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Karma, hash and chai
It’s bad karma to describe Francis Marion Platt’s writing as hash. I think it is more akin to chai, a pleasant cup of warm spiced tea.
Alan Stout
New Paltz
A Christian nation?
The news out of Gaza could not be more tragic. The 21-month war has left 60,000+ Palestinians dead. Some 514,000 people are experiencing famine. and that number is expected to rise to 614,000 by the end of September. Approximately half the population of Gaza are children.
I recently spoke with a woman who lives in Tel Aviv. She told me she protests every week to end the governmental action in Gaza.
The bombing and the withholding of food resulting in death constitutes genocide.
The United States is supposedly a “Christian” nation and does nothing except providing more bombs to Isreal. When will the administration of our country use the tools they have in hand to pressure Israeal to stop this genocide?
Margaret Foster
Clintondale
Avoiding dank prospects
Recently there have been several stories in HV1 about the new construction at 7 Prospect Street. Residents’ central concern is the number of houses with single-room-occupancy rentals. 7 Prospect had previously been modified to contain sux single-room rentals. The current nearly doubling expansion will bring more people, an even larger parking lot, and yet more light and noise.
Not only is renting by the room potentially disruptive to the neighborhood, the arrangement does not promote community for the residents, who are typically strangers to one another and their neighbors. The profitability of renting by the room leads to landlords buying up and restructuring houses to fit in as many bedrooms as possible, leaving fewer homes available for renters and homeowners who want to be part of the community.
We propose that in one- and two-family districts, instead of allowing landlords to offer single-room-occupancy rentals, that they be required to rent by the dwelling. This would be inclusive of any arrangements of people who decide to live to together, be it a traditional family or a group of friends. The lure of profiting from single-room rentals would be eliminated, leaving more houses available for cohesive households. This practice would be in line with the mission of the code: i.e., to preserve one and two-family neighborhoods and at the same time, in the words of Mr. Souto, to promote “a community that has a real mixture of people who live in it.”
Alison Nash
Christine Marmo
June Wheeler
New Paltz
New York is not Texas
There is no quick fix for the harms that are being inflicted upon us by the cruel and corrupt Trump regime. But recently, we had a glimpse of what a post-Trumpian society could look like: A society in which principled lawmakers stand up.
It happened last Tuesday on the suxth floor of the Ulster County office building when Democrats stood up and voted to approve the funds to hire a civil-rights attorney to protect acting county clerk Taylor Bruck against a lawsuit filed against him by the Texas attorney general. Not one Republican legislator supported Bruck, even though the recommendation to hire a civil-rights attorney to defend him came from Ulster County attorney’s office.
In case our Republican legislators need reminding, New York is not Texas. In New York, we have a shield law that protects reproductive healthcare providers against efforts to impose criminal and civil liability originating from outside our state. This is the law that Bruck upheld when he refused to file a $100,000 judgment against a New Paltz doctor for mailing an abortion pill to a woman in Texas.
And whether any of our Republican legislators agree with New York’s shield law or not, and regardless of their personal opinion about a woman’s right to control her own reproductive health, including the right to abortion, they should have stood up for the law. They should have stood up for the choices our voters have made. The choices that Taylor Bruck and the Democrats are standing up for.
This November, if you have the opportunity to replace a Republican legislator with a representative who will protect and uphold the laws of our state, please do so. Nobody should vote for lawmakers who bend over backwards for every diehard who tries to prove their MAGA bona fides to a vindictive president and his fascist lapdogs.
Charlotte Adamis
Kingston
The first algorithm
I’ve lived too long in the land of endless questions. At first, it seemed a fine place to dwell — lanterns swinging over open roads, the air electric with curiosity. But questions have a way of multiplying, of weaving a maze out of what once looked like a path. The endless question is the perfect distractor: it makes movement feel like progress, when you’re just circling the same half-lit fountain, watching your reflection ripple.
