Support our essential businesses as they and their workers support us
On March 18, 2020, Governor Cuomo’s Executive Order 202.6 directed that “…no later than Sunday, March 22, 2020 at 8 p.m., each for-profit or not-for-profit employer… shall reduce the in-person workforce at each business/work location by 100% from pre-state of emergency declaration employment levels.” It’s hard to run a business with no ‘in-person’ employees.
We suddenly realized that tens of thousands of businesses and organizations would have to close their doors and millions of individuals would not be able to go to work. We also learned that certain “Essential Businesses or Entities” were ‘not subject’ to the 100% reduction of their ‘in-person’ workforce. If you are an ‘essential worker’ your employer is likely involved in health care, the food supply chain, public safety, emergency services, or transportation.
The only problem is that when your car ‘check engine’ light comes on you still need to get work, drop off your child to day care, pick-up your medicine at the pharmacy or buy groceries. If you are an elderly person who also must continue to engage in the activities of daily living, you are concerned that venturing out to maintain or repair your car might be too risky.
Thankfully, ‘auto repair’ has been identified as one of those ‘essential services’ that is allowed to have their ‘essential workers’ show up each day to help our society to continue to function.
I was happy to learn that the folks at Tom’s Auto Repair Shop across the street from the New Paltz High School on South Putt Corners Road are responding to the need and also being quite sensitive to the need to ‘socially distance’ ourselves from one-another and do everything we can to stay healthy. Judy at Tom’s told me, “We are now offering ‘contactless’ vehicle services and we will also provide pick up and delivery service in the local New Paltz Area. We understand that our customers want to avoid close contact with others and we can use the phone to understand the service needed and how we can help.”
When I dropped by the shop, I noticed that a new table had been set up just as you open the front door. You can stop there, more than six feet from the counter, put your keys on the counter and speak to Judy or Amanda and they will take it from there. No need to hand over a credit card, it will all be ‘contactless’. Amanda told me, “We will be using floor mats, gloves, seat covers and sanitized cleaning after each service. “
In the days to come many of our local ‘essential businesses’ will be supporting us and we can return the favor by supporting them.
Paul Brown
New Paltz
Village of New Paltz Board of Trustees calls for rent flexibility during COVID-19 crisis
The Village of New Paltz Board of Trustees is calling on New Paltz landlords to freeze all rent hikes for the duration of the COVID-19 crisis. The Board further urges landlords to have considerable flexibility by allowing more time for tenants to pay their rents with modified payment schedules as well as the waiving of late fees for both residential and commercial tenants during this trying time.
The great majority of people in our community rent their homes. Furthermore, many of our local businesses rent their brick-and-mortar spaces. In light of the COVID-19 crisis’ negative impacts on all aspects of our local economy from individuals’ income to local businesses’ revenue — and the great uncertainties we as a community face for the unseeable future — the Village of New Paltz community urgently needs immediate relief in the form of a rent freeze and greater flexibility in landlord-tenant agreements and practices. That’s why the Village Board of Trustees is calling on all landlords to acknowledge this unprecedented situation by adopting measures to help our fellow community members and business owners who may have difficulty paying rent during this challenging time.
KT Tobin, Deputy Mayor
Village of New Paltz
Keep the faith
One silver lining in the coronavirus cloud hanging over the planet is that the message people throughout the world are hearing from Donald Trump — loud and clear, though in His infinite denial “The Chosen One” Himself may have only begun to hear it whispering in His ear — is no longer “Make America [and Myself Above All] Great Again,” but “I’m Melting.”
I pray, and expect, that on Tuesday, November 3, 2020, life will have gotten sufficiently back to normal that we can gather together once again and put the finishing touches to this meltdown, and that we’re all still healthy and hopeful enough to join in mopping up the swamp left in this real-life Wicked Witch of the West’s wake.
Stay safe and connected, everybody, and keep the faith.
