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“Police brutality” hoax
I am appalled at the number of people complaining about “police brutality” allegedly occurring at SUNY New Paltz’s recent demonstration. Equally appalling are the attacks on SUNY President Darrell Wheeler for simply doing his job very conscientiously.
By the demonstrator’s own admissions, their behavior was illegal. Simply put, they acknowledged breaking the law as well as school policy by setting up a tent encampment and refusing police orders to vacate.
In observing countless other college campus’s “peaceful demonstrations” quickly turning violent with significant property damage, attacks on police and physically resisting arrest, I’m sure that Mr. Wheeler didn’t want any instant replays of this nonsense on his campus. By calling in the police, he was nipping in the bud ANY potential for violence to take over his SUNY campus. In actuality, he was doing his job by protecting students, faculty, staff and property from any potential escalation to violence. Besides, how do any of us know, for a fact, that there was absolutely NO anti-Semitic rhetoric, intimidation or behavior, at any time on the SUNY campus since October 7, which was standard protocol on all the other college campuses?
In total defense of the police, they never know what they’re walking into in any of these situations anywhere, so common sense says they have to be equipped and prepared for the worst possible outcome for their own safety as well as the safety of innocent bystanders. Their job is to enforce the law and not to “listen” or engage in any dialog about the issue(s) at hand. When people refuse to obey the legal orders of police, they are resisting authority and voluntarily and knowingly exposing themselves to arrest. When they physically resist, police must exert just enough force on the resister, enabling police to use handcuffs or zip ties to restrain them. This normal police response is absurdly referred to as “police brutality” by the police hating writers as well as a couple people highlighted in Rokosz Most’s article entitled “Of Protestors and police”, one of them surprisingly being New Paltz’s own deputy mayor, Alexandria Wojcik. Apparently, none of these people have a clue as to what REAL “brutality” looks like.
John N. Butz
Modena
SUNY New Paltz faculty and staff response to May 2
We, the undersigned, are SUNY New Paltz faculty and staff members who decry the use of excessive force in the police response, activated by state officials, to remove demonstrators from Parker Quad on May 2.
One protester was hospitalized. A news reporter was among those arrested. Demonstrators were roughly dragged from the scene.
The police response occurred after protestors dismantled the tents of the encampment in response to the conditions set by the university administration. This raises grave issues of freedom of speech and assembly. The police violently broke up a peaceful gathering in a public space on campus.
We may not agree with each other on how to respond to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Israel-Hamas war, or the rhetoric the protestors used. But we are clear in our condemnation of the police response as a brutal infringement of First Amendment freedoms.
Lisa Phillips, Associate Professor on behalf of 122 faculty and staff at SUNY New Paltz
(Link to the signed document and the list of names is here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nVt4vGFN9jok8Rd2_p34_tIhNXLEBdbNDJKpwya3h8c/edit?usp=sharing)
Did protesting SUNY New Paltz students have a choice on May 2?
The solution to ending the student protest as communicated to students and the community by SUNY New Paltz President Wheeler appears as a choice, but it was no choice. The only choice given to students was take it or leave it; truly Hobsonian — a de facto one-choice option. Students did not recognize it for the muddied offer it was, and it certainly became obvious when the muscle of police batons, police dogs and zip ties were brought out for all to see on that dark early May night. Students chanted “shame” as police dragged away their peers.
Students may not have expected that their arrests might be physically painful. For example, a video shows a police officer dragging a student by her legs along the ground on her back, skin exposed. One can say that the police did what they were trained to do. And the stakes are quickly elevated if/when resistance is offered. Was this something discussed within the confines of the decision-making apparatus at SUNY New Paltz?
The president of the university was not in attendance at this part of the protest-arrest. He was not there to experience the results of his calls to the police and their strategies to satisfy the administration’s request to have students arrested and removed. He could have physically been in attendance and continued to work with students in their best interests while the university would retain the consequences for students if it so chose. Students were simply sitting on the ground. They were peaceful. Singing.
