The views and opinions expressed in our letters section are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Hudson Valley One. Submit a letter to the editor at deb@hudsonvalleyone.com.
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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.
Although Hudson Valley One does not specifically limit the number of letters a reader can submit per month, the publication of letters written by frequent correspondents may be delayed to make room for less-often-heard voices, but they will all appear on our website at hudsonvalleyone.com. All letters should be signed and include the author’s address and telephone number.
Kingston School Board — what a hot mess
What is the Kingston Board of Education thinking? Superintendent Paul Padalino does not deserve a contract extension. The district is a HOT mess!!! Recent water problems and misleading the community regarding gang violence was a huge mistake. Having a safe learning environment is a number-one concern in the community. Our board of education is a joke.
Ryan Van Kleeck
Town of Ulster
Tree roots and sewer mains
We have old sewer mains (that we’re actively replacing) which are prone to stormwater inflow or groundwater infiltration (I & I).
Sometimes we have sewer main backups if stuff other than the four ‘Ps’ are flushed (poop, pee, paper, puke). We want dental floss, hair, tampons, sanitary pads, condoms and all wipes (baby, makeup, and cleaning wipes) even if they’re labeled flushable, tossed into the trash.
Grease, fats and oils also create problems in pipes. When grease cools, it hardens and sticks to the inner linings of pipes.
However, we had a tree root infiltration into a maintenance hole that created a recent sewer main break (not an old main) on HW DuBois near Oakwood. Roots grow towards sources of water. This may have been exacerbated by this fall’s dry conditions.
Mayor Tim Rogers
New Paltz
Waiting for family planning!
Am I the only HV1 reader that is perplexed after reading the article “Waiting for Springtime” in your 1/8/25 issue? Apparently, the Greer family, highlighted here, has continued to enlarge to nine children — even after Tim Greer began suffering from strokes that affected his employability four years ago. Based on this article, four of the Greer children are way less than four years old, and creating severe placement problems in securing emergency housing for this large family.
So what is motivating the Greer’s to continue having more kids? Is it the tax credits his wife can claim on nine children for a “nice hefty chunk of change”? Perhaps Ulster County should consider a special family planning education program for this family? When most Ulster County families are struggling with high food, utility and housing costs — the last thing they need is higher additional taxes to support the irresponsible behaviors of families who are trying to “milk the system!”
Peter V. Fiorentino
Rosendale
I was crushed by the election results
Early last year, I made a vow to write a weekly letter or poem — usually focusing on the presidential race and, when I could muster up the optimism, often concluding on a hopeful note — and to submit those letters and poems to Hudson Valley One and post them on my Facebook page. I have lived up to that pledge, and I’m happy about that. But, maybe because my efforts in support of Kamala Harris came to naught, I’ve been struggling (as this letter may, alas, prove) to keep it — to keep myself — going.
I was crushed by the election results. And I still am, as I absorb Trump’s vision for America, those he’s tapped — or been instructed — to help bring that vision to fruition, and the various draconian and self-serving measures through which his administration intends to achieve its ends. I worry that Elon Musk and other billionaires are running the show and that the show will soon bring down the curtain on ordinary Americans (including those who elected Trump). I worry about Trump’s fishy relationship with Putin, about the president-elect’s — and, apparently, a majority of the world’s — support for and even adoration of right-wing strongmen, about the absence of conscience, ethics or humanity in these oligarchs and about their proliferation. I worry about the alarming disconnect between Trump’s “drill, baby, drill” (and last week’s Feedback writer’s “fossil fuel is still the answer — the only answer”) and ongoing and worsening climate-fueled disasters like the Los Angeles fires. I worry about Trump’s threatened, possibly militarily imposed annexations. I worry for fair-minded media and those on Trump’s retribution list. I worry for immigrants. I worry for Palestinians and Ukrainians, more than ever now with our racist, AIPAC-money-dependent, possible-Putin-puppet president.
I don’t exactly know why I’m sharing this, especially when I do know Trumpsters will mock me for it, because just as Trump’s billionaires relish having every piece of every pie, ridicule of others seems to be one of the things his MAGA base hungrily eats up; witness the glee and mindless agreement Trump’s nonstop insults evoke in his rally-goers, or the frequency and verve with which some Feedbackers tear down the Biden administration and its defenders, rather than trying to describe — as I’ve often invited them to do — what MAGA members see our country looking like once they’ve succeeded in making America “Great” again.
