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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Is it just me or does it seem really stupid:
To declare war on fraud waste and abuse then make your first battle the firing of all the inspectors general whose mission was to address fraud waste and abuse. Then fraudulently set up a billionaire donator in a (non) position devoid of oversight and with apparently unchecked power to shift resources wherever he sees fit.
To declare the roaring economy a total failure, promise to fix it, then immediately trash it completely.
To declare rampant crime public enemy number one, then pull all your crime-fighting resources away from enforcement and sic them on the portion of society that is least likely to commit crimes — immigrants.
To declare the guiding principle Make America Great Again, then immediately make America the laughing stock of the entire world as you trash relationships with other countries in all spheres — trade, military, diplomacy, disaster relief, humanitarian programs, educational programs, climate change, international security and cooperation all while embracing dictators.
Promise to put the power where it belongs — in the states, then cut off funding for state run/federally funded programs.
Complain that our schools aren’t teaching, then eliminate the department with the only mission of helping schools teach.
Promise a stronger military, then immediately start restricting who can serve and how they can serve.
Promise better care of veterans, then slash a huge portion of the already stretched Veterans Administration.
Threaten wars with Mexico, Panama, Canada and Greenland, all traditionally strong allies, because … well just because you can.
Complain about censorship of the right, then do all in your power to shut down independent journalism including the Voice of America.
Doing all the above in the name of protecting the Constitution of the United States of America while apparently never having read it.
Mauriac Cunningham
Saugerties
Another biased HV1 article
The March 26th edition of HV1 printed a biased and misinformed article titled “Call for action.” The author states the Trump administration and Congress have attempted to “curtail” special LBGT rights. Gender-confused people need compassion and help, but it only harms to force others to comply with what some people call LGBT+ rights.
One of these is the “right” to choose the bathroom or locker room you feel you identify with. There are many problems with this “right.” The current administration wants to eliminate this. They see it as protecting women and girls from sharing private spaces with biological males, not anti-trans. This also applies to women’s sports. The author says it’s a “small number” of trans athletes in this country. They steal championships from females. Due to superior strength, they injure women. In high school competitions, they displace girls from sports scholarships. The males cheating in these sports have the support of few vocal activists and media (I repeat myself) and truly believe what they are told. Is it all right to ruin a “small number” of women’s sports careers so you don’t hurt someone’s feelings?
The author continues writing that the Trump administration is blocking trans individuals from using the “correct” bathroom. Until about 20 years ago, there was no confusion about what the correct bathroom is. Now we have Tampon Tim in Minnesota placing feminine hygiene products in boys school bathrooms. One of my points above is the author is biased. He uses the term “correct” like it is absolute truth. He does not cover the arguments of the people who disagree with the LGBT ideology. Of course, if you don’t agree, you are labeled a bigot.
I don’t want to come across as a hater. That’s an easy label to assign someone who sees things differently from progressives.
The finale of this one-sided article is testimony of a seventh grader who claims to be transgender. Someone wrote the kid a nice speech. I hope this child is getting counseling to determine the underlying cause for gender confusion and is not being subjected to any drugs, hormones or surgery. Eighty to ninety percent of children who express that they are in the wrong body outgrow it after puberty.
On a lighter note, I read that Trump expects the bad side effects of his tariffs should subside by the time he starts his third term. Amen!
Tom McGee
Gardiner
Beware
It is that time of the year, so unless you enjoy seeing crows feeding on dead squirrels and chipmunks or dead deer lying on the side of the road, slow your driving down.
Howard Harris
Woodstock
Choked up
After the mad king sent worldwide markets roiling with his tariff tantrums, he blamed his sudden retreat on people getting “a little bit yippy.” But the word “yippy,” used in this context, is not only insensitive and cruel, it isn’t even accurate. When someone gets a case of the “yips,” according to the Mayo Clinic, it is “a state of nervous tension affecting an athlete (such as a golfer) in the performance of a crucial action.” Who wouldn’t be nervous watching the stock market crash and our life savings disappear in a matter of days?
Most of us don’t live in palaces with private golf courses. But it was not just the threat of loss that made us nervous, it was knowing that we were not in control of the so-called “crucial action.” We were not the ones imposing punishing tariffs. Perhaps the mad king was, in his very big brain, thinking of a now debunked theory that the yips are always caused by performance anxiety. In other words, it was our fault he couldn’t go through with his master plan (the one that AI allegedly generated) because we, the citizens of this country he was elected to serve, choked up. Damn right we did.
Charlotte Adamis
Kingston
I will stand for America
Amid the onslaught of terrible news, two items stand out this week:
First, the masked Muskite bandits are moving to cancel immigrants’ lawfully obtained Social Security numbers to pressure them to “self-deport.” Doesn’t the very term fill you with revulsion? Revocation of this critical piece of American identity will make it impossible for them to function in American society; ergo, they will have to leave. A former commissioner of the Social Security administration says that “it’s tantamount to financial murder.” The proposal is a true assault on conscience.
