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More misperceptions of police
I am extremely disappointed, yet not surprised, at the many SUNY faculty members who apparently haven’t paid attention to to all the other college campuses demonstrations and how they all started out peacefully but inevitably and quickly turned violent. Their opinion seems to say that, somehow, SUNY New Paltz is different than all other campuses and that SUNY’s peaceful demonstration had NO potential for ever turning violent despite the fact that 45 outside paid agitators were among those arrested and that there was NEVER a chance that some students would become lemming followers to the agitators, as happened on all other campuses.
Terence P. Ward’s “A shock to the system” article included additional key information which Rokosz Most left out of his article the week before. First, that 45 paid outside agitators were arrested. As proven on all other college campuses, involvement of these thugs is a recipe for disaster as they propagandize and easily influence the weakest and least informed students to rise to violence and destruction. Second, a metal bottle was thrown at a police officer requiring a trip to the hospital. Funny how references were made to ONE injured student while totally ignoring the personal injury attack on the police officer.
More potential incendiary behavior by some students was the typical mindless chants of “intifada” and “from the river to the sea.” This rhetoric is NOT protected by the 1st Amendment. It crosses the line into intimidating hate speech calling for uprisings. “From the river to the sea” simply means NO Israel. Whether the students know what the latter chant means or not, they’d easily be considered anti-Semitic.
Sheriff Juan Figueroa rightfully defends law enforcement as do all law enforcement leaders. They are quite familiar with these situations and how to proactively prevent any peaceful demonstrations turning violent, by using the right amount of force to prevent potentially out of control situations. It seems that some SUNY faculty, some administrators and even some local politicians think they know more about law enforcement that the actual trained experts.
Ulster County D. A. Emmanuel C. Nneji’s letter strikes the perfect balance between exercising 1st Amendment guaranteed peaceful demonstrations, crossing the line into hate speech and chaos, and letting law enforcement do its job……..upholding the law while maintaining peace and safety.
John N. Butz
Modena
A debatable suggestion
I’m surprised that after POTUS Biden’s most recent “Ron Burgundy like” gaffe (reading aloud his speech’s instruction to “Pause” after starting the chant “four more years!”) he has been given permission to debate Donald Trump, twice. (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.) In any event, should such debates actually 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!
And, Joe, you’re 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 hurts 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
Two boards — fire department budgeting
Each year the mayor and supervisor review fire department data for the previous year. These year-end numbers determine the percentage of the fire department budget for the forthcoming year paid for village and “town outside the village” taxpayers. The split over the last few years has been approximately 50/50 with one paying a bit more than the other during different years.
In 2023, there were more village calls so the village will pay for 52.6% of this coming year’s budget and the “town outside the village” will pay 47.4%. For fire protection in ‘24/’25, we have budgeted $514,102. There were 719 calls in 2023 (1.97 calls per day), so that is approximately $715 per call.
The total fire budget for ‘24/’25 is $514,102 + $990,000 = $1,504,102. This $990,000 debt payment is for the fire station’s construction that is split 50/50 by the town and village.
The New Paltz Fire Department serves five districts: 1) SUNY New Paltz, 2) NYS Thruway, 3) the village, 4) the “town outside the village,” and 5) Mutual aid for other communities. New Paltz fire chiefs have always emphasized to me that they are grateful New Paltz receives more mutual aid than we provide because of our busy community. In 2023, the department responded to 15 mutual aid calls out of 719 total calls.
To determine the percentage for the subsequent year’s budget, town figures include the Thruway and the village’s include SUNY New Paltz. Mutual aid calls are “shared.” There were 32 Thruway calls and 42 calls at the college in 2023. SUNY New Paltz calls have averaged 16.5% of call volume over the last ten years.
Gratefully, our community received $300,000 in SUNY Impact Aid again for ‘24/’25 from Albany. To help offset the cost of providing public safety services to host our student population, we use this money to support the townwide A-Fund for police expenses, the 100% volunteer fire department reserve fund for future expenses to benefit townwide taxpayers, and the New Paltz Rescue Squad. Funds are shared accordingly: fire ($200,000), rescue ($50,000), and police ($50,000) departments.
Mayor Tim Rogers
New Paltz
Who were the police protecting?
