Serving the Towns of Wawarsing, Crawford, Mamakating, Rochester and Shawangunk, and everything in between
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Letters
Dharmakaya's Stormwater Plans Aren't Working

As a homeowner on Cragsmoor Road, I am tired of the continuing flooding of the roadway, neighboring trout stream and properties with silt from the Dharmakaya project's catch basins that were supposedly engineered to catch the water running off their property as well as the yet-to-be-built buildings. They repeatedly overflow their banks.

Besides silt pollution, the cutting of dozens and dozens of trees on many hilly acres and the altering of the typography of the mountain seem also to alter the course of the rainwater and may divert it from the wells of the homes on the southern slopes, mine included.

Water is never abundant in Cragsmoor since our wells rely on rainwater only. The placement along the road and at the edge of the Dharmakaya's property of these repeatedly malfunctioning catch basins has become all of our problem. Lonnie Coplen, president of the Cragsmoor Association, of which I am a member, suggests a storm water plan such as a rain garden which would more effectively and ecologically handle drainage. SUNY Orange, where I worked, has a large rain garden for all to see. A rain garden on the Dharmakaya property in Cragsmoor, with its abundance of rocks, would be a great solution to an ongoing problem.

As our largest neighbor and one not paying property taxes, in an area beset by high property taxes, we want a more effective storm water plan that protects all of Cragsmoor. Cutting down hundreds of trees over a base of rocky soil that has limited water storage capacity didn't make sense before and continues not to make sense.

Joan Lesikin
Cragsmoor


A Riposte For Singer Toby Keith...

With reference to inane comments made by Toby Keith about gun control: Yes, Toby Keith, countries all over the world that have really strict gun policies like... Norway. It happens there. There was one horrific gun massacre in Norway in 2011 where 85 were killed. In the US in 2011 we had 32,351 gun deaths. In 2005 there were 5 killed in Norway. In the US in 2005 we had 10,158 killed or 2000 times as many per capita. He chose Norway because that one incident stuck in his mind, I guess, but the facts prove he is wrong, especially in the case of Norway. They have about 31 guns per 100 people. We have 88 per 100 people. They have strict gun laws. We have almost none. As President Obama said, "But let's be clear. At some point, we as a country will have to reckon with the fact that this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries. It doesn't happen in other places with this kind of frequency."

Toby Keith, countries with really strict gun policies like Norway have way fewer gun deaths than we do. Those policies work. Toby you are lunkhead.

Lee Augustine
Wawarsing


The Healthcare Law Was Meant To Benefit All!

A provision of the Affordable Care Act giving subsidies to states that create their own health insurance exchanges while excluding states that don't has been called into question. It is before the Supremes, who will rule on its statutory construct, but something bigger is going on here.

If laws originate from the federal government, they should be for the benefit of all. If federal subsidies in connection with Obamacare are made available to people in some states, they should be made available to people in all states, unless the states offer subsidies that are at least on par with what the federal government is offering. Does not the 14th Amendment to the Constitution provide for equal protection under the law?

As it stands, only people in states that have state exchanges will get the tax credits, while people in the rest of the states won't. This to me is in violation of the 14th Amendment.

Who was the 14th Amendment meant to benefit? It was meant to benefit the people across the land. If the Supremes were asked to rule anything on this case, they should have been asked to rule on the equal protection constitutionality of the law.

Michael Radowitz
Newburgh


Democracy Or Duhmockery?

We've got lots of choices coming up in the next election. Will we chose the first female president? the first president to be the third one in his family? the first First Generation president? the first Jewish president? or the first president that already had three wives?

Lots of choices seem to be coming up. I thought that Bernie Sanders' motivation was to pull Hilary over to the left; however, he may now be in the running. If it was up to me, I'd force them all to talk about Climate Change over and over, until we learn which one is really for alternative energy and which one is being backed by the Oil and Gas Industry.

What could be more important than controlling the safety of our air and water, the changing of weather; ice melting and oceans rising and the droughts, floods, earthquakes, sinkholes and tornadoes? Furthermore, as we continue to put our toxic waste into the ocean, we are killing enormous amounts of fish and sea life, ending up with two teenagers that were recently considered "food" by sharks as they were playing on the beach in North Carolina.

I just can't understand why Climate Change isn't the number one topic of the coming election, when it surely will be the most important one for all of us. Let's not take the upcoming election with anything less than full involvement. Join up to help, to petition, to make sure that neighbors are voting, and let's do what we can to support democracy.

Jill Paperno
Glenford


Some Fresh Words On The Surveillance Debate...

