. I have been thinking more about how incredibly dependent we are on the Earth; we would have nothing to eat without Earth! And my sleep app is so often referring to the beauty of nature, trees, birds, oceans, beaches, etc. We depend on Earth for our recreation, our relaxation, our peace and quiet.
My sleep app never describes the beauty of kitchens or bathrooms to fall asleep on. The storms that rage our planet make me worry. Ironically, for Earth’s renovation, what we need to do is stop. Stop spending money and time on restorations. Earth restores itself for free. Maybe the hardest thing for humans to do is nothing. Not to renovate, not to travel, not to cook fancy meals, or to drive a car. Not to increase our bank accounts, not to build new businesses.
We are now asked to do the hardest thing, to keep still and let animals and Earth restore themselves. In the meantime, we can see the sunrise and the sunset, hear the stream’s song and breathe in the air. Enjoy this beautiful life-giving planet, to say thank you Earth, thank you sky, moon and stars. Thank you.
Edith Bolt
Saugerties
Trumpeting the decision
Re: being arrested is going to shock him. But at least it has finally started. OMG, they’re gonna try him as an adult. That’s a typo, they have decided that he is legally a dolt. However, I’m sure it was a tough call to try him as an adult — yes, he’ll still act like a toddler. As much fun as it is to celebrate this first indictment, I understand a celebration is premature.
Nevertheless, this indictment demonstrates that an indictment is possible. The indictment is a good start, but it’s just that, a start. It doesn’t mean much until he’s convicted.
However, for the first time in his narcissistic spoiled life, someone has basically told him “NO” and that is worth the cheap champagne that I have been saving [unscrew the cap] to be enjoyed when he gets his mugshot taken, when he is fingerprinted, etc. This criminal will have full opportunity in a criminal court now to prove his non-guilt.
He claims it’s all a witch hunt. They sure manage to catch a lot of “witches” around Trump.
The celebration I am doing in my mind is the knowledge that this is just the beginning of his indictments and his accountability, there will be more to come; this is the beginning of him answering for his actions.
Should convictions follow, I’ll celebrate those, too. “Premature or not,” I’m going to enjoy my champagne. So yeah, bring out the bucket of popcorn too, while I’m watching how all this plays out.
Word from Mar-A-Lardo is that “Indictment Boy” keeps walking into the dining room, walking out and walking in again as an “applause” sign lights up every time he returns.
Neil Jarmel
West Hurley
Silence is war’s most powerful weapon
In the sixties, the cries of American youth got heard on campuses and on TV, which broke the war’s silence for a few moments. But, ten thousand miles away, the screams of young soldiers and the dying cries of our Vietnamese enemies reached few ears.
My generation is ending; I expected that at some point, the rift created between the warriors and the peace protestors would get confronted and resolved. Instead, Vietnam, the unjust war, got shoved further under the rug and it became the culture now undermining our democracy. If the politics were terrible during the Vietnam War, look at it now. We have duplicated the same dynamics that feed on silence about how we stabilized our economy by going to war.
Have the peaceniks taken over Wall Street? I am unsure where they went because their kids and grandkids have gone to war. Twenty years after the Gulf War, these soldiers stand in line with me at the VA.
Silence is a political tool of war that protects the certainty we will not stop making war to feed our capitalist economy. The real truths of war leak out in art, where it gets dismissed as avant-garde. The wealthy owning and dominating media silence the moral debt we are accumulating by providing and supporting wars at the expense of fewer and fewer troops killed. Less of our soldier deaths does exclude morally the dead enemies and civilians we kill with drones and other high-tech weapons. The spiritual and moral burden we accumulate with high-tech weapon killing is profound.
Only when those who hold power to make these war decisions become elderly and reflect before their death on how their greed affected the humanity of the planet they leave behind might they feel the depth of devastation they funded.
Silence only breeds more wars.
Larry Winters
New Paltz
Youth and hunting accidents
In November 2022 an 18-year-old hunter unintentionally shot himself in Cattauraugus, NY.
Hunting accidents involving youthful victims in other states include:
• A 14-year-old in California who died in 2016 after he was unintentionally shot by a 16-year-old while they were hunting
• A 15-year-old in Oklahoma who died in 2014 while hunting with his father during the opening weekend of deer season.