Trust is a sentiment that is difficult to earn, hard to maintain and easily lost. Ulster County District Attorney Emmanuel Nneji had earned my trust during his election campaign and maintained it with his efforts to be just in cases that I learned he prosecuted during his short time in office. However, he lost my trust with his letter to the editor published May 15.
First, I was one of the protesters arrested at SUNY New Paltz on May 2-3. I have been a lifelong community member, a SUNY alumni/class of 1976, a retired SUNY New Paltz professional staff member. I was not an outside agitator as suggested in his letter. (Were men who marched in the Women’s March outside agitators?)
Second, his letter was unnecessary and a weak attempt to pander to the protesters, who are morally obligated and by legal necessity, were peacefully sitting and chanting in solidarity of our just cause. I was among Catholics, protestants, Buddhists, Jews young and old (I am 70), who unjustifiably were dragged off with military maneuvers and irresponsible use of force. Part of my clothing was damaged and my right arm significantly bruised and pained for the next few days.
Third, our cause was and will continue to be stopping the complicity of our president, our governor, our legislators and public entities like SUNY CENTRAL in supporting genocide. It is not surprising that this morning’s New York Times reported “International Criminal Court Requests Arrest Warrants for Netanyahu and Hamas Leaders. Our government is not supporting Hamas, but we continue to send billions in military and immeasurable, misguided political support to Netanyahu.
The second half of the letter panders and states the obvious: violence should not be supported. “We cannot allow any room for violence in any assembly or protest. It must be emphasized that no one is above the law.” We were not violent, but the police were violent. The district attorney’s office now needs to investigate what precipitated the police violence against peaceful protesters of our peace circle. Who were the police protecting?
Maggie Veve
New Paltz
Understanding the proposed zoning and subdivision code changes
There has been a fair amount of confusion and concern about how much density Woodstock might face, based on what can be developed now and what could be developable under the proposed zoning and subdivision code changes.
At 7 p.m. on May 28, the Town of Woodstock will offer a zoom presentation by Judith Kerman that may help clarify the situation. Dr. Kerman is vice chair of the Woodstock Planning Board and served on the Housing Oversight Task Force. She provides geographic information systems (GIS) expertise to the town.
This land use analysis for Woodstock will use maps to show the current land use situation in Woodstock. It will illustrate the physical limits or “constrains” on development that protect Woodstock’s environmental resources in combination with current and proposed zoning laws. This presentation will not be interactive, but questions can be sent to the town. A recording of the presentation will be linked to the town website.
Deborah DeWan, former co-chair of the Housing Oversight Task Force, comments: “This visual analysis using GIS mapping of Woodstock’s land use characteristics is a particularly useful tool for understanding and directing environmental protection and development in our town. It can assist landowners, boards and committees, elected officials and residents alike, in making informed land use decisions to care for our town’s character and environment, something our community has expressed the need for. The Housing Oversight Task Face undertook this analysis to help inform its recommendations for zoning updates.”
A link to the presentation can be found on the town calendar at https://townwoodstock.digitaltowpath.org:10111/content/Calendars/.
Judith Kerman
Woodstock
Bill Murray should be our next town supervisor
I am writing to express my support for William (Bill) Murray as the town’s next supervisor. Bill has a thorough knowledge of the important, pressing matters that the town faces and has the local history, skills and temperament to get the job done. I have had the pleasure of working with Bill over the years and he deeply cares about our community and is doggedly committed to making New Paltz better. Among the candidates applying for the job, he is the most qualified and I look forward to working with him to assist in the transition. I hope the town board appoints him to fill the seat for the rest of this year and that the New Paltz Democratic Committee chooses him to be on the ballot this November, so there is continuity in leadership of the town.
Neil Bettez, Former Supervisor
Town of New Paltz
Campus protest
Your reporter, Rokosz Most, did us all a service by unemotionally giving us the story of the peace protestor’s roundup at SUNY New Paltz, by using multiple sources.
The mayor’s letter was, by comparison, too emotional and biased.
I hate pro-Hamas demonstrations, and I appreciate how our police controlled the demonstrators without hurting anyone.
Does SUNY New Paltz really have endowment money invested in Israel? That would be a good story, along with the mysteries of BOCES funding and spending.
