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Hudson Valley One welcomes letters from its readers. Letters should be fewer than 300 words and submitted by noon on Monday. Our policy is to print as many letters to the editor as possible. As with all print publications, available space is determined by ads sold. If there is insufficient space in a given issue, letters will be approved based on established content standards. Points of View will also run at our discretion.
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Winston Farm: a better plan, revealed
Permaculture expert Andrew Faust’s presentation at the September 18 Saugerties Town Board meeting was impressive and inspiring: a regional food hub consisting of a regenerative farm, including intensive vegetable production plus a small dairy, as well as a “food forest” of nut trees. This is a use for Winston Farm that looks to the needs of the actual future, working with nature instead of against it, as the currently proposed mixed-use commercial/residential development would do by bulldozing and paving large parts of the property.
Experienced in the development of such sites, Faust was confident that the funding required to get the project up and running would be found following the purchase of the property by a not-for-profit land conservancy. It’s known that the State of New York is interested in such a project as part of the state parks system. Furthermore, the project itself would create jobs for people who want to turn their hand to farming as well as the many other kinds of jobs required to keep a large agricultural operation going and create housing for those who work on the property, potentially hundreds of people.
On top of all these benefits, the kind of regenerative farm envisioned would be an educational center to teach how abundantly food can be produced while actually improving the land it’s grown on (permaculture farming methods restore degraded soils to health and productivity). This would put Saugerties on the map for visitors and students from all over the region, even the nation.
The only people who would not benefit as much as they dream would be the current owners, but even they could turn a profit, albeit a smaller one. They are constantly held up as public benefactors. They could do nothing greater for their legacy or for the town they claim to love than allow Winston Farm to become a blessing instead of a blight. We have to and we must give up on the old economic model of limitless growth and destruction and move bravely and beautifully into the life-sustaining possibilities offered by people with vision of what our needs will truly be in the future and how to meet them, starting now.
Janet Moss
Saugerties
Not impressed with Alison Esposito
I read with great interest Hudson Valley One‘s interview last week with Republican Congressional candidate Alison Esposito, hoping to learn that she was independent-minded and realistic instead of a Trump cult member. I was quite disappointed.
The piece makes it abundantly clear that Esposito departs not one iota from Trump’s extremist agenda, Project 2025, including the “drill baby drill” school of climate change denial and the complete aversion to any and all taxes to keep our government running smoothly. She endorsed the “sending it back to the states” solution on abortion that allows for women in red states to bleed out in the parking lot of hospitals where doctors are afraid to render life-saving medical care. I was not impressed.
If Donald Trump is your savior, Esposito is your candidate for congressional district NY-18. But if you are firmly rooted in the 21st century and believe in preserving the livability of the planet, the rule of law and the rights that have always made us a beacon of hope in the world, then on November 5 vote for West Point graduate, combat veteran, common-sense and freedom-loving candidate Pat Ryan. He works for us, not for a far-right extremist agenda.
Tom Kruglinski
Gardiner
NO to all Republicans
When the leader of a political party is a convicted felon and a pathological liar with a lifelong history of self-enriching financial scams (most recently the DJT stock scam), then the expression “Fish rots from the head” applies to the entire Republican Party.
Republicans Marc Molinaro and Alison Esposito, always submissive to their corrupt leader, both lie consistently in an attempt to weasel our vote. Molinaro claims to be a moderate, yet he consistently votes against women’s rights. Esposito talks about inflation even though it is now well under control as evidenced by the Federal Reserve’s recent half-point interest rate cut.
Both Molinaro and Esposito lie, hoping to please their corrupt leader and fool Ulster County voters. We can smell their stench.
Vote Row A (Democratic) all the way.
Gerald Cohen
Saugerties
Seeking partners for grant application
We plan to apply again to the NY Department of State Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI) program for a $10 million grant award this October. Our application’s half-square-mile focus area is bound by the Wallkill River, North and South Chestnut streets, SUNY New Paltz’s campus and Main Street (a pedestrian portion of the Empire State Trail).
