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Stop the killing now
I am a third generation Jewish American. I ask my fellow Jews if they consider the lives of Jews more valuable that the lives of Palestinians? I understand that we may value more the lives of people we know, be they Jewish or whatever, but do you consider all Jewish lives more valuable than Palestinian lives? I do not. My parents always taught me to do unto others as I would have others to do onto me. Is that in your view what is happening now in Gaza? Not as far as I am concerned when I hear about and view the consequences of Israeli bombing in Gaza.
Ending the killing and building a peace for all is the only solution. Stop the killing NOW!
Lanny Walter
Saugerties
Tea anyone?
On December 16, 1773, the Sons of Liberty dumped 342 chests of tea that weighed approximately 92,000 pounds into Boston Harbor. The tea belonging to the British East India Company was destroyed in protesting against “taxation without representation.” In today’s money, the value of the tea was $1.7 million, and King George III retaliated by closing Boston Harbor to trade until the British East India Company was repaid for their losses. These events were a pivotal part of the start of the American Revolution.
How fast we forget!
We have lost the spirit of our forefathers. Think about an uneducated Congress initiating either direct or indirect taxation through justification of the following:
• Mandating the elimination of fossil fuel without an adequate substitute
• Causing us to replace our gas-powered cars and trucks with electric-powered vehicles that can only sell with a government subsidy
• Requiring the replacement of gas stoves and oil or gas-powered heating systems
• Installation of cameras that will automatically issue speeding tickets as well as surcharging us for entering parts of the city during select hours
• Cigars are taxed at 75% as compared to marijuana tax at 13%. Go figure.
None of the above has any consideration for fairness and protection of families with lower income. Diesel fuel that powers all the tractor trailers that deliver most of our food and supplies has a federal excise tax of 24.3 cents per gallon and diesel fuel is showing a sharp increase in 2023 because of the Ukraine-Russian war. As these diesel prices rise all food and supplies with be passed on to the consumer in the form of higher prices many of us can’t afford.
It is time for us to watch all the politicians and stress to them the importance of returning to coal, gas and oil production. We have 100 years or more of fossil fuel resources that should allow us to develop proven alternative energy sources without useless taxation and the loss of jobs associated with energy production. The actions of the United States to stop global warming as China and Russia ignore the problem shows all our efforts to be moot.
Now is the time to get involved and to have your voice and your vote to get us back on track. A smaller government with less access to our money is ultimately better. Thomas Jefferson said, “A government big enough to give you everything you want, is a government big enough to take away everything that you have.”
Jim Dougherty
Bearsville
Oh, Christmas tree … good grief
I’ve always admired the work of Charles Schultz & Dr. Seuss. Does anyone remember the end of A Charlie Brown Christmas or How the Grinch Stole Christmas? There are valuable lessons for us there. The Christmas tree issue is a metaphor for how Woodstock is becoming. All of us are wounded, and yet we may still serve. Grace is less about “proper form” than it is about serving the greater good, regardless of our shortcomings. Woodstock used to be more about service and inclusion, than appearance. Now that LLCs and an over-privileged realty industry have assigned a certain value to our town, we are rapidly losing the social economies, the Woodstock ethos, which are the real value of this town. The peanuts gang rallied around their sad little tree and learned a valuable lesson. I’m grateful we have a tree, the Whos down in Whoville came together in song despite their stolen tree and a mitzvah occurred. The Grinch was redeemed. It would be a very Woodstock thing to do, to be grateful for our tree and each other.
Hippy holidays.
Michael Mulvey
Woodstock
No end in sight
It doesn’t take a deep dive into the news to come to the inevitable conclusion that if someone other than Benjamin Netanyahu had been leading Israel on October 7, Hamas’s barbaric, indiscriminate slaughter of 1,400 innocent Israelis would very likely have been stopped in its tracks, or to conclude that Israel’s barbaric, indiscriminate slaughter of over ten times that many Palestinians (16,000 and counting, in multiples of 100 daily) would not be taking place now.
