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.
Letter guidelines:
Hudson Valley One welcomes letters from its readers. Letters should be fewer than 300 words and submitted by noon on Monday. Our policy is to print as many letters to the editor as possible. As with all print publications, available space is determined by ads sold. If there is insufficient space in a given issue, letters will be approved based on established content standards. Points of View will also run at our discretion.
Although Hudson Valley One does not specifically limit the number of letters a reader can submit per month, the publication of letters written by frequent correspondents may be delayed to make room for less-often-heard voices, but they will all appear on our website at hudsonvalleyone.com. All letters should be signed and include the author’s address and telephone number.
Letter in support of James Louis
In regards to the recent media publications following the release of the Attorney General’s report, the Saugerties Town Board proudly and supportively stands behind James Louis. James Louis’ picture was wrongfully used in conjunction with the release of an Attorney General’s report, and the officer named in that report is not James Louis. At this time, it has not been determined as to how or why a photo of James Louis was used by certain media outlets, but the Town of Saugerties and its officials are working diligently to gather all information and facts regarding this error.
James joined the Saugerties Police Department in 2020 and is currently serving as the police department chaplain. Outside of his departmental duties, James has dedicated his professional life to the medical field, as well as to the church. James has spent his personal and professional life serving others, and Saugerties as a community is a better and safer place for having James by our side.
The Saugerties Town Board
Saugerties
Words-eye view
Well, I have words — “Are you worried that your brain will be turned to tapioca by TV?” I am becoming more concerned that the television CEO’s and their business model will turn TV to JELL-O. It will shake the industry in awful ways. This is so incredibly brutal — I totally support the 2023 writer’s guild of America strike.
Hey folks, are any of your readers avid television viewers? Hmm. Maybe you’re the champion of entertainment trivia on your pub quiz team? Well then, we don’t need no stinking, greedy, soulless pencil-pushers running the TV industry, rather than artists?
The new corporate math says it is easier to make a profit by not spending money than by making and selling a product. It is not sustainable, but the CEO AMPTP class doesn’t seem to care. Are they dragging this strike out as long as possible to “starve” the writers and force them to bend in desperation? How vile.
I am sorry. Writers keep us entertained. Personally, I feel there is no replacement for the passion that goes into weaving sentences. I’m betting writers are more practiced at getting by on lack of income than all those pushing back. Who can hold out longest? Do they not understand that they should not piss off people who buy ink by the barrel?
The studios should get it together and cooperate, and understand the longer they wait, the more people get hurt and the more the audience gets deprived of new entertainment. It’s a bad situation.
There are those out there reading this that are thinking maybe AI can do a better job of writing than the writers, and that it certainly can do no worse. I don’t think so! Writing by humans is very important and they need to be better respected and valued!
I’ve been for union workers all my life and I will never not support the right of any group of workers to confront an unfair employer by any legal means necessary! I stand with you all, as should every red-blooded American who supports fair play and enjoys the entertainment you all create!
Aha, it’s official: SAG-AFTRA actors now join WGA writers on strike. I think that little “wait ’em out” strategy just took a devastating broadside. It’s now a block party! Good luck to all of you!
Neil Jarmel
West Hurley
Banding birds
As a Mohonk Preserve member who uses her pass almost daily, I have observed that birds are being banded. This is a process where they are trapped in nets, carried in bags and a band is put on their leg for identification. This is a lengthy process, and it is being done during the nesting season.
I have many questions that have been unanswered thus far by those doing the work. Is it good to disturb a free-roving animal who is caring for its young? Could this process be harmful or even fatal to some birds? What benefit is this to the birds? Are the birds being harmed more than being helped? What are the scientific advantages of this process over visual observation of the birds? I’ve read a study that states that only 6 % of banded birds are re-identified the following year.
I would like to know what research goals are behind this program, but no one has yet given me any specific justification beyond “migration research.” I seek responses from Preserve administrators and/or any community persons with deeper knowledge about this type of program.
Susan Jacque
New Paltz
Transgressing!
From HV1: “Town supervisor Bill McKenna enacted an executive order allowing establishments to bypass the customary site plan review process to provide outdoor seating and entertainment.” The fact of the matter is that the supervisor altered and misused an official town document. How he got it through the process legitimately is beyond me. McKenna is not a dictator, and he should not take it upon himself, especially when Woodstock’s laws would be violated, to continue in this manner.