We have a long wish list of public improvement projects to include in the application. We would also like to list projects where private owners are motivated to invest one half of their project’s cost into a new development or rehabilitation of an existing building.
Projects should benefit current residents and future generations while embodying New Paltz’s core strengths:
- An animated walkable Main Street with locally owned businesses.
- World-class outdoor recreation and trails that attract regional and international visitors.
- The region’s only public residential university.
- Our vibrant and engaged full-time community.
Transformative projects including housing, community-wide economic benefits, community building or gathering spaces, or decarbonization will resonate with the state’s grantors. Being able to break ground within two years and completed within five years will be required.
Please share our ask for partners and encourage them to email ideas to mayor@villageofnewpaltz.org.
Mayor Tim Rogers
New Paltz
A festival with a heartening purpose
This year, an exciting give-back event called the Woodstock Music & Art Fair is happening on October 13th, only a few weeks away.
All the money raised at this event will be donated to some of our most beloved charitable organizations. There will be great music headlined by Brian Mitchell, a local dance and entertainment favorite who has played with world famous stars — duets with Dolly Parton, Bob Dylan and Levon Helm — to name a few. (If you haven’t heard Brian, you’re missing the kind of music that makes you want to dance or just feel good.) The Abby Hollander Band. Abby is an award-winning songwriter and delightful, bluegrass chanteuse. There are more performers to enjoy during the afternoon from noon until 6 p.m. Bring your family and friends and enjoy the beautiful Bearsville Park along the accessible Sawkill stream, with arts and crafts exhibitors, fun activities for the kids and delicious food.
This is a festival with a purpose. Giving back to the community. This fun event is a collaboration between WAiV ~ the Volunteers Day project and the Bearsville Center. Organizations benefitting are: Woodstock Area Meals On Wheels, Daily Bread Soup Kitchen, Good Neighbor Food Pantry, Woodstock Fire Dept, Family of Woodstock, Woodstock Land Conservancy and the WAiV scholarship fund.
Please let your friends and everyone you know come and support these beloved organizations receive funds from the money raised. Encourage your friends to attend and enjoy a wonderful afternoon at the same time.
The cost of a ticket is $20, but only $10 for a member of any one of the volunteer organizations in our community. To order tickets contact: bearsvillecenter.com/pages/Woodstock-music-arts-festival.
Sam Magarelli
Woodstock
One, two, three
1. I urge you to honor and celebrate migrants and refugees for the remainder of this week and beyond(September 23-29), and especially on September 29 (World Day of Migrants and Refugees). So many risk their well-being and lives in fleeing danger, escaping the results of environmental injustice, the effects of climate change and in hoping to take a step to provide their families with a chance for a better life. Look no further than your family’s background to be reminded of how rich our country has become because of the contributions of immigrants. Demand that our representatives in the House and the Senate work for a dignified pathway to citizenship and NOT play politics on such a serious issue that affects all of us.
2. Demand from our representatives in the House, the Senate, and our NY State legislature that they work earnestly to pass an assault weapons ban, expand background checks for purchases of firearms, establish and enforce strong red flag laws and fully educate and train firearm owners regarding safe storage. Everyone’s safety/security, especially children’s, is at stake. Those who are responsible gun owners deserve the respect that is due to them.
3. Continue to work from this moment through October 4(the remaining days in this year’s dedicated honoring of all Creation), and beyond, in renewing your commitment to protecting and nourishing the environment, humanity and all aspects of our planet. We all know how this can be a part of our daily lives — in conversations, responsible recycling or composting, avoiding the use of plastics (especially single-use), evaluating our tendency to unnecessary buying, protection of our land/water/air, etc.
Contacts: Rep. Molinaro (202-225-5441), Rep. Ryan (202-225-5614) , Assemblyperson Shrestha (845-338-9610), Sen. Hinchey (845-331-2083), U.S. Capitol switchboard (202-224-3121, ask to be connected to Sen. Gillibrand’s or Sen. Schumer’s office), White House comment Line (202-456-1111).