And there’s no end in sight. A permanent cease-fire, a humane cease-slaughter, and an end to the prime minister’s unwitting recruitment tool for generations of rageful terrorists (alas, with ample cause) seem impossible as long as Netanyahu is pulling the strings. It’s past time to pull the plug on him, and to work not as he is unconscionably doing, toward the Final Solution to “the Palestinian question,” but toward a two-state solution.
Tom Cherwin
Saugerties
Time to acknowledge Biden effectiveness
I am a Democrat and one who is both relieved and proud to have an effective president. As such, I am alarmed by President Biden’s low approval score and can only conclude that it is due to the opposition’s concerted media campaign, basically spreading misinformation and then repeating the result it. Case in point: On November 26, USA Today published an op-ed by Ingrid Jacques titled “Earth to Democrats: Biden Presidency is a Dumpster Fire.” Alarmed by this heading, I searched the article for supporting facts. The only data cited were opinion polls — nothing about the administration’s policies or results thereof — the piece being basically an echo chamber amplifying the misinformation.
It seems Democrats, attempting to rise above it, have been content in their silence, assuming the facts will speak for themselves, but that does not seem to be working so maybe it’s time to list a few of Joe Biden’s accomplishments.
• Securing millions of COVID-19 vaccines
• Sending stimulus checks to millions of families
• Rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement
• Incentivizing electric car purchases
• Re-engaging in the World Health Organization
• Reopening Obamacare enrollment
• Passing a once-in-a-generation Infrastructure Plan
• Enshrining Gay Marriage into law
• Ending Transgender military ban
• Bringing down inflation and oil prices
• Creating 13 million jobs, 800,000 in manufacturing
• Statesmanship/leadership in organizing allied support for Ukraine
And that is not all. Economically, Americans are on more solid ground since the last election. According to the Federal Reserve System, American’s household net worth since 2020 has soared by an amazing 44%.
Yes, the world is in a peril right now. Russia has attacked Ukraine, Hamas has attacked Israel and global warming threatens us, but these are not of this administration’s doing. Imagine confronting all of these with an incompetent president! It’s time to stand up to the false statements of this negative echo chamber and begin to share the truth.
William Barr
Saugerties
Authorize 25 mph speed limit
Under NYS law, cities and villages may establish area-wide speed limits for streets under the municipality’s jurisdiction.
Before 2022, state law prevented communities from lowering their “village speed limit” or “city speed limit” to less than 30 mph. On August 12, 2022, Governor Kathy Hochul signed a legislative package to enhance street safety that included allowing municipalities to reduce speed limits to 25 mph.
However, before a municipality may adopt an area speed limit, a licensed engineer who specializes in traffic operations must certify that such speed limit is in accordance with engineering considerations. This is cost-prohibitive, particularly in light of the overwhelming studies and data which show that a 25 mph limit is safer, particularly in densely populated, walkable and bikeable communities like the Village of New Paltz. This certification requirement should be removed to allow local officials to more easily adopt safe area speed limits.
We are pleased that our colleagues at the New York Conference of Mayors (NYCOM) included “eliminating the study and certification requirement for 25 mph speed limits” during our recent discussion about legislative priorities for 2024. Our association of mayors from across NYS meets each fall to discuss and determine our shared legislative priorities so we may work together and approach Albany’s legislators as a group. We consider proposed legislation related to municipal finance, government operations, community development, energy and environment, employee relations and public safety. Our finalized list of priorities for 2024 will be shared shortly.
Mayor Tim Rogers
New Paltz
Writers are not in agreement
There are vastly different opinions among the HV1 writers as to solutions of the Israeli and Hamas conflict, as well as different definitions of genocide and who is guilty of REAL genocide. Some are for a cease fire (probably a permanent one) and others are for the total obliteration of Hamas.
One thing for sure is that a cease fire plays right into the hands of Hamas and hands them a victory as they regroup, rearm and plan future strategies for their next unprovoked attacks upon Israel, sometime down the road. Their terrorist behavior is a guarantee, since all Hamas wants is the total annihilation of Israel and has made it clear that they won’t stop till their mission is accomplished, no matter how long it takes.
