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.
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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.
The use of force was “profoundly upsetting”
I fully support the protesters’ right to peacefully assemble. I understand how SUNY officials could have felt unsure about what to do and how to respond. However, I do not support riot gear, K-9 units, the physical removal of protesters, etc. The use of force at SUNY New Paltz on May 2, 2024 was profoundly upsetting.
Separately, I wish the protesters’ messaging had been more discerning, calling for Israel to employ immediate policy changes within Israel rather than calling for “intifada,” “from the river to the sea,” and “by any means necessary.” Calling for violence and the destruction of Israel creates a hostile climate on campus and in our community.
We should be calling for alternatives to Hamas and to Netanyahu’s far-right administration; we need empowered Palestinians who seek peace and stability in the region and Israeli leaders who steadfastly believe in a two state solution or other pathways toward mutual understanding, recognition, and representation, so to bring an enduring peace.
Mayor Tim Rogers
New Paltz
Police attack on student encampment
I share the letter I sent to SUNY New Paltz President Wheeler in response to the attack on the student encampment:
Dear President Wheeler,
Your response is truly shameful. To bring police onto campus against students protesting injustice — especially a genocide unfolding before our very eyes, aided and abetted by our own elected officials — puts you on the wrong side of history and shatters any trust students and family had for your leadership.
The reported arrest of nearly 60 students overnight is abominable. The money and hard work students and families invest in your institution is betrayed by your actions. Certainly I have zero confidence in your administration’s commitment to the safety of my child or protection of her civil rights and free speech.
History will judge the response by you and other university officials across the country with the contempt it deserves. In the meantime, I applaud the efforts of the students protesting genocide in Gaza and will do whatever I can to support them.
Melinda Butterfield, Parent
Brooklyn
Mourn the dead
WW2 was fought to stop the Nazi’s under Hitler, who terrorized all of Europe with two dominant goals: eliminating all Jews, and ruling all of Europe. Many Jews in America today lost most of their relatives. Millions of Jews were brutally killed.
Then the world gave Jews the land of Israel, their historic homeland, a place that gave us Christianity and where many tribes have lived since before written history. Today the Jews are again fighting to survive.
My father and millions of other Americans, and Canadians, and Australians and a dozen other nations sent millions of their citizens to fight Hitler’s madness, suffering horribly, and die defeating the Nazis. Their sacrifice is being disrespected all over America, outrageously at once respected places like Harvard, Columbia, Vassar, UCLA and SUNY New Paltz.
And we allow educated, wealthy young adults to scream “Kill the Jews?”
With no consequences? Forgive their school loans? Excuse them, as clearly they were so poorly raised and educated that they do not understand? Fuck that, and their enablers!
They need to be punished. They are spoiled, selfish and an embarrassment to America.
Paul Raymond
New Paltz
How SUNY New Paltz Commemorated the Kent State Massacre
Like many, I am absolutely appalled that, on the eve of the anniversary of the Kent State massacre, Darrell Wheeler, president of SUNY New Paltz, called in, at great waste of tax dollars, state and town police and the county sheriff’s office, who then committed felonies against students peacefully assembled to protest college investment in the genocidal regime of Israel. Tents had been removed, and students were quietly sitting on a quad on their own campus, which they and their families have paid for them to attend.
This corruption of police committing crimes is untenable. I hope that these students who were the targets of these police crimes will press criminal charges and also sue the pants off every official who was involved in that travesty. I’m also greatly troubled by mayor Tim Rogers making clear to WAMC news that members of SUNY New Paltz get to have academic freedom solely restricted to mouthing the half-baked disinformation that Mayor Rogers evidently has in his head about US foreign policy and world affairs.
All this indicates how terribly mistaken voters are when they vote Dem/WF thinking that such candidates will support citizens’ unalienable rights. Nope, Dem office holders, be they Rogers or Biden, are fully capable of gaslighting and using/excusing physical violence, to deny human rights and, being insidious, are often more effective than their GOP counterparts in so doing. Citizens who care about human and planet rights would be wise to ditch such politicians.