Terence Lover
Woodstock
A successful Gardiner Dump Run
The third annual Gardiner Dump Run was a success largely due to our generous sponsors:
Mountain Brauhaus, EmpireFx, Wildflower Farms, Hudson Valley Trail Works, Stone Wave Yoga, Rino’s Pizza, Rock and Snow, Lightning Express, Franz Auto Service, Pitch Pine Outfitters, Earthly Body Work, Bike Depot, T-Source, Skratch Labs, Goodbye Dirty Butthole, Gardiner Bakehouse, Gardiner Trail Alliance and the Gardiner Parks and Recreation Committee.
A big thank you to volunteers John, Mark, Mike, Addy, Eric, Chris, Ilka, DJ Frankie B, our water stops crew Morgan, Scarlett, Quinn and the Gardiner Trail Alliance for preparing the trails prior to the race and all of our competitors and spectators who made this a fun day!
Please support our sponsors!
See you next year on Sunday, September 21, 2025 (Runsignup.com).
Gail Lahm
on behalf of the Gardiner Dump Run Committee
Slouching towards Deathlehem
Kamala Harris took on the debate and smothered Trump with facts about his own words and actions. Clearly, this debate was about both candidates. It was about how and why Trump is unqualified while also about how and why Harris is well-qualified.
It doesn’t take a bonafide genius to realize that Trump got trashed painfully in the debate. He acted like a bully, a child calling people names, or lied through his teeth on issues that most of the 67 million who watched knew that his words were false. The real takeaway from the debate is that Harris showed that she was competent and in command. She showed that she could be a strong leader and not be easily manipulated like Trump.
And yet, in shadows deep where whispers crawl, a figure looms, with a defiant call, there are mocking tones that pierce the night, a dance of dark against the light. These tendrils of contempt run rife — for truth is cast as one more knife. He’s clumsy in his deeds of shame, in lying lost — a futile game. A tumbling king on a broken throne … Yet crowned by those who call him home. A marriage frayed by countless lies; he welcomes hate with open eyes. His business ventures are mere charades — in fortune’s rise, humanity fades.
Slouching towards Deathlehem … You cannot change the mind of a paranoid person, no matter how hard you try. A very large population of the country doesn’t see it, about how bad Trump is for them. Could this many Americans really be so blind? Could the media have really failed so badly to inform the public of the real danger? Are we really that stupid?
Our moral and civic and political standards have dropped very low. An unapologetically corrupt, provably criminal, malignantly narcissistic two-bit con man named Trump is very close to declaring himself dictator for life instead of being led away in handcuffs to a prison cell.
Smart people need to learn to be good shepherds to the stupid ones. We need to learn how to speak their language and how to coax them in the right direction. I like using the words “Go to hell … Fuck you, asshole” to jar their misguided way … But that’s just me, even as my words turn to ashes in my mouth.
Neil Jarmel
West Hurley
Alison Esposito, how do you feel about January 6?
“Ms. Esposito, why are you running as a cliché Republican ‘law and order’ candidate when the leader of your party tried to overthrow his own government? As a former cop, does it bother you that five cops died as a result of the actions of rioters, three by suicide surely induced by the despair of that day? Do you despair for your police comrades and their families?
“Ms. Esposito, as a former cop, do you believe Ashley Babbit should be elevated to martyrdom when the Capitol Building police officer who killed her, as members sheltered in fear for their lives and safety, did so in the line of duty? If you were on detail, protecting a president or other government official from assassination, would you have hesitated to use your weapon when the circumstances warranted it?
“Ms. Esposito, would you have chanted “Hang Mike Pence” because you were angry that he would not break the law by sending the electoral vote count back to the states?
“Ms. Esposito, as a former cop, someone who has probably testified in court, do you feel that a tape in which the then-president asked the Georgia secretary of state, ‘All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes’ is proof enough that he was asking the state official to break the law?”
These are seven questions reporter Rokosz Most omitted from the softball, high school civics class questions he pitched toward the Republican Maga candidate for NY 18. Those were questions suitable for normal times. These are not normal times. Normal means the candidate accepts the norms that have kept our imperfect society glued together. Maga means stomp upon what makes us a great nation.