In that land, every question breeds another, each one a mirror just cracked enough to keep the image shifting. You tell yourself you’re searching. You tell yourself you’re free. But the mind is busy and the soul is idle, and you’ve traded the river for a hallway of echo.
I once believed the first syllable of a question was sacred — the spark that could light the whole interior. And maybe it is, if you let the flame touch something real. But clutch it too long, and it will dominate any empty spaces or canvas you saved, leaving you with nothing but the echoing of your unanswered question.
That is why I’ve returned to imagination. Not the polite kind that serves the question, but the feral kind that ignores it. Imagination isn’t hunting for answers — it’s untethered from them entirely. It loosens the knots, unfastens the clamps, and drops me back into my body, where the senses remember their old work: speaking with wind, listening to water, reading the slow script of light on the horizon.
If I spoke in today’s jargon, I’d call it the first algorithm — coded not to solve, but to connect. The original operating system, humming in the background of all things, needs no wires, updates, or approval.
Answers, once given, begin to die. But imagination… imagination lives in the moment before speech, in the spark that leaps without asking where it will land. The tide never forgets the shore, even in the blackest midnight.
“The mind is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master.”I forget who said that. Maybe it was the wind, the river, or someone walking just ahead of me on the same path—following someone, who is following someone, all of us moving toward the place where no question is needed, because the answer is already in the air.
Larry Winters
New Paltz
Rythmic fast food
While I fast, I forget about food – I believe I can eat music.
Sparrow
Phoenicia
Trump’s hidden tax hikes
The government recently reported that income from tariffs for the first six months of 2025 was $58.5 billion more than in prior periods. Tariffs are paid by companies importing goods or services for sale in the U.S. The companies pay the tariffs but eventually pass along those costs to consumers either directly, via increased prices for imported goods, or indirectly, by switching to U.S.-made goods that cost more thanks to limited competition from imports.
How much will tariffs cost the average individual in the U.S.? If revenue from tariffs in the second half of 2025 is similar to the first half of the year, then the full-year total for tariff revenue will be $117 billion. If we divide that expected annual tariff revenue equally among every person living in the U.S. (estimated at 347.51 million), then each person will pay an extra $336.68 in increased costs for things they buy.
The average household in the U.S. consists of 2.5 persons. The median federal income tax per household is about $7000 per year. If we multiply the average tariff cost per person by 2.5, the tariff cost/household will be about $842 annually. The new tariff-related expenses borne by each household will be equivalent to a twelve percent increase in income taxes for families in the median income group.
In case you missed the deception, the increased costs to consumers will never be attributed to tax hikes but instead will be hidden within inflation. The median real household income in the US in 2023 was $80,610, so an additional $842 in tariff-related expenses will represent only about one percent of total income and may generate bit more than a one percent increase in inflation. Our politicians can blame a one percent increase in inflation on other causes, and gullible Americans will find that more acceptable than a twelve percent increase in income tax for the median-income household, even though the outcomes vis-à-vis household expenses are the same!
Those struggling to make ends meet due to increasing prices should remember to thank Republicans for enacting the largest middle-class tax hike in U.S. history via their tariff policies.
David Rosenberger
New Paltz
Our environment needs champions
Once a year, it seems, I get a green mailer touting state senator Michelle Hinchey for “Protecting Our Environment.” Inside are listed bills and budget items she supported. Bravo! I guess. I’d need a government technocrat to explain what this stuff is really about. Also, a photo of her handing out a huge government check for an environmental field station in Greene County. Bravo for real, though I’d like to believe that our legislators do more that go around handing out checks.
Outside on the back cover is full page photo of senator Hinchey speaking at a rally on what’s called the million-dollar staircase” inside the Albany capitol building. (I know because I was there, though I didn’t make the photo.) Behind her stands an enthusiastic crowd holding up bright orange/yellow/blue signs for the NY Heat Act, which among other things would have capped energy bills for low-income households at six oercent of their income. (Take that, Central Hudson!)