In January 2018, New York State passed legislation to lower the minimum age from 14 to 12, at which an individual may obtain license to hunt deer, if accompanied by an adult 21 years or older with three or more years of hunting experience.
Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz vetoed the proposed legislation in his region:
“There have been many unfortunate firearm accidents across the state, especially those involving youth hunters…there’s an inherent danger in allowing children 12 and 13 years old to shoot deer with a firearm while accompanied and supervised by an experienced adult hunter.”
Poloncarz is correct in defining 12- and 13-year olds as children who should not be allowed to use firearms, even if accompanied by an experienced hunter.
If hunting deer is to be allowed at all, the minimum age should be raised, not lowered.
Elizabeth Shafer
Saugerties
The cost of inaction
As a former trustee of the Onteora Board of Ed, I have been following the debate over the district’s reconfiguration closely. Though nothing in the April 4 HV1 article surprised me, I think there are some questions raised that should be addressed.
My former colleague, Ms. Osmond asked, “What’s the rush?” It’s a response to a situation that has festered from a decade of the board she and I both presided over sitting on our hands at a cost of tens of millions of dollars. Taxpayers should be outraged. We live in a changing world. At a time when our divisions are deeper than ever, when economies are precarious, when children are begging for inspiration and answers to questions about identity and sustainability, where examples of irresponsible leadership are more the rule than the exception… the solution is community, education and decisive action. I understand the impulse to resist progress, but the district should not be constrained by fears that are easily addressed by action.
“What’s the agenda?” To build community that is inclusive and equitable, where the benefits outweigh the costs, and our state-of-the-art facility reflects the progressive, exquisite educational experience inside the walls. It is time to say to our kids that, yes, after enduring three years of a soul-sucking pandemic, this community is here to lift them up and give them the campus they deserve.
As a former board president, I understand the complaint that this looks like a surprise to those who understandably remain oblivious to things that don’t directly affect them, that if you don’t have a school age child, you wouldn’t know about this. I agree. This is a project that will bring some sorely lacking pride to this community, and everyone who lives within our borders will own that pride. I’m certain that families without children, even tourists, will notice our campus, a true community center. And I am certain that the cost of that campus will be less than the cost of inaction.
Kevin Salem
Woodstock
Thank our first responders every chance you can
I wish to thank those who stopped to assist my 84-year-old brother who fell and fractured his left femur during his daily hike to the top of Overlook Mountain on Sunday, April 2. Fortunately, a timely call to 911 by “Ann” and the rapid response of volunteers of the Woodstock Fire Department and members of Woodstock Ambulance, the patient was transported to the hospital where he received treatment and is on the road to recovery. (Many hikers may know him as the guy with the little red car.)
We wish to remind your readers that rural areas such as ours do not have paid firefighters and most EMT’s are also volunteers. According to a study by Firefighters Association of the State of NY (FASNY) a force of 80,000 volunteers in NYS save taxpayers an estimated $4.7 billion annually.
Recruitment has become difficult and our fire departments are constantly seeking volunteers who have the desire and determination to assist. It is my hope that as more people move to this area they recognize this invaluable service to their community and pitch in. Be warned, the job is not easy and requires countless hours of training, drills, meetings and equipment testing. But most of all, the call to service in the middle of the night when temperatures are sub-zero to battle house fires and during sweltering temperatures to fight brush/forest fires as well as many other calamities we may all be subject to at a moment’s notice.
As well as considering membership, which is the most significant commitment you can make, also consider a monetary contribution to your local department if you require transport to a medical facility, suffer fire damage, or require EMT service at an auto accident. Also please support their appeal by mail for donations, as well as for raffles, dinners and breakfasts. Attend community events they may sponsor such as “touch a truck” for children or family movie nights and make certain to thank these first responders every chance you can. A simple thank you is often all it takes to make their day and remind them of the difference they make.
Don G Doyle
West Hurley
Creative thinking?
As I have previously written, Supervisor McKenna had every right, without requiring a Request for Proposal, to legitimately hire the architectural firm of Walker Associates, the firm that on numerous occasions referred McKenna Brothers construction company to their client, an action reciprocated by McKenna Brothers construction company clients when they needed an architect, to design the addition for the Comeau building, a design application to the Commission of Civic Design which was never approved.
Recently, while on the internet, I came across pictures of a lavoir, a picture that can be viewed along with pictures of the under-constructed Comeau addition on https://bringbackwdstk.blogspot.com, and wondered if it was the inspiration for the Walker’s design.