Paul Raymond
New Paltz
Illegal C&D dump site in Shady
It is wonderful to see that Joseph Karolys and his wife have been ordered to clean up several of their illegal Ulster County dump sites or face a penalty of $8 million (Times Union, May 15, 2024). Excellent work, NY State Attorney General Letitia James! Except that the judgment fails to include the illegal dump site in Shady. (Back in January of 2022, Karolys and his wife pleaded guilty to dumping C&D material in Shady in 2020. The Town of Woodstock promised to use the judgment in that case to force the homeowners and/or Karolys to remove all of the toxic fill. So far, they have only done a “sort and sift” operation that instead exacerbated the threat to the town’s aquifer which sits directly below the site.) If you are interested in removing this threat to the Town of Woodstock’s aquifer, please use the following information to contact NY AG Letitia James and urge her to address the Shady dump! (Letitia.james@ag.ny.gov, NYAG.Pressoffice@ag.ny.gov, Tish James (@TishJames), https://twitter.com/tishjames?lang=en, https://twitter.com/newyorkstateag?lang=en, https://www.instagram.com/newyorkstateag/?hl=en, https://ag.ny.gov/contact-ag, phone: 518-776-2000.
Luke Hunsberger
Shady
Philosophically speaking
Andy Warhol said there’d be days like this.
Sparrow
Phoenicia
Woodstock Alabama?
As accurately stated in this week’s HV1 online article by Nick Henderson, “Two police officers greeted people entering the community center and asked them to sign up if they wished to speak. The officers and chief Clayton Keefe monitored the crowd”
The Woodstock police officers were tasked with these responsibilities during a public hearing in Woodstock that would help decide whether or not a proposed new noise ordinance would get passed by the town board.
I have to ask. Is this what we want our police officers including the chief of police doing on a Tuesday evening? Taking people’s names who wish to speak and monitoring the crowd?
It’s not that long ago in US history that Alabama police officers monitored the crowd and greeted thousands of people entering their town halls and asked them if they wanted to vote.
Chris Finlay
Woodstock
PFOSs in Woodstock’s drinking water
When will the town start to alert the public about the PFOSs in our drinking water? The test results are on the town website under departments, water and sewer and documents. The town started to test for PFOSs in 2022. There was a small amount — .86. Then in 2023, the level rose to 3.48. Why weren’t we told back then?
There are 2500+ people on town water, not counting all the businesses and the school. It would be nice to get some guidance as to how we residents can be safe. We also have a school that needs to know so they can cover the water fountains. Children’s exposure to these “forever chemicals” is a lot worse than older adults. There are pregnant women that should not be drinking this water….even at this level.
Please call the water department, our supervisor and town board and tell them they have an obligation to alert the public. It’s a health and safety issue and we need to feel our town government is protecting us and cares enough to reach out and communicate with residents. We need to know what the future plans are and how we can stay safe. As a cancer survivor, I am VERY concerned.
Linda and Terry Lover
Woodstock
Part A of the agenda
Background to the rise of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid (Part 3)
The Social Security Act of 1935 was one of the most important of the innovations passed by FDR’s administration. This act set into motion one of the federal government’s focuses on addressing the calamity resulting from the Great Depression of the late ’20s and ’30s.
There were no organizations or programs to assist the everyday person during the depression years. Jobs were lost, monies in banks were lost (Glass-Stegall Bill of 1933 addressed this). Most important though, was the passage of the Security Act of 1935. For the first time, there was a concentrated focus to prevent the American populace from undergoing a future catastrophe as witnessed in the Great Depression.
The FICA (Federal Insurance Contributions Act) was created. This is the basis, the backbone of Social Security. This is where deductions are taken out of an employee’s paycheck, matched by his/her employer as well. These payments are accumulated year after year during their working lifetime, until they reach the age of 62 and or 65, at which time they begin to draw a monthly stipend for the rest of their lives.
According to the AARP, this is a Godsend for the seniors in this country today. (I believe the monthly allotment is around $2000.) This money can feed many of the seniors today and lay the framework for the younger generations coming up. The program works.
I have friends I grew up with who are business people with their own businesses. I have been told bluntly, ‘that they hate my letters’, although I’m an ‘OK’ guy! They reason why they hate the letters is because of the FICA they have to pay. My bringing attention to this aspect of Social Security is bringing this innovation to the forefront of everyone’s attention. Some call it socialism.