Steve Romine and others refer to the Palestinian territories as open-air prisons controlled by Israel. It’s funny how they don’t mention anything about the negative effects Hamas has had on their own Palestinian people who, by the way, freely elected Hamas in 2006 to “govern” their territories. Instead of taking care of the Palestinians with the large amounts of money provided for the Palestinians, over time, for their well being and success, Hamas has intercepted that money for themselves, their intricate tunnels, and weaponry. And, where are any local governments that are supposedly looking out for the Palestinians but failing them, instead? Steve’s exaggerations make it sound like Israel is guilty of EVERYTHING and that local governments and Hamas have nothing to do with the plight of the Palestinians.
And, what’s with the hostage mind games being orchestrated by Hamas? Surely, it’s wonderful that SOME hostages have been released. But, who thinks that ALL the hostages will ever be safely released? To release all hostages would strip Hamas of any further leverage and give Israel the strong upper hand to continue their complete destruction of Hamas. And, does anyone really think that Hamas will EVER give up their goal of the total evaporation of Israel?
With all the seriousness and gravity of this situation, we astonishingly notice Neil Jarmel’s total silence, as he continues to be foolishly invested in his TDS tirades.
John N. Butz
Modena
Capable of being bought off
It is hard to think about anything else while a genocide is going on. Of course, our first priority is to stop Israel from murdering Palestinian children. Then we can ask for a cessation of Israeli attacks on hospitals and schools.
Pictures coming out of Gaza clearly show what the Israeli Defense Force has been doing. The utter wasteland that remains are clearly the results of “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group,” which is the official UN definition of genocide. And the US role in funding, arming and protecting a nation committing genocide? There is little doubt in the eyes of the world that the US is also committing genocide in Gaza.
But how is it that our government has been so enthusiastic about continuing the slaughter? Our Congress and president have even favored opening up our weapons stockpile to Israel and sending tens of billions more in military aid. Aren’t 5,000 dead children enough for them?
The same is true for our colleges and universities. Presidents are throwing Students for Justice in Palestine off campus, and warning others of disciplinary action for pro-Palestinian rallies. How is it that our educational leaders are also consumed by pro-genocidal enthusiasm?
The answer is one word: venal. It means capable of being bought off for money or other valuable assets. Politicians in DC have long been funded by the Israel Lobby, and it is hard to find a representative who is not in on the take. The same is true for college presidents. Despite huge endowments, college presidents are more than willing to limit intellectual discussion on campuses if alumni donations are threatened.
And that is how our society has been debased by the Israel Lobby. Instead of our institutions serving the people, they are doing what a small group of rich elites demand: support Israel Apartheid and keep the blood of innocents flowing. It is well past time for us to rise up and challenge our venal leaders in Congress and on campus.
Fred Nagel
Rhinebeck
Woodstock housing needs
If you are a Woodstock resident who cares about creating homes for workers, seniors, artists and families, then please consider joining the Town of Woodstock Housing Committee. The committee has great work ahead and this is a perfect time to welcome new members!
After four years of building a foundation for long-term affordable housing, the committee is now focused on completing a housing plan for our town and building something we hope our community will embrace. At the same time we face a huge challenge. Two long-serving members, myself and Urana Kinlen, are leaving at the end of December. The committee cannot complete the work we have begun without new members. Do you care about housing? Do you have housing-related experience, skill in writing or social media and time for a rewarding contribution to your community?
As co-chair of the Housing Committee since its inception four years ago, I have learned a great deal about housing and what is needed to make it happen. There are no magic bullets or single solutions. Ours is a creative town and we expect our solutions to be models to others. My colleagues are hard working and open minded. The meetings are effective and well run. Our members are leaders in the county on housing and environmental sustainability and Woodstock is, proudly, the first rural community to join the county’s Housing Smart Communities Initiative (HSCI). We are already seeing the benefits of that achievement.