Howard Harris
Woodstock
Our NYS Senator understands
Our NYS Senator understands local government! Thank you Senator Michelle Hinchey for all your efforts and, in particular, supporting New Paltz in the Senate’s one-house budget. Our fingers are crossed the State’s final budget gets adopted shortly with both of these:
• The budget includes “payment to the Village of New Paltz for expenses related to police and fire services associated with institutions of higher education… $300,000.”
• The Senator is also leading the charge to help local governments with urgently-needed funding to repair water and sewer infrastructure and plan for long-term modernizations. Her proposal will create the $100M Safe Water Infrastructure Action Program (SWAP). An annual funding stream, similar to the successful Consolidated Local State and Highway Improvement Program (CHIPS), SWAP could be used by all cities and villages to address both their water and sewer infrastructure preventive maintenance costs, as well as assist in the undertaking of capital projects. Like the CHIPS’ apportionment process using street miles, every municipality would receive an allocation based on the amount of pipes owned and maintained by the municipality with SWAP.
Thanks again Senator for looking out for us.
Mayor Tim Rogers
New Paltz
Join us for the Earth Day Fair on Saturday, April 22
Next week the flags of the United Nations will fly again along historic Huguenot Street — a true sign of spring here in New Paltz. And this year, on Earth Day, April 22, after three years of Covid hibernation, the Earth Day Fair will emerge and return to the grounds of the Reformed Church. The event, co-sponsored by New Paltz Interfaith Earth Action, Climate Action Coalition, and the Reformed Church Caring for Creation Committee, will be celebrating its 20th anniversary. During Covid, virtual presentations replaced the outdoor festivities, while the flags continued to fly and colorful Earth Day posters lined the Rail Trail.
This year we are hoping that this mild spring weather continues, so that fairgoers will flock to the festival on Huguenot Street to enjoy the live music, great food and family friendly activities. A special effort has been made this year to include as many active groups and institutions as possible, including local faith communities, scouts and student organizations. This year’s theme is The Ten Commitments, a Pathway to Sustainability. Big Moe, dressed in biblical attire, will be welcoming visitors and directing them to environmental exhibits and demonstrations and children’s activities. Energy experts will be on hand to answer questions about solar, wind and hydro power, insulation, home energy audits and electric vehicles. A highlight of the fair will be a tour of the historic Reformed Church building in which an ancient heating system has been replaced by environmentally friendly heat pumps. If you can arrive by 10 a.m., there will be a guided tree identification walk prior to the formal start of the fair at 11 a.m. A shorter version will be given during the fair.
Come early and stay late (festivities will wind up around 4 p.m.). We hope for blue skies and calm winds, but the show goes on, rain or shine.
Mark Varian
New Paltz Climate Action Coalition
You should have been there on Millrock Road
One recent March afternoon, returning from a neighborhood walk, I spotted the Fed Ex truck parked parallel to a car across the street from my house. After making a delivery, his truck was headed towards Main Street.
At the head of the street, a truck delivering bottled water, was parked parallel to a parked car. The driver dashed out to deliver heavy water bottles.
A Honda CRV came up the street, heading for Main Street. The driver tried to pass the Fed Ex truck, but with cars on both sides of the street, but “no go,” apparently gauging the space too tight to make it through.
Two large trucks, one SUV — a typical Millrock Road standoff! Who had the right of way? I watched, hoping that the school bus was late to drop off the two young children living two houses away.
Taking charge, the Fed Ex driver slowly backed up his 20-foot truck to pull beside the fire hydrant. The bottled water truck driver drove towards the open space towards the CRV doing the same.
The car gave way for the truck, then sped by the Fed Ex truck without as much as a “thank you” to the driver.
I clapped and sang out, “Great job” to the Fed Ex driver. Smiling, he said, “I really appreciate that. Getting up and down these streets are difficult, especially for deliveries.”
So much for village safety. So much for pedestrian safety.
Is this an unusual occurrence? No. Ask a delivery driver what his/her experience is of driving down the streets in our village to learn about the problems with narrow streets, clogged with parked cars.
Is New Paltz the only village/town with this problem? Can’t we enact an alternate side of the street parking policy? Hmmmmm.
Helise Winters
New Paltz
Join the family! 