The American Civil Liberties Union has raised a number of important privacy concerns regarding the recently installed license-plate-reading cameras around towns like ours. These concerns need to be considered carefully by our communities, as they go to the heart of increasingly troubling tensions between national security and individual privacy.

Other issues, however, related more to the use of Homeland Security funds to pay for these cameras, may also need public consideration. Two seem particularly important. First, we need to consider the opportunity costs of these cameras: Are they, in other words, the best use of Homeland Security funds? Might those funds have been spent more wisely on health care improvements for veterans, for example, or on airline/airport security, to cite another issue recently in the news? And second, was this funding just another example of the tired, old "bring home the bacon" sort of politics that has long undermined the effective use of public resources? During such challenging times — both nationally and internationally — can we afford, in other words, to continue to do business as usual?

The public discussion of these sorts of issues is important, of course, with this newspaper providing a convenient forum in which to conduct them.

Michael Whelan
Saugerties


New Yorkers Got The Fracking Ban Just Right!

The majority of New Yorkers who support New York's fracking ban couldn't have said it better: New York could not guarantee the safety of its air and water if it allowed fracking to commence.

The EPA's study has been spun so much that it's hard to tell what the truth is until you read it. But the fact is, despite industry interference, the EPA found that fracking has risks. And, as has been noted, a much more comprehensive review by the state's Department of Health confirmed what more than 400 peer-reviewed studies found: fracking carries significant risks. The Department's long awaited review looked at impacts to air, water, public health, ecosystems, wildlife and community character. They found impacts and concerns in all of these categories.

Other states have found that the supposed fracking boom quickly turns to a bust — leaving air and water contamination and a spoiled land in its wake.

New York was wise to ban fracking and focus on developing renewable energy, which creates good jobs without destroying our state.

Wes Gillingham, Program Director
Catskill Mountainkeeper
Livingston Manor


Put Eleanor Roosevelt's Image On Our Currency!

I offer my single vote for Eleanor Roosevelt's name and image being placed on one of the most prominent bills of our currency.

While there is a long and distinguished list of nominees of women for this honor (if that is what it is), Mrs. Roosevelt was a paragon of leadership, journalistic commentary, diplomacy, advocacy, and family devotion for generations of Americans.

Most remembered, I hope, is her leadership in the drafting and approval of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. She was never elected to office, but still carried a long record of accomplishments in race relations, women's rights, workers' rights, peace-making, and international relations.

Furthermore, she was a native voice from the Hudson Valley and the state of New York.

I urge your readers and our representatives to promote her name for this honor.

Albert R. Ahlstrom
Kingston


You Can Use The NYC Library If You Want

With more and more people using e-readers like the Kindle, the Nook and the iPad, it's important for people to know where and how to access tens of thousands of free e-books and the answer is simple — it's the library.

Many people don't realize it, but anyone who either lives, works, goes to school or pays property taxes anywhere in New York state can get a New York City public library card, and use it to download both audio books and e-books free of charge, without ever having to set foot in New York City.

Here's how you do it:

Go to the New York City Public Library website at www.nypl.org.

Near the bottom of the page, in the center, click on the link to "Get a Library Card."

Under QUICK LINKS, click on the link to "Apply for a New Card."

Read the information under "Apply for a Library Card," and then click on the link to "Apply Online."

Once you receive your library card in the mail, and go back online to select a PIN number, you can access e-books and audiobooks directly by going to ebooks.nypl.org.

If you have any problems doing this, or any questions, on the main library page www.nypl.org you can find both telephone help numbers and an online chat link to get help and answers.

Read, listen, and enjoy everything your library has to offer.

Ken Goldberg, trustee
Saugerties Public Library


Those That Abuse Workers Need To Be Called Out

In 1906, Upton Sinclair wrote a scathing expose of abusive conditions foisted upon the animals and immigrant workforce by the Chicago meat-packing industry. Sadly, over a century later, similar and worse conditions continue to exist in many businesses.

A recent editorial in a local newspaper rightly condemned Ideal Snacks for callously and deliberately preying on their employees, treating them as disposable cogs in a machine, to be used and discarded at will in an overriding pursuit of maximizing profits. Whether in the form of child labor, workers in sweatshops or migrant workers virtually enslaved in agro-businesses and on factory farms, deliberate and premeditated maltreatment and abuse of employees cannot be tolerated or allowed to exist.

It is incumbent on IDAs to ensure that businesses granted tax relief comply with the terms of those agreements, not wait for government regulators and other watchdog groups to expose the kind of blatant exploitation that happened at ldeal Snacks. Until these illegal and abusive practices are rooted out and stopped, workers, their families and indeed the general public will suffer for it, and America's proud legacy of justice for all will not be served.

Star D. Hesse
Narrowsburg



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