According to the American Immigration Council, immigrant households paid $579.1 billion in total taxes in 2022. Our society thrives because of these hardworking people. Tax dollars from these men and women are paying for services we all benefit from. I ask Hudson Valley farmers whose farms sport Trump signs: who’s going to pick their apples once these good people are driven out?
Once the Muskites learn they can do this with impunity, everyone voicing an unpopular opinion will be in danger of similar revocation, including native-born Americans who have nowhere to self-deport to. Don’t scoff at this idea. The decapitation of the nation’s military and intelligentsia was thought to be impossible. In fact, it was unthinkable — until it began to happen.
Second, the IRS is being forced to collude with ICE by providing ICE with confidential tax information to track down people they wish to deport. Several top IRS officials have resigned because they do have a conscience. Tax information is maintained with the strictest standards of secrecy. You’re honest about your income and the government maintains your confidentiality. Don’t think it can’t happen to you, too, if you fall afoul of the scoundrels.
WNYC’s Brian Lehrer last week interviewed Senator Cory Booker, who is now one of my personal heroes. Senator Booker told Brian, “At the end of the day, the only way we’ll stop [Trump] is by standing up. If we do nothing, nothing will change. But if we do something, if we draw the line here, I promise you, if more and more people stand like that, Donald Trump will not win. We will push back, and we will liberate the very ideals of academic freedom [and] freedom of speech … That is who we are, we are defiant against the ideals of authoritarianism, as we were at the founding of our country, as civil rights leaders, as suffrage leaders, as labor leaders … This is a moment in America where we need more Americans to stand up and say, no, enough is enough, I will stand for America.”
There will be more Hands-Off demonstrations. Will you be there?
William Weinstein
New Paltz
Another option is needed
While I really appreciate all the work the Woodstock Youth Center Task Force has done, I have an interest since I had brought in the builder of the current skateboard park that needs to be replaced. It’s for the task force to approach Les Walker and Associates to create an option two for our town and community to be created and considered upon.
Les’ creation of the community center and other projects really are characteristic and tasteful to Woodstock, he might be able to work with a larger community group of people who are concerned about taxes/costs and take into consideration the love of open space — the realistic stuff like maintenance costs that seem to be absent from these plans A, B and ABC that the one architect has come up with.
Just a thought. I mean Ben and his gang are pitching just one major project that has stages of development that is a real gamble and isn’t eligible for the grant he mentioned earlier really.
Bring in another architect to make a view of our youth centre and skateboard park, move the garden, walking trails and do we really need a new senior center? That is such a crock! You can have sewing group in the community centre now and writing group and yoga and conversation — you need more programs that’s all. I know what is going on. Bring in Les or something else.
Stacy F. Hager
Woodstock
Support Chelsea Villalba for Ward 1 alderwoman
I can only speak for myself. I write to make a full throated endorsement for Chelsea Villalba’s bid for Ward 1 alderwoman. With all the appreciation and respect I have for her opponent, I argue this position after deep consideration.
Before I even learned Chelsea’s name, I knew her voice as one that belonged to one of the most inspirational leaders I’ve ever heard. I knew her voice from three-minute intervals of public comment at city hall, calling for unity behind the city’s position against the abhorrent level of violence on the global stage. I believe Chelsea’s voice as a bilingual, young woman of color, is one that will be a valuable addition to the common council. She is currently a licensed master social worker at the Children’s Home of Poughkeepsie. Her priorities include the housing crisis and traffic safety. Chelsea has agreed to let me join her campaign as election campaign manager, and I feel I would have come to the hard decision to help elevate her voice to elected service, regardless of what ward she sought to represent.
When voters head to the polls all throughout this year (school board May 20, primary June 24 and general November 4), I urge everyone to remember that if nothing changes, nothing changes. Remember Chelsea Villalba for Ward 1.
Anthony Fitzpatrick
Port Ewen
Four cats
I am 70
And my four Cats assure me
That I will survive Trump’s assault on all the services America depends on
But my cats are often wrong
Wolf Bohm
Gardiner
A thoughtful perspective
I’m an armchair philosopher; I’ve studied every theory about armchairs.
Sparrow
Phoenicia
Hate has no home here
One the cover of HV1 dated April 9, 2025 (Vol. 6 No. 14), was a picture of a man holding a very large sign: “I HATE TRUMP.” “Hate” — on any level; for any reason 00 has no home in Woodstock. I did not attend this rally, and after seeing this sign, I’m very glad I did not.
Path Walker
Woodstock
Premature panic
The future of the decisions being made by the Trump administration, along with their benefits or consequences, are still in the early stages and very much unknown at this point in time. However, all of our beloved lefty writers are already preparing the funeral arrangements for our country. It’s not so much that they have little hope but much more that they’re counting on and very much hoping for a total implosion so that they can all parrot their “I told you so’s,” ad nauseam.