The next few months will begin a largely new phase of work and for that reason it is an excellent time to join the committee. The county has made a consulting firm available to develop the kind of community support any building effort needs and to help with a feasibility study of possible sites. This consultancy has come to us, free of charge, because of the groundwork the town has done to join the county HSCI. This is a rare opportunity to engage with a consultant to begin a housing initiative.
For more information and to submit an application, contact committee chair, Katherine Tegen at housing@woodstockny.org. You can check out our FaceBook page (Woodstock Community Homes) or come to a meeting. The next committee meeting is December 13 at 5:15 p.m. at the town’s Comeau meeting room. Visitors welcome! The committee will move to zoom in January.
Susan Goldman
Woodstock
Dismantling pure propaganda
Regarding last week’s letter by George Civile, there is much falsehood to respond too. First, I detailed very
clearly “The Case for Genocide” in last week’s HV1 that upends George’s conclusory claim of no genocide. Second, it is obvious George doesn’t know anyone who went to Palestine and is listening to Israeli government propaganda. I have friends who are Jewish who made multiple visits there and were warmly welcomed into Palestinian homes and ate meals with them knowing full well they were Jewish.
Palestinians are not Jew-haters as George irresponsibly parrots, misinforming this readership. They are a people upset with land-grabbing-Israeli-policies of lands owned for generations, confined to live in an area without the right to travel and blockaded with an deleterious embargo, jailing without a fair trial and deprivation of rights considered inalienable by the US Constitution. Anybody who has been to Israel will see it’s an apartheid state, as did Ireland’s popular former Prime Minister and truthsayer, Richard Boyd Barrett, (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RYBV1X7_CM) who lived in Israel. Spare me the lecture about the very real horrors of the Jewish Holocaust as I am a descendant of family brutally murdered in the Armenian Genocide and familiar with such evil. As far as trusting the alleged expertise of racist-zionist-Netanyahu to defend Israelis, the New York Times 11/30/23 article: “Israel Knew Hamas’s Attack Plan More Than a Year Ago” revealed a 40-page Israeli intelligence document code named “Jericho Wall” that “outlined, point by point, exactly the kind of devastating invasion that led to the deaths of about 1,200 people.” Netanyahu did nothing to prevent it. Instead he made matters worse by probably authorizing the brutal “Hannibal Directive,” that may have killed many of those innocent 1,200 Israelis.
Thousands of angry Israelis would disagree with George’s comments excusing genocidal “conduct” and want war-criminal-Netanyahu to resign and they don’t “live safely in America” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRL4ejIY1nA).
Steve Romine
Woodstock
Packaging Reduction & Recycling Infrastructure Act
Virtually all the plastic packaging that enters your life is designed to be used once, then discarded — a major reason why we have a waste-management crisis in New York.
Legislators in Albany can change this when they reconvene In January. Senator Pete Harckham and Assemblymember Deborah Glick have proposed the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act (PRRIA). This bill would transform the way goods are packaged — and save tax dollars. It would also prohibit 15 known toxins from being used to make packaging. Currently, these hazardous chemicals are permitted in packaging that touches our food.
The PRRIA would also prevent so-called chemical or advanced recycling from being considered recycling. These technologies aim to make new plastic by heating plastic waste. The process rarely succeeds and invariably creates toxic substances. Yet chemical recycling is being pitched as a silver bullet by industries with a financial interest in the continued production of plastics.
The bill would give companies that sell products in New York 12 years to reduce their plastic packaging by 50% and reach a real recycling rate of 70% for any remaining packaging. It would also make companies — not taxpayers — cover the cost of managing the packaging waste they generate.
The PRRIA is our opportunity to stem the plastics tide in New York. Senator Michelle Hinchey and Assemblymember Sarahana Shrestha, we are counting on your active support to get it passed. And Speaker Heastie and Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins, let the bill come to the floor for a vote early next year.
Karen Hadley
Boiceville
Is affordable housing possible in Woodstock?