Tom Cherwin
Saugerties
A good read
HV1 is getting good! I like receiving news from all the towns. Some articles are not as clear in topic and development as the old Woodstock Times, frequently an opposition conclusion is put last, a favored position, instead of a balance of views. Thank you for what you do!
Sara Henry
Woodstock
The New Paltz Central School District can do better
While I almost always have supported school expenditures in the past, this year I cannot support the three propositions that New Paltz Central School District (NPCSD) has put forward for the public’s vote on January 16. In the interest of promoting a more environmentally sustainable outcome, I am urging others to vote no on all three propositions as well. Let’s hope that the school board gets the message that they need to reconsider important environmental issues when coming up with infrastructure improvements.
While the NPCSD claims that they have a history of listening to the public, I maintain that they listen to only some of the public. For example, at more than one board meeting, the majority of comments made were against installing synthetic turf and much evidence about its hazards were presented to the district. Still, they are recommending it be installed on the athletic fields. This turf is plastic based, contains toxic pesticides and chemicals, can heat up to over 100 degrees, and is a known health hazard. Its effects are so deleterious that the NFL Players Association called for banning synthetic turf in favor of grass in all 30 of its stadiums. Superstars Aaron Rodgers and Travis Kelce each sustained serious injuries on artificial turf fields.
There is absolutely no planning for more sustainable options like solar panels or electric buses — despite the fact that the latter will be mandated in the coming years (100% 0-emissions electric school bus fleets by 2035) and there is $500 million in funding through the NYS Environmental Bond Act available now!
Finally, it would be great to have a swimming pool at the school, but the $19-million price tag is almost 40% of the entire bond issue. There has been a clear trend of declining enrollment over the past several years, and the pool is to be used almost exclusively by a small minority of students — the swim team (no swim classes are being planned for the general population of students because of logistical issues.) The wisdom of this proposition at this time and place is questionable. Moreover, it will result in a hefty tax increase for us all.
The NPCSD can do better. Please do.
Wendy Rudder
New Paltz
Proposition four
Construction will soon begin for the Government Operations and Emergency Center. To date, no oversight committee has been formed, nor does it look likely any will be until the proverbial over-runs hit the fan.
Ulster County has had a checkered past with major construction projects. In fact, some have been outright disasters for taxpayers.
When the County Office Building Asbestos Remediation Project went awry, the 1987 legislature adopted a resolution that mandated oversight for large capital projects.
The resolution was either ignored or forgotten when the Ulster County Law Enforcement Center project began, which went years late and $20 million over budget and resulted in a 29% increase in property taxes.
Mandating legislative oversight for large projects was recommended by the special committee that investigated the law enforcement project and the grand jury’s investigation.
During the Charter transition, the consultant for the LEC investigation tried to get the mandate into the administrative code, but couldn’t. It was also proposed during the last Revision Commission to no avail.
I have no idea why the legislature is so reluctant to protect their constituents by overseeing multimillion-dollar projects.
I believe that county executive Metzger and all our county legislators are ethical, dedicated and hard-working individuals, as were those that came before them. But their expertise does not include large construction projects. And after the $700,000 fiasco with Elizabeth Manor, neither do those who they are listening to.
This is an ideal opportunity for the executive and legislative branches to put their differences aside, join forces and create a bipartisan oversight committee that will ensure that this very large project doesn’t go off the rails.
Thomas Kadgen
Shokan
Mr. Kadgen served as witness to the process on the legislature’s committee that investigated the Law Enforcement Center project.
Remember President Carter — remember to stand strong
I write on the day of President Jimmy Carter’s funeral.
A commenter at the New York Times, Owthathurts, states it best: “I mourn not for Carter, but for my lost country. We bury a president who refused to lie and install a president who refuses to tell the truth.”
That Trump doesn’t tell the truth is part of the decades-long fabric of deceit the Republican Party banner is sewn from. To undermine President Carter’s re-election bid, Republicans secretly went to Tehran during the Reagan-Carter presidential faceoff to strike a deal delaying the release of American hostages. Republicans lied in alleging Saddam Hussein’s involvement in 9/11 and his possession of WMD’s, thus diverting our attention from Afghanistan and creating a needless war that served the interests of fossil-fuel oligarchs. The result: incalculable death and misery and the destabilization of the Middle East.