With Bible verses as “backup confirmation,” Steve Romine has Trump portrayed as the anti-Christ who will satanically orchestrate this implosion.
The left has already completely condemned DOGE as dangerous, useless, and out of bounds/control with all its actions. And they voiced these verbal assassinations with their recent nationwide “Hands Off” demonstrations. Hands off what?
Already DOGE has uncovered hundreds of billions of dollars in waste, fraud and abuse which the Democrats and “legacy” media don’t want to acknowledge or discuss — total silence! How’s this for the tip of the iceberg: $66 billion for free housing, cars, etc. for illegals, $45 billion for DEI scholarships in Burma, $8 million for making mice transgender, $3.5 million for a consultant’s contract to monitor “lavish fish.” Around 2,000,000 illegals with inappropriately acquired SSN numbers allowing them unjustifiable benefits and even the “right” to vote. Unemployment benefits to people not even born yet. Fraud perpetrated by other fraudulent recipients of Social Security and Welfare benefits. So, who exactly is getting all these undeserved payments???
Our national debt was $226 billion in 1955. In 2005, it was nearly $8 trillion. In just 20 years, it’s increased to the current $36 trillion. Over the decades, BOTH political parties have shown next to no concern for the out-of-control spending. In the past 20 years, presidents from both parties have talked a good game while saying they were aware of these significant increases, but did nothing to get it under control.
Now, we have a president who’s actually doing something about the corruption and waste, and the Democrats are having a meltdown. These same Democrats suddenly have a problem with Trump addressing exactly what they claimed they were going to take care of. Is this saying that the Democrats don’t care where their constituent’s taxpayer dollars are going?
Considering all the abuses that have been uncovered thus far, including the most absurd as described previously, and how we’ve been disproportionately abused on tariffs for decades, it’s about time someone realizes that we taxpayers are NOT the world’s ATM.
John N. Butz
Modena
Feedback on Woodstock-related articles
There were two Woodstock-related articles in last week’s edition that caught my eye. One was “Spike in PFOS in Woodstock’s water supply.” In it, there were references to household cleaners, clothing and non-stick cookware. There was also the unattributed sentence, “The county still thinks that the septic systems in the Bearsville Flats are the most likely source.” When I asked the author, Nick Henderson, where this perspective was coming from, his response was, “The State DOH folks involved in DWSP2 are targeting septic systems and I have someone from county echoing that.”
So, the premise that the septic systems are “the most likely source” of our contamination seems to stem more from a generalized statewide theory than an evaluation of the various potential culprits specific to Woodstock. It’s certainly true that PFOS and PFOA, the latter of which has appeared for the first time in Woodstock’s water, come from multiple sources. But here’s my issue. At first, Supervisor McKenna wanted to point the finger at a solvent used in one of the wells. Then, we started hearing a lot about household supplies from people in his circle. Now, it’s the septic systems. What nobody seems to want to talk about is the one potential source which contains materials that came from a Karolys site in Saugerties that tested positive for the same toxic substances that are now contaminating our water supply, and has sat over our aquifer for five years now, namely the Shady dump. Five hydrogeologists warned the town years ago that it wasn’t a matter of if, but when the toxic materials that remained after the supervisor’s bogus and illegal alleged remediation (“Plan E”) would leach into our water supply, and they were ignored. The supervisor’s continued refusal to put the Shady dump on the town board’s agenda, along with councilmember Courtis and Erin Moran censoring any mention of Shady at their “water town hall,” could well be a way of saving the supervisor from at least serious embarrassment, if not charges of negligence, should the link between the dump and the current contamination of our drinking water be established.
And then we have, “It’s very frustrating,” an article about the delays in the disciplinary hearing of the police officer multiply accused of racial and sexual harassment. The attorneys for Officer Sinagra have filed a lawsuit to stop the hearing based on a “town law” that the town was required to hold such a hearing within 60 days. Instead, it’s been years. Why did it take so long, especially since Supervisor McKenna had appointed himself as investigator? It seems to me that what ties these two stories together is a continued pattern by the supervisor and his loyalists on the town board and town committees of kicking problems down the road, presumably in the hopes that they will either disappear or become a problem for someone else. It was done with the Shady dump. It appears to have been done with the Sinagra case. It was done regarding human rights. It’s being done through the town board’s failure to authorize real, independent source tracing of the contamination. And since we’ve now seen that while one pumphouse has two wells that are dangerously contaminated, the other, containing five wells, has shown no such detections, shouldn’t the board immediately authorize a study of the feasibility of switching over our water supply to the safe one? Or, however commendable the work of the DWSP2 may be, will we have to wait a typically long time for the completion of their studies, and even longer for any implementation, while we continue to ingest carcinogenic chemicals?