Marc Molinaro was a seemingly middle-of-the-road Republican county executive. Now that he’s in Congress, he’s all in with Maga. Alison Esposito is cut from the same cloth.
We have a great candidate for NY 18 in Pat Ryan, a true law-and-order, military man who has helped to defend our nation and who seeks to represent everyone is his district fairly. We have another great candidate in Josh Riley, who will similarly represent NY 19.
When Mr. Most interviews Marc Molinaro, will he ask Mr. Molinaro why he stands for office in a party that seeks to undermine what really makes America great?
Go the polls. Vote Blue down the line. When we fight, we win!
William Weinstein
New Paltz
Apologia
In my last HV1 letter, I made unflattering assumptions about John N. Butz and George Civile. My barbs were misdirected. Their true target was my two neighbors’ preferred candidate, Donald Trump.
Certainly my barbs were implicitly aimed at notorious Trump bootlickers like Jim Jordan, Matt Goetz, Franklin Graham, Miriam Adelson and, recently, self-proclaimed “Black Nazi” Mark Robinson, and at those like JD Vance, Mitch McConnell, Kevin McCarthy, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio who are either too lily-livered or too power-needy to stick to and act on their previous disavowals of the ex-president. But none of these toads and toadies has the power that large numbers of Americans — probably, along with their candidate, manipulated by “deep state” string-pullers — have invested in Donald Trump.
Great as my contempt is, my worry overshadows it — and I believe that Trump, like the Giant in “Jack and the Beanstalk,” is indeed a shadow, one that hangs over all of us, Democrat and Republican. Because there’s no GOPolitician, or Trump donor or sycophant, with the backbone or the ethics to try to stop him when he goes too far. Look at what he’s gotten away with already; look at the wheels he’s been setting in motion to skew the 2024 election results; look at what he unashamedly vows to do on day one of his presidency; look at Project 2025. Listen for his backers’ reproaches. You won’t hear a peep.
It’s this worry, I think, that was behind my errant barbs. Let me set the record straight. Decent people can support Donald Trump. I feel this support is misguided, as they feel mine for Harris is; that’s the nature of political discourse, and we can agree to disagree — and we can be civil about it. Because I believe that, unlike the Man Who Would Be King — or Dictator — George and John will accept a Trump defeat as the legitimate will of the people.
And — once again, with all due civility — I hope my two neighbors on the other side of the fence are given the opportunity to prove me right.
Thomas Cherwin
Saugerties
All is one
If you put your hand over your heart, like I have all my life, you may feel like I do, that this gesture is becoming more of a salute of protection than honor.
As election day closes in, I compare voting days of past years. Today, my fear is palpable as I witness the crumbling of the moral bulwarks that I once helped build to protect our democracy. Justice is the principle rampart I, and millions of living and dead soldiers went to war to defend. Throughout history, we were assured that our military and government’s captaincy was focused on moral strength and humanity, and going to war supported the bulwark of freedom and justice. Our national morality is more compromised now than ever before. Today, I see the intentional weakening of law and order to appease and protect the wealthy and governing classes. There is an amoral virus loose in America.
Human life has become expendable and is seen as a financial resource. The umbilical cord between corporations and government is so strong it is strangling all social programs that feed and provide for the underprivileged. This is blatant as our wealthy pave politicians’ way to the election.
I put my hand to my ear, listening for the voices of the Vietnam War protestors who once yelled at government leadership to stop the meaningless killing of the third-world peasants of Vietnam. For a brief moment, I thought my generation had a foothold in identifying how immoral our country’s politicians had become. We supplied the troops for the war in Vietnam and the protestors. That schism has never healed, has become infected, and is oozing on our TV news daily. Watergate began pumping a flow of political criminality through our color TVs that have calloused the American public. When the Vietnam War ended, I watched the painful aftermath of that war crawl like a wounded animal under the rug in every living room in America.