Barbara Kidney
Town of Shawangunk
An open letter to SUNY New Paltz President Darrell Wheeler
We are community members from the New Paltz area who are appalled by your decision to authorize the state police to arrest well over 100 students and faculty on campus on the night of May 2nd.
During our various visits to the encampment, including just prior to the police action, we found the encampment to be consistently peaceful and well-organized. We heard not a whisper of anti-semitism. Those involved were not harming any people or damaging the campus. Most were students on their own campus, where many of them live. They had taken down their tents at your request. This was the violation of college policy that you identified during your visit to the encampment on Wednesday, May 1st, as the basis for potential action against the encampment.
These students understand that at times one must disrupt business as usual to focus the attention of the public on a glaring injustice. That is what these students were doing. They want SUNY New Paltz to divest from companies that work closely with the Israeli government and Israeli military in order to keep their tuition and our tax dollars from supporting human rights violations. We commend their courage and commitment.
You had no moral right to clear the encampment. We only wish you had demonstrated the ethical judgment and integrity of the students.
Jo Salas
Jo Salas
Nancy Schniedewind
Donna Goodman
Eli Kassirer
Maggie Veve
Tammy Raffaele
Karen Cathers
Reeni Goldin
Chaia Lehrer
Naim Kozi
Amy Mottola
Steve Goodman
Elana Michelson
Naomi Allen
Susan Griss
Mary Juneau
Fred Nagel
Diana DeCosimo
Lawrence Faulkner
New Paltz
Woodstock’s new noise ordinance?
The Woodstock noise committee that collectively wrote the new proposed noise ordinance included details in that ordinance such as ‘if any musician or venue is in breach of the new ordinance, they will be fined $250 for a first offense. On the second occasion, the party/person is in breach of the new ordinance they will be fined $750. For a third offense, it will cost the offending party $1,500 plus a one-year ban from playing outdoor music.
The proposed ordinance does not stipulate what will happen if the offending individual or venue breaks the ordinance’s rules for a fourth time. But we can all guess what happens? The same thing that happens when any person continues to not pay fines or continues to break any law repeatedly. The musician or offending venue owner will go to jail. That is the way the law works in the USA. Make no mistake about the fact that this proposed new noise ordinance if passed criminalizes outdoor music in Woodstock.
I also wonder if the six-person committee that created this ordinance have any idea if passed on the effect it will have on hard-working people in Woodstock. Have the authors discussed the contents and its possible effect with Woodstock’s musicians, Woodstock’s outdoor venue waiters, venue chefs, venue security staff, bar staff from outdoor music venues? Have any of the members of the noise committee spoke to and really listened to any of the struggling venue owners that have helped bring live music to our town? Have the committee members spoke with the families and low-income people who attend these mostly free outdoor music venues?
Also, if this ordinance is passed by the Woodstock Town Board, music venue staff will lose out on full shifts and without that income may not be able to pay rent, food or utility bills. The new ordinance allows venues that have live outdoor music to play just twice per week unless the venue has been granted a special permit to play an extra day.
I ask the members of the Woodstock noise committee: Could any of you survive if you were only allowed to work two times per week and needed a special permit to work three times per week?
I would also ask if any of the noise committee members attempted to communicate with any of the street musicians or outdoor music venue staff that if this ordinance gets passed may have to travel to another town to get that extra two or three shifts in the kitchen, behind the bar or waitering in an out-of-town venue as a result of this new ordinance? Have members of the noise committee spoken to any of venue staff that as a result of this new ordinance may have to move out of town or lose quality time with their family as a result of having to travel from one venue to another just to be able to get that extra shift to make ends meet?
It is after all very easy for anyone to write a noise ordinance from their own perspective. After all, paper has never refused ink. But when that noise ordinance is written from the narrow point of view of six people, none of which depend on outdoor music to pay their bills, then that ordinance becomes meaningless and should be treated as such.
