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Discuss how to disagree at a community circle in New Paltz on September 16
Recently, our community has experienced a lot of division regarding the war in the Middle East and community members’ reactions to it.
We are inviting local residents to meet for a community circle to discuss how to disagree on the crisis in the Middle East without hurting each other.
Circles are used to facilitate community conversations about important subjects and offer an inclusive and collaborative space for group members to share openly and build (or rebuild) trust with each other. Circles can be used to strengthen relationships within groups and provide members the space to understand each others’ perspectives and why they might behave in a particular way.
Circle processes are conducted in a very specific structure, where conversation is centered around a series of prompts and led by a facilitator. Every participant will have a chance to speak to each prompt for a set amount of time without interruption.
This circle will be facilitated by Miriam Frankl, executive director of the Dispute Resolution Center on Monday, September 16 at 7 p.m. in the village hall meeting room, located at 25 Plattekill Avenue in New Paltz. Use the entrance adjacent to the former fire department garage bays.
In order for all participants to be heard and being mindful of time constraints, we will be capping this session at about a dozen participants. Depending on interest, we will offer more circles.
For those interested in taking part, please email Stana Weisburd sweisburd@villageofnewpaltz.org.
Stana Weisburd, trustee
Village of New Paltz
Bring back peace and love to Woodstock
There were many people out on Woodstock’s town square last Sunday to protest the genocide in the Middle East and to question our town’s participation in it. Our taxes go to buy weapons for the bombs and drones that have killed thousands of Palestinian families. Our local factory sends parts for the weapons. The biggest factory in Woodstock is a key link in the perpetuation of the war. Our brave young people are trying to stop that participation. They tried to close the road to the factory. They were persuaded to plead “guilty” at their trial. But the brave students are not guilty. Those who perpetuate this brutal and heartless war are guilty. Please bring back “peace and love” to our town.
DeeDee Halleck
Willow
Weekly toxic stew in New Paltz
The toxic stew centered around anti-Israel protests in New Paltz will get a big stir from an event recently announced by the New Paltz village.
A community circle on September 16 at 7 p.m. is described as an invitation to local residents to meet “to discuss how to disagree on the crisis in the Middle East without hurting each other.”
“In order for all participants to be heard and being mindful of time constraints” the village has limited the session to “a dozen participants.”
It’s a good thing if 12 people in town can feel better about the weekly high noon on Main Street when the Women in Black (WIB) group hold their anti-Israel anti-Zionist protest in front of the Elting Library while pro-Israel counter-protestors stand across the street.
That Saturday pageant is ugly and provocative if any degree of community healing is the goal. So healing is unlikely unless Naomi Allen and her WIBs stop the nonsense masquerading as peace vigils.
Who, exactly, will be among the chosen at village hall for the laying on of hands is anybody’s guess. Village trustee Stana Weisburd, who called for the meeting, hasn’t put that information in her official announcement or explained how participants will be chosen.
Most confusing is that Weisburd actively supports and excuses her close friend and fellow village trustee deputy mayor Alexandria Wojcik, who recently was found by a jury of her Ulster County Democratic Party peers to have disseminated anti-semitic and racist material by reposting student screeds and memes on her official deputy mayor Facebook page during and following campus protests.
Wojcik excused herself in the newspaper saying that New Paltz is a “university village” and that SUNY students are constituents who make up the majority of the community despite the fact that only 173 of them bothered to vote in the 2023 November election.
Supporting students, while making many Jewish New Paltz residents uncomfortable and unsafe, is a political strategy favored by the Democratic Socialists, especially in Brooklyn.
What’s clear is that reducing any village-sponsored New Paltz dialogue to 12 citizens only serves to trivialize and negate responsibility for the nasty atmosphere created by the deputy mayor and her Women in Black friends who keep it going while insisting it’s not what it looks like.
It would be comforting to hear at least one village official state that racism and anti-semitism will not be tolerated in New Paltz, not on campus, not anywhere. Instead, a wink, a nod and an empty circle. To date, the deputy mayor has issued no public apology. Mayor Tim Rogers is on mute.
Ava Lowle
New Paltz
Wearing a Springsteen shirt, unironically
He has a real smile. And smiles are like kryptonite to — you know who.
Tim Walz, 60, has drawn criticism for appearing older than his age. Walz responded on X, saying that it’s because he “supervised the lunchroom for 20 years. You do not leave that job with a full head of hair. Trust me.”
Oh yeah. Lunchroom duty will definitely do it to you. He can handle Trump, Vance and Congress. He handled hundreds of other peoples’ teenagers for 20 years and came out alive.