Alan M. Weber
Woodstock
A town without pity
If you don’t already know their names, Google Mahmoud Khalil, Yunseo Chung, Rumeysa Ozturk, Kilmar Abrego Garcia and Andry Hernandez Romero. They are among the countless and accruing victims of Trump’s war on immigrants — such as the 238 Venezuelans, many or most of them quite possibly innocent of their Trump-labeled descriptions as “terrorists,” deported without due process and still detained in what has been described as a “hellish” prison in El Salvador.
Three of those named above are students who protested — in acts of conscience, not crimes — the ongoing slaughter in Gaza. Another is not a protester, but gay. A fifth was arrested in error and, despite court orders that the administration bring him back home, continues to languish in a Salvadoran prison as I write this.
This new America is a town without pity. Compassion is not the only virtue our new leaders lack, but its absence alone would have been enough to make living in this country the daily emotional tightrope it is, with some feeling they could be thrown off and sent spinning by just one new outrage, one more totalitarian maneuver, with our landing spots places like terror or numbness.
Or conviction. And therein lies our salvation.
In “The Second Coming” (Google the poem, too), Yeats refers to a “rough beast” with “a gaze blank and pitiless,” “its hour come round at last.” As Yeats saw it in 1919, “The best lack all conviction.”
The beast’s hour has indeed come round, but so has ours. What I saw in person on Saturday, April 5, and then online convinced me of our conviction. Hundreds of us took to the streets in my town, and many, many thousands did the same across the country, in towns and cities, at maybe 1,500 rallies in all.
If you didn’t rally, Google those names and the poem and maybe next time you will. Unfortunately, this administration will give us many more opportunities to prove we don’t “lack all conviction.”
Tom Cherwin
Saugerties
As All Warms
We ask the earth to fight,
ask the leaves, just beginning,
not to fade and fall too soon.
Petals not to thirst, stems
not to droop. All varieties
of rose, cosmos, snowballs,
sweet pea — we ask: refuse
to disappear so soon. Stay
defiant, vibrant. Show us all,
human or not, there is a way:
to a blissful, ever-colorful,
extended season of peace.
Patrick Hammer, Jr.
Saugerties
We all can do better
Must everything be used to score political points? Must our schools, teachers and children become political fodder? Must it be “everything goes” in order to win elections? It certainly seems like Zach Horton and the Saugerties Republican Party think so.
A school administrator inadvertently passed along an announcement about the April 5th “Hands Off” rally in Saugerties to a Saugerties Central School District union rep. When he realized how this could be construed, the administrator publicly apologized for his faux pas.
In any normal situation, the apology would be accepted and everyone would move on. But not with the Saugerties Republican Party involved. They raised the roof, even investing money to boost their grievances on social media. And town board member Horton posted it on his official Facebook page. Then they contacted the far-right, homophobic hate mongering Libs of TikTok to alert them to this “outrage.” Nothing like seeing a group that has harassed teachers, libraries, medical providers, children’s hospitals, mental health care workers and LGBTQ youth posting on X about a “Huge Controversy at Saugerties Central School District” and then seeing that reposted by a Saugerties Republican Committee member.
Full disclosure, I am entrenched in Democratic politics. But for me there are some things that are off limits in making political points, especially schools, teachers and schoolchildren. During this time when school districts and teachers are battling increasing stress, diminishing resources, and a barrage of attacks, can’t we be supportive instead of adding to the pressure?
Please let’s contribute to a safe and caring learning environment for our children. Mistakes are made. But instead of running to social media, the press, or outside hate groups, let’s pick up the phone and speak directly to the superintendent, the board of education, principals or teachers. In these increasingly cruel political times, let’s turn down the temperature and be role models of decency. I know we all can do better.
Christine Dinsmore
Saugerties
Graceful aging: Still, life
My wife brings home a store bouquet of yellow daffodils. She puts them in a shapely vase and sets it on the counter by our kitchen table. Slowly they open, offering their light. Some days later they begin to wilt: their stems bending, the leaves drooping and the blossoms closing upon themselves. Still, the buttery yellow shines. Just this morning we bring them to the table by the window where the whole array receives the natural light.
My wife remembers her artist friend, Rita, who makes a practice of painting flowers past their prime. She takes a photo of our bouquet and sends it to her, who responds with a note that she began still life painting years ago when her mother was dying. I picture Rita, sitting in the room where flowers fade on a windowsill.
Sharing the story with me, my wife proposes that perhaps she might spend more time looking at beauty in its decline rather than missing its full-blown state. This remark resonates with me. I think I have always been more attracted to autumn than to spring. True, spring never fails to dazzle, but autumn has the colors of a slow farewell.