On Tuesday May 14th at 7 p.m. a public hearing will be held by the Woodstock Town Board at Woodstock’s Community Centre on Rock City Road where everyone in our community will be given a chance to speak on the proposed new noise ordinance.
Chris Finlay
Woodstock
Music should not cause harm
Regarding the proposal for adjustments to Woodstock’s sound ordinance: The amount of outrage being stoked by complete falsehoods is extremely upsetting. People need to know that nothing in the proposal is going to stop music in Woodstock. Let me repeat. Nothing in the proposal is going to stop music in Woodstock. Indoor music would not be affected in any way whatsoever. Outdoor music — like busking and quieter acoustic music would be allowed any day of the week into the evening. Only loud outdoor music would have some defined allowable days and times in order to stop negative impacts on local, long-term residents. If people would actually read the proposal instead of fear mongering and spreading misinformation, we might be able to live in a community that not only values the arts but also values the truth and how we treat each other.
If you have been stoked into outrage by posts on social media, I encourage you to rethink your assumptions and look deeper at the facts and whole picture. No one on either side is likely to get everything they want, but the proposed ordinance is a good compromise that will allow plenty of outdoor music while still allowing our neighbors to enjoy some measure of peace in this beautiful place.
Julie Last
Bearsville
Earth Day Fair and after
In last week’s Hudson Valley One, Jim O’Dowd, for years one of the masterminds of New Paltz’s Earth Day Fair, declared that Earth Day – now — is everyday. He urged us all to get involved in the struggle to ensure that the earth is a habitable place for our children’s children.
There are ways for everyone to take part in this huge task and everyone’s efforts are needed. How to start? Try contacting one of the environmental groups that presented information, ideas and encouragement at the fair. If you are worried or depressed about the threat that climate change poses, taking part in efforts to turn it around can lift your spirits, besides being one more force for positive change. Here are a few of the groups that took part in the fair. They would love to hear from you.
New Paltz Climate Action Coalition (newpaltzclimateaction@gmail.com, www.newpaltzclimateaction.org/contact); Interfaith Earth Action (jimmyodowd@yahoo.com); New Paltz Climate Smart and Climate Smart Gardiner — see your town and village websites for information on these groups; Beyond Plastics (meganwolff2@bennington.edu); Cornell Cooperative Extension, Ulster (https://ulster.cce.cornell.edu/, mam786@cornell.edu, 845-340-3990, x201); New Yorkers for Clean Power — talk to a clean energy coach for your home or an expert on EVs (https://nyforcleanpower.org/contact-us/cleanenergycoaching/); Food & Water Watch (eskydel@fwwatch.org); Repair Café Hudson Valley (http://www.repaircafehv.org/); Third Act (rcombelic5@gmail.com); and Wallkill Valley Land Trust (ellie@wallkillvalleylt.org).
There are many more groups who could use your help. Who’s at work in your town? For more information, call Jim O’Dowd at 845-416-4185.
Miriam Varian
New Paltz Climate Action Coalition
A ‘rose’ by any other name
In morning’s soft light,
In the heart of town,
Bread Alone, our sacred place,
Exchanging greetings, and the dawn,
Stories and light shared.
With Lorin, a joyous soul,
Contagious spirit, infectious laughter,
Boundless energy,
Under the beautiful starry sunlight
Lorin, one-of-a-kind,
A treasure never forgotten,
Lorin’s absence now felt.
Our hearts gather,
His tales a treasure,
Laughter reverberates through the air,
Kindness overflowing.
Suspenders and T-shirted charm,
Free spirit dancing with joy,
Love for friends and life,
Genuine and true to self.
Stories and opinions flowed.
Lorin, one-of-a-kind,
A treasure never forgotten,
Lorin’s absence now felt.
Lorin’s laughter rings.
Soft crackling of life,
His presence, a hot damn fire,
Liveliness and effervescence,
Talented hands, passionate soul.
Lorin’s light shone bright,
In our hearts, his spirit soars,
A mensch, forever.
Lorin now envelops our souls,
Lorin, one-of-a-kind,
A treasure never forgotten,
Lorin’s absence now felt.