This week, Republican/Federalist Society Supreme Court Justice Alito took a personal phone call from Trump, alleging to the press it concerned a job reference for a former law clerk. One day later, seeking to avoid the label “convicted felon” prior to taking office, Trump filed a brief asking the court to delay his sentencing in New York. Alito said he “was not even aware at the time of [the] conversation that such an application would be filed.” Everyone in Washington, DC was surely aware that this application would be filed. Alito is shown, yet again, to be a corrupt liar.
And, more relevant to today’s news, the Republican Party (now Trump’s Maga) has spent decades denying climate change. Et — voila! — Los Angeles is aflame.
The president-elect immediately turned the Los Angeles fires into a political event, posting on Truth Social: “Governor Gavin Newscum refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow melt from the north, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning.” The governor’s office replied: “There is no such document as the water restoration declaration — that is pure fiction.”
Maga, you voted for Trump. We all have to live with it. Next week, as we watch a pathological liar take the oath for the nation’s most sacred office, we would do well to remember a statement often attributed to Barney Frank: “Government is simply the name we give to the things we choose to do together.”
Let us stand strong during the next four years, and let us stand strong with our neighbors in Los Angeles, who have lost everything.
William Weinstein
New Paltz
Supporting the proposed 9W housing project
Currently, there’s a housing proposal being reviewed by the Town of Ulster to build 298 multi-family apartments and residences behind Adams Fairacre Farms. The location is next to the county’s largest commercial center and conveniently located off Routes 199 and 9W.
Unfortunately, this project has attracted the attention of experienced activists who appear to believe any new construction is problematic. Opponents cite various concerns including increased traffic, some tree loss, found arrowheads and an 1890s mansion with some historic attributes. These concerns will inevitably be considered in the formal review and planning process, but at this time none of the issues raised should be a dealbreaker. There are clearly outlined state procedures for addressing or mitigating archeological as well as traffic and habitat concerns.
To meet current demand, Ulster County needs to build thousands of new housing units. And with plans for adding more businesses and jobs at iPark 87, located just across Route 9W from the proposed housing development, the need for more housing will only grow. State, county and local officials, as well as many housing advocates have made this clear. Like any proposed project the particulars need to be worked out. But the location of this site near so many jobs, businesses, highways and public transit makes perfect sense. As such, Ulster Strong strongly supports the continued review and planning of this housing project.
Tony Marmo
Ulster Park
President of Ulster Strong
The moral issue of our time
America’s genocide in Gaza will someday come back to haunt us all. Generations to come will describe the empire that talked about human rights and freedom, while it slaughtered tens of thousands of civilians and starved their children.
For proof of American’s war crimes and crimes against humanity, historians need only look at last week’s shameful events. As a parting gift to Israel, Genocide Joe is sending another $8 billion in bombs and missiles to get the job done faster. This while the House of Representatives is writing up a plan to sanction the International Criminal Court for its attempts to end the butchery.
To be honest, our Congress is awash in Zionist bribes. A quick look at opensecrets.org reveals the tens of thousands going to almost every member of this unscrupulous and venal institution. For 2024 the Israel Lobby spent twice as much on bribes than even the weapons makers.
As many of us know, our government represents the interests of the billionaire elites rather than the workers of this country. They don’t care about our own children, much less about the wandering hoards of Palestinian youths, crying about their murdered parents and looking for a piece of bread.
Our news media suffers from the same affliction. It is owned by the billionaires, just like Congress and our president. That leaves only us to resist the American genocide of the Palestinian people. It is the moral issue of our time, the true measure of our humanity.
Fred Nagel
Rhinebeck
Amazing
During my 20-year career in law enforcement, I have seen hundreds of judges presiding in various courts — traffic, family and criminal — to name a few. I recently had the occasion to see Saugerties Town Justice Chris Kraft presiding over several cases. He was patient, knowledgeable and compassionate. Saugerties is very lucky.