Howard Harris
Woodstock
All we need is love
We are in an age where information zips by like hummingbirds on a sugar high. Few are lending an ear to the symphony of love that so many tell us is how to return to what was or stepping into what’s next. As we surf on the digital waves of this advanced industrial revolution, an offspring born from the passionate union of silicon and code, we’ve devalued words to the point they’re as cheap as dollar store trinkets.
In the rare moment when we lift our faces from our screens, the actual beings of others blur like an old photograph. The new God we worship isn’t carved from stone or wood but from figures in our bank accounts, a deity with a green gleam in its eye. The melody of loving one’s self is like a complex waltz that demands mastering your steps before twirling in synchrony with another part of yourself, an art lost on many.
As for me, I’m trying to recalibrate my compass, aiming for a horizon not determined by society’s ephemeral winds but by the timeless rhythm of nature’s heartbreaking. Like the young robin, I saw a few days ago that left its nest too early, its mother desperately distracted me from trying to pick it up before the neighbor’s cat ate it.
Love, once a loudspeaker broadcasting harmonies in our hearts, has turned out into the bustling marketplace of the advanced industrial revolution. Now, words are as bountiful as leaves on our lawns in autumn, where they are discarded with similar disregard, their values cheapened by the computer-fed word glut. Face-to-face interaction has become as rare as genuine pearls on a sandy beach buried by the sands of digital indifference. Wealth, the false idol, has climbed atop the societal pedestal, radiant as a gilded calf, now worshipped with fervor.
Larry Winters
New Paltz
Multiple responses
I’d like to comment on three different letters from last week’s HV1 Feedback section.
In response to Donzello Berelli’s letter entitled “The Woke Ostrich Syndrome,” I find it extremely interesting that NO readers or writers comment on or try to justify the poisoning of the minds of our young, naive, innocent, gullible and impressionable children regarding the inappropriate and explicit sexual “education,” aka indoctrination, that only a mature adult is able to fully comprehend. The same mysterious silence is demonstrated by Neil Jarmel and others in his camp on their TOTAL failure to address ANY of Biden’s countless calamities, societal divisions and mental failures when attempting to speak, especially off the cuff and unscripted. He couldn’t spontaneously answer a single question with truth, fact or reason if his life depended on it. And, I imagine that there are no responses or rebuttals to any of the preceding statements because there are no facts or truths to support any comebacks.
In response to John Scurti’s letter entitled “A no brainer,” I have a suggestion for alternative residents of the River’s Island detention center. How about Joe and Hunter Biden? However, since this would require a fair, honest, objective and un-weaponized FBI and DOJ, we all know that this outcome would be highly unlikely.
And, in response to Paul Nathe’s letter entitled “Our neglected Thruway, I simply refer to his last sentence: “You get what you VOTE for” and ask the simple question: Isn’t what we’ve ALL been suffering through a DIRECT result of voting for Biden?
So much deterioration going on in today’s societal morals, persecution of Christians and Jews, our country’s economy, our national security, etc. and not a peep from anyone who voted for the highly divisive and incompetent Biden/Harris clown show. This, of course, is hardly a surprise.
John N. Butz
Modena
Dangerous pot holes in Woodstock parking lot
We live five minutes from downtown Woodstock and hang there all the time. Over the last couple of years, the condition of the public parking lot across from The Colony has rapidly deteriorated — to a condition now that’s clearly unsafe. Dozens and dozens of oddly similar basketball-sized potholes have appeared that make driving even at a snail’s pace pretty treacherous. Walking safely without falling or twisting an ankle is now almost impossible. Twice in the last month I’ve seen people trip and fall due to stepping into one of these enormous potholes. It’s only a matter of time that someone breaks a bone and sues the town. I assume the lot is the town’s responsibility and if so, these dangerous potholes need to be addressed ASAP.
It doesn’t appear to be an unusually expensive repair either — a couple of dump truck loads of dirt and a portable compacter could efficiently fill them all and pack them tightly down to avoid the fill from washing away. Seriously, this is a dangerous condition and someone’s going to get hurt.
Andrew Cowan
Saugerties
DEC consent order, inflation and new sidewalks
In July 2022, the Village of New Paltz applied for grant assistance from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) via the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program to replace sewer mains and manholes on South Chestnut, Harrington, and Prospect Streets. An award for the project was announced November 2022.
In May 2023, seven firms bid on the job ranging from approximately $1.4 million to $898,898. Contract signing took place last week on 7/20/23 with the low bidder. Work is expected to be completed this summer and fall.
The low bid of $898,898 was $119,948 greater than our $778,950 July 2022 estimate for construction, contingencies and inspection. Estimates have not been that off in the past. We have decided to endure the inflated cost and fund the overage using our local sewer fund so we may continue to address the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) consent order.