And therein lies a problem: socialism versus capitalism. It was the ramrod capitalists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, that created the Great Depression. (As of this year, it has been 89 years since the inception of Social Security.) But there are two large public organizations that have enormous clout on the federal level: the AARP (American Association of Retired Persons) and the NCPSSM (National Committee for the Preservations of Social Security and Medicare. These two organizations have been a block against efforts to dismantle and or change the system. More to come.
Until next time.
Robert LaPolt
New Paltz
I Am Not a Cloth: A Ballad on True Patriotism
In a land of many flags so grand,
The stars and stripes wave o’er the land,
Yet some misuse it without heed,
A symbol draped in dire misdeed.
Oh, America, land of dreams and strife,
Where the flag’s true essence is at stake in life,
MAGAt souls aim to breathe disbelief,
Create a nation torn by anger, heartache, and grief.
In this dirge of misplaced devotion’s tale,
Dreams are swept beneath a red, white, and blue veil.
Compassion lost in the shadows of hate,
As we navigate this turbulent state.
Let us sing of dreams where unity prevails,
And true patriotism’s spirit never fails.
A canto for the brave, the ones who dare.
To fight for love when hatred fills the air.
Patriotism is not a show,
It’s in the heart where passions grow,
To uphold rights and justice true,
Not in a superficial view.
Oh, America, may we rise above the divide,
To honor dreams where compassion abides.
Neil Jarmel
West Hurley
It is about time
Based upon the numerous Facebook posts and the letters to the editor in HV1, it appears that the public is noticing that the Emperor is not wearing any clothes.
Howard Harris
Woodstock
The looking glass presidency
In the mirror of Trump’s presidency, I see not just a reflection of a man but a reflection of ourselves, distorted and contorted by the whims of media and the cacophony of political discourse. Like a mirror in a dimly lit bathroom, his image reveals more than just surface imperfections; it reflects the deeper truths of our society, laid bare for those willing to see indeed.
We become conditioned to see the world through external validation, allowing the media to dictate our perceptions and politicians to shape our identities. But in doing so, we’ve turned away from the mirror within, neglecting the profound truths beneath the surface.
As we gaze into this metaphorical mirror, we see not just the reflection of Trump but the reflection of our complacency, insecurities and reluctance to confront the uncomfortable truths that lie within. Like pimples on a teenager’s face or gray hairs on an aging adult, his presidency exposes the blemishes and imperfections of our society, forcing us to confront the reality of who we are and how we got here.
But amidst the chaos and confusion, there is an opportunity for introspection and growth. Just as a mirror allows us to see ourselves clearly, Trump’s presidency catalyzes self-reflection, prompting us to question our assumptions, challenge our beliefs and redefine our priorities.
In our personal and political relationships, we must learn to look beyond the surface and into the depths of our souls. We hope to navigate the turbulent waters of the external world by embracing the truth within.
So, let us not simply see Trump as a president but as a mirror reflecting the collective consciousness of a nation in flux. Let us use this reflection as a guidepost for the journey inward, where the true essence of our humanity resides. As Carl Jung once said, “Who looks outside, dreams, who looks inside, awakes.”
Larry Winters
New Paltz
Village rooming houses
I had read Mayor Rogers March 20 letter to HV1 and was concerned regarding the letter’s evident misunderstandings regarding ‘Family’.
From the timing of the letter, it is evident that this letter evolved from ongoing planning board deliberations regarding the expansion, doubling in size, of a current village rooming house. The ‘family’ issue is important in distinguishing between a ‘family residence’ and a ‘rooming house’ because factually and legally they are not the same.
Basically, everything the mayor said, referring to a “group of people sharing a … living space” as a family, has no basis in fact or law. Some of it was the exact opposite of the law. The definitive case law on the matter, City of White Plains vs. Ferraiolli, describes a ‘family’ as ‘stable’ and specifically says that a ‘family’ is not “a temporary living arrangement as would be a group of college students sharing a house.”
In spite of the mayor’s statement that “overcrowding and/or state uniform building and fire code violations [should] not exist,” the net effect of the letter comes across as a defense of rooming houses, which is troubling because most, if not all, New Paltz rooming house are being run illegally. The problem with rooming houses is not the tenants. I lived next door to a rooming house for more than ten years and found the tenants generally to be considerate and desiring to be good neighbors. The tenants are not the problem. The problem is the rooming house landlords and their unlawful rental and management practices.