Tell hillbilly boy Vance that he must supervise dumping the lunch trays. Let’s get some leftovers splashed on those uber-expensive hedge-fund suits.
I think Walz is going to be a boon, especially with appealing to those in the middle. Experience in education, military, a gun owner — plus he’s down-to-earth and plain spoken. Likeable and relatable.
Oh, and you can’t go wrong with a man who supports the local 4-H club.
Fun fact: Tim Walz is the only person running who does not wear makeup.
Neil Jarmel
West Hurly
What’s the worst that could happen?
To anyone watching Joe Biden’s, pre debate, ardent supporters on MSNBC or CNN, the nomination of Kamala Harris as the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate seems odd. Indeed, even after his disastrous debate with Donald Trump, Joe Biden assured those who wondered if he would retire from the race, that his performance was merely a “bad night” because he was sick and added: Only a direct message from “The Almighty” would precipitate such an occurrence. In a recent interview, Biden revealed that The Almighty made it loud and clear that Joe was finished when leaders of his party told him his candidacy was over. The following is a parody of the Brooklyn Bridge’s smash hit “The Worst That Could Happen.” It reveals a private conversation POTUS Biden had with his VP Kamala Harris (who Joe has referred to as Kiddo) over this development.
(Stanza)
Girl, you have the nomination, have the nomination;
strange as it may seem
And, my delegates, they say they will support you
So now the past four years seem to be nothing more than a sad dream
And Kiddo, since they want you more than me
Maybe it’s the best thing
Maybe it’s the best thing for you
But it’s the worst that could happen; to me
(Stanza)
Girl. I wouldn’t retire, never retire:
I wanted four more years
But girl, they made me retire
They told me that my bad debate; made real all
of the party’s fears…
And Kiddo, since they want you more than me
Maybe it’s the best thing
Maybe it’s the best thing for you
But it’s the worst that could happen; to me
(Bridge)
And girl It’s not fair to blame you; I
knew of the dream we had sown
Hey girl; how can I blame you?
I told you in four years we’d make my job
your own…Kiddo:
Since, they really want you more than me
Maybe it’s the best thing
Maybe it’s the best thing for you
But it’s the worst that could happen…to me
(Closing: to be repeated until the singer realizes that “The Almighty” doesn’t really think Kamala’s nomination was kosher and that a Harris/Walz victory in November might be the worst thing that could happen to the people of our nation in these troubled times.)
Oh girl, I just had a bad night
But girl, It gave them a bad fright,
And it’s the worst that could happen
Girl, the worst that could happen
to me…
George Civile
Gardiner
Before Covid
The station bar was open before Covid. Why didn’t they have their site plan review when they opened way before any exemptions from Covid? That roof structure and tables were there before Covid.
Steven Perri
Woodstock
E — The Deconstruction of the administrative State, #6
Previously I left off with #8, Project 2025. This was put forth by the Heritage Foundation, a far-right conservative organization. Let’s look at the background/startup of this program, before we continue.
It arose during the Nixon administration years, 1969-1974 or thereabouts. It was an innovation to address and combat the liberal, socialistic administration of FDRs 12-year reign as POTUS, from 1933-1945.
By the end of FDR’s reign of 12 years, the country was inundated with social and innovative programs, all designed to address the inequities, arising from the Great Depression years of 1929-1933. Prior to 1929 and approximately 40 years before that, the country had no socialistic, liberal programs, other than farming and business, business and more business. This was the heyday of the capitalist. Money and more money were the end game of the GOP presidents. By the time of FDRs death, the country had socialistic and liberal innovations throughout the Federal government, not only for the common man but particularly in the banking area.
Carter Glass (D) and Henry Steagall (R) developed it and Congress passed it, the Glass-Steagall Bill or the Banking Act of 1933. There were numerous aspects to this bill, but basically it prevented commercial bankers from using depositor’s money to enrich themselves in high-risk investments. Basically, it kept Wall Street separate from the working man’s funds. Passed also was the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) which today insures a depositor’s money up to $250,000, in checking and savings accounts. It is still in effect today, even though Bill Clinton’s administration repealed part of the bill. But the saving and checking accounts still have FDIC insurance.
What I have recounted here is a very simplistic overview of that era. It is quite a bit more complicated than this brief overview. The Banking Act of 1933 and the FDIC were just two of numerous innovations that FDR’s administration passed. The point I want to make, however, is that after 12 years of FDR’s socialistic/liberal agenda, the Heritage Foundation developed around the time of Nixon’s administration. It was a reaction to the liberal administrations of FDRs, as well as Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society, which brought the federal government into the social fabric of the country. This was unlike anything prior to FDR’s administration. The country up until this time of 1933 was capitalistic driven with numerous calamities occurring, necessitating the introduction to FDR’s administration. Let’s continue.