New Paltz has been party to a consent order from the DEC since 2003, which was reissued in 2014, because of overflowing raw sewage problems caused by excessive Inflow & Infiltration (I&I) during rain events. Hydraulic overloading has caused raw sewage to periodically erupt from manholes onto village streets and into the Wallkill River.
Additionally, we have been planning to use a portion of our annual Consolidated Local State and Highway Improvement Program (CHIPS) money from NYS to fund replacement of the sidewalk on the west side of Prospect Street from Main to Slate. This will be the first time we’ll use CHIPS for sidewalks instead of streets.
The section from Slate to Henry W. DuBois is separately scheduled for its new sidewalk using funding from the Federal Highway Administration via the NYS Department of Transportation. Both of these sidewalks are scheduled to be constructed in 2024, once Prospect’s sewer main replacement work is all done.
Mayor Tim Rogers
New Paltz
Continue the appeals process
I recently read: “Dunkin’ denial dissed” in the July 12 edition of Hudson Valley One. As a member of the Hurley Planning Board, and one who participated in the decision-making process that led to the denial of the Dunkin application, I found inaccuracies, within the text of that article.
In his decision, Judge Bryant said: “The board had conducted meetings out of public view in violation of the Open Meetings Law, particularly at a gateway meeting with county planners.”That statement is absolutely untrue. The “gateway meeting” was called by the Ulster County Planning Board. The chairman and myself represented the Planning Board, along with our counsel and a representative from Nelson, Pope, Voorhis, (NPV) our consultant. So there were no violations of the Open Meetings Meeting law, during that meeting.
What is most concerning is the innuendo, associated with the quotes, that appear mid page, third column in large print. The language within, implies that the Planning Board took into account, parameters other than traffic, when deciding the Dunkin application. It did not.”
And I can tell you without hesitation, despite public opposition toward the Dunkin project, the Planning Board based its decision to deny the application strictly on what it considered facts, not local sentiment.
As a case in point, the Planning Board approved two applications that came before it, where there was a great deal of public opposition. One was Cedar Development, which proposed to refurbish the West Hurley school and make it into a condominium complex. The other, Twin Lakes, where Arizona Holdings proposed a recreational area, with about 50, small rentals. Both projects were conditionally approved, pending compliance with issues raised by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
As review of Dunkin proceeded, and the board received a site plan that depicted traffic flow, members became aware of the potential for serious traffic-related issues. The applicant was made aware of the board’s concern on more than one occasion.
So I can tell you without hesitation that the board’s decision to deny Dunkin’s application was based strictly on traffic issues, supported by studies conducted by NPV. In addition, the Ulster County Planning Board, indicated concerns with this project, based on traffic issues associated with Dunkin drive through facilities in the Towns of Ulster and Saugerties. Keep in mind that those outlets do not have the traffic-related issues the proposed Dunkin project does.
I can also tell you, that the Hurley Planning Board took its charge very seriously and reviewed each application rigorously and objectively. The board based all decisions on the facts and rendered decisions accordingly.
If I was still on the Hurley Planning Board and this application came before me again, I would not be able to approve it, if the traffic issues remained the same. Hopefully the current board will do the same and or continue the appeals process.
Tony Bonavist, Former Member
Hurley Planning Board
Face to face
According to facial recognition software, I am the prophet Hosea.
Sparrow
Phoenicia
A bold piece of writing
I don’t know Rokosz Most, even though I read HV1 and see that name occasionally. This time, I am pleased with myself for having opened the section on Celebrations which I might not have done; that I opened it from the end rather than the beginning and that I actually read the last article, starting from the end at first but then in its entirety. This column on love and celebrations and much else is not only a pleasure to read, but is so good that I am going to save it and savor it again. It is a bold piece of writing and HV1 is to be commended on publishing it, even at the end of an insert that not everyone will get to. So thanks to author Most, and to you, Deb Alexsa for publishing it.
Tom Rocco
New Paltz
An apology to Mr. Borelli
I offer my apologies to Mr. Borelli for lumping him with the odious John Butz. A comparison of their two letters of response to me will tell you of the differences between them. Mr. Borelli is thoughtful and informed. I respect his concerns regarding gender dysphoria felt by teenagers and the medical interventions potentially damaging to them, even with the required parental support and supervision, although I do not fully agree. Perhaps I am influenced by a personal experience: the suicide of a “different” boy in my neighborhood has always seemed to me to have been preventable had gender dysphoria remediation been available back then in the 1950s. Nevertheless, I concede that mistakes are made, as with many medical interventions. I was present at a medical school presentation in the 70s when John Money, Ph.D. at John Hopkins, proudly recounted how he had made a female out of one identical twin boy whose genitals, he claimed, were irreparably damaged during a circumcision. Years later, I learned that that boy, now a man, had surgery to restore his masculinity! Talk about gender dysphoria! (https://embryo.asu.edu/pages/david-reimer-and-john-money-gender-reassignment-controversy-johnjoan-case).