When renting by the bedroom, more bedrooms = more profit, so the creation of extra, unlawful bedrooms is a priority. For example, it is a very common practice for rooming houses landlords to eliminate the living room, converting it into a bedroom. In most cases, the house will then have more bedrooms than the law allows. More importantly, the dining room, which now serves as a combined living/dining area, will be smaller than allowed by the state code, resulting in overcrowded housing conditions. Considering the outrageous rents they must pay, the village’s tenants deserve better.
The creation of multiple, profitable, unlawful bedrooms makes it possible for the landlord to invariably out-bid working families, driving them out of the village’s housing market. The myriad unlawful practices that plague New Paltz’s rooming houses makes the epithet “slumlord” entirely appropriate. One of the very unfortunate acts of this administration, was gutting the “housing standards” chapter of the village code, eliminating many of the needed tenant protections which had formerly been put in place.
At the end of the day, the mayor’s letter works as an unfortunate defense of New Paltz’s thriving, but unlawful rooming house business’, which the mayor will not clean up.
Terry Dungan
New Paltz
Live streamed genocide
Regarding the recent conclusory letter of propagandist Rowan Dordick, alleging that I “get a lot of things wrong as usual,” but as usual he fails to document such claims with any references in any of his letters. He then points to a “peer-reviewed study” I referenced that was retracted. Contrary to Rowan’s claim of not being peer-reviewed, that referenced 2001 article was originally published in Human Immunology, a monthly peer-reviewed medical journal, before it got retracted so it was peer-reviewed to be allowed in that journal.
That all being stated, Rowan conveniently sidesteps the original issue of his erroneous Zionist claim that Palestinians were not ever in ancient Israel. While Rowan was creating a tirade over the retracted article I mistakenly referenced, his erroneous Zionist assertions are still belied by the 2020 peer-reviewed article that was published in the Cell Press, a peer-reviewed medical journal I also referenced, and that article was not retracted. The article, “The Genomic History of the Bronze Age Southern Levant”, reports researchers using DNA from the ashes of bones of 73 deceased individuals from the lands of Israel, documented Palestinians were in fact living in ancient Israel 3,000 years ago as Canaanites. The article’s 27 authors included faculty from Harvard, Hebrew University and Tel Aviv University. That peer-reviewed article destroys the Zionist claim asserted by Rowan that Palestinians didn’t arrive in Israel till the 18th & 19th century and was curiously not mentioned by Rowan in his letter.
Propagandist Rowan then uses the rest of his letter in a vain attempt to disprove genocide is happening in Gaza. I guess he missed that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has already declared that its “plausible” that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza (https://www.npr.org/2024/01/26/1227078791/icj-israel-genocide-gaza-palestinians-south-africa), or that the International Criminal Court (ICC) is considering issuing warrants of arrest for war criminals Netanyahu and IDF military leaders (https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/28/world/middleeast/netanyahu-icc-arrest-warrants-israel-hamas.html). That couldn’t be because maybe Israel is committing genocide, which most of the world already knows? Yet, according to Rowan’s twisted thinking, the ICJ & the ICC are “abusing language”.
For some reason genocide deniers like Rowan apparently have no understanding that when Israel drops massive 2,000-pound “dumb bombs” blowing up entire neighborhoods and the civilians in it, the deaths that occur within a 1,000 feet radius, cannot be called “unintentional”. Nor can deliberate starving and dehydrating 1.5 million civilians, who now have no hospitals to get medical help, be called “unintentional” as Rowan foolishly does. Israeli leaders own words have filled a database for the ICJ of more than 500 statements showing Israeli incitement to genocide providing ample evidence of genocidal intent. No amount of propaganda in Rowan’s letters can change the most obvious fact, that Israel is indeed committing live-streamed genocide against innocent Palestinians civilians for all the world to see and lament.
Steve Romine
Woodstock
Thank you Keith Buesing
On behalf of the Gardiner Library board of trustees , I would like to acknowledge and thank the very talented, Keith Buesing.
Keith designed and created the beautiful topiary and related landscaping that graces the library grounds. Additionally, he has been continually taking care of this planting for the library and our community to enjoy.
We thank you Keith for your expertise and your generosity.