Today, many baby boomers are holding our stock market printouts in our shaking hands. Our once-idealized voices are lost in the din of technology. We have knowingly compromised ourselves by investing money in the “Market” to secure the final chapters of our lives. Out of one side of our mouths, we cry for the environment to be protected while we fill up at the pump. We yell out for health care for people in need while we sort through our full medicine chests.
I fear no Phoenix will struggle to fly out of the atomic ash. I once saw racism transform into honor upon the anvil of the Vietnam War. It now is a weapon to beat those who challenge political power.
I respect and support folks today who are trying to reawaken their cries for morality to become part of our government values again. For me, the Vietnam War protestors’ words carried enough truth that they changed my life and ended an unjust war. Dust off your peace symbols and meet me at the voting booth, or mail your mail in your ballots on time. All is one.
Larry Winters
New Paltz
Smart buys
I like to buy everything secondhand, but it’s hard to find a used washcloth.
Sparrow
Phoenicia
Concern for reproductive rights if Donald Trump is elected
I am an in vitro baby. I’m writing this letter because I’m concerned about the U.S.’s politics surrounding IVF, especially during the upcoming 2024 presidential elections. On February 16, 2024, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled on the case titled LePage v. Center for Reproductive Medicine, P.C. The ruling bestowed stored embryos in Alabama fertility clinics the status of personhood under the protections of Alabama’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act of 1872. This decision has negatively affected many Americans who so desperately want to have and conceive their own children, but sadly cannot do so naturally.
I fear that this case can be taken up by the current United States Supreme Court since the decision on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization by SCOTUS, whom Donald Trump created to have a conservative majority, acted as a precedent for this case.
Republicans are known for having Catholics/Christians beliefs that they constantly fight to put into national policy. IVF and artificial insemination are sadly not left out of this religious attack. American religious officials have long believed that IVF isn’t part of God’s will since IVF doctors are supposedly playing the role of God by “creating life;” therefore, concluding IVF shouldn’t be an option for American families. I fear for the future of American women and families who, if Donald Trump is re-elected to office, will be subjected to the will of conservative religious politicians. I implore you to encourage Americans to fight for freedom over reproductive rights by voting for Kamala Harris and ensuring district representatives such as Pat Ryan stay in power. Women shouldn’t be denied the life that they want to live, if that be childless or not, this is supposed to be a free country, not the Handmaid’s Tale.
Jacqueline Avignone
New Paltz
Are we united yet?
After Trump was elected in 2016, Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton called Trump an imposter president and celebrities like Madonna and Johnny Depp were calling for his assassination. Moreover, Kathy Griffin presented images of herself holding Trump’s bloody, decapitated, head and a theatre group portrayed him as the assassinated Julius Caesar in a Shakespearean production. And yet, the recent assassination attempts against the former POTUS are being blamed on “Trump’s rhetoric” by the usual, nationally known, suspects. However, these facts and the constant claims (by Democrats and their allies in the press) that Trump was a “Putin puppet,” along with two failed impeachments and the many, present day, assertions made by prominent pundits and Democrats that “worse than Hitler” Trump and his supporters are “existential” threats to Democracy; render absurd such complaints about Trump’s rhetoric. Indeed, in late 2023 NY Democrat Dan Goldman, stated Trump “is not only unfit, he is destructive to our democracy, and he has to be eliminated” and POTUS Biden recently opined it is “time to put Trump in a bullseye.” (Both said they really didn’t mean it after their remarks engendered public opposition.) With this in view, the following parody of The Bee Gees’ hit “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?” (titled “How Can We Stop a MAGA Man?”) is written from the perspective of those who are not only frustrated that Donald is still alive and may actually become POTUS once again, but are also alarmed by anyone who is hoping for another Trump administration. (All singing readers should express annoyed surprise in their voices to represent the disappointment and disgust felt by VP Harris’ supporters because all of their denigration of Trump’s followers has not resulted in the unity that caring-unifiers, Joe Biden and VP Harris, promised would occur once they gained office.)