The Heritage Foundation is a far-right conservative organization which emphasizes free enterprises and limited government. Basically, this is a hand book for the possible re-election of Donald Trump. During his first term, Trump experienced much trouble from established protocols and set in place programs. This is Donald Trump’s ‘deep state’ one hears about. The one he railed against, preventing him from getting his own way. This is a handbook, blueprint, to lay out the 2024 presidential transition for dismantling the ‘’deep state’, that is, if Donald regains the oval office. More to come.
Robert LaPolt
New Paltz
A bumper-sticker mentality
I agree completely with Susan and Richard Goldman in their letter called “Who is SaveWoodstock.org (August 7). Far too many people in Woodstock have succumbed to a bumper-sticker mentality. “Don’t Gut Our Zoning” or “Keep Woodstock Rural” are signs that are dotting our town, as if there are simple solutions to the complex problems facing our community. They [prey on peoples’ fear of change by presenting worst-case scenarios as inescapable realities. This encourages thinking with one’s glands, not one’s brains.
“Saving” Woodstock requires both transparency and compromise, not inflammatory intrusion from parts unknown.
Dan Opalka
Willow
The secret dump
“What’s the law about leaving trash containers on the street?” The woman, a new resident, complained about the ubiquitous Waste Management containers parked by a neighbor’s driveway. It appeared the residents didn’t notice their containers parked semi-permanently by the edge of the road.
“I’m not sure there is one,” I replied. This new trash pick-up service arrived with the airbnbs and the pandemic.
Somehow, I never connected to this modern trash removal.
Thinking about it, I realize that we Woodstockers have a secret, for sure. I’ve kept the secret of the dump. I never told a soul. Not until now.
Why should I? After all, I don’t want the Saugerties dump to get overcrowded.
A longtime resident handed this ritual down to me when we moved here a couple of decades or so ago.
My trips to the dump are quiet, spiritual outings taken on Tuesdays and Thursdays for sure. I add Saturdays when the Mowers Meadow Flea Market is closed.
On these mornings, about 10 a.m., I load trash in the car and head out on 212. Everything sorted for easy distribution, I stack the clean, empty cardboard boxes together in the back seat of the car. Papers are collected in a reusable Hannaford’s or Adams Fairacre bag. Trash is collected in a large black plastic bag.
The dump has everything organized for all of us who visit with our trash. There are special bins for glass and for plastic items. There are also special areas for compost, for metal disposables, and, back in the back, there is a bin for used clothing and shoes.
When I enter the space, I give the gatekeeper a $5 bill and a smile. Then, I offload my items — beginning with the cardboard.
Occasionally, I’ll see some small, like-new treasure someone has carefully set aside for reuse. Today, there was a Coleman cook stove in excellent condition. Last week, someone left a few used books too nice to discard. Last week, I took the books to donate. Today, I left the stove.
Circling around the back of the dump, I stop by the boutique at the Saugerties Animal Shelter to see what they have. I see several new pet dishes. I also see shelves of sweatshirts in a large variety of styles, sizes and colors. Standing out for everyone to see is a gently used fur coat. It is gorgeous. I saw a similar one in a vintage store in Boston not long ago that was selling for $695. The price on this lovely coat: $60. Somehow, I don’t see anyone buying this coat; not from the Saugerties Animal Shelter boutique anyway.
I hear dogs barking and see cars parked in front of the shelter building. Hopeful humans are looking for pets today. I always send kind thoughts to the volunteers and prospective pet owners.
Then, leaving the dump, I look up at the sky, breathing deeply in the clean air. This has got to be one of the most beautiful spots in the Hudson Valley. Clouds frame the mountain so it looks different at every visit. I’m convinced the mountain and the clouds are the reason why nobody spreads the word about the dump. We’ll spoil this perfect, breath-taking creation if we tell too many people.
Going to the dump is a special Woodstock tradition for those lucky enough to know about it. The mountain view cannot be ignored. The mountain speaks to me, reminding me why I’m here in the first place.
On my way back home, I stop and get a quiet cup of coffee. After visiting the dump, I somehow feel lighter and calmer.
Thurman Greco
Woodstock
Support Kenneth Goldberg for a seat on the Saugerties Library board
My name is Kenneth Goldberg and I am running for one of the open seats on the Saugerties Library board on September 5.
My family and I have lived in Saugerties since 1979 in a house built by my wife’s grandfather almost 100 years ago. All three of my children went to the Cahill School, right next to the original Carnegie library building, so the library played an important daily role in their education. We all remember fondly climbing the front steps to the main door and going down through the side door nearest the school building to enter the children’s room and the history room.