Glenn Gidaly
New Paltz
Our town needs a chance to reclaim its identity
I must take issue with Jessica Wisneski of Olivebridge’s letter of May 15 supporting Onteora’s consolidation. The arguments posed seem a bit desperate. One is that closing Woodstock Elementary would allow the building to be used to meet “other critical needs.” On what basis can we make any assumption that it would? Recent development and redevelopment plans in Woodstock have catered to monied interests rather than its needy citizens. I can see it becoming another overpriced restaurant or boutique hotel before, say, a health clinic, a real community center, affordable housing units or a reasonably priced grocery store, if not be left unoccupied for years.
Then there’s the argument that consolidation provides opportunities for “future learning environments.” As an educator and child development specialist for 43 years, I can say definitively that what young children need are small class sizes, a peaceful environment, family involvement, community support and stability, things that Woodstock Elementary is already providing, and a large, centralized institutional setting would likely not. In fact, most “modernization” efforts have only served to move our field further from what we know, or should know, about how young children learn.
As for taxpayers, we don’t know how much it would cost to remake Bennett to accommodate this change, let alone do it right. And when taxpayers are polled on their feelings about paying taxes, the overwhelming response is that they resent it going to things objectionable or unnecessary, but when it comes to the best, I repeat, the best interests of children, that they’re willing to pay for.
Woodstock has seen much of its heart ripped out. Favorite hangout places are gone. Neighbors have been forced to leave. The library is moving. The music is fading. We’re becoming a suburb for older and wealthier adults and transients. Taking away our school will disincentivize families with children from moving here, making this a self-fulfilling prophesy. Our town needs a chance, with new leadership, to reclaim its identity and bring back the children.
Alan M. Weber
Woodstock
A Sylvan Fantasy
I bow to a choir of trees…who feed nightly on stars…
— Megan Fernandez
Nightly to this grove we return after
our ordinary day. Here, deep in Catskills,
we breathe a heady, leaf-heavy air.
We imagine stars feeding light
to these trees, unraveling like thoughts,
in the night breeze.
After dancing in circles we fall asleep
on grassy ground and dream—the trees
move closer, stand over us.
They sway their limbs, point starlit leafy
fingers, their green-feathered branches,
at us. We tell the trees we are all the same.
Dawn comes slowly, gently in the forest.
We wake and find ourselves shivering,
dry, and already home.
Patrick Hammer, Jr.
Saugerties
Wallkill River algal blooms
In the late summer of 2022, people observed a harmful algae bloom (HAB) in parts of the Rondout Creek and Wallkill River. The algae produces harmful toxins that put people and fish at risk. Scientists state that climate change has increased the growth of algal blooms. The algal blooms were found at points along a 15-mile stretch. This was around the River to Ridge trail. They were also seen downstream to the tidal Rondout Creek at Eddyville.
The blooms were seen at all times and days. People kayaking, paddleboarding and dogs swimming in the Wallkill River were really concerning. HABs are caused by cyanobacteria. Cyanobacteria can take over a body of water. HABs could look like linear green streaks, scattered green dots, blue-green or white coloration. Cyanobacteria produce toxins that can put drinking water supplies, livestock, pets and people at risk. It can cause humans to have skin irritation, but also could result in serious neurological damage. Dogs could ingest the water while swimming. The 2022 algae blooms were less extensive in the river and duration than the 2016 algae bloom.
Even though the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) wants people to report harmful algal blooms, it is important that the local government keeps up with monitoring and analyzing the Wallkill River to make sure there are no algal blooms present in the Wallkill River. It is important that Hudson Valley One continually reports on the progress of the local government ensuring that there are no algal blooms present in the Wallkill River.
Noor Gail Zarr
New Paltz
We reap what we sow
In Galatians, Saint Paul wrote, “Man reaps what he sows.”
Fred and Mary Trump prove the adage true. A friend of the Trump family recalls of the home Donald grew up in, “It was not a loving atmosphere.” The ex-president often points to his father as the person who taught him everything, his role model and almost all profiles paint Fred as a bullying, ruthless, prevaricating, racist, win-at-all-costs, empathy-less, power-and-money-driven real estate mogul — bringing to mind another adage: “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”
Fred may have been his son’s only hands-on influence. In discussing his early life, Trump has rarely mentioned his mother, and she is often said to have emotionally neglected him, before, along with Fred, deeming him unmanageable and dispatching him at 13 to a military school. Years later, she reportedly asked his first wife, Ivana, “What kind of son have I created!”