Lorin’s story weaves through ours,
Gathered light of loving thoughts,
His voice, and laughter echo on.
In memories we hold,
This presence is so dear,
Peaceful journey, friend.
à la belle étoile,
Under stars, Lorin’s path shines,
Forever grateful.
Lorin, one-of-a-kind,
A treasure never forgotten,
Lorin’s light will always shine.
Thank you for being you…
Neil Jarmel
West Hurley
Propaganda vs. facts
Last week’s letter by Rowan Dordick, although well written, is classic zionist propaganda, beginning with the undocumented claim Palestinians were from Egypt and did not arrive in Palestine till “late 18th and early 19th century.”
Apparently, Rowen disregarded the reference I provided in last week’s letter documenting Palestinians, like the Israelites, descended from the “ancient Canaanites,” using DNA analysis. Here are two more references, this time from PubMed, the National Library of Medicine’s archive of peer-reviewed scientific studies: The origin of Palestinians and their genetic relatedness with other Mediterranean populations (2001) documenting:
Archaeology and genetic data support that both Jews and Palestinians came from the ancient Canaanites (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11543891/); and The Genomic History of the Bronze Age Southern Levant (2020) examining the DNA of bones from northern and central Israel documenting that Jews and Palestinians descended from the Canaanites placing them both in the lands of Israel 3,000 years ago (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32470400/). It should be clear Rowan’s letter is pure zionist propaganda, attempting to twist the facts and rewrite history to suit zionist agenda. Fortunately, DNA doesn’t lie like people do. Rowen then makes the foolish claim that the IDF was preventing “civilian harm,” “more than any military in history.” Apparently, Rowan’s quoted expert, John Spencer, didn’t consider that dropping more than “500,” “2,000-pound dumb bombs,” in densely populated areas, blowing up entire neighborhoods to get one terrorist and killing civilians as far as 1,000 feet away, does not qualify as “preventing civilian harm” (https://www.cnn.com/gaza-israel-big-bombs/index.html). Doctors Without Borders organization also lays waste to Spencer’s ridiculous statement, when they declared to the United Nations Security Council on February 22, 2024: “This death and destruction, and forced displacement are the result of military and political choices that blatantly disregard civilian lives” (https://doctorswithoutborders-apac.org/en/doctors-without-borders-un-security-council-gaza-needimmediate-sustained-ceasefire). While Rowen amplifies what Hamas is guilty of, and Hamas is definitely guilty of war crimes, in no way does it compare with the brutal genocide and forced displacement of 1.5 million people, the complete destruction of Palestine’s infrastructure, including its entire health care system, that the Netanyahu administration and its IDF are perpetrating full steam ahead. Rowen’s letter vainly tries to whitewash Israel’s complicity in it’s clear war crimes, turning a blind eye to the magnitude and intensity, which rises to the level of crimes against humanity and genocide (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/05/un-humanrights-council-israel-gaza-biden-netanyahu). Maybe that is why the International Criminal Court is contemplating issuing arrests warrants for Netanyahu and his war criminal buddies (https://www.npr.org/2024/04/29/1247936335/what-it-means-if-the-international-criminal-court-issuesarrest-warrant-for-neta). Apparently, Rowen is unaware that documented facts will shred propaganda every time.
Steve Romine
Woodstock
When in doubt
Las Vegas has answers to all of life’s philosophical problems — they may not be valid answers, but they’re answers.
Sparrow
Phoenicia
Know it all’s
It is amazing how many people become authorities on subject matter of which they have limited knowledge, and actually impress those who have even less knowledge. On another note, these same people are almost impossible to convince, even by the most knowledgeable people, that they are ever wrong.