What the mailer doesn’t tell us is that the NY Heat Act didn’t pass, except for one small provision. (No, there’s still no limit on your utility bill.) With senator Hinchey’s support, the NY Heat Act did pass the state senate, but in the state assembly speaker Carl Heastie (a Democrat) refused to bring the bill up for a vote, letting it die for the third year in a row. In fact, he ignored almost every big environmental bill passed by the senate.
And he’s not alone. Governor Hochul is busy abandoning her very own cap-and-invest plan to attack global warming in favor of her shiny new dream of building a nuclear power plant upstate by 2040.
Senator Hinchey, I know that good party Democrats don’t attack other Democrats, but a photo-op photo on your “Protecting Our Environment” mailer isn’t good enough. We need you to step up. We need you to speak truth to power.
Our environment needs true champions. Please be one.
Will Nixon
Kingston
Amateur aging
A woman in our Aging Gracefully group tells a story of sitting on her back porch of a summer evening and watching the fireflies. She tells the story well, and we not only see through her eyes, but we feel, too. However old she is, she has had an experience touched with enchantment. Children have this all the time, for they have yet to acquire the nonchalance of experience. Children are amateurs.
When it comes to aging, we are all amateurs. At every other stage of our lives, we may feel we gain competence if not mastery. Aging is quite different. It strips us, slowly or suddenly, from our sense of a well-mapped upward course. We grow downward as gravity takes hold. Our aging all feels like the first time no matter how many stories we have heard. And yet, of a summer evening, here come the fireflies; for me, it’s the first deep snowfall of winter.
The ego takes a beating in age, and it either makes us snappish if we fight against our decline, or more supple as we learn to let go. Wealth can help to offer comfort — to a degree, but to those nearing the end, very little can ease the accumulating loss of functions nor the psychological costs to identity. Despite the particulars of dying, the finality of death brings us all to the same terminus. That process, fast or slow, is the ultimate first time as the last time. Resistance clenches the heart, but the heart can, if we let it open, bring a freshness to what just yesterday seemed commonplace. Even trivial.
Does the designation “amateur” gain us anything? It might, for the amateur – as the word shows us in its etymology—has to do with love, not expertise. The amateur has an experimental and even playful attitude, a precious kind of curiosity. There is no competition among the amateurs for some prize, but a spirit of mutual encouragement. The process of creating is far more satisfying than the product. One isn’t in it for recognition, only for the play.
I admit it’s a stretch to view our endings through that lens, but we may approach that spirit in our aging by the ways we entertain the changes in our lives. To focus on loss and diminishment can blind us to discoveries, intimacies, and the wonder of life lived through the eyes of a first-timer, the amateur. Here a night world is alight with dancing fireflies; here a world is magically made new by snow. Openness and wonder return, and we are smiling. Perhaps, in a moment of realization, we may even recognize that we have been amateurs all along. In it for love.
Peter Pitzele
New Paltz
When neighbors unite
Tonight’s decision to introduce Local Law D to prohibit crematoriums in our town’s zoning code is a victory for our children, our neighborhoods, and the power of community voices. This outcome is more than just the end of one proposal: it’s proof that when neighbors unite, we can shape the future of our town and protect the values that matter most. We are hopeful the board will act swiftly to pass the legislation on September 17 at the next hearing.
Cathy Rought Jacobson
Highland
A half-baked Alaska
In shadows cast by power’s darkened hand, a puppet dances, strings pulled by unseen command, Putin’s smile, a whisper, a cunning disguise, while nations watch, caught in silent demise. Severe is the price if ceasefire’s hope is denied, a world on the brink, where truth often lies, he, the Russian authoritarian pulls the string, and he winks with hollow cheer, our American marionette is in a game driven by fear. Trump’s clapping, a spectacle, a clown’s display, clueless in the global ballet theater, oy vey… Seeking applause in a fleeting, empty guise, while America’s dignity quietly dies.