I strongly believe in giving back to my community, so while my children were growing up and I was still working, I volunteered for many years as a Cub Scout committee member, a girls’ tee ball coach, a boys’ Little League baseball coach, an AYSO soccer coach and an AYSO soccer referee. During this time period I also served as both vice president and then president of the Association of Mathematics Teachers of New York State.
Since retirement in 2009 from my job as professor and director of mathematics education at NYU, I’ve served on the town’s planning board, the town’s conservation advisory commission and the town’s climate smart task force. I’m currently also on my second five-year term as a member of the Mid-Hudson Library System’s board of trustees, serving 66 libraries in five counties.
Several years ago, I served on the Saugerties Library board as member, treasurer and vice president. In fact, I was the treasurer during the library’s renovation and expansion project and it was my privilege, along with my colleagues on the library board at the time, to bring the expansion project in both on time and under budget. I also happened to be chair of the search committee that brought our current director to our library, a director who has done so much to expand what the library offers and makes available to all its patrons.
I believe our library provides both a community center and a wonderful and exciting educational resource for everyone in the town and village, young and old, and I would like to once again be a part of that community institution. If elected, my priorities will be financial stability and bringing the best programming possible for all age groups the library serves: kids, teens and adults. Please vote for me for the Saugerties Public Library board of trustees on September 5, anytime from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. If you will be away from Saugerties on September 5, absentee ballots will be available at the library beginning August 20. And thank you for your continuing support of our wonderful library.
Kenneth Goldberg
Saugerties
Our tax dollars
Will someone please explain to me why Supervisor McKenna spent eight hours recently at Yankeetown Pond. My guess is there was nothing going on in town that required his presence and that is why he decided to trim trees and weed whack as well as assist with the installation of a “beaver deceiver.” What is your guess? For those of you who are unaware, Yankeetown Pond is private, not public, property.
Howard Harris
Woodstock
Frogs know. Do you?
I know who I am voting for. Do you? If you are voting for the Democrats, then relax and sleep well. You are on the right side of history. Democracy lives and will continue to live in our country.
If you are undecided, really? How can you still be undecided? If you are not sure if you want a democracy or a fascist dictator, are you really an American? Will you please just take the time to notice how precious it is to have the freedoms we have, here in the United States. Go ahead and stop what you are doing. Right now. OK? Now take a few minutes to imagine what life would be like with a dictator. Dictators slowly but surely take freedoms away from the people. Dictators understand about going slowly, because nobody would stand for it, if those freedoms were abruptly taken away. Even frogs wouldn’t put up with it.
It’s a known fact that when a frog jumps into hot water, they are shocked by the heat, and immediately jump out of the water. They intuit that their life is in jeopardy by the intense heat they feel. They jump out of the hot stuff real fast. They go on to live longer. But if they somehow find themselves in warm water, they relax and enjoy the comfort. It feels good at first. But when the water slowly gets warmer, the frog cannot tell if there may be a problem. That is, until it’s too late. Then the frog dies and it’s precious life is over. Dead.
People can be like frogs, especially if they are lulled into what feels comfortable, at least at first. If you act like you don’t care, and you are always seeking comfort, well I feel sorry for you. Those who are numb and apathetic cannot feel anything, and only focus on pleasure or pain.
But if you are obsessed about the election, and don’t know what to do, go out for a walk and listen to the birds and get your head clear. Nature often gives our minds a chance to relax and helps us realize what is important about being alive.
Whether you are obsessed or just apathetic, or whatever you are feeling, just do the right thing . If we all get out and vote, no matter what we are feeling, then our democracy will survive.
In Deuteronomy, God said, “I give you life, and death. Choose life.”
Marty Klein
Sarasota, FL
Kingston, NY
In the Gloaming
I would know you
from the glistening
flesh of your neck
half-revealed
at dusk,
and from your
lips glimmering
in near darkness
like the fine bone
saucer and cup
you hold in your
shadowed but oh
so familiar hands.
Patrick Hammer, Jr.
Saugerties
Fear is the jet fuel of today
As I sit here, thoughts spilling onto paper, I can’t help but wonder if my voice, infused with the unreliable narrator’s whimsy, distorts reality just enough to uncover a more profound truth. It’s as though the world around me communicates through veils, dancing on the razor’s edge of what we perceive as accurate and what remains hidden in the shadows of our collective subconscious.