All this brings to mind a story that was told recently in our graceful aging group. A woman tells of the pleasure she has always taken in the light of early evening, when the sky is still luminous. But when the first stars appear, she turns away, feeling the gloom of coming night. However, recently, despite the chill that is an inevitable part of early spring, she and her husband bundled up and lingered on their porch as twilight turned to mauve, and turquoise deepened into dark. And she reflected that perhaps there was something in this time of early night that has some pleasure she had not been ready for before.
Perhaps it is part of the gift, the grace in aging, to attune us to what is poignant and beautiful in the ending of things.
Still, life.
Graceful Aging meets at the Elting Library in New Paltz on the first and third Wednesday of the month from 10:30-noon. You are welcome to check it out.
Peter Pitzele
New Paltz
Increases by % and dollars
Sometimes looking only at percent changes does not tell the whole story. Central Hudson, New Paltz governments and New Paltz water rates have all been increased during the last few years. Below we compare rate increases and the dollar impacts.
Please consider the following assumptions and notes used for the comparisons:
• Assessed property value of $325,000
• (Tax rate * assessed property value) divided by $1,000 = tax amount
• Households use 88.9 gallons of water per day
• Households use 1,000 kWH per month
• Water rates were raised in 2012, and not again until June 2022. The village board agreed to another rate increase effective 9/1/2024.
• Central Hudson delivery costs do not include the cost of energy generation; which are included in CH bills but are separate and in addition.
TOWN HIGHWAY TWO, (town outside village for DB and DA Funds)
2021 rate: 2.041287; 2025 rate: 2.672898; % change: + 31%, annual cost: $663 for 2021, increased to $816 for 2025, (up $153)
TOWN HIGHWAY ONE, (village’s proportional share from DA Fund)
2021 rate: 0.138979; 2025 rate: 0.349289; % change: + 151%; annual cost: $45 for 2021, increased to $59 for 2025, (up $14)
TOWN GENERAL FUND (Library, B Fund and A Fund — town outside village)
2021 rate: 7.388821; 2025 rate: 8.983825; % change: + 22%; annual cost: $2,401 for 2021, increased to $2,773 for 2025, (up $372)
TOWN GENERAL FUND (Library and A Fund — village only)
2021 rate: 7.168329; 2025 rate: 8.983825; % change: + 25%; annual cost: $2,330 for 2021, increased to $2,773 for 2025, (up $443)
TOWN FIRE (town outside village)
2021 rate: 0.495935; 2025 rate: 0.705479; % change: + 42%; annual cost: $161 for 2021, increased to $229 for 2025,(up $68)
VILLAGE FIRE (village only)
2021 rate: n/a (paid for in village general fund); 2025 rate: n/a (paid for in village general fund)
VILLAGE GENERAL FUND (village only)
2021 rate: 4.912; 2025 rate: 4.912; % change: 0%; annual cost: $1,596 for 2021 AND 2025
WATER (village only)
2012 – 2022 rate: $0.0047 per gallon (same rate for 10 years); since 9/2024 rate: $0.0073 per gallon; % change: 57%; annual cost: $50 before 2022, increased to $78 after 9/2024, (up $28)
WATER (town outside the village districts)
2012 – 2022 rate: $0.0091 per gallon; since 9/2024 rate: $0.0143 per gallon; % change: 57%; annual cost: $98 before 2022, increased to $153 after 9/2024, (up $55)
CENTRAL HUDSON (electricity delivery, excludes cost of energy generation)
March 2020 delivery service charge: $0.08349 per kWh; March 2025 delivery service charge: $0.12777 per kWh; % change: + 53% increase; gross annual cost: $1,241 for 2020, increased to $1,890 for 2025, (up $649)
Please do not hesitate to call or email with any questions.
Mayor Tim Rogers
New Paltz
Time to celebrate the earth in all its glory
Earth Day has been around since 1970 and the Earth Day fair in New Paltz has been going strong since 2003. It’s a time to celebrate the earth in all its glory. It will continue again this year at our usual 92 Huguenot Street hangout, on Saturday, April 26, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., on the grounds of the Reformed Church of New Paltz. It’s a free rain or shine event.
The fair takes on an old-fashioned church picnic, family friendly vibe with fun activities for kids, delicious mostly vegan food, really great music and good conversation with old and new friends. United Nation flags will fly over Huguenot Street, offering a visual treat and a reminder that we are all connected.
The Earth Day fair attempts to address the serious issue of climate change in a supportive environment. It affirms that, yes, there really is a problem and it’s serious. Yet there are things we can do. Friendly climate activists from many environmental organizations will be available at tables with information, education and advocacy options to consider. Join the effort, join the fun!
See you at the fair!