(Stanza)
I can think of former years: before, Trump was in my life
And everything was happily sublime
I could never think tomorrow: would bring a man to cause me…so much sorrow
(Chorus)
How can you stop a racist heart…
How can you make a fascist change his tune
How can you help a Klan supporter,
Cheer day 19 of June?
Oh, and how can we stop this orange man:
How can we keep him from another win?
Please vote for vapid, Kamala, so Trump can’t
win again
(Stanza)
I long for better days: when we thought Trump’s MAGA ways
would lead to sending him to a big jail
I remember all his trials
We could hardly hide all of our smiles…
(Chorus)
But…we didn’t stop Trump’s racist heart:
We didn’t hinder MAGNats from gaining ground
We couldn’t keep the courts from ruling
And, so, Trump’s still around
Yes, and, how can we make Trump a broken man?
Why does this loser still gain wins?
Why doesn’t someone stop this traitor
for all his many sins?
Let’s, get rid…of Orange man; so, we’ll unite again!
Yes, let’s just stop the MAGA man; and we’ll be great again!
George Civile
Gardiner
NYS Proposition 1 — ERA amendment
I recently was alerted by a friend about NYS’s Equal Rights Amendment that will appear (on the back) of the ballot this year. But I have not seen ANYTHING about this crucial NYS Constitutional Amendment in the campaign literature from any of our state representatives or any of the NYS state and federal candidates I follow, let alone from Gov. Hochul.
Especially since we almost lost the governorship last time around to a so-called “pro-life” candidate and since so many NYS races for the U.S. House of Representatives are too close to call (especially up here in the Hudson Valley and on Long Island), this amendment’s passage would serve to protect all New Yorkers at a time of grave danger to individual rights and reproductive freedom and women’s health.
Also, as we have seen in other states, without the protections of Roe v. Wade, a state Equal Rights Amendment is also a great motivator for otherwise apathetic or undecided voters or young voters to vote. And to work their hearts out to get others to register and vote.
Please pass the word to all your friends and colleagues and write to our state and federal representatives, candidates and Governor Hochul asking them to get the word out about this crucial issue for all New Yorkers.
Nancy Sills
Kingston
Protect our schools with your vote
As a recent high school graduate, I’ve gone through the last decade of my life in fear of school shootings. Every time I walk into a new classroom, the first thought that goes through my head is where I would hide if there was a school shooting. Schools should be safe havens, but a shooter could walk in at any moment and turn a sacred place into a war zone.
Many officials blame school shootings on mental health issues. However, the most preventable cause of school shootings is access to high-capacity assault rifles. In 1996, a mass shooting in Australia claimed 35 lives. National gun control laws were enacted just 12 days after, and in the 28 years since, there has been only one more mass shooting in Australia, while in the United States there have been well over a hundred.
There is no reason why someone would need a high-capacity assault rifle for “protection.” These weapons are meant to kill. Why is it so easy to obtain a military-grade assault rifle in this country? What happened to “hands are not for hitting”? Growing up, I was taught that violence is never the answer. Yet, in the United States, we have the right to “protect” ourselves with weapons of mass destruction. What happened to solving our problems with words? Instead, our society has let fear and hate take over.
Gun violence is an epidemic in the United States. Unless we can learn how to love and have compassion, school shootings will persist across the country and threaten the wellbeing of our society. For these reasons, a vote for Pat Ryan this November is crucial in securing Democratic control of Congress and ultimately keeping our schools safe.
Logan Murphy
SUNY New Paltz student
Times have changed
How many of you remember when you did not have to look at your watch or a clock to know it was noontime?
Howard Harris
Woodstock
I can’t get this out of my head
I am so distressed and haunted by the pager and walkie-talkie explosions orchestrated by Israel in Lebanon. The news reports the number of dead and wounded, but not the special nature of the injuries. This attack planned and guaranteed that the injuries would particularly be gruesome facial and eye injuries and burns and mangled hands. How could you plan something like that? How twisted and perverted has your thinking become Israel, no matter who your enemy is? I keep imagining.
I can’t get it out of my head.
