Serving the Towns of Wawarsing, Crawford, Mamakating, Rochester and Shawangunk, and everything in between
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Letters
We Must Teach Tolerance...

I am a Jew and I am an Arab — and I am a parent and taxpayer in Pine Bush Central School District. I am stunned and furious at the ignorance displayed by the PBCSD in apologizing for the reading of the Pledge of Allegiance in Arabic. Instead of using this opportunity to educate those children whose objections to the reading were at the very best, a misunderstanding of language and culture — at the worst an expression of latent xenophobia, the PBCSD chose to join the uneducated who would equate all speakers of a language or followers of a religion with the worst of their culture. Had they been doing their job, they would have taught our children of the dangers in these characterizations, and the history of where that may lead us. On behalf of our children: How dare they not take this opportunity to teach our children that neither languages or culture should divide us from fighting the injustices of all. As educators, they did much worse than drop the ball — they encouraged ignorant behavior.

We are Everywoman and Everyman — and we must all teach our children: our future — the Way of Peace. We must take responsibility for all who have let misguided prejudices provoke destruction and set our children on a path towards the work of peace and justice.

Liana Hoodes
Walker Valley


The Governor Speaks About Negotiations...

The Governor and the legislative leaders are in the midst of ongoing budget discussions which have intensified as we have gotten closer to the budget deadline. As rumors swirl in the Capitol, several issues should be clarified. The Governor has stated repeatedly and clearly that ethics reform was a top priority and that he wouldn't sign a budget without ethics reform. Nothing has changed. A budget done with both houses must include ethics reform. The Governor believes that the concerns of legislators who have outside employment such as a law practice have been addressed consistent with his program for increased ethics disclosure and transparency. The Assembly obviously has already agreed with the Governor's ethics package and has numerous members with outside employment. The Governor said he would not sign off on a budget that doesn't include the ethics reforms he outlined, and he meant it.

Education reform is another top priority in this budget. The key education reforms are dealing with the epidemic of failing schools, improvement to the teacher evaluation system, tenure reform, teacher performance bonuses and scholarships to attract new teachers. If those reforms are passed, the Governor will support a significant funding increase. The Governor believes these changes will be transformative to our education system.

The DREAM Act is supported by the Assembly and the Education Tax Credit is supported by the Senate. Last year, neither initiative was passed. The Governor believes at this point, that either both will pass or neither. The Governor supports passage of both and included them in his budget. If they don't pass in the budget, they could still pass in regular session.

The Governor supports a pay commission and included it in his original budget. The charter cap and mayoral control for New York City are issues that can be addressed in the budget, or more likely in the remainder of the session. Regardless, both should be addressed before the conclusion of the session.

Other top priorities in the budget include raising the minimum wage, a small business tax cut and real property tax relief, the Governor's $1.5 billion Upstate Revitalization Initiative, statewide broadband, a Thruway stabilization fund and a substantial increase in funding for affordable housing.

Melissa Derosa, Communications Dir.
Governor's Office, Albany


Separate Ethics Reform From Budget!

For the second year in a row, the topic of ethics reform is being used as a bartering chip to determine how over $140 billion of our tax money will be spent. Last year, the governor bartered with Republican Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, Democratic Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Independent Democratic Conference Leader Jeff Klein to shut down an ethics investigation, known as the Moreland Commission. It was only after they shut it down that they finally got around to working on the budget. This was done in a closed-door meeting without input from other members of the Legislature.

This year, Gov. Andrew Cuomo is bartering with ethics once again. He even has stated he's willing to delay passage of the budget beyond the April 1 deadline if the Legislature does not agree to his proposed ethics reforms.

As taxpayers, we should be questioning the ethics of using "ethics reform" to negotiate the serious business of how our money will be managed. And, more importantly, we should remind our elected representatives that they have the power to pass ethics reform right now. There's absolutely no reason to tie this important issue to the budget and there's no legitimate reason to delay meaningful ethics reform any longer.

Every member of the state Legislature should be demanding and working to pass these needed measures now. Any official convicted of abusing the public's trust should be stripped of their taxpayer-funded pensions, and campaign finance laws must be changed so that limited liability companies and big corporations can no longer buy and sell the outcomes of our elections.

Terry Gipson
Rhinebeck


Libraries Need Proper Representation, Too

Thank you for printing the letter in the March 19, 2015 edition of the Shawangunk Journal regarding the Wallkill Public Library legislation.This issue requires attention from not just the residents of the town of Shawangunk but also from anyone living in a rural town or central school district that has evolved and changed during its history.