In our current age, we dwell not in the tangible landscapes of earth, ocean and sky but rather within the ceaseless flow of electrons through the labyrinth of wires that crisscross our existence. It’s an electric world — a digital mirage that often blurs the lines between truth and illusion. The primitive emotion of fear, which once kept our ancestors alert and alive amidst the lurking dangers of a wilder world, has morphed into a shadow that follows us into the corners of our modern lives. Fed daily by the media, it grows, a beast fattened on the dark tales spun in newsrooms and through cinematic nightmares. The delicate intricacies of life’s tapestry are often lost to this diet of dread.
Like a laborer who takes up his shovel day after day, we too have grown callouses — psychic barriers that numb us to the subtle nuances of existence. The persistent chafe of fear has thickened our skins, not against the cold earth’s clasp or the tool’s weight, but against the essence that makes life palpable and poignant.
Larry Winters
New Paltz
Yeats on Trump
Donald Trump personifies the “rough beast…pitiless as the sun” William Butler Yeats foretold in “The Second Coming.” And one segment of the beast’s brood, “full of passionate intensity, loosed mere anarchy upon the world” on January 6, 2021.
But are those who, goaded by Trump, invaded the Capitol that day Yeats’s “worst,” Hillary’s “deplorable?” Or are they, like you, like me, victims?
Twenty years ago, Thomas Frank wrote a book called What’s the Matter with Kansas? that examined why people vote against their own interests. The book showed how the Republican Party attracts voters through “class animus” and “cultural wedge issues like guns and abortion.” Add “immigration” and “high gas and grocery prices” — which the GOP has pinned on Biden, complex economic factors be damned — and we begin to understand Trump’s disenfranchised class.
But we’re all disenfranchised. Thanks in large part to the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United ruling — a decision concurred on by GOP-enabling Justices Alito, Thomas and Roberts — corporations, Big Pharma, Big Oil, lobbyists, special interest groups, etc. have us all in a stranglehold, contributing big bucks to Trump and other Republicans who if elected will, as laid out in Project 2025, further disenfranchise us and line the already-overflowing pockets of the rich and powerful.
Since FDR, the Democratic Party has tried to serve the people. It has been far from perfect, and compromises and mistakes have been made. But it has the average person’s interests at heart.
Let’s abort a “Second Coming” of Donald Trump; let’s prove Yeats’s dire prediction wrong and not let the rough beast’s “hour come round” on November 5. Let’s show we don’t “lack all conviction.” Let’s, unlike those Kansas residents, act in our own interests and do everything we can from now until Election Day to propel Kamala Harris and Tim Walz to victory.
Tom Cherwin
Saugerties
Kamala who?
I just heard that polls show many people do not know our vice-president’s last name. She will not have done an interview longer than the one 77 seconds long she did outside of her plane last week until AFTER she leaves the Chicago Democrat’s convention on the day you are reading this. So: plant seed, water field, then plough? Can’t use old reliable, which starts with ready and ends with aim.
Meanwhile, Trump rarely doesn’t take questions. An MSNBC host who Trump ‘made’ by taking his hostile questions almost daily, walking up to him outside the White House to ask “what you got today?” has complained that Kamala Harris (now you got it) is not talking to reporters. “Word salads” will be back on the menu in a few days.
It’s easy to hate Trump, that rich bastard with his own plane, his palatial mansion only a few of us can afford, and all those women who were ‘chasing his bling’.
Putin, on the other hand, is worried. Iran’s Ayatollahs are very worried. China is going to test America soon, no matter.
It may be hard for you kids to believe that for decades Biden was accused, repeatedly, of molesting women. He was, often. NBA stars like ‘Wilt the Stilt’ Chamberlain could brag about having 20,000 women, and yet never be accused of molestation. Bling, baby. Wilt had it, Joe was just a dirt poor senator.
Dad’s best joke: ‘Wilt the Stilt’ wasn’t a nickname. It was a challenge.
Biden tells us his people are Irish. Huh? Ask an old person. We are good sources.
Joe spent his entire life selling what all politicians sell: influence (he voted the way he was paid to vote). If you disagree, fine; this is a free country!
Trump spent his life dealing with contractors, city ordinances and unions. He solved problems. Things got built. As president, he did not get our men and women killed. Our enemies did not take anything from anyone (Barack gave Crimea to Putin, and his “Red Line in the Sand” opponent is still in power in Syria. Hilary paid for the Russian collusion story. A four-year hoax.
I am voting for the guy who did the job, not the lawyer who has really never done anything except put people in jail for pot.
Paul Raymond
New Paltz
See you next month at the Elting Memorial Library Fair
The 67th Elting Memorial Library Fair in New Paltz will take place this year on Saturday, September 28 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and continue on Sunday, September 29 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. with books and toys. Entry to the fair is free. On Saturday, early-bird book buyers may enter at 8 a.m. for only $10. On Sunday, most books and toys will be half-price their already low prices. The fair is always a great time and this year will feature:
- Thousands of books in dozens of categories, as well as LPs, audiobooks, CDs and DVDs.