A lapdog’s wag, a submissive bow, capitulation’s shadow, a shame we endow, Putin’s grin, a mark of the game’s cruel art, while Ukraine fights with a resilient heart. Did we fall again for the old deceit? Promises broken, words incomplete, sanctions abandoned, strength cast aside, a nation’s pride, in shame, it’s tied. Zelensky stands, unbowed, unbroken, backing from allies, words unspoken, while the world watches, hopes on the line, in chaos, seeking a positive sign.
Gullibility’s mirror reflects our fear, believing in monsters, drawing near, Putin’s laughter echoes, Trump’s dismay, a tragic comedy in the light of day. Why does Trump smile with tyrants and kings, and frown with democracies’ fragile offerings? Monsters in office, shadows cast long, a world entangled in a sinister song, we cry for a Charlie Chaplin-type to show us who our li’l dictator was all along, for innocence is lost, in a world where freedom bears the cost. Peace’s fragile thread begins to fray on this half-baked Alaska extreme bleak day. Can we break the spell that the puppeteer keeps as shadows lengthen, dark and deep?
To reiterate — severe consequences if Russia does not agree to a necessary ceasefire now looks like this by a useful American idiot, and perpetraitorous agent and authoritarian wannabe:
Pull the string and I’ll wink at you.
I’m your puppet.
I’ll do awful funny and terrible things if you want me to.
I’m your puppet.
Neil Jarmel
West Hurley
Whither the loop bus?
I am writing about something which will affect the whole community: town, village and college, and I wanted to make sure that you were aware of it. It’s the ending of the loop bus service.The loop bus has been in operation for about 16 years. Previously. the SGA funded a shuttle bus that ran in the evening to bring students to and from downtown etc. in the evenings.
About 2010 the Ulster County Area Transit proposed a bus that made a regular circuit through New Paltz all day long until 9:30 p.m. Initially it was funded locally by the Town of New Paltz, through the ‘A’ fund, which is paid for by town and village taxes. The fare was fifty cents, and it was substantially grant-funded. At some point, funding was taken over by the SGA, and students rode for free. A few years ago, fares were eliminated altogether.
As with all other aspects of life, Covid changed everything. Several older riders died during Covid. Generally, 85 percent of those who died of Covid were over 65. It was very much an older person’s disease.
During the first year of the pandemic, when remote learning kicked in, student ridership dropped dramatically, and for whatever reason it never recovered. Finally, this year the decision was made at the college to cancel funding for the bus.
The problem is that this will affect the whole community. There are about a dozen older, handicapped people, like myself, who rely on the bus to get around town — shopping, medical appointments, the library etc. Losing the bus will be devastating.
It is also important to remember that generally in Ulster County about 30 percent of adults do not drive. There are several younger people who use the bus to get to work. And there are other young people, including young families, that use the bus, although I do not see them as regularly.
Anyway, this seems like something worth writing about. I would be curious why the student ridership never recovered after Covid. Why are more students not riding the bus? What effort was made to reach out the town and village to share the funding? Why was no apparent thought given to the effect on the broader community? After all, the college does not exist in a vacuum.
Terry Dungan
New Paltz
Sure he does
Supervisor Bill McKenna recently defended a $150,000 budget request without a specific plan, citing his background in construction. “I’ve had a lot more experience dealing with engineering studies,” he said to the other town board members, adding that he was better suited to decide what should be recommended for board approval. That confidence might sound reassuring — until you revisit Mill Hill on a rainy day.
According to McKenna, the repaving of the road and the installation of the new drainage system “works just the way it was designed to work.” And McKenna continued with, “As soon as it stops raining the water runs down the hill and disappears and there [are] no puddles — talk to the engineers; they are very happy with it.”
