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Woodstock peacefare
As we commemorate the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, may we commit ourselves to respecting one another, honoring various backgrounds, and seeing our own positive attributes, as well as faults, in those that we encounter. Please take this moment to contact President Biden, Senator Charles Schumer, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Rep. Marc Molinaro and Rep. Pat Ryan to urge them to ratify and sign the TPNW (Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons). Out of 93 nations who have signed and 70 nations who have also ratified this treaty, it is horrifying that none of the nine nations possessing nuclear weapons have signed/ratified (U.S., U.K., France, Israel, Russia, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea).
The following comments are meant to be constructive criticism based upon observation and not an attack (direct nor implied) against any person or group.
Closer to home, it was good to see robust discussion at the July 23 town board meeting. Notable differences of opinion were shared, votes taken and recorded, and the process played itself out. Shouldn’t these meetings be places where differing viewpoints can be freely expressed? There was NO sense of anything political being at play but rather an explanation of decisions was being sought. The town’s representatives on the board are trusted to work for the health and safety of the community and their opinions should be vetted. The concerns of residents should be respectfully heard as well. Three minutes is not a great length of time to present to the board and if a resident has two sentences to finish their presentation, flexibility in granting another 30 seconds should not create a problem. At other board meetings, presenters have been allowed to go over three minutes — what was so discomforting about the presentation on July 23 that time had to be called? Imagine if our predecessors in Boston were not allowed to “dump the tea into the sea!”
Thanks should be given to the town for holding a meeting (town hall?) on July 24 regarding the drinking water safety situation in Woodstock. Yet, the town should have been much more forthcoming and transparent before this meeting. Trust is fostered when communication is maintained (even in the face of not-so-good news) and a commitment to working for all is evident. Hopefully organizers will work on the structure and process of a next meeting — allowing for a respectful give-and-take between attendees and presenters, a visually clear presentation of information on screens, doing their best to make certain that technical questions are presented and addressed, and limiting the amount of self-congratulations for holding an event that town residents were rightly due. Remember: self-praise is no recommendation.
Dialogue and discussion should be the foundation upon which a valid and open exchange of ideas take place. I am sure that there will be differing opinions on topics in the future. As has been cited above, processes should be adhered to and constructive criticism received as an opportunity for learning and growth.
Terence Lover
Woodstock
Awaiting the wrecking ball
I’m saddened to read that the beautiful turn-of-the-century building on the corner of Main Street and South Manheim Boulevard, that has been neglected and allowed to deteriorate due to decisions made by the New Paltz School District administration, is now “awaiting the wrecking ball.” I particularly take exception to an earlier sarcastic remark by the district superintendent that “it’s still there,” as if that were a surprise. Of course, any structure so neglected and abandoned to the elements as this structure has been for almost two decades will certainly become “a neighborhood nuisance,” I feel that New Paltz has an obligation as well as privilege to restore for civic use this historic and architecturally pleasing building.
Just imagine the potential of this building, by using your imagination. Pretend that the decades-old paint was scrapped off and freshly repainted. Pretend again, that all the suffocating trees and foliage were removed from the building and replaced with pleasing landscaping. Look again at the unique A-frame building lines, the cobblestone fireplace, bay windows and so much more … restored and fully functional. Past decades have seen the demolition of many turn-of-the-century buildings of unique and fine workmanship, to be replaced by the “architecture of modern redundancy.” Energy One on Route 32 comes to mind. The public, whose taxes have paid for (and sadly not used to maintain this beautiful structure), have the opportunity to voice their opposition to demolishing this unique building. Let’s take the opportunity before we lose it to history.
Albert John White
New Paltz
Speak out on behalf of Shawangunk Ridge protection
The Shawangunk Ridge’s flora and wildlife form an interconnected ecosystem; unique, fragile and subject to harm from human activity and development. From our native bears, foxes, bobcats, fishers, amphibians, skinks, opossums and raptors to our chestnut-oak forests, ferns, blueberries and mountain laurel, these species need protection even if not “endangered” as are the peregrine falcons that also inhabit the Ridge. When we protect them, it benefits us.
Thankfully, in Gardiner, the township with some of the most significant Ridge features on private properties, these findings are memorialized in its comprehensive plan and codified in zoning law Section 220-16. The law designates three Ridge districts, directing development to the lowest, the SP-1 district, to protect the higher elevations, SP2-SP3.
Recently, a property owner who wanted development in the SP-2 district instead of SP-1, challenged the wording of this protection (220-16 (F)(1)(a)-(b)). Through his persistence, the planning board eventually adopted his novel legal interpretation and granted a site-plan permit. Friends of Shawangunks (FOS) sued. The court, in FOS v. Gardiner Planning Board and Alexander, deferred to the planning board.
Now, a way to protect our Ridge, which is suffering from alarming-paced trophy-home development, is to amend a few words of 220-16 (F) to clearly reflect what its drafters intended. Proposed amendments will be presented at the August 13 town board meeting. Thus far, not all board members agree. Even if you don’t live in Gardiner, please attend in person or zoom (available at Gardiner’s “Town Board” website page), and speak on behalf of Ridge protection at “Privilege of the Floor,” scheduled soon after the 7 p.m. meeting commences.
The planet is fast losing its biodiversity. Our imperative is to act not just globally, but locally too. The Ridge needs your voice!
Carol Richman
New Paltz (Gardiner Town Board member, writing as an individual)
Winston Farm: Think globally, act locally
I’ve been thinking a lot about the destiny of Winston Farm lately, as Beautiful Saugerties (the community group opposing the massive development project proposed by the current owners) reboots in anticipation of the release of the Environmental Impact Statement required by the SEQR process.