Howard Harris
Woodstock
Shame into the new year
As we enter the new year, we are confronted with the blatant fact that innocent Palestinian men, women and children are still being slaughtered in horrific ways in Gaza and the West Bank to the tune of 200,000 people (https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS01406736(24)01169-3/fulltext). This clear genocide is being enabled by the money, weapons and military assistance of the U.S. war machine, without which Israel could not have carried out this horror for so long. Yes, I said genocide as do 255 human rights organizations around the world, with Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the prominent human rights organization in Israel, B’T selem, being the latest additions to have officially declared a clear genocide is taking place in that part of the world, committed by Israel. This shocking perpetual genocide has happened under the watch of the Democrats, of which I am ashamed to be registered as one. Though not being admitted by the democratic talking heads, this is the reason 8-10 million Democrats refused to vote in the last election, because they could not bring themselves to vote for an administration involved in propping up a horrific genocide even though the alternative being Trump, promises no better. Trump the Republican and Harris the Democrat, actually agree that we should continue to bomb the hell out of the Palestinians because Trump and Harris are all part of the Military Industrial Complex (“MIC”) the late President Eisenhower warned us about. Israel is embedded in the MIC as they have a very close affiliation with on many levels as one supplies the advanced technologies while the other supplies the money and tactical weapons. Two peas in a pod and neither will condemn the other no matter how atrocious their actions are. This is the situation we find ourselves in 2025 no matter that from the gitgo on October 7, 2023 some things just didn’t add up. Where was the Israeli military, the IDF, when Hamas invaded Israel through a 40-mile long 30’ above and below ground impenetrable multi-billion dollar border wall (https://www.timesofisrael.com/a-wall-of-iron-sensors-and-concrete-idf-completes-tunnel-busting-gaza-barrier/)?
Where was the Israeli squadron of 28 of the most advanced weaponized Apache helicopters, of which could be anywhere along their border wall in five minutes, that Israel always had in place to protect from invaders? Never mind the advanced surveillance systems Israel has been known for worldwide that can see and identify a person’s face six miles away, even at night. And yet the Hamas allegedly surprised the IDF on October 7th ? I don’t buy it and no critical thinker should, especially when the IDF had the exact invasion Hamas plan one year in advance. Why am I the only one mentioning this? These are all documentable facts.
Meanwhile the beat goes as thousands of children die under the strategized pretext of self-defense and freeing the hostages, when in fact it has always been about Palestinian extermination and “Greater Israel.”
Steve Romine
Woodstock
Oh, dear… Part #12
Comments made by Donald Trump towards Canada are direct political interference! Point blank! He is the king of political interference. The newly-elected-idiot gave us a taste of what is to come with a nonsensical, hour-long “press conference” last week. Amazing what shit comes outta his pie hole when his little pea brain gets rolling. Dopey wants to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico…What!!! Dopey wants to get rid of wind turbines because they hurt whales…smh — what!?
And the saddest part is that the media takes all this shit seriously and tries to interpret it! Ignore this asshole! Didn’t you learn your lesson four years ago?
Gulf of trumptardistan … err, I mean — Gulf of America. Yeah, right, sure! Maybe he can just write in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico with a black sharpie to rename it. Not an international embarrassment at all. LOL.
The depth of his stupidity has no bottom!! At least when the zombie apocalypse happens, we know they won’t be headed to the White House’s oval office. Gulf of Trump? The Trump States? Trumptardistan? It’s beyond my thinking how people voted for him. Military force against Greenland and Panama … WTF? And all lucky Canadians can get their wish— and be American.
Ah, but he hasn’t even taken over the office and the lunacy is beyond belief. Words cannot describe the stupidity of this man. It must be pathological. No one with normal brain function thinks this way. What comes after January 20th?! The founders should have made lying by a president a federal crime. The lies in that press conference were endless. I imagine the leaders from other countries looking at the TV and laughing hard.
The media’s job has become making insanity seem perfectly normal. If I buy an acre of the Gulf of Trump, I’m probably going to need some BIG water buckets. Humpty Trumpty epitomizes the dumbing down of America. It’s Jerry Springer on steroids (or I guess more appropriately, McDonalds calories).
I’m going to be at the grocery store at 12:01 on the 21st, to get my cheap groceries. He’ll give everyone cheap gas like he promised. Even though NO president controls the price of either. For all the Trumpian embracing bozos who’ve inhaled too much bus fumes — holy Mary, pray for them sinners now and at the hour of their death.
Neil Jarmel
West Hurley
Our safe schools
A few weeks ago, a young man wrote a letter to HV1’s Feedback stating his fears of violence when entering a school. I’d like to assure this young man that our schools are the safest place for our children except for their homes. Our mainstream media (MSM) have been successful in convincing this man that murder in our schools is rampant.
I’ve mentioned this in the past that school shootings are over reported. Incidents such as a shooting in a school parking lot after hours or nearby gang violence is often recorded as a school shooting. The MSM misrepresent their frequency.