Arabella Colton
Saugerties
Losing
Every day it seems
I lose something.
So many things go bye.
I lose ideas, desires,
I lose my place in line,
lose meaning line by line.
I lose plans, pet peeves.
I lose life’s spoils. I lose
the lottery. I lose sleep.
Lose confidence in losing
weight. Lose skin cells, heart
beats, books, keys, memories
of key facts in books. I lose
grey cells, but not the gray.
Afraid I’m losing my grip.
Patrick Hammer, Jr.
Saugerties
Winston Farm: Know the facts, embrace the benefits
For decades, various development options for Winston Farm have been considered, including a landfill, incinerator, casino, college and an industrial park. All were rejected as inappropriate fits for Saugerties.
Now, we finally have a plan that makes sense. Winston Farm’s current owners are proposing a dynamic vision with multi-tiered, long-lasting benefits for Saugerties.
The differences are stark: These owners — Anthony Montano, John Mullen and Randy Richers — have lived and worked in Saugerties for decades and have built reputations of trust and integrity. Their plan demonstrates great care for the town they love. It’s not about making a quick buck.
Winston Farm is envisioned to be a “live, work, play” development that would include some much needed housing options, commercial space, a hotel, conference center, enclosed performance venue, lab or light industrial space and a campground with cabins. Saugerties’ treasured quality of life will be enhanced, and millions in annual tax revenues will greatly subsidize residents’ tax burdens.
In spite of false information being spread by opponents, the following facts have now been submitted and are under Town of Saugerties review:
Fact: Residents need not worry about their water supply. Extensive tests show that Winston Farm will be self-sufficient by obtaining water from an aquifer. The water’s quality is satisfactory or readily treatable, and the water does not draw from the Beaver Kill or from neighbors’ sources. This important solution means there will be no need for Winston Farm to draw from Saugerties’ municipal system.
Fact: More than $62 million a year will be generated after completion of all construction, which will take several years. This creates thousands of jobs and substantial tax revenue for the town, Saugerties school district and fire district year after year — helping keep taxes down and funding crucial municipal services.
Fact: Construction, estimated at $457 million, will create jobs for vital trades workers.
Fact: Winston Farm’s location, adjacent to the Thruway’s Exit 20, is ideal for tourists and residents.
Fact: Traffic lights, turning lanes and roundabouts will mitigate traffic.
Fact: The owners will ensure that substantial portions of their land remain as open space. In addition, the owners are committed to restoring the property’s grand mansion.
Fact: The Town of Saugerties is weighing a zoning change to create a Planned Development District. A detailed site plan would follow.
Winston Farm’s owners are committed to collaboration and already have modified plans in response to public comments. Housing buffers are bigger, and home lots are smaller to nurture a sense of community.
The Ulster County Regional Chamber of Commerce proudly endorses Winston Farm as a visionary proposal providing employment opportunities, tax revenue and housing for generations to come. The Hudson Valley Economic Development Corp. identified Winston Farm as a premier development opportunity.
The owners of Winston Farm have a proven track record of being responsible business owners who want to invest in Saugerties’ future and will protect the environment. The Ulster Chamber urges everyone in our region to support the Winston Farm project.
Ward Todd, President
Ulster County Regional Chamber of Commerce
Go to the source
A recent letter writer suggested that graffiti on the Plains Road bridge along the rail trail is understandable and it sends a message to the Land Trust. It seems there are those who have an issue with the design of the structure.
I would respectfully suggest that a more appropriate and neighborly method to reach out to the land Trust would simply be to contact the organization directly with any concerns at www.wallkillvalleylt.org.
As Bob Dylan once sang, “look me up, I’m not that hard to find.”
Glenn Gidaly
New Paltz
F — The future regarding our present benefit state, #5
In my previous letter, I mentioned the three branches of the government offsetting each other. This was to ensure that the checks and balances among the three, prevented, in the example of our benefits, from an abolishment, elimination or revision of them. But there were two major social disruptions in the world during the 20th century that created a problem facing the American people today. And this has affected our benefits.