When interviewed in a recent video, a student leader of these SUNY New Paltz students does attest to the violence students suffered. She revealed her own physical pain and bleeding when arrested.
One might assume that President Wheeler did not calculate the physicality that might be a result of calling the police and requesting the arrest and removal of protesting students and their tents. It can be easily and correctly argued that the police did what they felt was professionally necessary in their response to the school administration’s communication of its troubles with this peaceful protest. As a result, President Wheeler holds responsibility for the entirety of this event and its injuries at SUNY New Paltz.
His recent writing on this states that he will “integrate and accept that” criticism he may receive. This will be a small price to pay for him. Ending that protest carried the day for bruises and blood and losing the respect of students. He and his advisors should have seen that coming.
Shame on SUNY New Paltz.
Charles J. Entress, Class of ’77
SUNY New Paltz
Forward or backward
Because it is a palindrome, I did a pullup.
Sparrow
Phoenicia
NAACP response to SUNY New Paltz protests
The NAACP is the oldest and largest civil rights organization in the United States. As the only NAACP branch in Ulster County, the Ellenville NAACP is committed to advancing civil and political rights in our county including the right to peacefully protest. Therefore, we are deeply concerned about the May 2 police action on the SUNY New Paltz campus where students, faculty and community members were seemingly met with brute force at the behest of SUNY president Dr. Darrell Wheeler.
We are not ones to jump to conclusions or make accusations without full details. Based on reports from the protestors themselves, the mayor and deputy mayor of New Paltz, and video recordings, it seems at the very least this incident needs to be thoroughly investigated. While the Ulster County Sheriff Juan Figueroa put out a statement defending the actions of law enforcement agents, his description is an outlier among the narratives about May 2.
The Ellenville NAACP believes that there has been a breach of trust between the college students, faculty and their supporters and law enforcement. We are formally requesting that Ulster County open an investigation into the events of May 2 that includes not only police accounts but also the testimony and supporting evidence of the protestors and other witnesses.
Maude Bruce, President
The Ellenville NAACP
Mental Health Giving Library now open for community use in New Paltz
Thank you to all Youth Action Team and community members who attended the grand opening celebration and ribbon cutting ceremony on May 4. The Mental Health Giving Library free book box is now officially open for community use. Located near the sidewalk in front of Wellness Embodied at 257 Main Street in New Paltz, the Maya Gold Foundation’s Youth Action Team members collaborated with Doree Lipson of Wellness Embodied to provide a free library box full of mental health related books for all ages.
The library is dedicated to Rachel Shimmerlik Brown, a beloved colleague of Doree Lipson and Elise Gold, and member of the community, who made the world a better place through her guidance and support of young people.
Community members may continue to donate mental health related books (no textbooks, please!) by bringing them inside Wellness Embodied through the back door during regular business hours, Monday through Friday.
For questions regarding the Mental Health Giving Library and book donations, contact us at info@mayagoldfoundation.org.
Emma Murphy, Program Consultant
The Maya Gold Foundation
Are you kidding?
What possessed him to use this frame of reference? From HV1, “McKenna felt a number of attendees had come to the meeting impaired. They had not been there to listen. He compared some of the disrupters to those who stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.”
Howard Harris
Woodstock
Certainty
I’ve often envied the sense of certainty that some seem to go through life feeling, especially regarding complex issues where solutions can seem impossible and solutions that please everybody are indeed impossible.
One “certainty” some possess is about immigration — Donald Trump’s repeated declaration that the desperate people at our border are dangerous criminals. This “certainty” is linked to two others: that America should consider only its own interests (“America first,” in Trump-speak), and that our country has no way to accommodate the vast number of people fleeing grave danger and dire poverty and seeking to join us in America — “the land of opportunity,” “the melting pot.” We haven’t lived up to our once proudly proclaimed promises. But I believe we can.