- Plenty of children’s books, toys and activities.
- Silent auction and raffle with prizes from many generous local businesses, including gift certificates from restaurants and shops and a grand prize mid-week stay for two at Mohonk Mountain House.
- A large selection of jewelry, including estate pieces.
- Music all day with a great lineup featuring Jim Bacon, Steve Raleigh, Dennis Rush, Dandy Lions, Leslie Abdallah and Vickie Russell.
- Delicious food, with generous donations from local purveyors, including hamburgers, hot dogs and veggie burgers from Jack’s Meats.
Book donations are accepted only through August 31, on Sundays from 9 to 11 a.m., Tuesdays from 9 to 11 a.m., and Saturdays from 9 to 11 a.m.
Jewelry donations are accepted at the circulation desk until September 22. Toy donations, so long as they are clean and in good shape, are accepted until September 22.
We look forward to seeing you next month at the fair!
Chris Watkins, Chair
Elting Memorial Library Fair
https://www.eltinglibrary.org/libraryfair
A considerable increase
Spectrum just raised the rate for Internet access to $82.99, a considerable increase. It is a monopoly; there are no competitors at present. Is there no oversight of their billing practices? Can they just charge us whatever they want?
Meyer Rothberg
Saugerties
Kamala’s race to socialism
What drives the terminal TDS infections manifested by Neil Jarmel, Matt Frisch and all the other similar sufferers? What is their fear, if Trump is guilty of demonstrating the characteristics of all the nicknames liberals/Democrats have invented for their never-ending verbal assassinations of Trump? Shouldn’t their candidate win in November by a landslide? Where were all these canned monikers for Trump back in 2016? He obviously showed no such behaviors or he wouldn’t have even come close to being elected for his four-year term as president. In the reality of here and now, Trump must be offering quite a bit for ALL the people if the TDS crowd fears him so much. Heck, even Neil’s favorite enemies, the “MAGATs,” would never vote for a clone of Hitler!
Back to the real world, let’s visit Kamala’s first attempt at real speaking since being flushed out of her Biden-type basement. I’m referring to the already infamous unveiling of her “grand” economic plan. With foot in mouth, she already has her pocket media buddies questioning her new very dangerous plan.
A regular CNN contributor has said that “Harris’s price-control proposal will cause economic catastrophe, even leading to collapse.” Former Democrat David Marcus described her plan as a “dystopian disaster which should be a dire warning for EVERY American.” Other economic experts have said her plan “is full out socialism/communism” which could liken us to Cuba, Venezuela and other economically failing countries. Another even said it had the potential to result in “bread lines.” So, if experts and even CNN have these instant fears, it’s a pretty good sign that Harris’s first attempt at “governing” stinks to high heaven.
I can’t wait to hear the word salads we’re all going to witness once she’s forced to answer questions spontaneously in press conferences and interviews, assuming she’ll be asked REAL questions by REAL journalists … and which won’t be supplied to her, beforehand. And, we haven’t even talked, yet, about how the debate(s) will further showcase Kamala’s incompetence and thorough lack of knowledge on the mechanisms involved in ALL the key issues most concerning to ALL voters.
No doubt, her honeymoon will temporarily continue through this week’s Democratic convention and its desperate attempt to show feigned “unity” behind a woman who’s favorability ratings were even worse than Biden’s, not very long ago, before Biden was undemocratically thrown under the bus, by the same people who “love” democracy.
John N. Butz
Modena
Woodstock’s existential crisis: Bohemian artist colony or gated bedroom community for the wealthy
Woodstock has always had a complicated relationship with its legacy as a Colony for the Arts. Originally founded in 1902, the Colony morphed into the Maverick under Hervey White’s leadership by 1910. Live outdoor music and performance art has, since then, provided the economic engine for Woodstock as well as the basis for its social character. The Maverick concerts webpage states: “The Maverick was one of Woodstock, NY’s first two arts colonies, famous for its outdoor music festivals in the early 1900s that were attended by thousands of revelers.”
Since the mid-1960s, electric amplification has been a staple of modern live performance art here and has established Woodstock as the number-one destination for arts and entertainment in the Hudson Valley. Woodstock’s 2018 comprehensive development plan, adopted and ratified by our town board, states that the highest priority for protecting the town’s character and bolstering its economic engine, is supporting that artist colony and improving its brand. According to it: “The local arts scene directly and indirectly employs nearly 5,000 residents.”