Tom Cherwin
Saugerties
The state of health care
NPR recently interviewed a physician, one of many, who emphasized the ways in which our current system of health care is run like a business. I was struck by the firmness with which he voiced this — no ambiguity whatsoever.
He spoke of the underlying premise of efficiency which determines the number of beds in a hospital, how many hospitals, how many physicians are allowed to exist. In other words, the least amount of “waste” in the system increases the profit of medical institutions.
Since this is what drives health care, is it any wonder the government delayed acting on the news of this virus? Is it any wonder Senator Burr was able to parlay his insider knowledge of financial disaster to sell stocks? Is it any wonder we are woefully unprepared for this medical crisis?
We have a president who refuses to use the Defense Production Act to accelerate the production of ventilators, masks and protective clothing for medical staff.
Had enough? Then vote for a better system, a more involved government — not too efficient — and get involved.
Renee Hack
New Paltz
Let’s stay connected in the face of coronavirus
In such times of unprecedented uncertainty, personal anxiety and community and global upheaval, you may notice two opposing voices fighting for your attention.
One says you are in it alone, your life is in danger and you must fight to protect your family. It encourages panic, compelling you to hoard food and supplies to meet your needs, at any cost, to survive. It is a seductive calling, responsive to our fears. But, answering it leaves us utterly isolated and lonely.
The other voice knows that while this illness is dangerous (especially for some), our community connections and resilience can weather this and any storm. The coronavirus will disrupt our work day existence, our always-on busy-ness and consumptive economy for some time. It will impact each of us in many ways: physically, mentally, emotionally and financially. It will unfairly impact the lives of the most vulnerable among us. Still, I believe we are being offered an opportunity to join together, love each other more and emerge even stronger.
At Wild Earth, our greatest hope is that we rise to the opportunity — to strengthen our self-care, to attune to the needs of our neighbors and community and to live more simply and lightly on the earth. We need to slow down and take care of each other. It’s time to reach out to our elderly neighbors and make sure their needs are met and to ensure that everyone in our community is well fed. Those with extra abundance and capacity are being called upon to help those in need.
As we all practice social distancing, please get outside together whenever able as doing so seems to be one of the safest and most nourishing ways we can stay connected with each other and the Earth. State parks in the area are waiving entrance fees.
What happens with this virus is beyond, to a great extent, our individual control, but how we respond to it is our choice. It is our response to this challenge that will make all the difference in deciding if this was a horrible catastrophe or the germination of the creation of the world we want for our children and the next generations. Let’s not miss this opportunity!
David Brownstein, Town Councilman
Town of New Paltz
The Spanish Flu of 1918 or the American Flu?
President Trump has incited nationwide hatred since before his presidential campaign, starting with the birther campaign, the lie that Barack Obama was a Muslim born in Kenya. (Do you still believe this? If so, I have a coronavirus to sell you.)
Thus, it’s not surprising Mr. Trump is pushing to label Covid-19 “the Chinese Virus.” “It’s not racist at all. It comes from China, that’s why,” he says, according to the New York Times. The President of the United States is apparently unconcerned that Asian Americans are experiencing random acts of violence and hatred due to their ethnic features and last names, or that we need to find ways to work with, not against, China. No surprise there. Our current president was the presidential candidate who said of a protester at one of his rallies, “I’d like to punch him in the face.”
Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway soothingly stated in the White House driveway, “I think what the president is saying is that is where it was first started.”
Republican Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa tonelessly tweeted, “I don’t understand why China gets upset because we refer to the virus that originated there as the ‘Chinese virus’ Spain never got upset when we referred to the Spanish flu in 1918 and 1919.” (I provide the tweet verbatim.)
For the record, the so-called “Spanish Flu” most likely originated in Haskell County, Kansas, in an influenza outbreak that exploded in January and February 1918. Haskell County army recruits brought it to Camp Funston, now Camp Riley, 300 miles away. American soldiers from Camp Funston, and those who had been in contact with them stateside, brought it to Brest, France, “the single largest port of disembarkation for American troops.” The disease spread from Brest elsewhere. I learned this from a fascinating article by John M. Barry archived at the National Institutes of Health’s PubMed, “The site of origin of the 1918 influenza pandemic and its public health implications.” You can find it at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC340389/.