Regarding Gaza, some feel certain that Israel’s “right to self-defense,” especially after Hamas’s brutal violation, murder and hostage-taking of fifteen hundred defenseless Israelis, justifies Netanyahu’s maiming, murder and starvation (not to mention displacement) of many, many times that number of Gazans — who, those holding to this “certainty” fail to acknowledge, are defenseless as well. In my opinion, if Israel rids itself of its current administration, it might find a way to negotiate with neighbors, work alongside Palestinians to heal wounds and devise means for Israelis and Palestinians alike to take their safe, rightful place in the world. But oh, how I wish I felt “certain” these possibilities could come to fruition.
Still, there are some things I AM certain of. I’m certain that turning our backs on those in dire straits — American or foreign — seems/feels not only un-American, but heartless; and I’m certain that turning our eyes from the devastation of an entire population seems/feels not only un-American, but soulless. And until I find a surer path to certainty, those are the guideposts I’ll unapologetically follow.
Tom Cherwin
Saugerties
Show up for the Saugerties school board election
On Tuesday, May 21, Saugerties voters have an opportunity to elect three school board members and say “yea” or “nay” to the proposed school budget. If this is like previous school elections, a handful of people will determine the future for our Saugerties public school students. Last year, a mere 1,350 voters out of 14,900 registered voters went to the polls. I urge all eligible residents to vote in the Saugerties school board elections either in-person on May 21 or absentee ballot by May 20.
I also urge a vote for Sakinah Irizarry, a local businesswoman, who is passionate about education and the importance of providing a first-rate education for all students. Sakinah is level-headed, measured, insightful and is a deep thinker. I have watched her in meetings where she listens carefully, speaks clearly and helps people come to consensus. Her intellect, compassion and commitment to equity are exactly the qualities needed to be an exceptional school board member. You won’t get ego or flash with Sakinah, but instead a team player who will quietly work to make Saugerties Central School District a place where students will feel safe, respected and ready to learn.
There are three openings this election. I hope you join me in casting one of your votes for Sakinah Irizzary and “yes” on the budget.
Christine Dinsmore
Saugerties
Onteora at a crossroads
My grandparents came to Woodstock in the 1940’s as part of a group of Norwegian immigrants. I’m the third generation on our land, but the first to be a full-time resident. My treasured memories go back to my early 70’s childhood — the library fair, quarry hikes, backyard parties full of jovial Scandinavian elders.
Over my lifetime, our area has seen big changes, perhaps none so jarring and upsetting as the precipitous decline in our public school population. The number of K-12 students in our district has decreased 57% since the 1999 peak. For so many reasons, the downward trend has since been uninterrupted, and has even accelerated.
Making long-term adjustments in our physical footprint to deal with that reality has been a persistent challenge for Onteora, for decades. Every step forward has been followed by a reactive step sideways or backwards, to forestall hard decisions in the hope things would turn around.
After observing last year’s school board election and then the recent state budget negotiations, I decided to stand as a candidate. I believe the May 21 election marks a crossroads for our district. Onteora’s state funding is likely to be adjusted significantly downward in the near future. We need to protect the future of both our students and the communities that support them.
Our district has an aging population, many of whom struggle to keep up with rising housing costs. Keeping Onteora on a sound fiscal footing is important for them, as our tax levy is for many their largest annual bill. Even more importantly, taking better care of our resources will protect the educational opportunities of our most important stakeholders, the kids.
Keep Onteora on a steady path to sustainability. Please vote for the budget and Bishop/Knutsen on May 21.
Rick Knutsen
Woodstock
Double standards and political speak
On March 14, 2024, the father of a Michigan school shooter James Crumbley was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter for failing to secure a gun at home and doing nothing to address acute signs of his son’s mental turmoil. The shooter’s mother was found guilty of the same crime one month earlier in February. Under these same standards of justice, should President Biden not be convicted for the same offence by providing weapons and bombs to Israel that resulted in the slaughter of 14,000 children and 10,000 adults in Gaza over the past five months? President Biden admitted this past week that those bombs purchased by our tax dollars and sent to Israel by the USA were used to kill all those people and in doing so those bombs and weapons were ‘probably’ used to commit war crimes.
