Letters to the Editor 5/10/2007

Dear Editor,
It’s that time of year again when tax payers in the Onteora School district will be voting on an increase of $2,131,096.00 to this year’s school budget. The total school budget is $46,775,318.000. That’s a 4.77 percent increase over last year’s budget. The tax levy is an estimated 3.89 percent. Keep in mind that’s an estimated tax levy. On top of that voters will be voting to accept or reject a proposal to purchase new buses at the total cost of $279,837.00. If voters decide to reject buying the buses the transportation budget will increase by $10,000.00 for bus maintenance. It appears that the buses the school wanted to replace last year are still running and worth repairing.
As reported in Onteora’s proposed School Budget report our public school enrollment is down by 140 students or 7.14 percent. For school year 2003-2004 tax payers in the Onteora School district paid $1195.00 more per student for General Education then any other Public School District in New York State. In the same school year under Special Education tax payers of the district paid $30,052.000 per student or $12,385.000 more per student then any other school district in New York State. For school year 2007-2008 tax payers will pay $236,905.000 for benefits for the school’s seven administrators.
Rita Vanacore and Dave Patterson voted not to accept this year’s school’s budget. Both school board members are well informed on the total spending at the school and know what monies are left in the fund balance. No school board member would vote not to accept the budget if they felt that it would hurt the students in any way. Rita Vanacore and Dave Patterson are not running this year for a seat on the board.
When tax payers, especially those living on a fixed income, look over their own personal budgets to consider voting for or against the budget they should keep in mind that everything they purchase continues to cost more money. There are predictions out there that gas prices will continue to climb upwards to possibly $4.00 a gallon. Last year’s prices for fuel oil were outrageous. Considering the cost of gas fuel oil will likely cost as much or more then last year. Land taxes will increase. The school is still considering a forty to seventy million dollar reconstruction project.
William Warnecke
Glenford, NY

Dear Editor,
Voters in the Onteora School District will be presented with three candidates for the School Board on Tues. May 15th. Of the seven seats on the current Board, four members reside in the Town of Olive, and they were elected into office based upon their position on the large parcel issue. Large parcel has not been an issue in the past year, and these Olive board members have served us well. Nevertheless, it is not in the best interest of residents to see an even heavier concentration of power on the school board representing the interests of Olive. Two of the candidates seeking election reside in the Town of Olive, and they were solicited to run by the group ‘Olive Matters’, an organization which emerged as a result of the large parcel issue.
Current School Board President, Marino D’Orazio, the longest serving member of the board, is seeking re-election. Mr. D’Orazio, as President of the Board, is a strong leader and a man of vision. His re-election will be in the best interests of all residents of the Onteora School District. To show my support for Marino D’Orazio, I intend to cast only one vote for the two open seats in Tues’s election. We cannot afford to lose an experienced leader and have a School Board with two novices, in which over 70% of our board members would reside in one of the five towns in the district.
Nick J. Alba
Phoenicia, NY

Dear Editor,
In a recent letter to the editor I said that Onteora spent $1195.00 more then any other school in New York State for general education. It should have read compared to all Public Schools in N.Y.S. Also the $12,385.000 more for Special Education I should have said compared to all Public Schools in New York State. I apologize for the misinterpretation of my research.
William Warnecke
Glenford, NY

Dear Editor,
I have had the good fortune to meet Michelle Freidel and Rick Wollf, candidates for the upcoming election to the Onteora School Board. Not only do they understand and support the needs of the children in the district, but they also understand that the school board should NOT be wasting its time on topics like the corrupt Large Parcel Law.
I urge everyone to vote for these highly qualified individuals in the school board election on May 15.
Gert Kaiser
Samsonville, NY