It was called the Spanish Flu because Spain, not being party to World War I, did not experience the wartime press censorship that had been imposed in France. When the illness moved from France to Spain in November 1918, reporting by the Spanish press created world headlines, and the association with Spain stuck. I take this from the Wikipedia entry for “Spanish Flu.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_flu.
Wikipedia cited ABC News as its source for why the name “Spanish Flu” gained acceptance. ABC News notes, “In Spain it was called ‘The French Flu’.” (Exclamation point added here: !) https://tinyurl.com/qthhlyf.
Ms. Conway and Mr. Grassley, would you agree we should call the 1918 Influenza Pandemic “the American Flu”? Mr. Trump, would you?
Mr. Barry’s point is that “the fact that the 1918 pandemic likely began in the United States matters because it tells investigators where to look for a new virus. . . . If the virus did cross into man in a sparsely populated region of Kansas, and not in a densely populated region of Asia, then such an animal-to-man cross-over can happen anywhere. And unless WHO gets more resources and political leaders move aggressively on the diplomatic front, then a new pandemic really is all too inevitable.”
Yes, that diplomatic front. Where have you gone, diplomatic front, now that we need you? Oh, yes, it’s gone into the Republican dark hole of America First.
William Weinstein
New Paltz
We will get through this
Elting Library can be your haven, even when it’s closed.
These are uncertain times and anxiety levels are understandably high. Kids are out of school and many adults are either home from work or working from home. Life is a bit, well, unusual.
Take a deep breath and know that Elting Library is still here to help get you through these difficult days. It is true that our doors are closed to the public until April 1 at the very least, but we’ve got great online resources sure to distract (and hopefully delight) all of our patrons — young and vintage. Go to www.eltinglibrary.org to get started.
The director, with the full support of the library’s board of trustees, was following the guidelines and suggestions of federal, state and local authorities when he made the difficult decision to close for the recommended minimum of two weeks and John will do so again on March 31 when he once again assesses the situation and decides if it is wise to reopen on April 1.
In the meantime, though our doors are closed, we are still committed to serving our patrons as best we can. For help with resetting your PIN, clearing holds on your card and rudimentary instructions for getting started using Elting’s online resources, you can call Raymundo Tuesday through Saturday between the hours of 2 and 6 p.m. Simply call the library at (845) 255-5030 and choose option 5 to be connected. You can also email questions to elting@eltinglibrary.org and Jesse will attempt to help you. He will be checking that account several times a day. Together, yet apart, we will get through this. Be safe out there and be kind to each other.
Jesse Chance, Manager of Operations
Elting Memorial Library
New Paltz
Fact vs opinion #53
Fact: In the March 2020 AARP Bulletin received by yours truly, President Trump has appointed Andrew M. Saul to the position of Commissioner of Social Security, to complete the temporary position ending January 2019 as well as for a full six-year term, ending January 2025. He is in charge of one of the most important operations in the federal government with payouts of $1 trillion to more than 64 million beneficiaries.
Opinion: Andrew M. Saul reports directly to Trump and no one else! He has no experience whatsoever in Social Security; he was a retail clothing magnate! This appointment portends an ominous and distinctive threat to Social Security. As I mentioned in a previous letter, the Republicans hate and still hate the benefit state, Social Security 1935 and Medicare and Medicaid 1965 Acts, that were passed by Democratic administrations to benefit the working person, enabling him/her to have something to rely on when those ‘societal’ glitches occur (recessions, depressions).
With Saul’s appointment as commissioner, the ‘fox-is-in-the-hen house’ Trump has a history of firings and forced resignations throughout the government. As mentioned in my letter on March 12 and quoted: “He wants his cronies in office that he can control and do his bidding. He does not want any independent thinking or adherence to departmental guidelines; it is his word that counts and only his word. Loyal Civil servants, that have been in the service for years, who dared speak out — Alexander Vindman, Gordon Sondland and Maria Yovanovitch — given their reasons for their suspicions regarding Trump and his call with the Ukraine president, were fired or pressured by Donald’s minions to resign or be forced out.”