But the problem isn’t after the rain — it’s during it. That’s when Mill Hill turns into a miniature tsunami, not a model of engineering success. So, to McKenna’s point: Is that he’s better suited to deal with engineering studies?
Howard Harris
Woodstock
It’s apple season
How can I be the apple
of your eye, literally
the dark dot, the pupil?
How could I, as apple,
fit in there? It’s like
saying I caught your eye.
That would be slippery
at best. Why can’t I
just be beloved, dearest,
fair-haired boy, pet,
the light of your life?
Bible says: Beam in your
eye. But apple? That’s
the core of the conundrum.
Patrick Hammer, Jr.
Saugerties
Creating a food apartheid
Ulster County Area Transit (UCAT) recently was something that gave me great hope in our rural county and the world. Fares were made free. Ridership went up, Nature Bus lines were added. One would only imagine that next would come increased routes, schedules that actually work for hardworking people, and increased ease of accessibility.
Unfortunately, that dream was just the Pollyanna in me getting carried away yet again. I am deeply disturbed to learn that the Kingston Plaza UCAT hub is being “moved” to Development Court in the Town of Ulster. Development Court is not a fair replacement for the Kingston Plaza stop. It’s an even further hike to most jobs in Midtown, and there’s no supermarket or hardware store. It’s a completely different community, another municipality altogether, and absolutely not a hub comparable to Kingston Plaza.
Furthermore, Kingston Plaza is home to the city’s only supermarket. In cutting that transit hub, the food desert that is Midtown becomes all the more real. In cutting the UCAT transit hub at Kingston Plaza, our county’s leaders are effectively enacting a food apartheid. Let that sink in: a community surrounded by some of the healthiest soil in the country is forced to endure a food apartheid in 2025.
For those interested in pointing fingers, I suggest using the county parcel viewer, the state LLC lookup tool, and the state campaign finance contributor search, and “follow the money.” This is an emergency. What is being done to make sure people can get to work, live their lives, access groceries and other necessities? I call upon the county’s leaders to hit pause on these changes, and get to work on a solution that does not reinforce systemic oppressions.
Alexandria Wojcik
New Paltz
There are always options
In response to Ms. Gatto’s decision to accept the Republican nomination after losing the Democratic primary for the Democratic Party line: It can’t be the case that you sign on with a party engaged in human-rights violations mixed with lies, crime, and grift, and say that you stand for truth, rule of law, and democracy.
This is not both sides. This is right versus wrong, and the party line that she is running on obliterated any claim she has for working in the interests of the people. The claim that there are no other viable options is in and of itself incorrect. There are always options.
Nikki Nielson
New Paltz
These are extraordinary times
New Paltz voters are presented with two avowed Democrats in the upcoming race for town supervisor: one running on the Democratic line (Tim Rogers), the other, however, on the Republican line (Amanda Gotto). Amanda’s letter to the editor (HV1, 8/20/2025) offers justifications for her puzzling candidacy. After all, Democratic voters had made their choice known in view of her loss to Tim in the primary contest.
Her first justification is that she is the only candidate who has the experience of running a town government; and that she has done so in a highly competent manner. What Amanda does not acknowledge is that Tim Rogers has a fine record as village mayor of New Paltz; and that registered Democrats were familiar with the track records of both contestants when they voted in the primary and chose Tim, not her.
Her second justification for running as a Democrat on the Republican line is that she is holding fast to her commitments as a Democrat, and that it was only the ethically minded “moderate Republicans” – not the Trumpists, not the MAGA core of the Republican Party – who invited her to run on their ticket.