If we look at it strictly from the point of personal preference, we will never be able to talk about it as a community and make a sensible decision. There’s a big divide between the folks who would love to have a waterpark and all the other commercial and residential development proposed for the property in their town and those for whom that would utterly compromise the traditional semi-rural small-town vibe they love about Saugerties.
But there is a point of view that transcends personal preference, or lifestyle, or old-timers vs. newcomers, or whatever you like to call the apparently polarized opposites. It has to do with our perceived vs. our actual relationship with nature and the way we feel entitled to use nature for our own purposes, as though we weren’t part of it but rather separate from and somehow “above” it, and as though nature herself didn’t call the shots in the end.
Because of this deep misunderstanding, our use, which has become abuse, of nature is leading us to the brink of destruction on a planetary level. Carbon in the atmosphere drives temperatures to heat up to dangerous levels, which drives the destructive flooding caused by more frequent and larger storms and longer, more severe droughts that contribute to the terrifying spectacle of immense and uncontrollable wildfires around the world. And that’s just one of many ways in which we’ve crossed the boundaries that enable life as we know it on earth to continue. There’s also diminishing biodiversity, decreasing access to clean air and water, and soil degradation, to mention just those relevant to Winston Farm, that are close to tipping points from which there’s no way back.
Winston Farm is one of thousands, even millions, of parcels scattered around the globe that, taken together, add up to a truly immense amount of habitat. Leaving all those small parcels undeveloped is regarded by some ecologists as the most important thing we can do to save the planet and its inhabitants. Winston Farm is one of those parcels that is at a crossroads. Will it be developed for commercial purposes that will enrich its three owners but speed up the rapidly approaching collapse of the environment and the economy by adding to the carbon in the air, decreasing biodiversity and threatening our water supply? Or will it remain a carbon-absorber, rich in habitat for plants and animals with regenerating soil and a source of clean water into the future?
This is our choice, and it has nothing to do with the “rights” of property owners or personal preferences when they are put above the needs of nature upon which our very survival depends. Being able to see this real choice doesn’t depend on how long you’ve lived here, it depends on how you understand the way the planet works and the danger we are putting it and ourselves in by even entertaining the idea of the kind of development of Winston Farm proposed by the current owners. Tell the town board to say no to the rezoning for this “business-as-usual” development that will speed up the bus we’re on as it hurtles towards the cliff. Support a regenerative alternative that will help us change course and have a livable future.
Janet Moss (Asiain)
Saugerties
Old, older, oldest
When I turned 50, my best friend called me an ‘altacocka’, which he told me meant “an old person.” He was a month younger than me, and hated working. His wife told me he had applied for Social Security disability benefits, and was (of course) turned down.
While he actually had earned an MBA, he screwed up every job he’d had. Then, I called his condition “short attention span theatre;” he cooked masterfully and died of a massive heart attack during a dinner party. For them, he was often praised, thankfully.
With the cooking came way too much wine. That was an addiction.
Now eleven years later, his shortened life helps extend mine. I like work, and at 77 hope for at least another decade of being useful. My heart is precious to me, and I do the things we all know about to keep it working. Work itself is a constant mental challenge. My motto remains: “attack at dawn?”
What the heck do retirees do? (They are first to respond to my emails, so I suspect they are often online to fight boredom).
Paul Raymond
New Paltz
Only Kennedy can beat Trump!
Independent candidate, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his team launched an ad campaign promoting the message, “Only Kennedy can beat Trump.”The ad campaign targets Washington, DC and New York City. For one week, the “Only Kennedy can beat Trump” message is displayed on bus shelters, billboards in midtown Manhattan and on mobile trucks.
In New York, LED trucks display the “Only Kennedy can beat Trump” message as they travel around the city, making stops outside major news networks — including the New York headquarters of Fox News, CNN, NBC, ABC and Warner Media — and in front of the studio where ABC’s Good Morning America is taped! The same message was displayed on two billboards in midtown — one on Broadway and West 54th Street and the second on Broadway and West 52nd Street.
The ad campaign takes a similar approach in Washington, DC, where a fleet of six billboard trucks, travel throughout the city for eight hours each day, focusing on high-traffic areas including national monuments, tourist attractions and Capitol Hill.
This ad campaign is part of an effort to draw more attention to Kennedy’s campaign, which has not gotten its due attention due to extreme censorship and due to the FACT that both “red and blue” are afraid of Kennedy. These LED trucks, billboards and on the sides of buildings displays, seek to make up for the lack of airtime devoted to covering Kennedy’s campaign.
A poll conducted by Zogby Strategies shows Trump beating Harris by two points, but shows Kennedy beating Trump by 14 points, in a head-to-head match-up. And by the way, be very careful which so-called “polls” you believe, as many are far, far from stating the truth.
We have all watched how incredibly corrupt both “red and blue” have become, in full cooperation with mainstream media and big tech! They have prevented the voters from hearing (and seeing) the views of all presidential candidates, thereby helping to destroy the democratic process and freedom of speech!
Please do not be fooled about all the hype around Harris. The truth is, Kennedy IS the best candidate to defeat Trump in November. It really doesn’t matter who the “blue people” anoint. We all need to realize that the race is now between Kennedy and Trump.
“We the People,” need to get on board – NOW — and spread Kennedy’s messages far and wide on social media, through our own email Contacts and by word of mouth. Grass roots in this nation have won battles in the past and we can do it again!
What are you waiting for? We have less than 90 days until we elect a new president. This election will determine whether or not we continue to swirl down quickly or whether we begin to rise up, with integrity, honor, respect and truth.
Don’t you want to be a part of this “Light vs. Darkness” battle? Don’t you want to see real change in this country? Don’t you want to see younger people, Kennedy and Shanahan, who have already proven, by their actions, that they fight for the people and win, become our next leaders in this country? Which side are you on?