Dear Editor,
The Onteora School District needs a change. That is why I heartily endorse Michelle Friedel to serve as a member of the School Board.
I have known Ms. Friedel closely for many years now. She is an educator,
mother, manager, and community volunteer—and does a wonderful job in each of these roles. She would make the perfect addition to our School Board, replacing those whose time has past. Michelle would fill the position with integrity, intelligence, dedication and a civility that is long overdue. She is an excellent listener—a quality that the current leadership clearly lacks.
Our district is preparing to move forward with plans to re-organize K-8 and will be making major facilities decisions as well. I can think of no finer person than Michelle Friedel to help lead our community through these major changes. With children in both the elementary and middle
schools, years of experience as a teacher, formal and informal professional knowledge, devotion to this community, a warm heart and a sharp mind, Michelle Friedel would be a huge asset to the School Board. She is a unifier--able to see different points of view and bring people together in common purpose.
I, for one, am so very tired of the complete lack of respect that has been shown by the current leadership. I have witnessed people publicly shut down and shut off. I have personally seen and heard insults made to polling workers and threats made to invalidate elections. As we attempt to move past the ugliness of Large Parcel, as we attempt to work with a new Superintendent, as we attempt to direct the future of the district—property as well as people-- I cannot help but feel that we need new leadership at the helm.
I urge you to vote for Michelle Friedel. It’s time for a change.
Wendy Wolfenson
West Shokan, NY

Dear Editor,
This is a reminder to voters in the Onteora School District that Tuesday, May 15th, is your opportunity to elect two solid candidates for the school board, Michelle Friedel and Rick Wolff. The position of school board trustee is a demanding one. These candidates possess the qualities of intelligence, candor, compassion, concern, and self control: each is necessary to perform the duties which our community will entrust to them.
Furthermore, each realizes the necessity for the entire school district to come together and mend the wounds which the factionalistic Large Parcel Law has created. When elected, they will take the wisest path regarding this diversive law: they will opt not to consider it.
Instead, they will devote their talents and energy to create the best educational atmosphere for our children and this community. They will also carefully consider the wishes of the taxpayers.
Join me on May 15th when we'll elect these two tremendous candidates.
John R. Tisch
Shokan, NY

Dear Editor,
We would like to remind residents of Olive to vote May 15, for school board candidates, Michelle Friedel and Rick Wollf. Both candidates have excellent credentials.They also understand that the school board should not be taking valuable time away from school issues and wasting it on topics like the Large Parcel Law. The LP Law states that no action need be taken by the school board. Deciding what each district should pay in school taxes is not a school board's responsibility, and should be thrown back in the cowardly lawmakers laps. This law should be ignored each August like it was last year.
Vote May 15 for candidates that are highly qualified to handle children and school issues, and understand the corrupt LP Law. Vote for Michelle Friedel and Rick Wolff.
Judith & Drew Boggess
Shokan, NY

Dear Editor,
I'm off to work! But here's a quick note to endorse Michelle Friedel's candidacy for the Onteora School Board. Over the past several years, I have had the pleasure of meeting and working with members of the Friedel family. They are a family of educators, concerned and engaged in their community and school district. I was pleased to find out that Michelle has volunteered to serve as a school board member. As a mother of children in the Onteora school district, and a highschool career skills teacher at BOCES, Michelle is very well qualified to address the concerns of the school district. Please join me in voting for Michelle.
Marianne Hopkins
Olivebridge, NY

Dear Editor,
Please elect Michelle Friedel and Richard Wolff this coming School Board Election on May 15th. Voting will be held 2PM to 9 PM at your regular elementary school polling place. Both candidates are well qualified and are interested in the best education for our students at reasonable cost. Another main concern is providing an education in an atmosphere that is professionally run and in which our students act and appreciate an education that we the taxpayers are providing.
Please elect these two candidates. They are definitely the best choice to represent our school district.
Sandy Friedel
West Shokan, NY