This appointment of Saul is no different than the others who were appointed by him to various positions. They held the position as long as they listened to him and did his bidding. This appointment as the commissioner of Social Security is a serious threat to the benefit payouts to 64 million persons. I make no bones about this threat. This is the first real attack upon our benefits that we have paid into for years and now the Republicans have someone who can literally butcher this program instituted by Roosevelt’s 78th Congress of 1935; thus the reasons the Republicans all sat there with their fingers up theirs a**** during the impeachment hearings.
Their cry is for ‘privatization,’ which I described in my letter to the New Paltz Times dated March 5 of this year. A number of the seniors reading this column have mentioned to me that this pertains to the younger generations more so than the seniors now collecting benefits. This is true to a certain extent; it will be our grandchildren who will be effected more that anyone. But having stated this, the AARP, of which I am a member, informs me in a letter, also on the drawing board, that seniors could be addressed as well with a 15-20% reduction in their monthly benefits!
Robert LaPolt
New Paltz
Tillson Lake
Two letters appeared in the March 19 issue of the New Paltz Times in support of draining Tillson Lake.
I live in New Paltz (and am certainly not a lake-front owner!), and first sailed my little Sunfish (no outboard of course) there in the 70’s. Sometimes I swam in it with my then small sons. One letter writer claims there is ‘no parking, no swimming, no amenities.’ Recently (2019) I parked in the parking area, and I swam.
The other writer mentions the loss of trout fishing and claims it is a ‘private’ lake, but this isn’t true. It is my understanding that it is owned by Minnewaska State Park Preserve and run by the PIPC (Palisades Park Commission.)
When I sailed on Tillson lake last summer (2019) I was required to get a $30 annual sticker from the Minnewaska authorities up on 299 — not from any private owner.
Riverkeeper has expressed the view that we should minimize interference with nature and I agree. But are people implying we should get rid of projects like the dammed-up Indian Lake in the Adirondacks, the Hoover Dam (Lake Mead), the Ashokan and so on — and even discontinue blacktopping our roads?
No, this is a small lake, suitable for quiet fresh-air loving Ulster-ites and does NOT need to have expansion and food and amenities (although I wouldn’t balk at a couple of tastefully-situated Porta-Potties.)
David Nightingale
New Paltz
Infecting our food
Our food supply is being infected because we have rules forcing all of us to bring our own bags to the store to carry our groceries home.
Do you think you are alone in keeping those bags in the trunk? On your floor? On the floors of your car where feet that have walked in toxic decaying spit, poop and rotten food have spent a large part of the day gathering and transferring the causes of disease?
Entire cultures leave their outside footwear outside — no shoes in the house! But we have to carry our food in bags that rarely, if ever, get washed.
The single-use bags we used for years are now illegal. In fact, they were very useful and entirely recyclable. Please consider how much cleaner our shopping carts, check-out counter and the kitchens and pantries will return to if we go back to the clean plastic bags.
Of course they do not belong in the ocean or up in trees. They are very easy to convert into other useful items or into fuel. Recycle!
And stop carrying dirt into our stores. What a dumb way to think you are saving the planet!
One idea that will reduce carbon is driving the speed limit. OMG, anything but that!
Paul Nathe
New Paltz
Dear Saint Anthony
“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
— Hamlet (1.5.167-8), Hamlet to Horatio
“Axe me no questions and I’ll tell you no lies.”
— Quoted from Word Play by Egroeg Elivic
I don’t believe people should pray to the Saints. However, I was taught by my mother (who was raised in a Catholic orphanage by the remarkable Sisters of Saint Joseph) to ask St. Anthony — the Patron Saint of finding things that are lost — for help whenever I lost anything. The prayer she taught her seven (opinionated) children is this: “Dear St. Anthony, please come around if something is lost that cannot be found.” Well, I must admit that throughout my life, whenever I prayed the prayer, it worked. Lost things would show up.