I would like to know about the steps these “moderates” have taken to resist the distinctly fascist direction of their party. Have they raised their voices individually or collectively against the election deniers? Against the climate deniers? Against using the Department of Justice to attack Trump’s political opponents? Against Trump’s use of the military to operate as a de-facto police force in Washington D. C. on the pretext of establishing “law and order”? Against the chainsaw tactics of DOGE in purging vital federal agencies? Against ICE subjecting immigrants (documented or not) to deportation without due process? The silence and inaction of these “moderate Republicans” should be sounding alarm bells, not serving as Amanda’s rationalization for appearing on their party line. Bluntly stated: how did these “moderates” come to have such admiration for Amanda as to invite her to sign up on their party line? It is true that in ordinary times candidates at the town or village level occasionally play fast and loose with cross-party endorsements, but these are extraordinary times.
What Amanda Gotto has really done, then, is to turn her back on the clear choice of Democrats in the primary contest. Despite her protests to the contrary, she is helping to legitimize a Republican Party that has become a growing threat to economic and environmental justice, and a stain on our admittedly imperfect system of c onstitutional protections.
Irwin Sperber
Gardiner
Mwah! And yum!
As a candidate for town board and a proud Democrat, I want to send a huge shoutout thank you to the disgruntled chef in Gardiner for an amazing spread and for hosting the Gardiner Democrats’ trivia night. Mwah! And yum! A big thank you also to Hudson Valley trivia. We had a great time and now know why JB is voted best in the Hudson Valley.
Thank you to all the members of the Gardiner Democratic Committee and candidates Mike Hartner for supervisor and Deb Clinton for county legislator for their inspiring words.
Roberta Clements
Gardiner
Immigration complexities
After reading Carol Wolfenson’s informed letter last week entitled “Undocumented Immigrants” and noting her years of experience as an immigration attorney, it confused me as to why, then, there are various sources online that still say that immigration can also be an easier process that does not take a long time and does not cost unreasonable amounts of money. The question then becomes, what percentage of cases are relatively easy and what percentage are complex?
Carol’s assessment of the immigration process seems very dismal. It apparently shows that a lot of bipartisan work still needs to be accomplished with both sides agreeing on all the details — which is a task that sometimes seems nearly impossible. However, the Senate bill introduced in February 2024 was hardly a legitimate attempt that both sides could agree on, as it still allowed 5000 illegal immigrant encounters per day. This was not a real solution because we had a poor vetting process (obviously proven by the number of criminal illegals we’re trying to currently round up) and not having the appropriate staff levels to hear and review all legitimate cases in an effective and timely manner.
Stephanie Heaton’s letter entitled “Becoming a Citizen” cited an unfortunate personal example involving her son-in-law and how complex and costly the process was for him. It was apparent that his process was dragged out while costing much more money due to earlier representation by incompetent and/or deceitful alleged immigration attorneys. Perhaps Carol Wolfenson could tell us if Stephanie’s son-in-law’s case was an outlier or the standard time frame and cost.
The rest of Stephanie’s letter and her allegations against me were quite unhinged. She said my letter contained “ridiculously false information on immigration,” as thouggh I made it all up. All she’d have to do is simply carry out her own fact-checking research online and she’d have found the same information to which I referred in my letter last week.
Stephanie says “no one is illegal.” So, I wonder what alternative term she would use to describe someone who bypasses the legal immigration laws and processes but instead, decides to enter our country illegally. Does she forget how past generations of immigrants entered our country legally?
And finally, as a lefty infected with TDS, she’s the one spewing misinformation by falsely introducing the word “hatred” to describe me and my letter, a style she obviously cloned from her fake news idols at CNN and MSNBC.
John N. Butz
Modena
We lack the votes
Every day I read about the loss of public support for and criticism of the Democrats for not doing enough to thwart Trump’s march toward autocratic control of our country, his debasement of the White House, revamping the Smithsonian and Kennedy Center into his self-glorifying images, and more importantly destruction of our hedge against increased global warming and species destruction.
The list is endless. But this is frustrating for us. You (the electorate, writ large) voted us into the minority. Without a majority for us in the houses of the legislature, Trump’s policies pass. Every time Trump moves closer to dictatorial control, his obsequious Republicans comply and have the votes to back it up. What would you have us do? Open rebellion?