Dear Editor,
Governments across the volatile Middle East are rushing to declare their intentions of building nuclear power plants as soon as they can. It seems developing countries are crying out for nuclear parity. After all, they’re just following our lead. And, maybe they still believe the false promises made by the nuclear true-believers when they started down this road 50 years ago: power that’ll be “too cheap to meter?” Or maybe they're all secretly planning to produce nuclear bombs.
Now the US power industry wants to build hundreds more plutonium producing power stations like a string of bulls-eyes across the American landscape. And a big part of their push is the false claim that it’ll free us from global warming. The next time someone tells you that new nuclear power stations will save the planet from global warming, don’t forget that lots of fossil fuel is burnt digging up and transporting the increasingly scarce non-renewable uranium; uranium enrichment (necessary to get the fuel up to power producing strength) produces chlorofluorocarbon gas, a greenhouse gas 10,000 times more potent than CO2; that poisonous radioactive uranium tailings pile up in communities where the uranium is mined and milled; that pollution of ground water
and land has followed the uranium mining, milling, enriching and nuclear power generating industry wherever it’s located and that piles of highly radioactive nuclear fuel still sit in every community that hosts a nuclear plant some fifty years after the unfulfilled promises of the nuclear priesthood.
A recent MIT study predicts it’ll take 1,000 new reactors to begin to make a dent in CO2 emissions at a cost of upwards of a trillion dollars - that’s trillion with a “t”; that you and I continue to subsidize the nuclear industry with our hard-earned tax money. This is the same industry that still insists on Congressionally granted freedom from any economic consequences of an “impossible” accident like those at 3-Mile Island and Chernobyl before they'll build any nukes. Giving them
hundreds of billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies is a prime example of flushing money down a non-renewable rat hole instead of investing it in decentralized, proven solar, wind, conservation and geothermal projects that will give good jobs to millions of workers while drastically reducing the need for any new electric generating stations.
You can learn more by visiting the well-respected non-partisan Rocky Mountain Institute’s web site at http://www.rmi.org/ where you’ll be amazed by the truth about nuclear power and its shortcomings.
Here’s a quote from one of their pages: “In 1990, a study by five national laboratories concluded that increasing R&D budgets by just the cost of building one nuclear power plant ($3 billion spread over twenty years) could, by the year 2030, enable renewable energy to provide a half to two-thirds of the total energy then used in the United States.
Nuclear power, in contrast, cannot compete with either efficiency or renewables. It has cost the United States about $200 billion in public and private investment—by one government estimate over $1 trillion, including all taxpayer-provided R&D used in the civilian program since the 1940s.
Because devices now on the market can save four times as much electricity as all U.S. nuclear plants make, at just 5 percent of the cost of building and running them, it's cheaper to write off any nuclear plant and provide customers with efficiency. The city of Sacramento, California has done just that. The Sacramento Municipal Utility District closed its Rancho Seco nuclear plant, and is recreating itself as a utility based on photovoltaics and energy efficiency. The result: more jobs, less pollution, stable electric prices, and a more sustainable and prosperous community.”
Don’t let the government squander your money by funding and supporting the false promise of the most expensive and dangerous way ever devised to boil water: nuclear power. And don’t let our government support the construction of these dangerous targets in the most volatile regions of the world or in American neighborhoods.
Tobe Carey
Glenford, NY

Dear Editor,
I applaud most of your editorial in the April 26 issue and in particular your support for the fast track efforts currently going forward with regard to the Belleayre Resort. Starting with Gov. Pataki and continuing under the leadership of Gov. Spitzer this effort is attempting to bring to a satisfactory conclusion what is already one of the most exhaustive review processes in the State’s history. This initiative could not come at a more desperate time for the communities of western Ulster and eastern Delaware Counties. The number of aging “for sale” signs on Route 28 businesses, the population loss in Delaware and eastern Ulster, the rising taxes and general feeling of economic malaise and discouragement all indicate a region that has been left out of the generally improving fortunes of the State. One need only to drive through Hunter and Windham in Greene county—also within the “blue line”— to be struck by the contrast.
I have no more idea than you do what shape the compromise Resort is taking but any infusion of capital into the Belleayre Ski area and any integration with the Highmount Ski area, together with a resort component would be a godsend for our region and could well spark resurgence in our economic fortunes. It is almost certain that for this effort to end in failure will accelerate our region’s descent.
This area not so long ago had large hotels atop of many of its mountains with no sophisticated waste management systems and no idea of what “run off’ was. No matter how large the ultimate resort project ends up it will not come close to what once was — and was at the time New York City determined it to be the best place to expand its water supply!
I trust the Governor to insure that whatever reviews are statutorily mandated for the compromise proposed resort and for any expansion of the ski area will take place.
Right now our best course is to focus on urging that these talks continue at an accelerated pace and that the emphasis be on reaching an agreement and not getting tied up in nit picking and undo delay.
I urge the Governor to use his office and you to use your editorial influence to keep this moving ahead.
Thomas H. White
Big Indian, NY

Dear Editor,
Since President Bush keeps vetoing bills that seek to bring the troops home with benchmarks and deadlines I would like to suggest that Congress pass instead a bill ordering the withdrawal of all American business interests from Iraq. Once that has been accomplished in a secure and orderly way, I predict our military presence will no longer be necessary.
Christina Countryman
Shokan, NY