Howard Harris
Woodstock
Wishing upon a star
While considering the unpopularity of POTUS Biden (his approval rating is now at 38%) and the TDS inspired anti-Trump ravings of the usual suspects (William Weinstein, Tom Cherwin and the inimitable Neil “I’m a Trump hater” Jarmel) a tune from the halcyon days of my youth, “The Mickey Mouse Club theme song” came to mind. As I began to sing the song (as I often do to regain equilibrium whenever I consider Joe Biden and his reality denying supporters), I noticed that Donald Trump and POTUS Joe could replace Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck (respectively) in the lyrics without breaking their consonant count or cadence. The following is how the song might go if some clever writer decided to make such name substitutions in a political parody of this beloved theme song:
(Stanza)
Who’s the leader that we need
to save Democracy?
D-o-n-a-l-d T-r-u-m-p!
(Bridge)
Now it’s time to vote again,
throughout our great country:
D-o-n-a-l-d; T-r-u-m-p:
Donald Trump! (POTUS Joe!)
Donald Trump! (POTUS Joe!)
We’re voting to save our Democracy!
Hey! Hey! Hey!
With this in view, Feedback writers seeking support for POTUS Biden ought to realize that his 38% approval rating indicates that prospective voters don’t think that “Scranton Joe” is doing a good job and, because of this, their redundant “reasons to re-elect Joe Biden” letters are only persuasive to their fellow TDS sufferers. Moreover, if Joe Biden is the best candidate they have to offer, the polls indicate what even “Corn Pop” knows: Joe has only a slightly better chance of winning re-election in November than Donald Duck has of replacing Mickey Mouse as the logo for the Disney Corporation.
George Civile
Gardiner
Remembering the accomplishments of David Lent
I enjoyed reading your profile of longtime New Paltz resident and former town supervisor David Lent in your April 17th issue. I was in my second year on the New Paltz town board in 1989 when Mr. Lent announced his run as a Republican for town supervisor against Bill Yeaple, a conservative Democrat who had held that position since 1975. Lent was voted in with the support of an organization of independent voters because, contrary to Yeaple and his Republican friends, Lent favored the acquisition of what later became the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail. In opposition to Republican Party regulars under the leadership of Butch Dener who opposed it, the former rail line was purchased by the town on January 18, 1991. Lent also supported subsequent efforts — which faced ongoing political opposition — to convert it into a rail trail; a process that culminated in the trail being dedicated and open to the public for the first time on October 9, 1993 — some 31 years ago. New Paltz has reason to be proud for pioneering the development of Wallkill Valley Rail Trail and its connecting trails, and Dave Lent’s role in that process is well worth remembering.
David Strong
New Paltz
Entrance to other worlds
As I sit here, thoughts spilling onto paper, I can’t help but wonder if my voice, infused with the unreliable narrator’s whimsy, distorts reality just enough to uncover a more profound truth. It’s as though the world around me communicates through veils, dancing on the razor’s edge of what we perceive as accurate and what remains hidden in the shadows of our collective subconscious.
In our current age, we dwell not in the tangible landscapes of earth, ocean and sky but rather within the ceaseless flow of electrons through the labyrinth of wires that crisscross our existence. It’s an electric world — a digital mirage that often blurs the lines between truth and illusion. The primitive emotion of fear, which once kept our ancestors alert and alive amidst the lurking dangers of a wilder world, has morphed into a shadow that follows us into the corners of our modern lives. Fed daily by the media, it grows, a beast fattened on the dark tales spun in newsrooms and through cinematic nightmares. The delicate intricacies of life’s tapestry are often lost to this diet of dread.
Like a laborer who takes up his shovel day after day, we too have grown callouses — psychic barriers that numb us to the subtler nuances of existence. The persistent chafe of fear has thickened our skins, not against the cold earth’s clasp or the tool’s weight, but against the essence that makes life palpable and poignant.
Larry Winters
New Paltz
Part A of the agenda
As mentioned previously, I will submit an agenda, meaning I will address a topic of interest, leading into the following topic.
Before I begin, however, in my previous article I inadvertently left out a comment regarding my referencing ‘ole’ prunes. I did not mention that I am one in that category inasmuch as I turned 85 this past September! So, please do not take offense. Having said that, let’s begin.