It was the two world wars that forced our new country to confront the dangers of the world first hand. During the early years of our country, the civilians were able to control the military. The political aspect of our government at the time was the dominant branch of the government. The military was subservient to the political and economic. One might say, the military was civilian controlled with a semi-professional officer corp. Not now. The military has become an equal partner with the political and economic; they morphed into an equal billing with the other two.
As mentioned, the three branches of the government — the economic, political and military — at one time were separate checks and balances. But with the world wars, the three branches of the government gradually morphed together, to defeat their enemies. This morphing, the economic, political and military into a unit, was the birth of the military ascendency. This birth was not a deliberate plot to develop into a clandestine, behind the scenes, a conspiracy, to assume control over the American republic. Rather, it was an outgrowth, a realization, that the world was a very dangerous place to live in and that it was essential that the three branches of the government, economic, political and military, come together to be able to address such contingencies when they arise.
This ‘morphing’, this combining of the three branches of the government, whereas before, they were separated with the political as dominant, is no more. This juggernaut of power has chipped away at the public financing of public donations for elections and political purposes until, as mentioned, basically eliminated them. I mentioned previously, the Bipartisan Campaign Act, also known as the McCain-Feingold Act of 2002, designed to regulate financing of political campaigns. Big money forces chipped away at this law until the 2010 Citizens United v. Court decision of 2010, 5/4 ruling, opened the door for sums of corporate money, labor unions, non-profits to infiltrate into federal elections, basically cancelling the McCain-Feingold Act. This morphing into a unit means the political aspect of the United States, is not truly representative of the American people today. They are not truly representative of the American public, more so toward those of the entrepreneurial and professional classes. And as C.W. Mills states: “Keeping government welfare and domestic interests to a minimum.”
I have mentioned at different times in different letters some of the programs the GOP has tried to get in operation to address these government welfare and domestic interests. I will bring them up again in future letters.
Robert LaPolt
New Paltz
My rant about modern corruption
Those who are attempting to suppress the vote in our nation at this time, are indirectly holding on tight to the belief that slavery was good for the country. That’s right. Slavery. However, many who support suppressing voter registration may not even realize that they are accomplices to such an oppressive policy. It’s based on white supremacist consciousness. It’s toxic to the rational concept of equality for all. Whether those supportive to that voter suppression policy know it or not, that behavior acts like a choke hold on our future as a democracy. It’s not good at all.
Do you actually know who has the right to vote in our elections? First, you must be at least 18 years of age. All people who were either born in the United States, or those who have legally become citizens of the United States are eligible. That’s it. There is no test you have to pass. There is no amount of money you need to have in your bank account. There is no choice of life style that would give you more standing than another. That’s the law. One person. One vote. There is no entitlement toward a particular gender. There is no privilege toward any particular race, religion or sexual preference. It’s what a democracy is based on.
Yet, it appears that the Republican-controlled states in our democracy are doing everything they can to restrict certain voters in their states. Why? Because those in power do not want to honor the right to vote for some people, because some of those eligible voters may not choose to vote for Republican politicians or Republican goals.
The willful desire to restrict the vote is directly opposite our democratic values. However, we are not the only nation that struggles with this problem. Let’s be clear. Many democracies in the world are constantly dealing with the devious and corrupt ways of those in power.
Interestingly though, the Republican party has, for years always worked toward less government oversight and control over the lives of our citizens. So why are they now so focused on having more control over elections in their states? Obviously, they are terrified, on some level, of losing control. They may have negative fantasies of what might happen if they lose control. Well, the concept of free and fair elections is to allow the will of the people to prevail, no matter what that may be. That is exactly what a democracy is all about. Allow the people to speak. For those in control, it’s anxiety producing. But we are not going back to the days of slavery. No.
I’d like to introduce a new concept for the Republican party. Why not consider tweaking your platform so that the majority of the people actually like your ideas and are happy and eager to vote for them. Brilliant? Duh!
Marty Klein
Sarasota, FL and Kingston NY
Join the family! 