We hate it but can’t fix it. Thanks to you, we lack the votes.
You put us here. Take some responsibility for it and quit blaming us. Next time, hopefully during the midterm elections, think before you vote.
Bill Barr
Kingston
New beginnings
As a new school year approaches, we should always remember to support, appreciate, and give guidance to our youth who will be encountering opportunities for growth as individuals, community members, and as part of a larger global family. Clear communication between parents/parent figures and the entire school staff should be ongoing and unmistakably demonstrate efforts to assist each student reach their unique potential. Safety, well-designed and well-implemented programs of study, and allowing for students to visualize and work toward a better future are pillars upon which to build success. Have a great school year!
Of course, there are concerns for the well-being of every person in our community. Please be diligent to store any firearm in a secure manner: unloaded, locked, away from ammunition, away from children (including teens), and away from anyone who has shown unpredictability in dealing with strong emotions. If a child visits a friend’s home, discussions are warranted with the friend’s adult figures about the presence of a gun in the home and precautions being taken.
Statistics show that an overwhelming percent of gun tragedies involving youth occur when children have access to unsecured or unsupervised firearms at home, that children know where parents/parent figures store firearms, and that teens who have died by suicide used a firearm that belonged to someone in their home. Honest, caring, and age-appropriate communication with youngsters about guns and gun ownership(or any topic) should be a staple for households — for firearm owners and those who do not own firearms. Our government representatives (Shrestha, Hinchey, Ryan, Schumer, Gillibrand) should be contacted regarding your concerns about gun laws. As we observe the youth who attend our schools and grace our community, nothing less should be acceptable.
As the school year begins, let us all share in the excitement and sometimes apprehension that goes along with the new beginnings. And let us foster communication and care, even in uncomfortable situations. The best is yet to come!
Terence Lover
Woodstock
But seriously, folks
This just in. The NY Public Service Commission (PSC) has announced it will be changing its name. It will now be known as the Corporate Service Commission (CSC) in order to better reflect its true mission.
“I don’t know why we’ve been kidding ourselves all these years” said CSC spokesperson John D. “We have always been in service to corporate monopolies such as Central Hudson. They say ‘jump’ and we say ‘how high?’ Now we can accurately reflect who we really serve in this department.”
In related news, Central Hudson recently purchased a new set of radio ads letting customers know that if they want lower utility bills, they should use less energy.
But seriously, folks. Had enough yet? Maybe it’s time to stop giving our money away to corporate shareholders and take back control of our own power. Check out https://hudsonvalleypowerauthority.com/ to learn more.
Phil Bishop
New Paltz
Embrace, not exterminate
Israel has been savagely slaughtering, starving and relentlessly bombing two million Palestinians since October 7, 2023. At least 60,000 Palestinians killed (including 13,000 children), 145,000 wounded, perhaps hundreds of thousands buried and uncounted beneath the bombed-out rubble of their homes. Israel blames Hamas (which by the way was funded and encouraged by Israel).
Blaming Hamas for Israel’s genocide is a smokescreen and excuse used to justify the ethnic cleansing and elimination of all Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank. This brutal and illegal ethnic cleansing started with the forced expulsion of 800.000 Palestinians from their homes in 1948 (the Nakba). Israel violently evicted Palestinians from their lands and stole farms, homes, and property. The displaced Palestinians were forcibly relocated to refugee camps like Gaza or forced out of Israel altogether.
It was ugly. The Israeli military (many of whom were Haganah and Irgun terrorists) would go to Palestinian homes at noon and say: “We will be back at 5pm. If you are still here we will kill you.” The Palestinians fled, and to this day are not allowed to return to their homes. Tragically, Israel has become a pariah nation despised by the world.