Those with eyes have witnessed what kind of son she and Fred created (see “role model,” above, and add “misogynistic”). But what kind of world will that son create if he is elected again? Then we will all of us, in ways many of us have already seen and acknowledged, and in new, untold ways, continue to reap the ever-more-rotten harvest of what Fred and Mary Trump sowed.
The Trump Derangement Syndrome “diagnosticians” have it backward. TDS is not the syndrome of those who revile Donald Trump — for they see him for what he is, for what his father’s example and his mother’s neglect created. It is rather the disease of those who are blind to, or who somehow embrace, the world he has already begun sowing and that he will bring to fruition in his new term(s): of those “deranged” enough to be the willing or unwitting co-architects of the world Donald Trump will finish creating — and destroying.
Tom Cherwin
Saugerties
Point of view | Alan Sussman
On the New Paltz protest
The chief virtue of the First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech is the honor it pays to impartiality.
It does so in two ways.
First, it insulates the human right of self-expression from government interference. We cannot be meaningfully autonomous beings if we fear arrest and punishment for saying what we wish, writing and reading what we deem important, and gathering with others who share our beliefs. The amendment prohibits public officials and the police from curtailing such expression regardless of its political partiality.
Second, free speech is essential to educate and inform citizens in democratic societies tasked with the obligations of self-government. Those who penned and ratified the Bill of Rights were not interested in promoting speech that makes us feel good about ourselves but in protecting that which challenges the social and political status quo. Under this principle, augmented by the amendment’s further protections of petition and assembly, we find ourselves the grateful beneficiaries of Jefferson’s and Madison’s trust in the power of human reason.
In this context, the amendment’s dedication to impartiality means that those who take their citizenship seriously by espousing partisan political beliefs will not be considered criminals but promoters of our democracy’s well-being by contributing to the “marketplace of ideas,” as justice Holmes called it.
Both of these ideals were tarnished recently when SUNY New Paltz students were arrested for protesting events in the Middle East and the university’s complicity in what they believe is an unjust war. That’s why I was surprised to read district attorney Emmanuel Nneji’s letter, published last week, offered as a reason to respect the First Amendment but which in essence concluded the opposite.
He writes: “That the cause or objective of the assembly and protest is noble or laudable does not legitimize disregarding the rules and laws … The use or threat of violence is incompatible with the pursuit of any just cause and assembly … We cannot allow any room for violence in any assembly or protest, on or off campus.”
Agreed. But what our county’s highest civilian law-enforcement officer failed to mention was that according to all accounts there was no violence. The demonstration was peaceful. A bit messy, perhaps. Some offensive sloganeering, creating small annoyance, perhaps, for non-protesters to hear. A bit of an inconvenience, perhaps, for some to take a short detour if the demonstration obstructed their path. These are small prices to pay in return for the benefits of free speech.
It was reported that someone threw a bottle at the police. That person should be arrested. But president Wheeler had all of them arrested, 132 by official count, cuffed and dragged away by troopers in riot gear brandishing night sticks with a helicopter circling overhead and a K-9 unit in view. What was the crime of the remaining 131 arrestees other than having engaged in constitutionally protected speech and assembly itself?
Can we assume that President Wheeler did not know how the State Police might carry out its apparently unlimited grant of power? Can we assume that District Attorney Nneji, who claims that “no one is above the law,” will investigate whether any policemen acted with excessive force? It’s unlikely. The police, he said, were simply “doing their job,” a not very compelling excuse which in addition resonates with a rather ignoble historical force.
Since nationwide campus protests developed this spring, it has become almost mandatory for college presidents and public officials to announce that his or her belief in the First Amendment is beyond question, and then proceed to undermine the principle by adding a contrary “but ….” There is always a “but,” and those who have summoned the police to arrest students have had no difficulty in coming up with a reason to do so. For Nneji the reason was violence, even though there was none.
The New Paltz students, whether we agree with them or not, should be respected for making a difficult moral decision, staking a claim to bring attention to the unjust treatment of others, and placing their bodies (as well as their futures) on the line. Instead, they were treated shabbily as criminals and enemies of the state. It is unfortunate that those who sit in deliberative positions of power have been unable to realize the distinction.
The author, a Bearsville resident, is a local attorney and a close student of American constitutional rights.
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