If you are saying, “yes” to these questions, then please take action and use our grass roots power to get RKF, Jr. out to the masses! Vote for RFK, Jr.!
Nicole Nevin
Woodstock
Who is SaveWoodstock.org?
Who is SaveWoodstock.org? Our town deserves to know. They have mounted an aggressive anti-zoning campaign but don’t want to be identified.
Is this LLC a “non profit” community organization as you might infer from the .org? No information offered.
The LLC is licensed in Arizona with privacy protection so that its registrants are not discoverable. There are no names on their website or promo materials.
Their emails and online flyers urge people to write to the town board with language that plays on fear of change and distrust of our government and volunteers. Here is a sample: “The rezoning plan developed by the Town of Woodstock ruins our town’s unique character, trashes our town’s environment, and destroys our rural landscape … It’s a ruse that’s designed to mislead us.” Other text calls into question the intentions and qualifications of both the large, volunteer Housing Oversight Task Force and their highly qualified consultant. These statements are parroted over and over by people who fear “suburbanization” and “overdevelopment.” When met with facts, most people we have spoken to at least pause and realize they have not been well informed.
Zoning is complex. It doesn’t build anything. The proposed revisions have much stronger environmental protections than in our current zoning. The proposed zoning also requires that any multi-family development include affordable units (defined in the law), and it provides our planning board with clearer processes and guidelines than our current outdated zoning law.
The law in NY requires zoning to conform to a town’s comprehensive plan. Housing that is affordable for Woodstockers topped the list of concerns expressed by residents in multiple public meetings held in 2017 to develop the comp plan.
Zoning that enables multi-family housing is one essential leg of the framework needed to build housing that will be within reach for our workers, families and seniors. Building 100% affordable units with government funds is another. There is no single solution or silver bullet. Zoning controls what can be built.
With its billboard, negative yard signs, social media pages and emails, Save Woodstock.org dumbs down and confuses the discussion of this important issue. Are these the same people who charge the task force with working in secret? The same who endlessly FOIL every communication about zoning, wasting taxpayer money attempting to uncover something shady or simply harass? Shouldn’t they identify themselves as they take cheap shots at the very public work of others? We think so.
Susan and Richard Goldman
Woodstock
When is a town hall not a town hall?
Regarding Nick Henderson’s 7/31 article on Woodstock’s so-called “Town Hall” for Water, instead of “No Love Canal in Woodstock,” perhaps a better title could have been, “When is a Town Hall Not?” NYS Open Meetings Law emphasizes letting the “public-be-heard” and being responsive to our concerns. Out of almost 30 questions that we as a group were allowed to submit only in writing, only about four were deemed worthy of response. Whoever heard of a town hall where no one is allowed to speak, unless there are things one doesn’t want publicly said?
So, of course, the toxic Shady Dump at the head of our sole drinking water aquifer was off-limits for discussion. Could that be because the host, a town board member, approves of the board spending our tax dollars fighting the Eighmeys’ lawsuit to have the illegal dump abutting their property and polluting their well removed, as was once promised?
Perhaps HV1 would do better to respect the concerns of the many unbiased townspeople who seem to know much more than this reporter about the toxins flowing through Woodstock’s taps. After all, it was two members of our group who caught the town’s incorrect reporting that the 2024 PFOS level was negligible. That makes three consecutive years of PFOS occurrence in our town water. You don’t get that from changing a pump, as the supervisor has suggested. Unfortunately, not a single technical issue could be expertly addressed because the hydrologist who was to lead the panel had to cancel.
The facts: While NYS DOH has not formerly updated their old limit of ten parts per thousand PFOS, the NYSDEC only last year set their guidance limit at 2.7 ppt, which Woodstock has already exceeded. Most importantly, according to the Federal EPA, no amount of PFOS is considered safe to drink. This is information that should have been conveyed without, no pun intended, filters.
Vince Mow
Alan Weber
Chris Finlay
Chris Bailey
Linda Lover
Stephanie Kaplan
Marcel Nagele
Sylvia Bullett
Woodstockers United for Change
An open letter to John Mullen, Tony Montano, Randy Richers, the Saugerties village planning board and the Saugerties town board
I (as well as very many other Saugerties residents) am very distressed, actually heartbroken, by the condos that Mr. Mullen is constructing, and the village planning board of Saugerties approved, south of the red bridge in the Village of Saugerties.
I really don’t understand how you could have, as stewards of our special little village, chosen to build on this precious, irreplaceable little strip of open land. Previously where the Esopus Creek widens out to form a lake west of the bridge, it was surrounded by, the beautiful bridge, and then quiet, tree filled banks, one sweeping hillside of grass and our little park and beach. Sitting in the park was peaceful and lovely. Looking out over the water, or kayaking or swimming, or in the winter perhaps skating, one was surrounded by nature; it was a unique place in the village.
I can’t understand why you wouldn’t have felt the need to preserve all this (for all of us, and our children and grandchildren, including yours), instead replacing that small length of open land with a wall of buildings, a wall that feels crammed in, out of proportion to the space. These condos have destroyed the viewscape coming into and leaving the village, that lovely view out over the water, and of course have forever destroyed the visual and aural tranquility that existed before.