However, Mr. Butz’s response, focusing largely on an ugly attack on our president — a moral, mature, Christian, Democratic, internationally respected, politically astute leader of our nation — is typical of his weekly letters/tirades which include homophobic, small-minded, biased opinions. I offer no apology to him.
Meyer Rothberg
Saugerties
The Gray Lady
Yes, once upon a time, we did call The New York Times (respectfully), a Lady. Then, two weeks before the 2019 election, when President Biden won the Electoral College, The NY Post splashed news of Hunter Biden’s laptop on their front page. Fifty-one retired spooks (spies), in just three days, declared it a Russian hoax. In their last debate, Joe defended himself with those 51 sadly politicized, expert comments that The Gray Lady had reported as ‘news’.
Two years later, the Times said they got the story wrong. Some Trumpers still think the election was stolen. Ya think?
Not me. Politics is, as Truman said, where “if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.” Dems cheated better than cheating Republicans. Hell, Bill Belichick is STILL coaching the Patriots, and he’s been caught cheating as often as a slow running Walgreen’s shoplifter.
Jessica Tarlov, on Fox’s The Five, as that team’s lone Progressive voice, said that the FBI “under Trump” had made the accusations about Trump, implying DC institutions are actually managed by the current occupant at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Staffers with strong job protection run the FBI, CIA, IRS, Treasury, and they all know administrations come and go. Slow walking is a DC skill richly rewarded. Jessica just didn’t get The Memo yet.
The CIA has just been added to The Cabinet. “Ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee.” They took TR down from The Museum of Natural History. When does the large woman in NY harbor get toppled?
Now Senator Gillibrand (NY), who Senator Schumer introduced on national TV as “our little cutie” when she replaced once Senator HR Clinton, is sponsoring a law banning all White House, House and Senate members and their families from trading stocks.
Great! Work-around to follow? To semi-quote Nancy Pelosi, “Now they will all get their chance to prove they’re innocent!”
Paul Nathe
New Paltz
Oppose Federal Bill HR3557
Eleven Republicans on the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee are sponsoring bill HR3557, Broadband Deployment Act 2023 that will strip away any rights a town or municipality has through their zoning laws to regulate where telecommunications equipment may be located. This right was proclaimed and assured by the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Communities around the nation have been modifying their zoning laws to regulate an unwarranted invasion of an intense infrastructure of 4G/5G networks. Woodstock paved the way with the most comprehensive zoning law of our surrounding towns. Those towns are now following suit.
We had the best lawyer on telecom issues in the US to analyze and revamp our zoning law. A considerable amount of money was spent to make that happen. Now with one fell swoop of a pen, a new law will make all those zoning laws enacted by the people, null and void, if bill HR3557 passes. The exposure levels in NYC have dramatically increased over the past ten years due to unregulated deployments of 4G/5G infrastructure. The same will happen here if this bill passes. Please sign the petition opposing HR3557 (https://www.change.org/p/stop-thebroadband-deployment-act-hr3557).
Steve Romine
Woodstock
Bill, Bennet and term limits
Do you know that the City of Rome Italy once burned to the ground and whilst the city burned the emperor Nero looked on and played his fiddle? I’ve met and conversed with both Bill McKenna and Bennet Ratcliff around town in recent months and have had the pleasure of enjoying both pleasant and enjoyable conversation with them both. I have found each one to be respectful, kind and sensitive individuals and not at all like the images portrayed by their shameless political henchmen and women. After all, aren’t we all intelligent enough to know in Woodstock that ‘Every saint has a past and every sinner a future’? And isn’t it also said in the good book ‘let they who haven’t sinned throw the first stone’? However, good books put to one side for a moment, it’s an awful pity for the Town of Woodstock that Bill and Bennet could not extend some respect and kindness towards each other in the build up to our most recent election. I guess none of us are free of ego and in order to be a winner in the game of politics, one needs to have more than a fair share.