Woodstock’s proposed zoning law defines the initial sale price of an affordable housing unit such that the annual cost of the principal, interest, taxes, insurance and common charges shall not exceed 30% of the gross aggregate income, which is 120% of the Area Medium Income (AMI). AMI for Ulster County in 2022 is $96,000, establishing an initial sale price for an affordable housing unit at about $375,000.
Affordable rental units are based on 80% of gross aggregate income, allowing a monthly rental expense of $1,920.
Under current conditions, there is no way a contractor or developer could meet these price points. The requirement that developers set aside 15% of a project for affordable housing units seems unachievable and presents the developer with a dilemma.
The developer could game the system by making unrealistic promises and commitments that won’t be fulfilled, or the developer could walk away from Woodstock and take the project to a jurisdiction with less onerous zoning. Neither alternative results in a positive outcome for Woodstock.
Ken Panza
Woodstock
Could it be subjective?
From HV1: “Supervisor Bill McKenna proposed increasing the salary for the highway superintendent by $10,300.” The fact of the matter is McKenna reduced the salary for the highway superintendent while increasing his own salary. The question is, what precipitated this decrease? The answer might surprise you.
Howard Harris
Woodstock
Title: The shadow of the Buffalo: Hegemony’s silent echo
Hegemony, in its essence, is a form of dominance where one group or entity exerts control over others, not just through force or coercion but through subtle and often invisible means.
I recently watched Ken Burns’s PBS documentary about Buffalo. The Buffalo is a sacred symbol in Native American culture. The Buffalo blood spilled on stolen lands by paid Buffalo hunters wielding greed with their weapons became a hegemony that continued that I generations later took part in. That reality came alive for me in 1969 when I became a number in America’s narrative of dominance, subjugation, and hegemony in both America and Vietnam. That war was no different from the countless indigenous lives taken in our nation’s past. In this, I find an unexpected kinship between the old soldier and the living and dead natives, all used by the same hegemonic powers.
Because I had a non-leaking roof, a bed, a doctor and a car, I did not venture to the outskirts of town to see the ‘Big Men’s controlling hegemony. Then a pinhole of light pierced through the Buffalo hide curtain, or was it the flash I saw beyond the iron curtain that collapsed under the weight of the currency it was hoarding. Only years later did I realize the pabulum I was fed sustains so many.
US politics, an intricate dance of hegemony, thrives on abstraction, complications and impediments. It keeps the stark truth distant from the kitchen tables and even further from the basements and attics of our souls.
The buffalo hunter, a cunning agent of hegemony, paces outside our door. In the valley, a starving pack of wolves howls the chorus of the marginalized, a haunting reminder of the hegemony’s insatiable hunger.
In the grand tapestry of life, each Buffalo represents not just a meal but a story, a fragment of the earth’s legacy under the watch of hegemony. Our proper nourishment lies in physical consumption, understanding these stories, and empathy for the silenced voices. In acknowledging each Buffalo, each life touched by the shadow of hegemony, we recognize a piece of our shared humanity. This simple yet profound realization beckons us to see beyond the curtain of dominance into the heart of our interconnected existence.
Larry Winters
New Paltz
Truth or dare
Midway through reading Neil Jarmel’s TDS inspired letter last week I fell asleep and had a dream in which I was playing “Truth or Dare” against Neil and two other – less abrasive — Trump critics, Meyer Rothberg and Wolf Böhm. During the game my opponents chose truth and I asked them the following question: Have you ever admitted to one another (albeit begrudgingly) that there are things you all admire about Donald Trump?” I listened in stunned disbelief as they acknowledged they had and then, to illustrate this admission, sang the following song “That’s What We (begrudgingly) Like About Trump” to the tune of Sinatra’s classic hit “That’s Why the Lady is a Tramp.”
(Stanza)
His Dad built buildings when he was a teen
His base adores him, the Press thinks he’s mean
He really shocked us in 2016
So, we give it up for Donald Trump!
(Stanza)
If you’re a bum, he’ll lend you a dime
Plans insurrections; in his spare time
He’s never had a vodka and lime
He’s a teetotaler old Donald Trump!