The damage is irredeemable, unless Mr. Mullen decides to tear down the condos and plant trees or make a little sister park, either of which is what I think he should have done to begin with. Our special places of open land are limited and we need to think very carefully before developing them. But Mr. Mullen, Mr. Montano, Mr. Richers and the Saugerties town board now have the opportunity to protect another precious piece of open land, in Winston Farm. I am begging you to think carefully this time, and to make the choice that your stewardship asks of you. Winston Farm is incredibly precious and irreplaceable, with its special habitats (that are home to many endangered species of creatures), forests, meadows, wetlands and streams. I am begging you, its present owners, to sell the whole property to those who would and can preserve it, perhaps as a wilderness park, perhaps part of it as a regenerative farm. You will make a good return on your investment, it will put you in the vanguard of the ever more crucial fight against climate change, and it will insure your place in the hearts of generations to come.
Arabella Colton
Saugerties
Impact of water rate increase for our collectively-owned system
The Village of New Paltz increased water rates in 2012, and not again until June 2022. On 7/24/24, the village board agreed to another rate increase effective 9/1/2024.
Examples for the proposed rate increase:
New Paltz households use approximately 50 gallons of water per day per person, largely attributable to faucets, toilets, showers, laundry and dishwashing. This is below the national average because we are less likely to use water for irrigation. (But drink more water to stay hydrated and feel good.)
SINGLE UNIT: A base rate of $10 per month will be charged at properties using up to 44 gallons per day. This would most likely be a one person unit. This will be an increase of $2.33 per month (7.8 cents more per day) from 2022’s rates. If the resident used more than 44 gallons per day, they would be charged the $10 per month base rate plus $0.007188 per gallon for each gallon greater than 44 gallons, up to 555.55 gallons per day.
For town water districts rates set by the village, the increase will be $3.50 per month, or 11.7 cents more per day from 2022’s rates.
ELEVEN RESIDENT BUILDING: A medium sized building with eleven residents where they use 555.55 gallons per day would be charged $120.21 per month, including the $10 base plus $0.007188 times 15,333 gallons. A property with this level of consumption will see a monthly increase of $24.38 per month (81 cents more per day) from 2022’s rates. Eleven people sharing an 81-cent daily increase works out to 7.3 cents more per person per day.
For town water districts rates set by the village, eleven people would share a $1.22 increase per day that works out to eleven cents more per person per day
Please consider these are illustrations. Using the village rates, there could be two people in the single unit and ten people in the larger building using 555.55 gallons per day, and then the cents per day would change to:
SINGLE UNIT with two people: 3.9 cents more per day per person
ELEVEN RESIDENT BUILDING with ten people: 8.1 cents more per day per person
Thank you for your efforts in conservation, which are financially important to each of us personally and for our collectively-owned municipal water system.
Mayor Tim Rogers
New Paltz
Kamala’s impending implosion
We must patiently wait for Kamala Harris to come out of hiding and take part in interviews and press conferences. To date, she’s intentionally avoiding them because it means she’d have to face questions, some of them even hard ball questions, where she’ll have to respond spontaneously AND truthfully, if that’s even possible, without devolving into any of her famous and meaningless word salads.
She, of course, is already guilty of several flip flops on key issues which she hasn’t addressed directly to all of us but, instead, has leaked to the New York Times and the main stream legacy “news” outlets for publication. Her positions on issues and her performance as a 2020 presidential candidate were so unimpressive, undesirable and unwanted by the public that she didn’t even get to first base at the Iowa caucus, thereby being the first to quickly withdraw from the race with her tail between her legs, but not before calling her future boss a racist!
After being Biden’s willing accomplice in opening the southern border for nearly four years, NEVER visiting the key porous areas of the border as border czar, failing at her questionable visit to South America to identify the “root causes” of the problem, she suddenly wants more border patrol agents and asylum personnel. Where were these demands four years ago when they KNEW millions would illegally flood our border once the red carpet and freebie bonanza was intentionally instituted? And, who can forget her idiotic depiction of ICE as being like the KKK, as she called for ICE to be “reimagined?”
Her only temporary salvation has been the relentless brainwashing of the low information voters by her party and its “legacy news” pocket buddies in constantly repeating the Democratic fear mongering terms of Trump being a fascist, an authoritarian, a white supremacist, a xenophobe, a homophobe, a dictator, a racist, a threat to democracy, and the list goes on.
These nicknames we constantly hear from our TDS gallery have been escalated off the charts by Matt Frisch in his humorous conspiracy theory letter last week entitled “Not ‘conservative’ — Fascist.” Of course, Matt totally distorted quotes from Trump to a faith gathering, into Trump telling them that Trump’s “fix” will be to do away with our election system and voting rights, forever! Keep drinking that Kool Aid, Matt.
John N. Butz
Modena
Trump, God and silly Billy Vance
Hah! Who’s old and sleepy NOW? This is the time to remind the right-wing that 78 years with declining faculties isn’t different from 81 years. Not only is ex-POTUS #45 old, but he’s a totally unfit, unhinged psycho with the vocabulary of a second grader and zero impulse control. I’m sorry, I must stop insulting second graders. He would never have suffered that traumatic, life-threatening ear injury if he had been safely in jail like he’s supposed to be. Remember he is a felon, with 34 convictions.
When Trump gives a speech he just outright lies [the uttermost bullshitter], and he is often incoherent, all with a cherry on top. He still goes off on tangents about Hillary and Obama. His biggest crowd pleaser is “the wall.” He really doesn’t address the issues. He just says what the crowd loves — “facts be damned” is his/their credo!
Imagine what they would say about Harris if she had five kids by three different husbands. White Christian nationalist MAGAt’s: “But … but he’s a businessman [failed], And what about her emails!?!”
He’s so easily manipulated by foreign leaders, even the idiot ones can own him with no effort. So, there is that too. Other than this fact, how do you like him? Whoever thought it was a good idea to make him a reality show personality should be forced to listen to every one of his speeches on repeat for all eternity.