Jim O’Dowd
New Paltz
A push for the New York Health Act
If evil invaders came from outer space to destroy Medicaid and Medicare, all might not be lost. The New York Health Act provides health care coverage for all New Yorkers. It is funded through a sliding scale payroll tax. All but the very rich would pay less than they do now for more things covered. For example, it would cover eyeglasses and hearing aids, as well some senior care expenses. It is a win, win situation but our legislatures need a gentle push, or maybe a shove, to pass it. Call your NY State representatives and give them a push. Mine are Brendon Maher 845-379-5001 and Peter Oberacker 518-455-3131. Yours might be Michelle Hinchey 845-331-3810 and Sarahana Shrestha 845-338-9610.
Hal Chorny
Gardiner
Supporting LGBTQ+ protective laws/bills
I am writing to you to discuss the importance of sharing and urging your readers to stay informed and take action on new bills that protect LGBTQ+ citizens. Following Trump’s election, an influx of anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric has swept the nation and it is imperative that everyone take action to counteract the discrimination and stigma.
A new bill has been introduced in New York that supports transgender healthcare access. As a student of SUNY New Paltz, I am surrounded by many transgender and LGBTQ+ peers who depend on proper healthcare to not only maintain their current health, but ensure safety in the future. The current state of America is fostering an unsafe and insecure space for LGBTQ+ individuals, especially youth. The importance of trained and educated healthcare providers is more apparent than ever. Transgender individuals depend on specific medications and gender-affirming care and the roadblocks set in place with our current administration are jeopardizing the health of millions. Not only will this bill ensure to protect healthcare for trans people, but it will push to enact further protective measures for the entire LGBTQ+ community. School curriculums are being reworked to prohibit the discussion of gender identity and sexual orientation as well as schools and administrations refusal to use the pronouns of an individual if they do not align with their biological sex at birth. Overall, the current state of our administration and new proposed bills in nearly every state is creating a harmful and dangerous environment for LGBTQ+ Americans.
I urge readers to stay informed of any current anti-LGBTQ+ bills being brought forward in not only New York, but also surrounding states. Email and call your local legislators and urge them to take action in support of protective bills or vote against anti-LGBTQ+ proposals.
Stella Abuauad
SUNY New Paltz
We will be well served by having Tim Rogers lead the new, merged town
This a letter of recommendation for two different yet related items.
First, I wholeheartedly support the dissolution of the village status for the Village of New Paltz and the merging of the current town and village of New Paltz into one entity. I have lived in the village for nearly 20 years and watched the growth and difficulties of maintaining two separate yet interdependent communities. The benefits of merging outweigh the disadvantages of running two separate systems.
Second, I recommend Tim Rogers for the position of supervisor of a newly merged Town of New Paltz. I find him to be dedicated to the improvement of the village, responsible with my tax dollars and skilled in the management of the village government.
I worked with Mayor Rogers for many years during my tenure on the planning board and board of appeals for the Village of New Paltz. He was easy to work with and respected the independence of the board even when it conflicted with his opinions.
Mayor Rogers has a clear vision for the village and the greater town. I think we would be well served by having him lead the new, merged town.
John Litton
New Paltz
Loud outdoor amplification in Woodstock
Subject to confirmation at the time of this letter’s publication, the public hearing on changes to Woodstock’s noise ordinance will be re-opened on Tuesday, April 22.
These changes could be made permanent immediately by a final same-day vote if the board is satisfied that this second hearing has given them a sufficient view of public opinion on the issue.
This will have enormous consequences.
The new ordinance has a single purpose: to officialize and generalize the use of invasive outdoor amplification for commercial entertainment, for the first time in Woodstock’s entire history.
If passed with the terms proposed, it will transform forever the historic character of our town and our public commons, cause extraordinary damage to some of your fellow citizens and end the private rights to peaceful enjoyment of home that had been legally protected in our artist community for over five decades.
This was supposed to be a temporary allowance for Covid emergency.
Today, the devastation to people’s lives and homes is about to become law.
Until now, noise victims had tried to keep this battle for our stolen residential rights out of the noise of town politics and away from the dangerous shallowness of social media.
However, we have learned that our losses were only possible because of misuses and stunning breaches of permits and process. We cannot stay silent anymore.
The rule of law must apply to all, and all must be held accountable.
With the imminent prospect of permanent injury to our homes and our laws, we will demand a public accountability at last for these findings, as we have been totally betrayed by the town processes that we had been urged to trust.
To understand what really happened, please visit the website keepwoodstockpeaceful.org.
Claire Keith
Woodstock
The rescue squad counts on your support
New Paltz has an exemplary rescue squad. The quality of service, the level of service (basic life support and advanced life support), and the response time they provide are valuable essential services available to all New Paltz residents. This is not a matter of luck — it is the result of the vision, planning and persistence of our rescue squad leaders and the significant support of our taxpayers.
While our squad has always provided mutual aid to our neighbors whenever possible, in the last few years they have developed a business plan for a more formal and equitable agreement to share services and costs with the Town of Lloyd, and now Gardiner, while maintaining the expected level of service and response time. Our rescue squad has been able to consistently respond to 95% or more of calls received and in a matter of minutes, and has been identified by Ulster County as a potential anchor agency to serve as a critical response hub.