Contrary to this legally binding counsel, the Town of Woodstock, had seen fit to propose an oppressive “noise ordinance” specifically targeting live music here. The legislation was driven by a small group of recent Woodstock property owners who are threatening action against the town for creating an unhealthy condition by allowing the town’s established entertainment trade to operate as it had prior to the Covid shutdown. This has been euphemistically called, “the Covid reset,” by locals.
The good news is, this overreach has caused the Colony of Artists, local businesses and working families to organize and defend what has been carved out here over the last 120+ years.
Please support Woodstock’s artist colony!
Michael Mulvey
Woodstock
Kudos to Kingston
Last Sunday, Veterans for Peace and the Jewish group, “Not in My Name,” held a protest on the Woodstock village green against the genocide in Gaza being committed by the unconscionable war criminal, Benjamin Netanyahu and his criminal buddies in the IDF. The green was packed with protestors, megaphones were blasting and the protest turned into a march to City Hall and back to the green. It lasted for two to three hours. The protest was vibrant and effective and definitely shook some people up.
Unfortunately, some people just don’t get it, it’s not the protestors that are the problem, but what they are protesting, namely in this case genocide. It’s the worst war crime of the highest order and it needs to be stopped and brought to justice.
Meanwhile, in the previous week in the neighboring town of Kingston, their brave Common Council passed a memorializing resolution calling for a ceasefire of the war on Gaza. Kudos to all the good folks in Kingston who demonstrated they have a healthy conscience and let the world know they will not sit by idly while genocide is being committed in Gaza.
But now it’s our turn in Woodstock, noted for being an anti-war town, to pass a memorializing resolution and join the growing movement worldwide to oppose genocide, apartheid and Zionist racism whose fruit is clearly hate and violence. Please send emails (supervisor@woodstockny.org) and make calls (845-679-2113, ext. 17) to Woodstock Town Supervisor Bill McKenna, to put on for discussion, the adoption of a memorializing resolution urging for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. Children are being slaughtered daily and the majority of Americans want this to stop. Woodstock needs to follow suit.
Steve Romine
Woodstock
Inching towards sourcing more local water in New Paltz
Two of our team’s focuses since being elected in May 2015:
1. Do we have enough municipal water?
2. How to replace our old drinking water infrastructure?
We apply to NYS and the federal government each time new grant rounds are announced. But more importantly, we are trying to source more water locally so we may buy less from the NYC DEP’s Ashokan Reservoir via the Catskill Aqueduct.
Sourcing water locally will help us offset some costs for capital projects to address our brown water and watermain break challenges, plus debt service from 2019’s $5.5 million water filtration plant investment.
On average, we have purchased 60% of the water New Paltz consumes from the DEP. The other 40% has been drawn from four surface water reservoirs next to our filtration plant towards Mohonk.
There are some months, depending on precipitation and decisions by the plant’s operations staff, when we buy 1) all water from the DEP, 2) some from the DEP, or 3) none.
For example, in 2023, we paid $189,791 for just over 88 million gallons of untreated water from the Ashokan ($2.15 per 1,000 gallons), but purchased none from the DEP and only used our reservoirs for January and December. Then June and September were the two largest months for purchases, representing nearly one-third of all water bought from the DEP in 2023.
Increasing the amount of water sourced locally will reduce our expenses. For the last 21 years, the cost to buy DEP water has risen 358% through 2024, or 7.5% annualized.
Similarly, the DEP is motivated to see New Paltz rely on them less to give the DEP more flexibility when the department needs to do repairs on the Catskill Aqueduct.
A 2014 study was commissioned to estimate how much water New Paltz could conservatively rely upon from its reservoirs during extended Aqueduct shutdowns for scheduled repairs.
These human-made reservoirs function as containers to collect rain and snow melt, so annual collection amounts vary. For instance, we sourced 60.6% from the reservoirs over three years from 2021 – 2023. That meant 39.4% was purchased from the DEP. Average annual rainfall was 60.3 inches during these three years.
In contrast, we purchased 64.1% from the DEP for three years from 2015 – 2017. It makes sense that less water was available locally because the average annual rainfall for 2021 – 2023 was 45.4 inches.
We are mindful of consumption while university students are here. Two typical seven-day examples in gallons per minute (gpm):
August 4-10, 2024: 512 gpm (fewer students during the summer)
May 5-11, 2024: 558 gpm (more students during the semester)
To augment the reservoirs, New Paltz developed six new groundwater wells at the reservoir and Moriello Pool properties over the last several years. This multi-million dollar initiative, to find and connect groundwater, will be largely paid for by the DEP with significant financial contributions from our local water ratepayers.