If you wanted Biden to step down, then you had better be willing to step up! We all must. I am not sure who should be on the ticket with her! Hell, I’ll vote for Deputy Dawg if he’s a Democrat and will help us continue to fix this country and keep it out of the hands of Trump and all the other lock-stepping power grubbers who will happily give away my grandchildren’s future in the service of oligarchs and fascists. We must show up.
No to the “Trump/Vance Trumpublican Party ticket” and their agenda!!! The only way forward if you don’t want to practice your “Seig Heil” for Heir Donald von Shitzinhispantz, is throwing away the moldy orange, a 78-year-old felon.
Vote blue, up and down the ballot!!! [For] this is how we’ll strengthen our democracy, this is how we will truly hold onto our nation and resist the enemies from within.
Neil Jarmel
West Hurley
Go with the flow
My gender is so fluid that some of it spilled on my pants.
Sparrow
Phoenicia
The Last Supper
When I was a boy growing up in Chicago, my best friend was Tony. Tony had a fixation on the TV hero named Zorro. Tony thought he was Zorro. Whenever we played outside, he had to be Zorro. His parents even bought him a Zorro costume for Halloween. By the time we both were eleven years old, Tony finally realized that he was Tony and not Zorro.
Lia Thomas is a six-foot-four-inch man with all the male components; and Lia “identifies” as being a woman. Lia is a swimmer and was allowed to compete in national womens’ swim competitions. He was allowed to use the womens’ locker room to change clothes. The women swimmers complained to no avail. Apparently, Lia’s delusions gave him more rights than the real biological women. Lia wanted to compete against women swimmers in the Paris Olympics, but Lia was denied by the Olympic Commission. Lia then sued the Olympic Commission to gain entry in the womens’ swim events. Lia lost the suit and is not in the Olympics.
That being said, the opening ‘ceremony’ of the Paris Olympics was dominated by a seemingly angry woke group of transgender “entertainers” and a group of ragtag drag queens. In my opinion, what they conjured up was a huge middle finger to the Olympic Committee for denying poor Lia from competing. Here’s a very brief description in case you didn’t see it. The ‘entertainers’ proceeded to mock the Christian religion and Jesus Christ with a grotesque parody of the Last Supper. As a blue smurf singer emerged basically naked from a huge covered serving platter and with a sexually suggestive posturing did some singing. Behind the smurf were drag queens hugging and kissing and one of them had his genitals visible with a group of young children standing nearby.
In response to this obnoxious, disrespectful display of depravity millions of people of all faiths have voiced their shock and disapproval of the disgusting woke ‘performance’. Many people have decided to boycott the entire Olympics in protest. The woke ceremony was ugly and inappropriate — certainly for family viewing.
So, the ‘alphabet’ people came out of the proverbial Closet which is a healthy thing in society. But, they are shoving their actions and values down our throats. They are free to participate in whatever healthy and loving or mentally ill and/or perverse relations they want, like anyone else — but please try to have a little respect and taste if displaying these antics in public. An example being how groups of guys wearing thongs have been seen repeatedly marching in pride parades doing sexually provocative things in public. No arrests have been made for public indecency. If any heterosexual people did that, they would quickly be arrested. We don’t want anyone going back into ‘the closet’, but how about showing a little dignity and self-respect and consideration for others? And now I expect the accusations of trans-phob, homophobe, racist and bigot to be angrily expressed toward me in defense of the in-defensible…
Donzello Berelli
New Paltz
A letter of support for Alexandria Wojcik
A small letter of support for Alexandria Wojcik. I’ve known Alexandria for years and years, in the way that a public-facing business owner gets to know local movers and shakers. We’re not social friends per se, but I’ve always admired her work ethic and huge love for seeing this community thrive. Here are the things I know about her: she cares deeply for this town, works tirelessly for it and she’s always trying to do what’s right. As a Jew and someone whose businesses are rooted in a deep practice of peace and nonviolence (which to me is a deeply Jewish value), I have never known Alexandria to be anti-semitic in any way and feel that the attacks leveled against her are unfair. I would not have phrased certain things in the way that she has, but she’s apologized for that, in a heartfelt message. In a small community like ours, we owe each other the right to a little grace and to try for open dialogue instead of trying to slander one’s reputation.
Lagusta Yearwood
New Paltz
The real threat
“The road to hell is paved with some impressive alibis.” (Randy Stonehill from “Love Beyond Reason”)
Contrary to the views of many, the real “threat to Democracy” is a biased press represented in the song parody below. It works best if sung to the tune of “Home [Home] on the Range.” (Note to Tom Cherwin: who wrote: “… you and I surely get our news from different sources and I have as much suspicion of yours as you do of mine.” Tom, I am suspicious of all news sources because I’m aware of the perspectives they promote. Because of this, I watch all of the Sunday weekly shows as well as shows representative of these perspectives on Fox and MSNBC/CNN. And, Tom, while you, John Butz and I may be forgiven when we are wrong despite our “good intentions,” a deliberately deceptive press may not be so fortunate because the excuses for their deceptions are merely bad alibis. With this in view, I’ll leave it to the reader to determine the degree to which the following revealing song parody is “off key.”