And why is it acceptable to criticize the government policy of all other countries in the world except the country of Israel without fear of getting labeled anti-semitic? Israel is after all a state and like all states in the world it’s politician’s are open to corruption. If I criticize the English government policy’s past or present, I am not labeled anti-English and the same goes if I criticize the USA government. I am aware that anti-semitism is very real today in the USA and all over the world and I believe that it is the despicable thing that caused the Holocaust resulting in the most heinous crime on the hugest scale in the history of mankind ever to be inflicted against one people. But criticizing the state of Israel and its savage policy towards Gaza is not anti-semitic.
Chris Finlay
Woodstock
Maintain integrity and experience on the Onteora School Board
I love living in the Catskills and I am devoted to the Onteora Central School District community. After serving ten years as a central administrator for Onteora, I am nearing the end of my first term on the school board, serving now as board president. I’m running for reelection and asking for your support.
We are at a critical time in public education. Districts are faced with many obstacles, but especially in the areas of sharply declining enrollment, increasing operational costs and the warning of significant cuts to New York State funding in the 2025-2026 governor’s budget.
If elected, Eric (Rick) Knutsen and I are positioned, along with existing board trustees, to see Onteora through a reconfiguration that will provide our students and staff with a 21st-century centralized campus, a significant decrease in building maintenance, operational, and our transportation costs, and almost more importantly, in our alarming carbon footprint.
Onteora students have been bussed over the last twelve years to K-3 primary schools far from home just to maintain a level of enrollment that made it possible to keep those school doors open. The 2022-2023 school board passed a resolution to right-size the district by closing two village schools and bringing our Kindergarten-5th grade students together in one elementary school in the center of our district.
I am running to assure Onteora students that their educational experience can be better than ever, including our amazing academic programs, continuing our arts and music, and secondary athletic programs. I am running to assure our community that their tax dollars are spent thoughtfully, with careful planning for a sustainable future.
Please vote for the team who will bring experience, compassion and integrity to our school board. Vote for Cindy Bishop and Rick Knutsen.
Cynthia Bishop
Hurley
Kicking butz and taking names
Once again, Mr. John Butz fails to provide any documentation to support his mistaken assertions about what “real genocide” is or anything else he tries ,to force us all to believe. He refuses to accept what the Genocide Convention of 1949 declares, even though in that convention, Israel was a signed member agreeing with their definition that I have been referencing (https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/introduction-to-the-definition-of-genocide).
Yet, Mr. Butz wants to play word games to somehow absolve Israel of committing clear genocide against the Palestinians. Mr. Butz alleges that what is taking place in Gaza is not “real genocide” because the number of people killed is not in the millions, like the “ten most horrible genocides” he mentioned in a past letter. Putting aside the 800 legal experts on genocide I previously referenced, who declared Israel is in fact committing genocide, here is what the Holocaust Encyclopedia affirms:
Legal decisions have not established a numeric threshold that a perpetrator must reach in order to possess the intent to commit genocide (Id). So as can be seen Mr. Butz is in fact flat out wrong. He also pushed on us in another letter that genocide must be the “only goal,” which as can be seen in the referenced definition, nowhere is that mentioned.
Here is what the Holocaust Encyclopedia declares: The definition of genocide requires that the perpetrator have a specific state of mind: the “intent to destroy” a group. The intent to destroy is distinct from a perpetrator’s particular motive for the crime, like counter-insurgency. That is exactly what is happening with the push to destroy Hamas with Israel being the “counter-insurgency,” while at the same it starves and dehydrates 1.5 million Palestinians and destroys their infrastructure, including all their hospitals. So it can be seen there can be two goals, yet genocide can still be declared. Furthermore contrary to Mr. Butz’s demands in his most recent letter, I don’t need to come up with solutions to an international problem to be against “ a textbook case” of genocide. Nor do I have to explain how a ceasefire is not a victory for Hamas to want Israel to follow international law and the Geneva Convention’s rules of war, which Mr. Butz exaggerates as “ Netanyahu to immediately roll over and play dead.” When the Netanyahu administration said early on, it would block all food and water into Gaza, US military aid should have been stopped, not to mention all the bombings of hospitals and health care workers. These genocidal actions were in sync with genocidal statements made by Netanyahu and IDF leaders. It should be clear from all of his previous letters, that Mr. Butz is spreading disinformation and is a pathetic propagandist for Netanyahu and his war criminal buddies in the IDF.