The agenda will take the form pretty much as I am laying it out now:
A. Background to the rise of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
B. Role of the Republican Party (GOP)
C. Supreme court decision, 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Elections Committee, 2010
D. The background to the rise of Donald Trump
E. The deconstruction of the administrative state
F. The future regarding our present benefit state
Background to the rise of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid: Let’s go back to the year 1886 and the Supreme Court Act of that year. That act was ‘Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad.’ This act laid the foundation of ‘corporate personhood’ and established the precedence of corporate prerogatives over citizens’ right. The impetus for this act was the Industrial Revolution let loose after the Civil War.
This act took the corporation out of the tax regulatory of the states, allowing railroad entrepreneurs, Harriman and Rockefeller, to run their lines across state lines, paying no tax to those states. This was the heyday, the glory days of the Republican Party, until Hoover was voted out of office, 1933, with the advent of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
From that date of 1886 until 1933, there were six Republican presidents and two Democratic presidents. The presidents were Cleveland (D, twice), McKinley (R), T. Roosevelt(R), Taft (R); Harding (R), Wilson (D), Coolidge (R) and Hoover (R). These six Republicans were business only and the hell with everything else. It was this freewheeling, business only which contributed greatly to the Great Depression of the late 20s and early 30s. Until the next time.
Robert LaPolt
New Paltz
What has Israel become?
I am a Jew who used to be proud of Israel and its accomplishments. But Bibi Netanyahu, with his unholy alliance with ultra right-wing religious zealots, has made of the Jewish state a shameful and disgusting pariah among the nations. This is not to minimize the horror that is Hamas, which proclaims its aim is to completely eradicate Israel, a country which has a right to exist, and the right to firmly defend that right. Nor can I confidently prescribe a path to peace. But I have read that there can be no peace without justice, and justice must begin with a two-state solution, which is inimical to Netanyahu and his right-wing gang. Indeed, Bibi has an incentive to prolong hostilities as long as possible, since the greater they are, the less likely it will be for him to be punished for his peace-time crimes — let alone his war-time ones, which are for others to judge.
No, putting Bibi behind bars will not, by itself, bring peace. But it’s a necessary first step — one which makes the others possible, and lets me look forward to the day when I might regain my pride in Eretz Yisroel.
Paul Cooper
Kingston
A notable group of thinkers
I want to thank your writer, Terence Ward and Hudson Valley One for publishing the summary of his interview with Andrew Yang about the first annual Hudson Valley Ideas Festival that Andrew and his staff organized, which took place on April 27.
I am very disappointed that this newspaper didn’t have any follow-up coverage of this terrific event.
I was fortunate to attend the entire program and can honestly say that it was one of the most interesting, inspiring and thought-provoking events that I have experienced in a long time. I can’t wait for the second annual Hudson Valley Ideas Festival next year.
This year’s lineup of speakers was Rikki Schlott, newspaper columnist and author; Stephen Dubner, host of Freakonomics and co-author of the book of the same name; Neil Parikh, entrepreneur and co-founder of Casper Mattresses; Stephen Marche, novelist and writer at the Atlantic; Coleman Hughes, writer at CNN and the Free Press; Xochitl Gonzalez, bestselling author and screenwriter; and Andrew Yang, entrepreneur and former presidential candidate.
Without exception, every speaker was intelligent, articulate and engaging; each an expert in a specific field or topic, eager to share his/her views with the audience. The moderator, Carly Reilly was knowledgeable about each of the speakers, asking relevant questions that kept the conversation stimulating. And the audience appreciated having the opportunity to ask their own questions.
It was so refreshing to spend the day listening to the ideas and perspectives of this notable group of thinkers who have already and continue to make a meaningful impact in society. I was especially delighted that the festival was held at the Rosendale Theater, right here in the middle of the Hudson Valley. Kudos to Andrew Yang for conceiving of this event.
Wendy Rudder
New Paltz
Genocide? Next step(s)?