Dear Editor,
The recent articles concerning Terry Lawerence illustrates there is problem that needs to be changed concerning people with disabilities and nursing home regulations. There is no right to return to the Northeast Center nor is there any law governing return to a locally based appropriate care unit designed to take in consideration the distance a person with a disability who is in need of nursing home services and living within a reasonable traveling distance from one's family.
For years my aunt and her husband struggled to get their son returned to Long Island after his primary placement burned down in Sullivan County. He was first sent to a facility located in Dutchess County the Wassic Developmental Center where he languished inappropriately for five years even after litigation was filed on his behalf, letters sent to various state representatives.including then Governor Cuomo nothing was being done. The final resolution came about when the New York State Senate Select Committee on the Disabled intervened adding two more years to find an appropriate facility on Long Island. If it were not then for the NYS Senate Republican majority efforts made on his behalf he would still be in Dutchess County completely cut off from his family. This was during a time when the state's policy was to close the Wassiac Developmental Center.
I do not know all of the facts of Mr. Lawerence's case but I would encourage him and his family to do what I call a full court press. The Center's current level of services must match the person's specific needs. If Terry is not disabled enough he would not be eligible for Care at the Northeasr Center. In any case saying "no" to Terry Lawerence to make way for returning Veterans is not resonable and cannot be a proper determination if he meets the center's placement critiera.
I think Kim and Terry need the support within the disabled community. I believe Terry should be provided with proper accessible housing and services so he can come home. The service providers can then come to a fully accessible home. If their home is not "accessible" then it should be made so. There are combinations of grants and housing assistance for people with disabilities designed to help the person stay at home and lead a quality life. There needs to be a program that is funded by the state that helps people who fall under the ADA and the Olmsted Supreme Court decision that coordinates appropriate services. It needs to be geared towards creating independent accessible low cost housing and services. There are only two agencies in our community capable of doing this kind of work, RUPCO and RCAL. All these folks need is the legislative backing in the form of money and lots of it.
The federal government spends billions of dollars making war what if we changed our direction and took care of our people first. Our American citizens are more important than the price of oil and controling output for America's super-rich families. I ask that Congressman Hiinchey, Assemblyperson Cahill, and Senator Bonacic that they create a blue ribbon panel that will include half of its members people with mobility disabilities to review the existing resources in Ulster County. I sincerely believe there are business people who would join such a group to design a combination of federal and state lsources of funding to make Terry and any other person with a disability who needs help to find a solution already in place this makes complete sense.
There are already several housing related, ADA, legislative activities and I strongly suggest that the Lawerence's contact Fran Wishnick at RCAL and get the scoop on the 2007 Legislative Agenda and work with her concerning the appropriate placement for Terry.
Thomas R. Siblo-Landsman
Shokan, NY

Dear Editor,
I regret the defeat of New Paltz Village Mayor Jason West in his bid for reelection to a second four-year term on May 1. He was bested 531-387 by liberal Terry Dungan, who probably will serve the village well during his term.
My primary reason for regret is that West is identified with the Green Party which, through his office, made a small incursion into Hudson Valley politics. The Greens, despite their various political and organizational shortcomings, are a progressive organization, and to some degree they constitute a challenge to a two-party system that functions as a noose around the neck of left politics.
Secondarily, Jason West struck a major blow in support of equality for the lesbian-gay-bi-trans community by using the powers of his office to conduct same-sex marriages until he was stopped by the legal authorities. He also is a strong opponent of the Iraq war who has spoken at several peace rallies our newsletter has organized, a vociferous exponent of environmental sanity, and he performed satisfactorily as mayor.
I wish him well in his future endeavors on behalf of peace, social justice and an environmentally sustainable world.
Jack A. Smith
New Paltz, NY