Steve Romine
Woodstock
Vote yes for the budget and for Eric “Rick” Knutsen and Cindy Bishop
Join me in voting “yes” for the school budget and for Eric “Rick” Knutsen and Cindy Bishop in the May 21 Onteora School Board election. They have the experience, compassion and common sense approach to shape the most successful future for our students and all four towns in the Onteora community.
As a Glenford resident, I attended Woodstock Elementary. Now in Olivebridge, my boys rode the bus over to Woodstock too, then Bennett and now the middle school. They have all been really special places for us and I know Phoenicia is too. What makes them special are the people there and the spirit they create, not the brick and mortar.
As sad as it can be to close school buildings, doing so also gives us a huge opportunity. One is to rethink what other critical needs there are in Woodstock and Phoenicia and how those buildings can best benefit the community. Second, like those who built the district some 70 years ago by combining a dozen plus one-room school houses, we can set up a future learning environment that really meets the needs of our kids, staff and the planet.
Cindy and Rick will listen, bring needed stability and find ways to create solidarity in changing times for our diverse little towns. Let’s be brave adults and show our kids how to embrace healthy change, and invest in their future.
Jessica Wisneski
Olivebridge
What I learned from the carp
In those days when the sky and the river surface were indistinguishable, it was as if nature conspired to blur the lines between heaven and earth. Armed with nothing but a fishing pole and an insatiable curiosity, I ventured into the wilderness, guided by the compelling whispers of the flowing waters.
As I navigated through the prickly embrace of stinging nettles, I reached the river’s edge, where the first lesson from the carp awaited me. Casting my line in search of smallmouth bass, I became entranced by the intricate ballet unfolding beneath the surface. Yet, it was not the bass that held my gaze, but the enigmatic movements of the carp, shrouded in mystery yet leaving behind a trail of bubbles as cryptic clues for those willing to decipher them.
In those moments, I was immersed in a world untouched by the rigid confines of traditional education, where wisdom flowed freely like the currents of the river, unbound by the shackles of tests and grades. Here, truth revealed itself not through textbooks or lectures but through the raw experiences of the natural world.
Reflecting on those days spent in communion with the river, I realize the profound lesson it taught me: that reality is often veiled by the deceptive facade of surface appearances. Like the carp beneath the water’s surface, the truths of our world lie hidden from view, obscured by the distortions of perception.
It is a sobering reminder that we are educated not only by our teachers but by the interpretations they impart upon us, shaping our understanding of the world from their perspectives. Yet, like the bubbles rising from the depths, subtle clues betray the true nature of reality for those willing to look beyond the surface.
In the end, it is only through our observations and experiences that we can begin to unravel the mysteries of the unseen world below, reclaiming our autonomy from the shadows of interpretation that linger long after the lessons have ended.
Larry Winters
New Paltz
Embryonic absurdity
In the crimson land of red and white,
Embryos now has children in sight,
Oh, what a curious state of affairs,
Alabama’s ruling, triggering huge fears.
Extrauterine beings they decree,
Teenagers from a petri dish, can you see?
Theocracy cloaked in legal attire.
Fertility treatments now walk the wire.
Religious zeal dictating law,
The New King James Bible in awe,
Who knew embryos could hold such weight?
A chilling blow to separate church and state.
Alabamastan, a nation apart,
Banjos on knees, a peculiar art,
Cousin Vinny’s words echo, Ala-f**king-Bama,
A place where absurdity finds its drama.