But sadly, when politicians wrestle with each other’s egos, the town’s real problems are not going to be taken care of and the people always suffer as a result. We need to deflate the ego out of Woodstock politics. One way of doing this is by introducing term limits in the role of the supervisor. The supervisor position should not be looked upon as a job for life or simply a good career move, but should be viewed as a position of honor, responsibility and service to our community of Woodstock. The candidates running should have a mindset of sacrifice rather than ambition.
This mindset of sacrifice and service to our community is sorely missing in Woodstock politics at present, but might return with the introduction of term limits. For instance, if a candidate for the supervisor’s office knew beforehand that he would have to return after two terms in office and once again depend upon the very community of people he depended upon before he became supervisor, he would surely be more effective by being more careful with his decision making. He might hesitate before passing laws or failing to pass laws that would affect himself and the community he would be returning to after his term in office ended.
Incumbent candidates for the supervisor role in Woodstock are notoriously difficult and almost impossible to defeat. Term limits would put a stop to this and at the same time encourage a more diverse group of candidates from different walks of life in the community to run for the position of supervisor. Term limits would also discourage cronyism and corruption.
I don’t know who I will be voting for in this coming November’s election for supervisor, but I believe that if the people of Woodstock voted tomorrow by referendum to introduce term limits for the role of supervisor and limit the role to two terms only, it would make for a far kinder, respectful, honorable and less ambitious campaign on both candidates behalf.
Chris Finlay
Woodstock
Important! Woodstock dog park update
Attention! Currently the Woodstock dog park is closed…. not safe!
We, of the Dog Park Committee, have been informed that the town is now in the process of taking corrective measures to make major repairs to fencing, framing, gates and paths at the dog park in order to correct damages that have occurred over the past few years.
Bill McKenna, our current town supervisor advised us that the repairs will begin in and expect to be completed by the end of August.
He advised us that as of immediately the entire park areas are closed until the town completes the necessary repairs that will return the park to the safe conditions we and our dogs have enjoyed over more than the past ten years.
For further information, call Bill at 845-679-2113, extension 17.
Fran Breitkopf
Hatti Iles
Lee Danziger
Woodstock Dog Park Committee
95 percent fossil fuels
Bob Berman’s, “The Night Sky,” ended last week with the observation that our electricity now comes mostly from fossil fuels. This is true. NYISO, the organization responsible for managing New York’s electrical grid and generation, reported that in 2022, downstate New York’s electricity supply was 95 percent sourced from fossil fuels.
In 2017, downstate electricity generation was 70 percent fossil fuels. The increase in 2022 to 95 percent fossil fuel generation is attributed to the closure of the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant. Three natural gas plants, which were under construction in the Hudson Valley at the time, replaced Indian Point’s lost generation: the 120-MW Bayonne gas fired/oil fired simple cycle uprate, the 678-MW CPV Valley combined-cycle gas plant and the 1,020-MW Cricket Valley combined-cycle gas plant.
Additionally, the NYISO officially identified a shortfall of electric generating capacity for New York City in 2025. The forecasted shortfall is driven by rising demand and the need to close older peaker power plants to reduce harmful pollutants. The PEAK Coalition released a report in March, 2021, explaining the negative and racially disproportionate impact of New York City’s 19 peaker power plants on the economic, environmental and health of the City’s residents.
The state must now decide whether to delay the closure of polluting peaker power plants or risk power failures in New York City during periods of high electrical usage.
Kenneth Panza, Secretary
Climate Smart Task Force
Woodstock
Elting Library 66th annual fair
The 66th Elting Memorial Library Fair in New Paltz will take place this year on Saturday, October 14, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., with the huge book sale continuing Sunday, October 15, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Entry to the fair is free, or shop for books as an early bird on Saturday at 8 a.m. for only $10 or on Sunday at 9:30 a.m. for $5 (when most items will be half-price).
The fair will feature:
• Thousands of books in three dozen categories as well as LPs, audiobooks, CDs and DVDs.
• Lots of children’s books, toys and activities.
• Silent auction and raffle with over 100 prizes including a mid-week stay for two at Mohonk Mountain House.
• Music all day with a great lineup of Eric Keeling, The New Paltz Resisterhood, David Rodriguez, Jeff Pfeffer, The Edukated Fleas, Leslie Abdallah and Vickie Russell.
Donations for books are accepted Sundays (10 a.m.-12 p.m.), Wednesdays (10 a.m.-12 p.m.), Saturdays (9-11 a.m.). Jewelry donations can be left off at the circulation desk during open hours. Toy donations will be taken starting in September. Thank you!
Paul Edlund, Chair
Elting memorial Library Fair
New Paltz
Join the family! 