Just because I don’t agree with the definition(s) of genocide asserted by Steve Romine and his list of “experts” doesn’t mean that I support even what I believe to be genocide, as I described in my last letter of the ten worst examples of REAL and INTENTIONAL genocides in our global history. Those genocides are worlds apart from the Gaza conflict and how people are so eager, now, to equate the intentional killings of millions to the heavy collateral damage in Gaza.
At this point, I wonder what Steve’s solution(s) are for this entire situation. I guess Steve’s cease fire demands require that we financially desert one of our staunchest allies and tell Netanyahu to immediately roll over and play dead, while we all watch the Hamas animals take their victory lap. What have any negotiations achieved? What are Steve’s recommendations in this area since Hamas has shown no serious intent to release how ever many hostages may still be alive? If Steve has no solution, then how do all his “experts” propose to bring about peace? Or, are they all just hung up on the definition of genocide, and nothing beyond that? If Steve’s “experts” are interested in more than just the definition of genocide, I wonder what their responses, as well as Steve’s, would be to the historical realities pointed out by Rowan Dordick in his letter last week entitled “Just the Truth.”
And, once again, Steve and his fellow cease fire advocates continue to remain silent on how a cease fire hands Hamas a victory.
John N. Butz
Modena
More Love for Mother’s Day
The heart loves
not on circadian time
but on a beat all its own.
The heart knows love
when love feeds it
in every fresh beat.
The heart a muscle
taken with the notion
it’s loved as well.
The heart loves back
and forth, up and down,
the blood coursing now.
The heart needs a kiss,
a long hug, the trill and chill
of being in the arms of Mom.
Patrick Hammer, Jr.
Saugerties
HomeShare is one answer
It is by now, we hope, not news that Woodstock and neighboring towns are experiencing a severe shortage of affordable homes for rent. Family of Woodstock’s HomeShare program matches helpful individuals with affordable rentals, allowing both home owners and home seekers to remain in their communities.
We have seven successful matches ongoing, helping 18 people! Some are living within the home, others are in separate cottages. They are in Woodstock, Saugerties, Olivebridge and Mt Tremper. Home owners benefit from help with errands and having someone around for a feeling of security. Renters feel valued for the help they give and pay less rent than they would on the open market. Our match participants say it best. From a home provider in Saugerties: “I believe everyone should have a place to live and a place to feel safe. I could have continued to rent to traveling medical people, but having a family in that house benefits me, the family and the entire community.”
You can help HomeShare add to our positive impact. Spread the word! Stable housing for 18 people is wonderful but we can do more. We need more home owners and renters to make successful matches. Our trained volunteers work many hours to get to know our applicants’ temperaments, their needs and wants. We follow matches to help with any issues that arise. We facilitate ending matches when situations change, which they do.
Do you know someone who might benefit from having someone in their home or cottage? Do you know someone who would be a good home sharer? HomeShare Woodstock has a careful process which we believe gives all participants peace of mind. From one of our current matches: “The Homeshare program has not only facilitated a mutually beneficial living arrangement but has also enriched my life with a compatible and amiable companion. Kudos to Family of Woodstock for orchestrating such a well-organized and supportive program.”
Congenial and mature artists, teachers and carpenters, as well as helpful younger workers and professionals are all waiting for housing they can afford. Email us at HomeShareWoodstock@familyofwoodstockinc.org or call Family at 845-679-2485 and leave a message. We are on FaceBook #homesharewoodstock and www.familyofwoodstockinc.org/home-share%20woodstock/.
Susan Goldman, Volunteer Coordinator
Woodstock
67th Elting Library Fair
The 67th Elting Memorial Library Fair in New Paltz will take place this year on Saturday, September 28, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., with its huge book sale continuing Sunday, September 29, 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 library is currently accepting book donations on Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to noon, Saturdays from 9 to 11 a.m. and Sundays from 10 a.m. to noon. Please do not leave books while the shed is unattended.
More information on the raffle, silent auction, toys, children’s activities, jewelry, food and music will be coming soon (https://www.eltinglibrary.org/libraryfair).
Paul Edlund, on behalf of the 67th Elting Fair Committee
New Paltz
Join the family! 