When you think about how much time our students, including college age, spend at school (5 to 7 hours a day, 180 days a year in NY) and the number of victims of school violence, our children are very safe. I looked up some numbers. Of the 19,000 murders in the US each year about four to 5,000 are in the five to 22-year-old age group. The number of murders in schools from 2000 to 2022 was about 200 (National Center for Education Statistics). That’s less than ten per year on average. So ten out of up to 5,000 young people are murdered in schools on average. Any death and the pain it brings to families and communities is a tragedy. But looking at that statistic, you have to conclude that schools are very safe. Most of the murders in that age group involve the older third of that demographic and are mostly gang and drug related.
People, like the young man who fears being in a school, are that way due to exaggeration by the MSM. This also causes gun control activists to whine for “common-sense” gun control and confiscation of so-called assault rifles. We don’t have a gun problem, we have a societal decay problem. After the fact, the news about missing signs that school shooters display and the failures of authorities (Uvalde) surface and we see that many of these crimes could have been prevented.
Tom McGee
Gardiner
William Weinstein — his potus confidence overflows
Per William, “the real reason Trump won is because he and his circle are the greatest exponents of the big lie since the Hitler-Goebbels days.” I guess William was doing his impression of Rip Van Winkle by sleeping through the past four years when he missed all the colossal lies of the Biden/Harris/Mayorkas side show.
William refers to the sanitized version of “lie, repeat, repeat, repeat.” What does William think that the Biden administration, the big tech denying and cancellation machines, King Fauci and the CNN/MSNBC “journalists” have been doing for the past four years? Repeating and repeating their string of lies to the point where so many gullible and ill-informed Democratic voters began to accept their lies as truth and fact.
In trying to figure out why Trump, the House and the Senate won, it appears as if William never noticed that Harris was a pathetic candidate who couldn’t speak the truth or answer the most basic of questions. He also didn’t notice that the concerns of most Americans, finally including many Democratic voters, were the kitchen table topics of inflation, a poor economy, significant increased prices of many basic family needs, gas prices, record crime and a border open to poorly vetted criminals, terrorist, drug and child traffickers, etc. Although these problems were so important to many struggling Americans, the Democrats very foolishly put all their eggs in the abortion and green new deal basket, accompanied by a parade of A-list entertainers. Didn’t work very well, did it?
William, when Trump won ALL swing states, convincingly winning the electoral and popular vote, and addressed all the issues critically important to the people, why is it a mystery for you to figure out why Trump won? The down ballot Democratic candidate victories appeared to be just a few gnats in Trump’s face.
And Paul K. Maloney’s comments in his letter of “oath keepers,” show that he and his memory are out to lunch. Paul has Trump defined as a narcissist who couldn’t care less about the people or his oath to work FOR the people. A secure border with national security protection, a record pre-pandemic economy, record unemployment numbers for minorities, energy independence, biological men NOT ruining women’s sports while hanging out in women’s bathrooms, locker rooms, and showers, and reasonable prices for ALL Americans hardly sounds like a narcissist to me, Paul.
John N. Butz
Modena
Our town government needs to listen to and protect its people
Our group, Woodstockers United for Change, have been working hard to research the PFOS contamination, inform the townspeople of its science and its dangers and correct reporting mistakes and misinformation. I hope you read our letter in last week’s edition, written with the consultation of experts in the field. If you didn’t, you can find it at www.woodstockersunitedforchange.com. So now it’s your turn, it’s time for action. We have started a petition to push the town board to conduct true source tracing and do it truly quarterly, neither of which they’re doing now. We need to know, not speculate about where the major source of the contamination is coming from and what possible role the still unremediated Shady dump might play in this. That’s the only way these aggressively carcinogenic “forever chemicals” toxifying our drinking water will ever go away. Note that according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, no amount of PFOS is safe to drink, and it’s particularly dangerous for children, pregnant women and other vulnerable groups. So, if you’re a resident or worker in Woodstock, please go to https://chng.it/29YfNJdtYc and sign our petition. Our town government needs to listen to and protect its people.