It is not an uncommon occurrence for many rural or central school districts to have schools within different towns. These districts typically cover a large geographical area, for example Pine Bush, and Valley Central cover not only multiple towns but also multiple counties while Newburgh has schools located throughout many towns. Central school districts collect taxes from all the areas they serve regardless of town and/or county line. What should be more concerning to all is that libraries choose to serve unserved areas (untaxed library areas) in different ways. Some residents within an unserved library area are not taxed and libraries still choose to issue library cards to these residents. While other residents in an unserved library area" pay a small fee to the library that issues their library card. The residents within unserved library areas which are untaxed put a strain not only on the local library but also the library system as a whole. Perhaps the better way to collect taxes for public libraries is to align library districts with school districts so there is an elimination of unserved areas or untaxed areas.

Some may believe that the issue in the town of Shawangunk, elected library board members not paying taxes to the library board they serve on, is an issue not worth pursuing. It seems like such a small problem and why get upset, but I whole-heartedly disagree. What is being asked of the residents of the town of Shawangunk taxed by Wallkill Public Library District is to give up a basic U.S. citizen's right to an elected governing body "for the people, by the people and of the people" and my interpretation of this is as follows: an elected body for the people who are TAXED, by the people who are TAXED, and of the people who are TAXED. Would the residents of any town accept an elected town board member who does not pay taxes to the town they are serving? Why is it acceptable for an elected library board member?

Patricia Turner
Wallkill


Doesn't Believe There Are Racial Problems...

On the 50th anniversary of that monumental event in Selma, Alabama, it is time for reflection. In the 50 years since America was jerked into reality, there has been tremendous progress in the field of race relations. In so many cases, we have transformed African-American into American. We have Americans like Dr. Ben Carson, Colin Powell, Condoleeza Rice, Juan Williams, U.S. Rep. John Lewis and too many others to name who have emerged as great Americans, not great African-Americans.

The problem is that, in the last few years, there have been certain events that have begun to polarize America once again. Unfortunately, we have morons like Al Sharpton. Yes, moron. If he is a reverend, I'm Batman.

We should attempt to nip it in the bud. We are so close to achieving total racial acceptance. Now, due to the events in Ferguson and Staten Island, and opportunists like Sharpton who really don't care about the welfare of their race, the progress that has been made is beginning to ebb. We, as a people — black, white and everybody else — should take a deep breath and not forget where we were. We don't ever want to go back to where we were.

We can do this. Stand up, America. Black, white, rich, poor, Republican, Democrat, Northerner, Southerner and all others who can read.

Rodger Colao
Kingston


A Senior Option MUST Be Attractive!

At 71 years old with a nest egg for Deena and my old age, Distel's idea for assisted living built on the site of Ellenville's defunct factories (SJ 3/12) depresses me.

I believe the Nevele environment is key to great success for Ellenville. With a far reaching positive past perception, the Nevele could become "The Nevele Resort And Senior Living," a mecca of great life experiences for young and old alike. It's not assisted living in Ellenville that will be the formula for revitalization, it's the Nevele and everything that goes with it: environment, brand name, history... that could become a powerful magnet. That could bring commerce and benefit to all of Ellenville.

Chuck Davidson
Cragsmoor


Obamacare Is Better Than What Was..

Is there anyone, anywhere who believes establishing universal health care is not a noble effort? Can anyone say that attempts to prevent treatable disease for everyone is a bad thing?

Why is it that some people in leadership positions continue to bad-mouth the Affordable Care Act when it is perfectly clear that this law is: lowering the uninsured rate throughout the country, in the aggregate, making health insurance more affordable, and slowing the rate of cost-increase?

Egberto Willies, in his Daily Kos story "Chuck Todd comes clean on Obamacare and kinda exposes failed Republican governance," writes "When will political malpractice stop being rewarded?" According to Willies, politicians in Texas refer to the Afforadable Care Act (Obamacare) as a train wreck. This is inconsistent with the truth. "By lying to their constituents, their political malpractice is leaving millions of Texans uninsured," and this will result in the deaths of large numbers of Texas citizens.

What kind of people are willing to spend trillions of dollars for war (killing people) yet refuse to provide health care for their own, less affluent citizens?

William Hayes
Saugerties


Actions Speak Louder Than Party

I have been a citizen activist for the last 15 years in Ulster County. I have attended hundreds of legislative meetings and served on a several county boards and commissions.

Not once in those 15 years can I remember a state senator or assembly member sending any of their staff to find out if they could be of help in rectifying a local problem. That is until now.

Senator Amedore's district coordinator, Heidi Haynes, has been representing him at the Ulster County Coalition Against Narcotics committee. As he is the Chair of NY Senate's Alcohol and Substance abuse committee and Co-Chair of the Heroin Task Force this is no idle gesture.

For those that are unaware of it, there has been a major resurgence of heroin use across our state. In part due to the over prescribing of pain killers, the government cracking down on it, and the subsequent flight of those addicted to pills into heroin.

I wish to applaud Senator Amedore's effort and commend him for his aid in helping our county deal with this epidemic.

I am not a Republican, but next election, he'll get my vote.

Thomas Kadgen
Shokan



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