The critics raise their voices loud,
As the Bible’s words form a shroud,
A far cry from democracy’s plea,
In this land that’s not quite the place to be.
No humor in this folly, it’s outta hand,
Brings forth failure in a hostile land.
IVF babies, oh so grand and divine,
Science and faith in a tangled twine.
Christian Nationalists pull the strings,
So, to the polls, let freedom ring,
Through cantos of wit, we’ll set forth the tale,
Of embryos rights bestowed, it surely must fail.
Alarmists no more, truth has been shown,
The SC’s target is clearly known,
Birth control, Women’s rights & IVF, all under attack,
An election year – Vote Blue, time to push back.
Neil Jarmel
West Hurley
Getting facts right
In his letter last week, “Propaganda and facts,” Steve Romine gets a lot of things wrong, as usual, but also chides me for supposedly ignoring a “peer-reviewed study” titled “The Origins of Palestinians and Their Genetic Relatedness to other Mediterranean Populations.” Not only was that article not peer-reviewed, but it is filled with tendentious nonsense about the Arab-Israeli conflict, i.e., propaganda, including such profound scientific insights as “Jews wrote the Bible, a religious and historical book … but that only tells the Jewish view.” No wonder Steve keeps citing this article. In any case, the editors retracted it, something Steve omits to mention.
In his letter “What has Israel become?” Paul Cooper laments his loss of pride in Israel because of the lack of a two-state solution, which he blames on “Netanyahu and his right-wing gang.” The lack of such a solution, however, has nothing to do with the current Israeli government or any previous one. Even before the creation of Israel, the Palestinians rejected offers of statehood, including the 1937 Peel Commission proposal and the 1947 UN Partition Resolution. From 1949 to 1967, the Palestinians were quite happy to be ruled by Jordan and never sought independence. In 2000, they rejected a state that would have included Gaza and 97 percent of the West Bank, and in 2008 they turned down an offer that would have given them essentially all of the West Bank plus parts of Jerusalem. Clearly, they want all or nothing.
As for the charge of genocide, to call unintentional deaths in war genocide is an abuse of language, even more so when applied only to Israel. Moreover, the number bandied about of 34,000 killed in Gaza is very likely untrue. Not only are the figures reported by the Gaza Ministry of Health suspect on statistical grounds alone (google Abraham Wyner and also Gabriel Epstein for details), but the ministry recently reported that they are unable to provide names, and therefore to verify, more than 10,000 of the lives that they claim have been lost in Gaza.
Rowan Dordick
Woodstock
Our representatives failed us; it’s time for a change
A few weeks ago, the NYS assembly passed the 2024-25 budget and in the process missed a major opportunity to clean up New York’s climate emissions and help New Yorkers deal with high energy bills.
A critical bill known as the NY HEAT Act didn’t make it through the assembly’s highly secretive budgeting process. The HEAT Act would have cut subsidies to gas utilities while helping New Yorkers with their utility bills by capping costs at 6% of household income. The NYS senate passed the bill in March, but it was torpedoed by assembly members who rely on utility and fuel industry donations to fund their campaigns.
I’m particularly disappointed that our assembly member, Didi Barrett did nothing to advance the HEAT act. Barrett was appointed the chair of the assembly’s powerful energy committee in 2023, where she began advancing the utility industry’s agenda and blocking implementation of climate legislation. As energy chair, Barrett’s co-sponsorship of the HEAT act would have helped assure its passage, but her endorsement was conspicuously absent. Over $10,000 of gas and utility industry donations to her campaign since 2022 may have had something to do with this.
Because I believe strongly that we must take action to minimize the worst impacts of climate change and to ensure that New Yorkers aren’t forced to pay for the gas industry’s mess, I’ve decided to support Claire Cousin in her bid to replace Didi Barrett in the June Democratic primary. Claire has vowed to refuse gas industry donations and to hold polluters accountable. We know where Didi’s loyalties lie, I’m betting on Claire to be part of a new generation in Albany.