Alan M. Weber
Woodstock
A call for common sense
After reading the proposed development plans for Winston Farm, it’s seriously alarming how inappropriate Saugerties Farm, LLC’s overdevelopment proposal is. The Winston farmland lies along an ancient delta complex, it is part of the Hudson River estuary watershed and rests at the foot of the Catskill mountains. This diverse land provides essential services that support our own resilience to climate change. The forests, meadows and wetlands that comprise Winston Farm are permeable surfaces that safely collect water whereas hard impermeable surfaces, like asphalt and cement, act as barriers to the natural filtration of water soaking into the ground. Pollution from overdevelopment could greatly impair Saugerties drinking water and become carelessly damaged from contaminants entering the stream beds, wetlands and soil that sit on top of the Beaver Kill aquifer. Aquifers are active bodies of water deep under the Earth’s rocky surface. “…This water moves at different speeds, making it possible for contaminants dumped by polluters in one era to not reach people’s drinking water for years or decades, when those to blame may no longer be around.” Aquifers interact with seasonal surface waters, snow melt and rain through seepage. One acre of wetland can store 1-1.5 million gallons of flood water. The misuse of such a complex ecosystem for commercial gain in other words, is unscrupulous.
There are many ecological issues that have been completely ignored by the developers. There must be accountability, with a long-term moratorium that addresses the multitude of inexplicable problems within their proposal’s ill-informed pages. There must be continued studies and assessments from scientific experts, especially as new protections for wetlands and species are moving forward in New York State this year. It is reckless to do otherwise.
However, the best plan would be to leave the farm as it is — a sanctuary for nature within the legacy of good conservation, climate resilience and species protection. We share the Hudson Valley/Catskills area with many animal and plant communities who have endured centuries of stress and encroachment. The Hudson River Valley is one of the richest regions in New York State for biodiversity — 85% of NYS amphibian species, 73% of NYS reptile species, 87% of breeding bird species and 92% of NYS mammals. We must get things right for our planet and community. At what point do we wake up and realize that we have taken enough? It is time to imagine other ways of being with the earth for everyone, solutions that are less harmful, less destructive which could lead us to a new path forward. It could be a point of honor to recognize that we do not destroy our home. These are trying times. The alarming rate of non-human extinction worldwide is ever increasing. Our climate continues to destabilize the structures of human society. We must protect what is left. Without forests, wetlands and meadows there is less life for all. It is essential that our human footprint is kept light.
Janell O’Rourke
Saugerties
Selfish neighbors
Mean people force other people to spend money for things they don’t want — in this instance, a pool for the New Paltz High School.
$19 million dollars plus interest, plus staffing, electricity, chemicals, maintenance and MANY of us cannot afford it!
So, from the pool supporters point of view, it’s fair because we voted? Who voted? In January! For more debt, higher rent, more taxes?
Rents rise. Insurance rates rise. So what? If you can’t afford to live in New Paltz, LEAVE! That is butt ugly thinking.
Paul Raymond
New Paltz
Undocumented immigrants
The Kingston Freeman noted on January 12th that the Ulster County executive was informed by a close ally of Mr. Trump that her policies did not conform to federal guidelines regarding undocumented immigrants. She reportedly responded that this was propaganda. Mr. Trump has been clear for years that he favored deporting between ten and 20 million people who are living here illegally. He now controls all three branches of the United States government, at least three of the richest men in the world, two of the largest information distribution (and gathering) systems and the support of more than half the electorate. It is not propaganda. Texas recently instituted executive order GA-46 requiring doctors to report to the government if a patient is an illegal immigrant. Florida already has such laws — Medicare, under the guidance of Dr. Oz, will likely follow suit. Finding these people will be easy.
Many hardworking individuals living in the community and doing the construction, landscaping, food service and care of the young and elderly may soon be gone. Mr. Trump and his assemblage of powerful men have precise goals for our society, this is only one of them. No, Ms. Metzger, it is not propaganda.
Arthur DiNapoli
Woodstock
Write about weather?
Someone says to me
write about the weather.
Whether or not I write
about weather, what
good does writing do?
Does it change the weather
as quickly as an overnight?
If I say there’s flooding
in Spain, heavy snow
in unlikely Ireland and Sicily,
if I scribble a warning about
warming to the powers
that be, that we are all under
the weather — anyone hear?
Does it take all Bangladesh
under water? Lake Mead
dried up like a prune? Does
it take all our own storm-
induced toilets overflowing
to make things happen?
Patrick Hammer, Jr.