Recently, I lost an expensive wood chopping ax in the woods. As anyone who has ever owned a good wood chopping axe (both spellings are acceptable) knows, this was a serious matter. I knew approximately where I had left it and began to search the heavily leaved woods in earnest for my prized possession…to no avail. And then I remembered St. Anthony and prayed the St. Anthony prayer and sure enough, within a few minutes, I found the ax. Just this morning, I was cutting wood again and this time it was not my axe (I refuse to favor one spelling over the other) that I lost but my very expensive bifocal light-adjusting-tinted glasses. My hat had gotten caught in a branch and, unbeknownst to me, when my hat was lifted from my head and my forehead slashed by the branch, my glasses were also removed. After picking up my hat and walking a few steps, I realized that my vision was blurred. At about the same time this realization occurred, I also noticed that my glasses were missing from their usual position on my face. To make a long story short, after searching frantically for my glasses without success (did I mention that they were very expensive and had also fallen on the ground covered with leaves?), I once again remembered St. Anthony and said his prayer in earnest. So earnest was my prayer that I actually made up a verse of my own: “Dear St. Anthony, please help me if you would, because I know that if you would, you also most certainly could.” Although, after hearing this, Joe Biden might incredulously say, “Come on man” and call me “a lying dog-faced pony soldier” the truth is, once again, within 30 seconds of searching…that which was lost was found.
How do I explain my prayers being answered despite believing that people should not pray to the Saints? Here’s the short answer to the question: I think that one day, St. Anthony noticed how busy the Lord was doing mighty works and he asked him if there was anything he could do to help. Jesus, happy with Anthony’s desire to be of service (even though he didn’t really need his assistance) responded: “Well Anthony, the people in the world sure have a knack for losing, dropping or simply misplacing things, so how would you feel about being in charge of helping people in this regard?” Anthony replied that he would love that job and that’s why I pray to St. Anthony whenever I need something lost to be found even though…I don’t believe people should pray to the Saints.
George Civile
Gardiner
COVID 19 conversation
I said to a friend, “I have been trying to role reverse with voters who voted for Trump. We shop in the same stores, see the same doctors, swim in the same swimming pools, they must care about some of the same things I do? My friend nodded.
I went on, “Can they recognize that politicians see health care as a commodity, not a humane act? Right now that issue is being shoved in our faces with COVID 19. I mean, if you’re lucky to have health insurance, you have a better chance of living. Those who don’t will more likely die.
It’s clear to me that health insurance has not protected our society from a pandemic, or epidemic. Not treating the garbage man, the waitress or the post women delivering our mail endangers the whole tribe, in fact, the whole world. For God’s sake, we human beings are social animals. We live in communities, we have relationships, all the places where viral illness loves to grow.
My friend’s eyes roll back and he says, “You mean, when someone craps up stream, not just those of us down stream pay the price?”
“Exactly. Please tell me, what clouds such simple understanding?”
My friend says, “I think it’s fear and money. If you have a lot of money, you feel safer.”
“You’re right. As a Vietnam vet, I learned US leadership knows how to commodify human life. Right now politicians and insurance companies see human life as CASH. Our general populous has little money and for sure feels unsafe, so they voted for the most outrageous, out of line political lying demagogues, hoping they’ll make change. And they have! Now trust is something you buy, not that it wasn’t before, but we are now finding out it has no warranty.”
“Yeah, you can’t even buy a COVID 19 test. The grass roots have been torn up. We’re being told to isolate to stay alive.”
I would later reflect on this conversation and feel that the trust level of our government is low. I began to wonder in whom we can find the trust we need to live our lives. My thoughts go to faith, to families, friends and community. The global pandemic is forcing us to look local. Join me in reflecting during this difficult awakening and vote for trust.
Larry Winters
New Paltz
Join the family! 