(Bridge)
Don’s so deplorably dumb; makes us uncomfortably numb
but his folk…think…he’s woke!
(Stanza)
He claimed to be so; stable and smart
Most who support him; shop at Walmart
Says he’s a genius who; has a big heart
He’s such a troll that Donald Trump!
(Stanza)
Helped to end Roe/Wade; that makes us mad
His views on Israel; don’t make us glad
But he speaks his mind and; that’s not so bad
That makes us down with Donald Trump
(Bridge)
We mock the color of his wild hair;
He doesn’t care no trope; he’s dope!
(Stanza)
He inspires most of Neil’s crazy rants
We’re sure he wears red-silk underpants
We hate his voters and their MAGA chants
He’s sure resilient that Donald Trump
(Stanza)
He’s been indicted so many times
He says he doesn’t like liberals or mimes
We hope that he serves time for his crimes
We’re Feedback friends because of Trump:
Sure makes us nervous (TFG)* Trump
So we (begrudgingly) admire Donald Trump
*(That Fabulous Guy)
When I awoke I didn’t know quite what to make of the dream. However, perhaps inspired by the lyrics of the song, I found myself hoping that “45” would get another chance to make America great again.
George Civile
Gardiner
Devil in the details
Funny how God is all-knowing and all-powerful until he’s not. Damn that Satan, why does the one true all-powerful God allow him to exist?!?
Evil doesn’t die, nah, it reinvents itself. Evil walks among us. Use your gifts, be perceptive and please guard yourselves.
Man are you in for a world of pain and misery if you ignore the signs.
And, dammit, I’m mad spelled backwards, is “dammit I’m mad.”
Neil Jarmel
West Hurley
Speak the truth
It’s weird to think that the Speaker of the House believes the earth is 6012 years old, but come to think of it, the first 17 Speakers of the House believed that.
Sparrow
Phoenicia
The Climate disaster
The Climate disaster is ruining our environment, our homes and the economy. The crisis of climate change is no longer just “change,” it has become a disaster. In the last year alone, global energy emissions resulted in 37 billion tons, the highest it’s ever been. Climate change affects sea levels, air quality and weather patterns. Floods, droughts and extreme temperatures are all examples of the devastating consequences of climate change today.
I am speaking on behalf of my generation, a generation that is deserving of a clean and healthy environment for not only ourselves but our children, grandkids, friends and families. A generation that deserves clean emission free energy, like wind and solar power, and a generation that deserves healthy homes.
Our elected officials must stop turning heads to the inevitable crisis at hand. It only gets worse as we avoid action in relation to this disaster. The “Make Polluters Pay” principle is one of the many ways we can move forward in time of this immediate crisis. For example, The Climate Change Superfund Act would require companies that contributed to climate warming greenhouse gasses and make them pay $75 billion over 25 years for the damages they caused. This profit could be used to move towards a more green environment and provide people with resources that lost their homes, families and lives to the climate crisis.
Laura Yusupova
SUNY New Paltz
Remembering Alex Wade
The Saugerties Lighthouse Conservancy would like to honor the memory and legacy of Alex Wade, who recently passed away. His role in saving the lighthouse was legendary. In the late 1980s, when the effort to preserve the lighthouse was getting underway, Alex was hired as architect and construction manager to oversee the stabilization and restoration of the derelict building. His name was practically synonymous with the rescue of this historic landmark. He was hands-on during crucial stages of the effort, often in the company of his pug. As Alex recollected, “For the most of the project, I was there daily. I kept our work barge and boats going, made all the runs for miscellaneous hardware and tools, scraped bricks and trim and did extensive repainting and finishing.” He continued to serve on the board of directors of the conservancy for many years, including in the role of president. Eventually, he retired from the board after his legs could no longer handle the hike out to the lighthouse. He has been such a fixture in Saugerties for so long that it’s hard to fathom his passing.
Patrick Landewe
Saugerties
The modern Icarus
Icarus, in his modern glee,
Makes his wings from ChatGPT,
Wax was a mistake,
But this takes the cake,
Now we’re all set to drown in the sea.