Of course, NPRS is caught in the same upward spiral of costs that we are all experiencing. Maintaining and replacing the technology and equipment and the necessary highly trained and experienced staff is not a trivial cost. But just as all New Paltz relies on the rescue squad to be there when we most need them, so the rescue squad depends on all of us to be there for them. Thanks to all New Paltz taxpayers, we do just that. In fact the rescue squad was the only department that had no reduction to their requested budget for 2025.
A big thank you to New Paltz taxpayers for the support our rescue squad counts on.
Amanda Gotto, Supervisor
Town of New Paltz
April is “JAZZY JAZZ” Month
I hear the hurry down to Bleecker Street,
North Beach where Daddy-O’s gather ‘round,
A java junkie’s pulse,
a steady beat,
Vintage beatnik souls in bop profound.
Nimble moves,
jazz players boast,
Beat generation artists play.
Colors felt from coast to coast,
music and poetry’s grand ballet.
They quench their thirst with music and rhyme,
Wistful windblown notes massage the ear,
Their cravings are strong,
for walls to climb,
To break and bust through without fear.
Lend me your ear,
let rhythms flow,
Relaxed tempos and lighter tones,
Jazzy musical poems, a melodic show,
in the nimbleness that braggarts own.
Beat generation’s colors displayed,
a swagger that artists popularize.
God’s spoken word through tunes replayed,
dear jazz angels, perfect, on cloudless skies.
Emotional sounds like stars flying out tips of thumbs up high,
higher forces laid back- yet, sky-high they soar n fly –
yes, artists of jazz beats, shape waves of high fidelity love untold.
sound trips o’ crazy kewl –maddening finger snaps; all purely gold.
Neil Jarmel
West Hurley
Benefits under attack
After my last letter in the paper, I was asked: “If the GOP is so keen on eliminating the benefits of FDR’s and LBJ’s administration, why did the GOP vote for FDR’s socialistic and liberal innovations in the first place and now want to get rid of them?” This was not understood by this person.
In a previous letter, I mentioned that it was the Supreme Court Act of 1886, Santa Fe County v. Southern Pacific Railroad, which created the corporation as a personhood, which took the GOP out of the tax regulatory of the states. From this date of 1886-1933, there were seven GOP presidents and two Democratic presidents. From this time up until the first term of FDR, the GOP party paid no tax funds to the states for development of their state programs. Railroad entrepreneurs, Harriman and Rockefeller, paid no taxes to the states even though their railroad lines were interstate! Those seven GOP presidents were: Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Warren, G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover. This was the heyday of the GOP. It was everyman for himself, grab, grab, grab, business attitude only that led directly to the Great Depression of the late 1920s and early 1930s.
Hoover, the last of the those seven POTUS’s, did very little to address the depression calamities in his first term. It was feared if he was elected a second time, it would be the same. Therefore, they supported FDR 81%, along with the Democratic Party’s 87%. From this time until now, 92 years, it has been Democratic and Republican POTUS’s with Congress that has been the status quo, although with much grumbling from the GOP.
That is, up until now. One must understand that Trump, as mentioned different times, is the wrecking ball, the terminator, the disruptor. The GOP support him to a man and woman for the main reason, he is a dream come through. Someone who could care less about the damage he is doing. Someone who will cave in the socialistic, liberal administration of the past 92 years. When I hear of GOP representatives attending town halls and getting dragged across the coals because of their stance with Trump, at first I did not understand their reticence in not standing up to Trump? It is not Trump; it is the party, the GOP Party. It is corporate America trying to claim the glory days of rampant capitalism. This is what/who is behind the scenes.
Don’t be misled by the rhetoric that Social Security won’t be bothered. All this smoke screen, Gulf of America, Canada, the 51st state, Greenland, tariffs are designed to focus one’s attention away from the attack on the benefit state, to the outrageous attacks on long-established and accepted trends. The goal is and has always been the elimination of the benefit state. These are Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Obamacare, health care. It will not be overnight. Rather, it will be a strangling effect — Social Security offices being closed, employees laid off, postal workers being laid off, mail not delivered (SS checks), until days later. etc. In other words, a starvation mode of elimination. The theme is, in order to fix it, break it.
Robert LaPolt
New Paltz
New Paltz High School production of Big Fish
Years ago, I had the opportunity to see Big Fish on Broadway. I was devastated when it closed. I grabbed my mom, sisters, aunt and best friends and made sure we all saw it one last time before it closed. I never thought I would get to see it again. When I heard that New Paltz High School was performing this beautiful show, I was wondering how a high school would pull everything off. Well, congratulations to the cast, crew and pit on not only pulling it off, but doing it better than what I saw on Broadway.