(Stanza)
Oh give me a show where the pundits all crow
bitter vitriol all the long day
Where the truth is not told
and pundits are controlled
by the words they’re instructed to say
(Chorus)
M-S-N-B-C
Where Chuck Todd and the Scarborough’s work
Where Donald Trump’s always bashed
and fake news is rehashed
And this rehashing’s done with a smirk
(Stanza)
Oh give me a man who does all that he can
to make all of Trump’s people look bad
Where the talking heads know
that their ratings won’t grow
But they don’t care not even a tad
(Chorus)
M-S-N-B-C
Where Maddow and O’Donnell thrive
Where fake news is retold
and the lies are all bold
And they must hide the truth to survive
(Stanza)
If you want a news gal who’s a former Bush pal
turn the channel to M-S-N-B-C
You’ll find Nicole Wallace there
And George Bush doesn’t care
that her show is “Trump hatred” TV
(Chorus)
M-S-N-B-C
Where Chris Hayes is a star on the rise
Where fake news is rehashed
and Donald Trump’s always bashed
And they spread propaganda and lies
(Stanza)
Oh give me a show where the pundits all blow
mere hot air with the words that they speak
where they don’t have a fear
that it’s made very clear:
They think every Trump voter’s a freak
(Chorus)
MSNBC
where they hope VP Harris will win
Where Donald Trump’s always bashed
and fake new is rehashed
And all fair news-reporting’s a sin
(Closing Chorus)
And there’s CNN
Where they, too, bash Trump all the day long
and they hide all their fears
for the coming four years
If Kamala gets to sing “Victory’s” song
George Civile
Gardiner
Who will save West Hurley ?
The environmental dangers posed by large-scale development projects are usually recognized, and successfully opposed, by the aware Hudson Valley environment community.
There is, however, a proposed, seemingly small-scale project — the proposed 1105 Route 28 LLC Project — which, if allowed to proceed to completion, would bring large-scale hardship, dysfunction and, in some cases, danger to life and limb. This project would be a looming disaster for many, but most particularly, for the citizens and residents of West Hurley.
Basin Road is a small, two-lane country road, with ten-foot lanes and virtually no shoulders, particularly as it approaches the Route 28 intersection, the proposed site of the project.
For many West Hurley residents, the Basin Road/Route 28 intersection is their only reasonable access route to the wider world.
The site of the project is small and constricted. The demolition, excavation and construction necessary for the project’s completion would require the presence of multiple construction vehicles, including dump trucks, delivery vehicles, bulldozers, etc. to the site.
There is simply no place on or near the site for these vehicles to be. Access to the Basin Road/Route 28 intersection would often become difficult and sometimes blocked entirely.
Fortunately, NYS SEQRA law protects citizen rights of access. NYS Special Use Permit Law 210-40 states “A special use permit shall not be granted if the new use interferes with, or negatively impacts access.”
The lawyers for the Basin Road/Route 28 gas station project claim that there will be no adverse impacts of the project, and thus it should be designated a Type 2 action, which would make the project immune from any further SEQRA scrutiny, and thus allow it to be approved by a swift vote.
The project is legally in the jurisdiction of the Woodstock planning board, but it is physically in the heart of West Hurley. Access problems, on far away little Basin Road, may not register strongly with the Woodstock planning board
However, the West Hurley town board could pass a resolution naming and describing these adverse impacts, which would then require the developers to go through the normal SEQRA process.
The most immediate answer to our question, “Who will save West Hurley? “should be the Town of Hurley town board.
See next week’s letter, Part 2: Basin Road/Route 28 gas station, preventing a traffic calamity
Mel Sadownick
West Hurley
Who has our backs
As the sun sets over the horizon, casting long shadows across the battlefield of modern life, I find myself haunted by a phrase that has echoed through the annals of war: “I got your back.” It was a promise whispered in the din of conflict, a vow exchanged between brothers and sisters in arms, a lifeline amid the chaos. Yet today, as I stand on the precipice of a new kind of war, those words feel like a distant memory, lost in the murmur of a society that seems to have forgotten its meaning.
“I got your six,” the pilots used to say, a reassurance that no threat would sneak up from behind. But as I navigate the labyrinth of daily existence, I can’t help but feel we’ve lost our way. The enemy isn’t hiding in the jungles or deserts; it’s insidious and omnipresent in our backyards. “Big Pharma,” they call it, is a monolithic entity with a deadly reach. Seventy-six billion opioid pills, that’s the lesson they’ve taught us — a staggering number, a chilling testament to our collective vulnerability.
“Thirty-six pills for every man, woman and child in this land we call home,” they say, and I wonder, where is the promise of having each other’s backs now? The phrase rings hollow in the face of such overwhelming numbers, a cruel irony in a world where no one seems to have our backs. Are we left to face this alone, battling an enemy that knows no mercy, no honor?
The drill sergeants used to roar, “No Marine left behind,” a mantra that gave us strength and solidarity. Yet here we are, losing the war on a different front. Two-hundred-thousand have fallen in the opioid fight; lives snuffed out like candles in a storm. Who has our back in this endless night, this ceaseless struggle against an adversary that thrives on our pain?
Politicians send troops to faraway lands, chasing elusive foes in a never-ending game of cat and mouse. But the real enemy is closer than we think, lurking in our medicine cabinets, masquerading as relief. Victims are blamed for their despair and labeled as weak or irresponsible. Who has our back when the finger-pointing begins, when the cries for help are met with indifference? “Big Pharma” profits while we suffer, their hands stained with the blood of our loved ones. The courts, our last line of defense, are forced to step into the fray, but even justice feels like a band-aid on a bullet wound.
Wars are fought for reasons that often seem untrue, yet the opioid battle rages on unabated. Lives are lost, grief etched in every glance, every empty chair at the dinner table. Who has our back in this deadly dance, this macabre waltz with death that seems to have no end?
I lean against the wall, its coldness seeping into my bones, a stark reminder of the indifference that has come to define our times. Our pleas for help, understanding, and compassion often go unheard, drowned out by the relentless march of progress and profit. Once so clear, life’s value is increasingly blurred, a casualty of a system that seems to care more for numbers than for names and profits than people.
In this battle, we must become our guardians and champions. The tragedy here is not just in the lives lost but in the apathy that surrounds us. We must protect those beyond our immediate circles, for if we don’t, how can anyone win? We must find within ourselves the strength to stand up, speak out, and fight back against the forces that seek to destroy us from within.
