Farmers Market looking for new location
The Saugerties Farmers Market thanks the Village Board for its consideration of the proposal for moving the market to one block of Main Street between Market and West Bridge Streets. At the Village Board’s suggestion we will explore the Reis parking lot among other sites.
The market is considering a possible relocation in order to address shoppers’ concerns about lack of visibility and parking at our present location in the Cahill school parking lot. The market has loyal customers who value freshness and seasonal variety as well as the opportunity to speak with farmers and enjoy a gathering space. We are always looking for better ways to accomplish our mission to provide local seasonal food, preserve small family farms, promote healthy eating, build community, and attract visitors to historic Saugerties.
The market will be working to find the best site available.
We are planning for a great season in 2017 and look forward to Opening Day on Saturday, May 27 on Memorial Day weekend.
Judith Spektor
Saugerties Farmers Market Committee Coordinator
We gave him a chance
Those familiar with the history of the 1960s will recognize an anthem from that era, the refrain from John Lennon’s song, “Give Peace a Chance” (1969).
All we are saying, Is Give peace a chance
That anthem has been revised in 2017 by “soft” supporters of the Trump administration:
All we are saying Is Give him a chance . . .
“I’ve got health insurance through my job, but I’ve got COPD and they’ve been laying off lately. What would happen to me if I’m next?”
Let’s give him a chance
“My daughter had a super teacher for her physics class. He’s a foreign graduate student, studying in the U.S. What’s going to happen to him? She’s really upset.”
Let’s give him a chance
“Too much whining about the bad press he’s getting. He’s supposed to be the tough guy. C’mon, every President gets criticized and lampooned. They stay quiet about it. Not him. Thank God we’ve got a free press.”
Let’s give him a chance
“Sure, we need to destroy ISIS, but isn’t this Muslim ban going to give the bastards just what they need — more recruits for a holy war?”
Let’s give him a chance
“I have to admit that he makes me nervous. The way he yells and threatens foreign leaders, never mind regular Americans that get on his wrong side. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll fix it.’ Does he think he’s a king instead of a president?”
Let’s give him a chance
“What? He’s threatening Iran and China, and kicking our allies in the teeth? Is he going to have us in a war within a month?”
Let’s give him a chance
Music shifts to another sound: The actor, Slim Pickens, whooping it up, riding an h-bomb like a cowboy as it drops on Russia to trigger Armageddon. (Dr. Strangelove, film, 1:27, 1964)
We gave him a chance.
Tom Denton
Highland
Faso votes for ‘Kleptocracy Protection Act’
On February 3, our new Representative in Congress, John Faso, voted AYE (Roll call 72) in lockstep with nearly all GOP colleagues for H. Res 71, H. J. Res 41. Is he representing the people of CD 19 with this vote? I think not. Few among us support funneling secret moneys to corrupt regimes that oppress and rob their subjects. That’s what Rep Faso voted for.
The act, dubbed by one senator “The Kleptocracy Protection Act of 2017” undid the Cardin-Lugar amendment that required oil and gas companies to disclose payments made to foreign countries in exchange for rights to explore and extract their resources. Previously, payments to governments headed by the likes of Muammar Gaddafi, Saddam Hussein, Bashar al-Assad and Vladimir Putin were hidden. This enabled the country’s leaders to divert money to their own private accounts or those of family and business associates. The most conspicuous example is Equatorial Guinea, a pawn of Exxon-Mobil. Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, its murderous dictator/president, deposited tens of millions of dollars in cash into a private bank in Washington D.C. while the population went hungry. His son, Vice-President Teodorin Obiang, has had to disgorge the part of his fortune held as real estate and cars in the United States and will be tried in absentia in France.
Even big oil companies (e.g. Royal Dutch Shell, BP, Total, Statoil) supported Cardin-Lugar. Only Exxon, Chevron and the American Petroleum Institute campaigned against it.
Write or call (202-225-5614 or email www.faso.house.gov) Rep. Faso and demand an explanation for a vote that hurts oppressed poor people while propping up thieving leaders. It is especially a gift now to Vladimir Putin with his now-tighter Exxon connections.
Stephen Shafer
Saugerties
Faso, protect environment and jobs
It’s imperative that we keep reminding our Republican Congressman, John Faso, how important it is for him continue to speak up for our environment — for the hunters, fishermen, beekeepers, maple syrup producers, farmers, gardeners, hikers, boaters and swimmers. The environment, the majestic Hudson River and all our waterways and forests are important to trade.
I own a bakery that would probably not survive without tourists. No beautiful environment, no tourists. I employ workers for whom my bakery is their sole source of income. We are Democrats and Republicans here at our business and we have differing views on many subjects but we live by the Hudson and we earn our living because of it. We need Congressman Faso’s efforts to protect us, our land and our jobs. This year, like no other, we are paying attention.
Constance Bailey
Saugerties
Plausible deniability
In the wake of General Michael Flynn’s resignation from his position as National Security Advisor, the question inevitably arises, “What did the President know and when did he know it?” But there are two problems with that question.
First, every day images in the media and serious, reliable reporting reveal this president’s spectacular lack of knowledge: of world affairs, the workings of government, the election process and the traditions and protocols relied on for maintaining order and stability as leader of the free world. A president renowned for his general ignorance can almost automatically be granted plausible deniability regarding the disqualifications or deficiencies of prospective appointees. Acting Attorney General Sally Yates told Trump about Flynn’s probable vulnerability to blackmail due to his conversations about sanctions with the Russian ambassador. The President chose to ignore that counsel. Since the announcement of Flynn’s resignation, the Republican response has been muted; putting party before the good of the country is shameful, but putting party before national security is unconscionable.
Second, when the President publicly demonstrates, via Twitter, his delight in and praise for the astoundingly rabid exchanges between Stephen Miller and the hosts of multiple Sunday morning news shows the message becomes clear, the president will not be held accountable for any failures or transgressions during his tenure. Miller’s words and tone, which could easily have been taken from an autocrat’s training manual, suggest pursuing the question of what the President did or did not know about Flynn’s conversations with Russia are likely not going to yield satisfactory results. I suggest the more important question is, “What did Stephen Bannon know and when did he know it?”
Deidre J. Byrne
Saugerties
Join the family! 