Pigeon Boy
New Paltz
Ring any bells?
In 1663, during the Second Esopus War, Dutch settlers and the troops defending them at Fort Wiltwyck engaged in a series of skirmishes, battles and negotiations with the Munsee Lenape natives. Both the colonists and the natives attacked and destroyed one another’s villages. Both the colonists and the natives committed atrocities against women, children and the elderly. Both the colonizers and the natives took hostages. Both the colonists and the natives negotiated for the release of those hostages: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:The_Esopus_War_of_1663
Ring any bells? The New World, South Africa, the Levant, settler-colonization has changed little in 400 years.
On June 7, 1663, the Munsee attacked Wiltwyck, killing soldiers and settlers, and taking civilians hostage.
On September 5, 1663, Dutch troops sent to rescue the colonists attacked a Munsee palisaded village under construction on a bluff west of the current town of Wallkill overlooking a creek later named the Shawangunk Kill. The settler-hostages were rescued, the fort and crops were torched and most of the natives were massacred.
A Dutch account of the massacre in E.M. Ruttenber’s 1906 Indian Geographical Names describes the scene: “When the Dutch troops left it, it was a terrible picture of desolation. The huts had been burned, the bodies of the Indians who had been killed and thrown into the corn-pits had been unearthed by wolves and their skeletons left to bleach on the plain, with here and there the half-eaten body of a child. For years it was a fable told to children that the place was haunted by the ghosts of the slain….” The massacre ended the Second Esopus War and effectively wiped-out the Munsee from the region. Several sources consider the massacre site the origin of the place-name, Shawangunk: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shawangunk_Ridge
In Roskoz Most’s Between the River and the Sea, after decades of killing civilians and taking them hostage, the settlers “would have to surrender the moral high ground” responding to the native’s “terrorist actions” killing soldiers and settlers, and taking hostages on October 7.
Applying HV1‘s characterizations of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to September, 5 1663, which side would be surrendering the moral high ground, and which side would be the terrorists?”
Christopher Spatz
Rosendale
Illegal dump in Shady
Nick Henderson gives a reasonably accurate review of what happened at the recent Woodstock Town Board meeting at which numerous residents expressed their outrage over the town board’s refusal to act on its oft-repeated promise to remove all contaminated C&D material from the illegal dump in Shady. Those testimonials are based not just on the experiences of the residents, but also on the well-documented, fact-based analyses of hydrogeologists Paul Rubin and Katherine Beinkafner, with over 70 years of experience between them.
But interleaved with his meeting review, Nick repeatedly bends over backward in deference to the DEC, who had coincidentally released a letter that same day “preemptively [denying] many of the allegations later made at the Woodstock meeting.” He directly quotes several claims from that letter, without bothering to fact-check (or critically appraise) any of them. Nick could have contacted the hydrogeologists or quoted from their 20-page analysis that refutes the DEC’s claims. But no. Instead, he ends by quoting the ENTIRE DEC letter, verbatim! No quotes from the hydrogeologists, even though their contact information is at the top of the DEC letter!
A modest investigation would enable Nick to provide a more accurate and informative description of the relevant facts. Here’s a quote from the hydrogeologists: “Several substances were found at concentrations in excess of NYSDEC’s soil cleanup guidelines. These polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) exceedances were benzo(a)anthracene, benzo(a)pyrene, benzo(k)fluoranthene, chrysene, and ideno(1,2,3-c,d)pyrene. … Most of these substances readily migrate through soil and groundwater. Their presence strongly indicates that future groundwater contamination and offsite migration will occur.” Come on, Nick!
FYI: The DEC was responsible for locking down Karolys’ illegal operation in 2019. Failing to do so, they allowed Karolys to create the “Shady dump.” Maybe that’s why they are so eager to say “nothing to see here.”