“I got your back,” I whisper, a promise renewed, a vow reborn. In the face of adversity, in the shadow of despair, we must be the ones who stand tall, who hold the line, who refuse to let the darkness prevail. Ultimately, it is not just our lives at stake but our very humanity. And that, above all else, is worth fighting for.
Larry Winters
New Paltz
Voting optional
The Republicans are now a post-election party. For the first time in anyone’s memory, one of our political parties shows open contempt for representative democracy. Trump and Vance’s behavior on the campaign trail strikes a lot of people as ‘weird’ because they’re not making any effort to grow their base. Vance demeans childless couples and single people and all women before lunch. Election-denier Trump is telling some crowds that 2024 will be the last election; telling others that he doesn’t need them to vote for him even in this election. We always knew that Republican obsession with fraudulent voting was thinly-disguised voter suppression. As Bernie said, and I paraphrase: If a politician can only win by keeping people from voting, he’s in the wrong line of work. Now, they’ve embraced an election denier as their leader and are actively working to prevent the certification of election results. Rolling Stone reports that Republicans have placed 70 election deniers in counties in battleground states to refuse to certify Democratic wins, with the aim of giving partisan legislators and the partisan Supreme Court majority control over election outcomes. So to recap, no need to vote in 2028. In fact, no need to vote in 2024. ‘We’ll stand in the way of certifying any vote count that goes against us.’ It’s a leader and a party that no longer has any respect for representative democracy, our institutions or rule of law. Republicans are showing their true authoritarian colors.
Matt Frisch
Arkville
Our supervisor
A long time ago, Brian Hollander wrote: “We used to have really long town board meetings. We took the approach then that if you took the time and made the effort to come to a town council meeting, you should be able to be part of the discussion. And so, we’d not move off an issue until people on all sides of it were satisfied, they had had their chance to express themselves.”
Oh how things have changed. McKenna’s shutting down of the July 16th town board’s public be heard session was not the first time he tried to or did shut down a member of the public. Do any of you remember when McKenna attempted to shut down the young musician, Jordan Roque, during the public hearing regarding the town’s proposed noise ordinance, or when he, during an exchange at a town board meeting with Paul Shultis, said, “I am not gonna sit here and argue with you all day?” Or when he shut down Jake Ross, a contiguous neighbor to Rick Volz Field, during a town board discussion about the proposed alterations and additions to the field? Then there was the town board meeting when the late TV producer Randi Steele pointed out, in a claim that was affirmed by another producer, that McKenna misstated the facts; he shut down that exchange too. I guess we should have expected this, considering that when he was a councilman, he said, “Let’s vote or I am leaving,” during a discussion by the town board about authorizing the supervisor to sign an energy service agreement.
Howard Harris
Woodstock
E — The deconstruction of the administrative state, #4
I mentioned in the last letter, a very important supreme court decision, that has much impact for the American citizenry, particularly the seniors. In order to fully understand the supreme court decision of 2010, Citizens United v Federal Election Commission, one must understand the background leading to the passage of this act.
Previously, a system of public financing had dominated presidential elections. Democrats and Republicans alike used this system of a taxpayer-funded system; it was illegal for corporations, unions to spend money on federal elections. However, both parties found ways around this.
This was called ‘soft’ money which started to seep into the federal elections. This was money clandestinely raised, ‘skirting’, campaign laws. For example, Bill Clinton charging for overnight stays in the White House; 527s, non-profit organizations with a tax-exempt designation, engaging in political activities, influencing elections.
This led to Congress in 2002 passing the ‘Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act’ , known as the ‘McCain -Feingold’ Act, due to McCain (Republican) and Feingold (Democrat), the sponsors. This act was designed to regulate financing of political campaigns. However, the big money forces constantly chipped away at the law until finally in the ‘2010 Citizens United’ ruling, the conservative supreme court of that year, eliminated the limit on corporate and billionaire money in politics. Don’t forget it was the Supreme Court Act of 1886, Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad, that established the corporation as a ‘personhood’, that corporations had the same rights as individuals.
Because of this personhood concept, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, in the Supreme Court decision of 2010, 5/4 ruling, opened the door for sums of corporate money, labor unions, non-profits to infiltrate into federal elections.
This ruling prohibits government from restricting contributions for political purposes. It was a controversial ruling that was met with much angst, as it overruled the McCain-Feingold Act of 2002 which prohibited such influence; that act restricted corporate funds into the political system.
This has had much import for the American public as the previous condition of public financing is gone; the McCain-Feingold Act of 2002 is gone, butchered, leaving the American political system at the mercy of ‘big money’. On a personal note , I believe that the longer senators or congressmen/women are in office in Washington, the more they are corrupted by the influence of big money. Some of those people have been there 25,30, 35 years! (Mitch McConnell, 39 years!)
Citizens United 2010, has to a great extent, eliminated public financing , leaving our representatives, choosing between money and the constituents they represent. More to come.
Robert LaPolt
New Paltz
Ode to Kamala
If only this dawn
Of a New Presidency
Might mean the dawn
Of a New Beginning:
Might mean a melting
Of frozen hearts—
A New Compassion;
Might mean a broadening
Of narrow minds—
A New Enlightenment;
Might mean an embrace
Of different ways—
A New Tolerance;
Might mean a loosening
Of old strictures,
Old scriptures—
A New Faith.
Someone once pleaded
“Father, forgive them,”
And was crucified;
Someone once preached
“I Have a Dream,”
And was crucified;
Someone once proclaimed
“Imagine,”
And was crucified.
Haven’t we done enough harm?
We’ve no time left to crucify.