Bill Kish
Millerton
Unanswered question
Who ever said any
of this is supposed
to make sense?
Thousands of frantic
ducks flapping their
wings erratically on
the circumference
of a spinning roulette
wheel never say
anything reassuring
to calm the listening
madmen in the hallway.
They strain their ears
day and night trying
to pick up some nugget
of guidance in the
echoing chambers as
gale force winds blow
down what’s left of
their war torn childhoods .
William C Gosnell
Woodstock
Israel/Palestine
Israel is perpetrating a genocidal slaughter on tens of thousands of Palestinians, including babies and children. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is considering genocide charges and arrest warrants for Israeli leaders. Israel’s economy is in free fall and thousands of Israeli soldiers have disabling injuries. Many Israelis are fleeing Israel. The glorious narratives about Israel are crumbling. The true nature of Israel has been revealed. Israel is an apartheid state according to former President Carter, Bishop Tutu and numerous human rights organizations. Israel’s propaganda industry (“hasbara”) spews lies, deceptions, and countless others, have been proven to be calculated, inflammatory lies (thegrayzone.com).distortions and misinformation about beheaded babies, mass sexual assaults and babies in ovens. All these
Israel, with our tax dollars and support, has become a desperate pariah state. The peaceful, non-violent BDS (boycott, divest, sanctions) movement is pressuring Israel to: 1. End the brutal decades-long military occupation of Gaza/West Bank. 2. Allow Palestinians to return to their stolen land, homes and farms. 3. Treat Israelis and Palestinians equally. Israeli leaders like Finance Minister Smotrich are calling for the extermination of all Palestinians. Very much like the Nazis called for the extermination of all Jews. I pray that Israel will stop this criminal genocide and sit down with Palestinians and negotiate a true and just peace. The Zionist State of Israel is bankrupt financially and morally and has been defeated militarily by Hamas. Hopefully, something positive for Israelis and Palestinians can result from this current heartbreaking catastrophe.
Eli Kassirer
New Paltz
Part A of the agenda
Background to the rise of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid (Part 2)
In last week’s letter, I mentioned the six Republican presidents and the two Democratic presidents from the date of 1886 until the last Republican president, Hoover, was voted out of office after his first term. Hoover’s term was 1929-1933.
Herbert Hoover was the last of the six presidents whose emphasis was business and only business. His attitude was the federal government should be hands off, let states and communities address things. By the end of his first term, he had done little to eliminate/address the conditions affecting the country in the midst of the Great Depression. If he was elected for a second term, it was felt his track record was going to be zero attention to the conditions of the country.
FDR promised he would do something if elected. The GOP was forced to accept him because if they nominated Hoover for a second term and he lost, they would lose their seats in the mid-term elections. And if they supported FDR and did not back him up, they probably would lose their seats in the midterm elections as well.
Therefore, the GOP (81 percent) along with the Democrats (87 percent) endorsed FDR’s programs once in office. The GOP was well aware of the ramifications of the federal government into the social fabric of the country. They knew full well that once the federal government became involved, a trend would be started that would last indefinitely.
There were numerous innovations that FDR’s administration pushed through with the support of the GOP. One of them was the Glass-Stegall Bill of 1933. Prior to this time there was no separation between retail banking and commercial banking. A bank could, and did, take an investor’s money without their knowledge and invest it. When the investment went ‘south’, investors lost everything. The 1933 bill, also referred to as the Banking Act of 1933, also insured all deposits by the FICA, (Federal Insurance Contributions Act) up to $250,000.
Parts of this banking act were repealed by Bill Clinton in the Graham-Leach Bliley Act of 1999 which played a role in the Great Recession of 2008, leading to Washington Mutual, one of the largest banks in the country, going under in this year.
The Glass-Stegall Bill was an important innovation into the social fabric of the country; it protected investors. But the main innovation was the Social Security Act of 1935. We’ll discuss that with the next article.