Yield from the four reservoir property wells will also be used to help blend sources. Keeping the reservoir water moving by adding well water helps with PH level differences, whereas just pivoting from DEP water to reservoir water can create taste issues. Therefore, each well was designed to mix into the reservoirs as follows:
• Well 1 would add up to 20 gpm into Reservoir 3.
• Wells 7 and 5 would add up to 40 gpm and 34 gpm, respectively, into reservoir 1 and then flow into reservoir 2
• Well 6 would add up to 30 gpm into reservoir 4
This system of wells connected to the reservoirs was also preferred because its construction and maintenance costs less compared to piping water from the four wells directly into the filtration plant, where blending would still be needed if it was sent directly.
Our municipal water serves the village (population 8,323) with 1,127 water meters, the town’s 270 meters, the school district’s 1,811 students encompassing all or parts of eight municipalities (town and village of New Paltz, Gardiner, Esopus, Rochester, Rosendale, Lloyd, Plattekill) and SUNY New Paltz’s academic and residential buildings, as well as its irrigation.
Serving our various ratepayers who rightfully want and expect our municipal water system to be run efficiently and prudently is one of our most important responsibilities as local officials.
We anticipate that the four groundwater wells at the reservoir property, that should contribute up to 124 gpm (22% of our consumption), will be in use before year end.
Mayor Tim Rogers
New Paltz
An open letter to the Woodstock Zoning Board of Appeals
On September 20, 2022, the Town of Woodstock Town Board formally designated “Zena Woods” as a Critical Environmental Area (CEA). The boundaries of the area are depicted on a map titled Zena Woods CEA, dated May 31, 2022. This map was filed with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYS DEC) Commissioner on June 5, 2023, in accordance with SEQR regulations 6 NYCRR Part 617.14(g). This designation became effective on July 5, 2023. Eastwoods Drive and the proposed extension of Eastwoods Drive to the Town of Ulster border lies entirely within the Zena Woods CEA.
The CEA Working Group, authors of this letter, is comprised of former and current members of the Woodstock Environmental Commission who were responsible for the designation of the Zena Woods CEA, a unique, sensitive, ecological area designated by a municipality and acknowledged by the state in recognition of its important ecological characteristics, particularly those that have an inherent sensitivity to change which may be adversely affected by any physical disturbance. It is in this area that the proposed Zena Development LLC (formerly Woodstock National) has applied for a permit to improve the private road, designated as Eastwoods Drive and located in Woodstock, to access the intended development in the Town of Ulster.
The CEA Working Group concurs with the Town of Woodstock zoning enforcement officer’s interpretation of the zoning law that requires Zena Development LLC submit a site plan to and apply for a wetlands and watercourse permit with the Town of Woodstock Planning Board. The planning board is tasked with considering the CEA in reviewing the proposed site plan for this project. The entire Woodstock portion of the Zena Development LLC property falls within the Zena Woods CEA, whose ecological features include unfragmented forest, wetlands and important wildlife corridors.
The zoning enforcement officer also determined, “that the widening of Eastwoods Drive is a regulated activity that will require the applicant to obtain a Town of Woodstock zoning law wetlands and watercourse permit,” but the zoning enforcement officer made no determination about the Eastwoods Drive extension. As part of a site plan review, the planning board can require a proper wetlands determination that includes the entire extent of Eastwoods Drive.
Failure to uphold the zoning enforcement officer’s determination would seem to end the opportunity for a complete and proper wetlands determination for Eastwoods Drive improvements and its proposed extension.
In addition, we recommend that the planning board review the proposed community areas at the boundary of the Town of Ulster property. The planning board is empowered to create an escrow account, funded by the developers, to engage a certified wetlands scientist, hydrogeologist, licensed arborist and any other consultants necessary to help the planning board come to a satisfactory conclusion for the Town of Woodstock.
While considering the CEA, we strongly suggest the planning board consider that once Eastwoods Drive is extended and improved, it opens the opportunity for development of the three Zena Development LLC parcels located within Woodstock. Currently, the developers have suggested that they have no plans to build on these parcels, but once that road is completed, there is little preventing them from doing so, save for a conservation easement filed with the state or a donation of the lands to a land conservancy or sale to NYS. The more than 400 acres of wetlands and habitat will be open for development.
Please give thought to these comments in support of the zoning enforcement officer’s determination.
Ken Panza
Alex Bolotow
Bob Wolff
Arlene Weissman
on behalf of the CEA Working Group
Kamalaugh
The Kamalaugh
Gives us hope
While the obese Orange Dope
Can only whine and mope
So old and tired
So out of touch
In 2020, you were fired
Oh Donold,
You haven’t learned too much!
The Kamalaugh
gives us hope
No wonder that the convict
Simply cannot cope
Wolf Bohm
New Paltz
Join the family! 