It is time, at long last, to sanctify:
To sing a psalm in unison
In an all-enfolding embrace
In this holy chapel of Earth,
In consecration not of The One,
But of Each One—
The full congregation;
To gather close in welcome
Of our glorious differences,
And to let those differences
Deepen and diversify us;
To weave of us all
A coat of many colors,
Stitched together as one:
Myriad beautiful tones,
All harmonizing, all blending,
All dazzling, all sacred.
And all of the same lining.
Tom Cherwin
Saugerties
Keep the canopies
I love having the canopies in uptown Kingston.
Randy Mundi
Kingston
Some suggestions for the canopies
I understand some folks love the canopies. The more I study them (I live in the stockade district) the less I have come to like them. Fact: they are in repair. My suggestion is to do the following:
1. Remove them.
2. Perform storefront beautification.
3. Perform sidewalk repair.
4. Live with it for a year (all four seasons) and then bring it up for a vote. This way, if they do get rebuilt, they can be rebuilt in a more archaeological fitting way and will be brand new!
Win, win?
Justin Schaef
Kingston
Sky watching
Sky is sky every day
but every day sky is not
the same every day
because sky comes
calling every day with
attendant features
and different depths
of blue
Different white puffs
or no puffs at all
slate grey or molten
yellow — I’ll take
every day of sky
I can get
I’ll take the rain
and rainbow too
Patrick Hammer, Jr.
Saugerties
Israel has descended to depths of depravity hard to comprehend
The Zionist entity called Israel is doomed. The economy is in free fall — GDP down by 20%, Intel cancelled its $26 billion project, international shipping (thanks to the Houthis) has ceased, 46,000 small businesses have closed (mostly due to owners and employees drafted into military service). Airlines refuse to fly to Israel. Militarily, Israel has lost. Hezbollah strikes in the north have caused hundreds of thousands of Israelis to flee. The Houthis have crippled Israeli ports. Hamas continues to defeat the IDF. (Jon Elmer, Resistance Reports at electronicintifada.net). Israel admits running out of tanks because Hamas is destroying them so fast. IDF casualties are in the thousands and the army now needs to draft Orthodox Jews. Morally and ethically Israel has descended to depths of depravity hard to comprehend. Genocide, starvation, torture (including rape), weaponizing disease, bombing, maiming, incinerating and burying alive helpless women, children and men. Latest estimate of civilian Palestinian deaths 186,000. This ghastly tragedy is the direct result of Zionist (let’s be clear, NOT Jewish) arrogance, and settler/colonialist racism which are used to justify Zionist theft of farms, land and homes from Palestinians and then to brutally occupy, abuse, humiliate and oppress them for 75 years. The Zionist state of Israel, and her supporters, have made the world more dangerous for Jews. Sadly, the Zionists don’t seem to care about the fate of Jews. Zionism is collapsing. Hopefully, the Arabs and Jews will be able to create a new Palestine where Jews and Arabs can live together peacefully as they have done for hundreds of years prior to the disastrous appearance of Zionism.
Eli Kassirer
New Paltz
Innocent civilians be damned
Between Gaza and Israel is a 40-mile-long, 30-foot high, steel-reinforced-concrete border wall that also goes several meters deep under the ground. The amount of reinforcing steel rebar used in the concrete, if laid out in a linear fashion, would reach Australia. The underground part of the wall is studded with sensors to detect any attempt to tunnel underneath it. The above ground part of the wall is outfitted, with high-tech machine gun turrets every several hundred feet on the top of the wall that are operated by remote control with the operators located on the Israeli side in
concrete bunkers that can fire 600 rounds per minute. About a hundred feet in front of that concrete wall is a 20-foot high electrified welded steel fence (https://www.timesofisrael.com/a-wall-of-iron-sensors-and-concrete-idf-completes-tunnel-busting-gaza-barrier/). Between these two barriers are multiple surveillance towers that are outfitted with radar systems, cameras that can scan the entire Gaza Strip, including night vision cameras and super hi-definition cameras that can identify faces close-up six miles away and a system of laser for detecting movement.
In the 100-foot strip in between these two impenetrable barriers are an array of military tanks and trucks patrolling 24/7. The border wall defense is also backed up by a battery of 28 of the world’s most advanced Apache helicopters capable of flying 200 miles per hour, firing 600 explosive 30mm machine gun rounds per minute as well as hellfire missiles. These helicopters could be anywhere along the wall in 5-10 minutes
The Israelis also had US supplied F-16 bomber jet planes, currently bombing civilians in Gaza, available to be anywhere along their multi-billion dollar border wall in seconds upon take-off.
Yet the Israeli response to the ground invasion took 13 hours (https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/10/11/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-hamas-attack-timeline.html). It should be obvious that there was a military stand down by the Israeli, to allow Hamas into Israel and commit acts that would give Israel a pretext to flatten Gaza, and get control of the marine field that contains a trillion cubic feet of natural gas off the coast of Gaza
(https://iacenter.org/2023/11/15/behind-israels-end-game-for-gaza-theft-of-offshore-gas-reserves/).
In similar fashion on September 11, 2001, were very unusual multiple defense lapses and anomalies, that contributed to the destruction of the WTC Towers and part of most protected building in the world, the Pentagon. That tragic event precipitated a war on terror, that among many other desired goals, got control of the world’s fifth largest oil reserve (https://www.worldatlas.com/industries/the-world-s-largest-oil-reserves-by-country.html) located in Iraq. So the two most hi-tech and militarily advanced countries in the world were seemingly inept on Sept. 11 and October 7, or is it the Deep State pushing the envelope to realize it’s sinister agendas, innocent civilians be damned?
Steve Romine
Woodstock
Join the family! 