Saugerties
A glocal perspective
Have you heard of the term ‘Glocal’? Yea I hadn’t either until I began a course on sustainability. Just as it sounds, it is a blend of ‘local’ and ‘global’ and is defined as “reflecting or characterized by both local and global considerations.” It’s used when discussing how a project, government initiative, business proposal and many more ideas affects the society, environment and the economy. I share ‘glocal’ to offer another perspective on our capital budget vote this Thursday, January 16. A change in our local town can have a ripple effect that will affect the sustainability and livability of our globe and vice versa. I love swimming and want the kids to learn in a safe and comfortable school environment, so I will vote no for Propositions 2 & 3.
I won’t choose to expose them to the harmful, long-term, cancerous effects of using artificial turf. This plastic material is unsustainable. It contributes to climate change by absorbing more heat than natural grass, displacing CO2 absorbing plants, is created through energy-intensive manufacturing, and leaks microplastic into our local environment and waterways.
I see the pool as an extreme expense that will be one of many tax increases upcoming this year. I’m not willing to be the one to pay for it and never be allowed to use it. I’m happy to pay for school taxes because local students’ quality education comes full circle to benefit our world. This pool is almost purely athletic. I’m sure I’m not alone in saying “I literally can’t afford it.” From a sustainability perspective, any pool is considered harmful because of its high water use, significant energy consumption to operate water and heat pumps and potential for the chemicals (if chlorinated) to enter local ecosystems through drainage systems.
Izzy Defino
Highland
Global affairs
Turns out that “America First” means we’re ruled by a king from South Africa.
Sparrow
Phoenicia
The art of listening in a noisy world
In today’s cacophonous world, where voices clamor for attention at an unprecedented scale, listening has become a form of survival — an art that demands courage and discernment. We are surrounded by swirling words, fragmented truths and polished deceptions. It is no longer enough to hear; we must learn to listen deeply, not just with our minds but the ancient wisdom rooted in our very being.
Listening begins in the gut. It is there, in the quietest corners of our intuition, that truths often whisper. While the ego may boast of its ability to navigate life’s complexities, the gut has carried us through storms — the unrelenting upheavals of divorce, illness and personal failure. These moments, while painful, wash away the safe, familiar paths we cling to, forcing us to stand on uncharted ground. Only then do we glimpse new horizons rich with meaning.
But the question remains: whom do we trust? In a time when sociopathy has been honed into art, when polished rhetoric and emotional detachment are celebrated as political tools, our ability to discern truth has never been more critical. I’ve encountered those manipulating words with surgical precision, bending reality until it suits their needs. They are architects of false hope, their charm disarming even the most cautious among us. The damage they cause is insidious, and their skill at masking intent is only growing.
Yet, despite the noise and deception, the practice of listening can guide us. It’s a messy, imperfect process. The gut is not infallible; it falters in the face of fear and hope. But it is a compass worth following. We uncover the threads of truth by filtering the noise and questioning what we hear and how it resonates within us.
To listen is to invite doubt, introspection and sometimes discomfort. It is to stand in the storm of voices and trust in the quiet ripple within ourselves that says, “This feels real.” Listening is both ancient and modern, simple yet profound. In learning to listen — to others and ourselves — we survive and begin to truly understand.
Larry Winters
New Paltz
Tea bags, spoons and life
Recently, people have been learning about the infiltration of microplastics into our bodies by teabags, plastic containers and even certain food sources. Metal tea infusers are sold out at stores.
Buying tea infusers will not save us from the all-encompassing pollution by the plastic and fossil fuel industry. Already the big banks have marched away from the net zero alliance. Lawsuits are lining up to open federal lands to oil drilling.
We need to change as society. We need to stop letting the oil industry dictate how we live our lives. It is time for us, we humans, to cut off our addiction to fossil fuels.
Everyone knows the drill: drive less, fly less, carpool, divest from the big banks. Everyone knows to buy local, stay local, vacation local and protect our precious environment from wanton development. Are we following this advice? Not really.
Let us make our daily living free from infiltration of plastic by stop using it. Let us make our planet safe for the next generation by using alternative energy sources.
Let us cherish our local habitat by nurturing it and taking care of it by keeping new development within walkable hubs.
Do not stop at teabags, keep going! Change your life by embracing a new philosophy of living, start by looking at the car full of dirty, smelly oil that permeates our air, our streams and our environment that is the real tea bag that needs to be tossed.
It is time to turn over a new leaf for a better tomorrow: live life free of fossil fuel pollution by following the drill!
Laurie Felber
Woodstock
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