Every cast needs a director with a vision; Nancy Owen’s vision was superb. Nafi Diedhou had everyone in tears with “I Don’t Need a Roof,” Sam DePaolo’s relationship with his wife and both versions of his son was so heartwarming. Finn Lochard and Lily Nocito had beautiful chemistry during “Time Stops.” Watching JP Fabella in the last moments onstage at his father’s side made me remember losing my own father. And these are all teenagers! Congratulations to the cast and crew of Big Fish!!
Janna Trembley
Highland
Tears (a circle that doesn’t close)
He never used to cry — not really — not unless someone died or a door slammed shut that wasn’t supposed to. But these days, tears arrive like uninvited guests — quiet, barefoot, slipping in during the in-between moments, not with fanfare but with presence.
Sometimes, they catch him in the middle of a story, the final word landing like a stone dropped into calm waters. Other times, a shift in someone’s voice — softened, cracked open — pulls them forward like a tide he can’t resist.
Truth does it, too. Not loud or triumphant truths, but whispered ones, almost embarrassed to be heard. Or honor — when it reveals itself. Not the performative kind, but the sort that quietly does what’s right when nobody is watching. That cracks him wide open.
And forgiveness. Forgiveness, especially when it’s undeserved. That’s when something inside him buckles, like a knee worn from too many battles.
He remembers that day — the one everyone saw — when the screen showed a man with a badge pressing a knee into another man’s neck, black and breathing his last breath before the world’s eyes. The tears he shed then weren’t his alone. They felt ancestral, tidal — one drop in an ocean of mourning rising long before that broadcast.
That tear didn’t ask permission. It broke loose like it had somewhere important to be.
Perhaps that’s the truth of tears — they’re not his to keep. They pass through him. Carriers. Messengers. Saying what words cannot, especially in a world that rushes past grief as if it were just an ad break. People bury their sorrows before the casket is even closed, swiping screens before the ache settles in.
Sometimes, he thinks tears are time travelers, pulling memories into the present and allowing the past to leak through. They’re a form of resistance — against numbness, against forgetting, a defiant softening in a world that hardens too quickly.
He has lived long enough to trust his tears more than his opinions. They are neither logical nor convenient, but they never lie.
And maybe each tear shed — over a photograph, a story, a voice breaking mid-sentence — is part of the same tear he didn’t cry long ago. For the war. For the dead. For the boy he once was, who didn’t know how deeply silence could cut.
So here he is, an older man, watching the world spin too swiftly. Yet, he’s suddenly stopped — by a breeze, a bird, a broken voice — and that old, familiar sting returns.
One tear, then another.
Each a tiny offering to that vast ocean. Looking closely, one may see the ripple circle returning to where it all began.
Closing Reflection: This isn’t about sentimentality; it’s about survival. About slow permission to feel what had to be buried just to keep going. Each tear now is a reckoning, communion with every moment not allowed to settle and mourn. This isn’t closure. It’s a door left ajar, a space for the heart to return whenever it stirs unseen.
Larry Winters
New Paltz
How to recognize fascism
In 8th grade, I learned how to recognize fascism: extreme nationalism, led by a charismatic cult of personality leader who, scapegoats, has territorial ambitions, repeats lies until believed, represses the press as enemies of the people. My teacher must’ve been very passionate for that lesson to stick with me all these years. Today, some would label and scapegoat him as a leftist radical antifa. Back then, people like him were called WW2 veterans.
Fascists like Mussolini, Hitler, Sadam Hussein, etc. were very popular with a significant portion of the population and still are with some. Followers’ ‘uniforms’ change, black shirts, brown shirts, armbands, etc. I wonder what the current ‘uniform’ is? No denying dictator/monarchy is the most efficient form of government. I guess that’s why some people are so enamored of those dead fascists and more recently Putin, Kim Jong Un, etc. Many don’t recognize fascism, even when living under it. Citizens are fed constant simplistic propaganda by the ‘favored press’, scapegoating everybody else, except the rulers.
Disclaimer, I’m a lifelong registrant of a party that apparently no longer exists. Republicans believed in democracy, constitution, rule of law, free press, free trade, etc. Many now, only believe their leader. Followers believe, Ukraine started the Russian invasion. Followers believe, annexing countries is a just cause. Followers believe, January 6 was a day of love. Followers believe, judges, juries, prosecutors are crooked. Followers believe, banning AP and Reuters from the oval office for printing Gulf of Mexico is justice. Followers believe, Canada is screwing us and importing massive amounts of fentanyl/immigrants. Followers believe, Haitians eat pets, etc. etc. etc. If ‘Republican’ politicians don’t believe (publicly) the leader, they get canceled. That’s how fascism works, when the emperor has no clothes, you repeat whatever he wants to hear, or get punished.
Dock Shuter
Glasco
Join the family! 