Luke Hunsberger
Shady
Palestine/Israel
There is a Zionist/Israeli energy characterized by arrogance, aggression and entitlement. It is devoid of compassion, empathy, humility or humanity. It is a force that seeks control, subservience and domination through collective punishment, threats and unspeakable violence. This energy is terrifying and yes, it creates terrorists. Israeli state terrorism is responsible for incinerating thousands of innocent Palestinian women, children, babies and men. At peaceful demonstrations supporting Palestinian human rights, passing Zionists have screamed from their cars that our daughters should be raped, mutilated and murdered because we were speaking up in support of innocent Palestinians. Their words drip with the venom of rage and revenge. Are these screaming people hopelessly lost in their fear and anger?
Perhaps, but thankfully there are also supporters of Israel who are open and willing to engage in peaceful and respectful dialogue. And God bless them. Unfortunately, the propaganda arm of the Israeli government (the “hasbara”) is fully engaged in spreading outright lies and misinformation to persuade Americans, particularly Jewish Americans, of the evils of Hamas and the virtues of the Israeli Defense Forces(IDF). The Zionist/Israeli lobbies (including AIPAC American Israeli Public Affairs Committee) have unlimited resources, unmatched political influence, and complete media access to whitewash and “spin” Israeli atrocities and launder Israel’s image. But the well oiled Israeli propaganda machine is failing because the true nature of the apartheid, settler/colonial enterprise which calls itself the State of Israel is standing naked before the world.
Eli Kassirer
New Paltz
Just do the right thing
In my experience, my generational predecessors want (and quite frankly need), us younger Americans to step up and lead. Considering we make up a clear majority of the US population, the time to do so is now. I caution my colleagues though, when times seem tough, do not sell out in order to curry favor with figures who may no longer hold (or in some cases never had), America’s best interests in mind. As we have seen at the national level, disgraced former-congressman George Santos is but one infamous example of someone who was willing to stab America in the back in order to gain wealth and power for himself. He has no right to claim victimhood. It’s sad and maddening to see, but thankfully such behavior has consequences and rightfully so. Let that serve as a message and remember, just do the right thing.
Tim Scott, Jr.
Saugerties
Genocide? Nope
The Israel/Hamas War has most of us very upset and perhaps even distraught. As emotions run high because of the terrorist attack and massacre of well over a thousand civilians in Israel and the taking of 300 civilian hostages and then the subsequent retaliation killing of thousands of civilians in Gaza — some folks are using the genocide word.
To put things in perspective and bypassing the emotionality and knee-jerk penning of incorrect terminology, I will offer the real-life historical descriptions of what a genocide entailed.
In 1915, the Turks intentionally slaughtered 1.5 million Armenians. In 1994, during the Rwandan Genocide, the Hutus slaughtered 800,000 Tutsis. During WWII, the Nazis slaughtered over 6 million homosexuals, Gypsies and Jews.
So, what is the correct determination of the civilians killed in Palestine? It’s called collateral damage during a war. Yes, it is cruel, it is horrifying, it is shameful and it is terribly sad and unfortunate — but it is not genocide.
Examples of collateral damage in modern history: WWII in Great Britain 60,000 civilians, USSR 7.7 million civilian casualties, Belgium 90,000 civilian casualties, Holland 1.9 million, Poland 5 million, Greece 80,000; Yugoslavia 1.2 million; China 10 million. And let’s not forget how the United States bombed three major cities in Japan and intentionally killed in Hirashima 140,000. In Nagasaki 74,000, and the firebombing of Tokyo killed 80,000. And let’s not forget the Korean War when 245,000 civilians were killed and how about the Vietnam War when 1.4 million civilians were killed.
Those were and are still considered by international experts to be collateral damage from various wars.
Let’s not disrespect all those who were affected directly and indirectly by those wars by bandying about the word genocide in the current war just because we are deeply disturbed by the deaths of innocent civilians during the current war in the Middle East or the Ukraine/Russia War. Let’s try to stay level-headed and not add to the tensions and violence by choosing words through our keyed-up emotions. Let’s be peaceful and work toward peace in our world.
Donzello Berelli
New Paltz
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