For Israel to survive, it must abandon its deep commitment to racist Zionism, ethno-supremacy, and the apartheid state. Israelis must fully embrace those people they are currently so viciously trying to exterminate. Israelis and those who supported, financed, and encouraged this genocide must be held accountable for their actions. Peace and reconciliation can only follow if justice prevails. (To learn more truth go to electronicintifada.net)
Eli Kassirer
New Paltz
Worsening slaughter
Apparently there’s as little coverage on John Butz-favored media as on other mainstream corporate media because he appears unaware of the worsening slaughter and starvation of Gazans, which has proceeded with barely a pause for over 22 months and accounts for each and every protest on college campuses against the actions of the Israeli government and military. Israel has killed over 62,000 Gazans, and all of Gaza is now in the grip of an Israel-engineered famine, with catastrophic consequences.
Is it a god-given right for Jews to slaughter and starve people, and is therefore any condemnation of Israel’s actions equivalent to anti-Jewish hatred? That can’t be the case.
So it must be that Mr. Butz is ignorant of the Israeli genocide against the people of Gaza and the ethnic cleansing of West Bank Palestinians.
Matt Frisch
Arkville
Woodstock’s not all-white
As a resident of Woodstock, I was surprised to see our town portrayed in the current issue of Chronogram as an all-white enclave. It kinda shows how creeping Maga is affecting so many aspects of our lives.
DeeDee Halleck
Willow
Not rocket science
Thank you to the Ulster County legislators who affirmed their support of county clerk Taylor Bruck. It is truly unfortunate that the legislature’s minority chose not to do the same. Whether or not to defend our county from predatory behavior by out-of-control attorney general Ken Paxton (R-Texas) is not a question requiring knowledge of rocket science.
I tuned in to the legislature’s monthly meeting and heard no legitimate excuses from those who voted no. What I did hear was minority leader Kevin Roberts and his caucus complaining about cost. Perhaps they’d like Texas to pay for it? If so, that’d be the only legitimate argument I’ve heard from them in regards to this issue!
Tim Scott, Jr.
Saugerties
It’s up to you, New York
Executive officers in Ulster County for weeks have been sounding the alarm about how our residents will be affected by the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” legislation passed by the GOP-controlled Congress and signed by Donald Trump. Its effects will hammer county residents this year and throughout the decade.
Ulster County executive Jen Metzger has warned that one third of county residents are currently covered by Medicaid, supported by federal dollars. Starting in 2026, the level of federal support will drop. State and counties must make up the difference for those covered, though that number is projected to drop precipitously due to tightened and punitive regulations. Where would the money come from? Mostly from the state and property taxes we all pay. Given our housing crisis, how much more can residents be expected to pay? If local officials cannot raise the money, newly uncovered and unhealthy people will still go to hospitals that must admit them for illnesses and diseases that are treated more efficiently and cheaply with preventative medicine. Hence, health care costs will undoubtedly go up for everyone.
Speaking for small municipalities, New Paltz mayor Tim Rogers notes that community projects, related to items like water and sewer, will lose funding that will have to be replaced by new bonds that are ultimately paid for by taxpayers — or the projects simply won’t happen.
Elected representatives like Metzger, Sarahana Shrestha, March Gallagher, Michelle Hinchey, and Pat Ryan emphasize that New York can do better. With one of the largest economies in the world, our state must respond to the radical Republican attack on local economies. All of the above representatives have asked Governor Hochul to call for a special session of the state legislature. The focus must be on reform of our revenue-raising tax structure. Proposed bills wait for action. The progressive income-tax bill will add ten new tax brackets to the New York personal income-tax structure so that the top five percent of earners will contribute fairly. Corporations, which now pay less than they did in the 1990s, can raise seven billion dollars annually (https://www.investinourny.org/2025agenda).
These and other proposed bills taken together can more than fill in the gap caused by the BBB’s irresponsible legislation. We can maintain our social safety net and keep our economy thriving. New York can show the country, “Not on our watch.”
Tom Denton
New Paltz
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