Robert LaPolt
New Paltz
2024’s large truck and heavy equipment tour
Employees who work for the Village of New Paltz care deeply about this community. Time and again I have witnessed our team, across various departments, pore over details. They take pride in their work. Our department heads deserve credit for creating this invaluable culture. Our taxpayers are well represented by these individuals.
These staff serve the community in a variety of ways and much of what they do is not public facing. But there are also many public facing large capital projects where staff work with contractors as all-important facilitators. Here is our impressive and ambitious list for 2024:
• Sewer main replacements on various streets throughout the village
• Water main replacements on North and South Chestnut streets
• Connecting four groundwater wells to the drinking water filtration plant on Mountain Rest Road
• Sidewalks for Prospect Street and sections of Huguenot and Church streets
• Henry W. Dubois intersection improvements for pedestrians and connection to the rail trail
• Solar panels on new fire station at Henry W. Dubois Drive and North Putt Corners Road
• Ball court rehabilitation on Elting Avenue in front of St. Joseph’s Church
• Skate park at southeast corner of Hasbrouck Park
• Lead service line replacement inventory study (federally required)
• Updated sewer pump station at North Chestnut near Bonticou View Drive
• Paving of John Street between Prospect and Colonial Drive
• Guardrail replacement at Mohonk Avenue and Pencil Hill Road
We would do even more if we had additional funds and were able to clone our staff.
Mayor Tim Rogers
New Paltz
A debatable suggestion
POTUS Biden’s most recent “Ron Burgundy like” gaffe (reading aloud his speech’s instruction to “Pause” after starting the chant “four more years!”) makes it even more unlikely that POTUS Biden will be given “permission” to debate former POTUS Trump. (Apparently, this permission is granted or denied by those who POTUS Joe claims will give him trouble if he takes questions from the press after his addresses.) However, if such a debate should occur, perhaps, it would be more interesting if both candidates were required to present opening statements — directed to their opponent — in a song parody that summarized their opposition. The following is what I think former POTUS Trump should sing using Dylan’s “It’s All Over Now Baby Blue.” The song asserts that even Democrats are feeling “blue” because of Joe’s presidency and, for this reason, Joe may, very well, be through as a candidate that can win in November.
(Stanza)
Your cognitive perception is dangerously low
Your voice is growing weaker and your gait is slow
The speeches that you give are not your own
You lose your train of thought: your gaffes have grown
A biased press defends all that you do!
But, Joe, your making Democrats feel blue
(Stanza)
Your plans to end divisions have become a joke
The country’s more divided because of words you spoke
You’re calling half the nation hateful names:
your policies have failed despite your claims
Your V.P. doesn’t seem to have a clue!
And you’re making FDR’s party feel so blue
(Stanza)
Our schools of higher learning are now wasting minds
Our lawmakers are making laws provoking crimes
The violence in the streets hurt rich and poor:
civil discourse seldom happens anymore
Solutions that have failed; you now call new!
it’s time to just admit, old Joe, you’re through
(Stanza)
Your immigration actions, simply, made no sense:
unless your border crisis was no coincidence
Alejandro says our borders are secure;
but only fools believe him anymore
Lookout now: a mob is breaking through!
And even sanctuary cities are blaming you
(Stanza)
“The wise” know that divided kingdoms always fall
And calling evil good will hurt us one and all
“Freedom must have constraints” was once thought true
But “freedom at all costs” now seems your view
The bell that’s tolling loudly tolls for you!
And the message that it rings is “Joe, you’re through”
Yes, the message that it rings is “Joe you’re through”
George Civile
Gardiner
The power of words
A few weeks ago,
during April’s recognition
as National Poetry Month,
many of us poets sat
on the front lawn of
Woodstock Public Library
awaiting our turn to share
our words.
In the Two O’clock Hour
of this Poem-A-Thon
my good friend, Bob Langdon,
turned to me and asked:
“Is that thunder amplified
by the microphone?”
I said: “Yes, if you mean
the wind carrying off our words.”
Patrick Hammer, Jr.
Saugerties
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