Dear Editor;
I regret that I submitted no letters in the last two issues, but I have been traveling and looking into the minds of mid west dwellers, questioning the thinking of folks in the deep south and the inhabitants of the north east did not escape my scrutiny either. Now for the letters of the April 26, 2007 issue.
OCS Supt. Leslie Ford dazzles us with sleight of hand wizardry and fancy footwork in that she reports a decline in clients/consumers/students but OCS will continue on a war time footing by maintaining employees, production and inventory. Is she not from the planet California? The last time I looked at CEO's, COO's and CFO's whose bottom line had dropped below the base line they were swinging axes and "chainsaws" in the personnel department and slowing down the production lines. Storing inventory is costly also. It seems that School Officials see themselves as accountable to no one and regard the District as a bottomless Piggy Bank. OCS has the "bloat". The board is a "rubber" stamp without a conscience, too.
Bruce Kanvin's endorsement of a 4% increase limit in the OCS budget is in keeping with local income levels and cost of living increases which for some is zero. How about using the attendance figures just as the state does on a twice daily basis? Enrollment [registration] doesn't count; only attendance.
William Warnacke is quite correct in his highlighting of the annual mystery and confusion of the OCS budgets. Mr. Warnacke points to teacher Luke White's lamentation that teachers are human [therefore not expendable]. Mr. Warnacke has trouble finding line items and rightly fears an unpleasant surprise at post time. "We are human too", he observes.
Ms Mescal Hornbeck whom I find it difficult to disagree with at any time is on to an old idea of funding school budgets with income taxes as opposed to property "hostage". Excessive property taxes is how we redistribute land and real estate which is converted into large estates, towns and malls complete with Wal Mart thus reducing recreational acreage and wildlife habitat.
Eric Laursen was not listening as Imus confessed, "I said a bad thing". Amen? My problem with the Imus affair was not so much the nessage, but the messengers, Mssr's Sharpton and Jackson. These buffoons were hardly the appropriate earthly confessors to grant absolution. And as far as cleansing the "rap" culture, it ain't gonna happen. Check the market lately? Look under Dow Jones [and check Nasdaq for the electronics end].
The debate over the lowly hot dawg is amusing. Das ist allis. But there is this joke about one hot dog said to the other hot dog,....aw, forget it.
I would inquire of Julie McQuain what is reproductive health? And yes Ms McQuain; abortion is a civil rights issue; for the unborn victim.
Mr Ed Ocker has such a full plate I doubt he will ever get through the "mush" and debris. It would be nice to offer names, dates and documented evidence of all the terrible events he describes. Cite the official files and don't dismiss that request with, "the dog ate my homework" or "the files were shredded". You did however forget the Atom Bombs dropped on Japan in August 1945, sir.
Poor Mildred M. Meyer is never going to have a restful night as her imagination swells and her heart diminishes. Can one just see the alignment of Kingston City hospital and Saint Benedictine's? Ms Meyer has nothing to do but promote confrontation.
The sky is falling, the sky is falling! There is a crisis in "Health Freedom" whatever that is. Dr. Rima E. Laibow declares the FDA is going to take away my Vitamin C, E, G, and R plus certain minerals. My favorite mid-wife will be barred and quackery will be no more. Alas and woe. My question to the good Dr is, what is the Natural Solutions Foundation. I see it as "Brain Power" and we employ it to solve problems [some of which do not exist]. I have enjoyed a triple by-pass op, a heart valve replacement and wear a pacemaker. Should I have applied to the Natural Solutions Foundation for those parts and procedures? Forget the weeds and herbs Dr Laibow. Step into the twenty first century.
Tom Siblo; you are living in the wrong end of the world. And after you move you will still be in the wrong place.
Christina Countryman; you would do better to direct your energy in some other effort; like ping pong, or better yet, solitaire. No one dislikes GW or Mr. Cheney more than I do but it's not personal. Let me put it this way with a question. Ever get your car on an ice patch with a slight upgrade? You are spinning your wheels because impeachment doesn't do anything more than indict. Trial and conviction won't fly and you will go away sad. And as you parade across from the Recruiting Station hold up the flag and pray for the well being of our military personnel who serve honorably and faithfully.
To Jeffrey Cohen; Bravo. 'Nuff said!
Francis Posavec tells us of the anarchy during the depression [1930's]. He wasn't in the formative stage yet and he knows all about it. The only anarchy that we in Olivebridge were aware of was in the minds of Woodstockians. You may remember the march and encampment on DC by WWI veterans but that was hardly anarchy. I should have liked you as my history teacher.
Question to Peter Koch. How did Greenland with its ice cover get the name?
I heard somewhere that my ancestors were farming there 1000 years ago. But those savage vikings kept no diary or records..........hm-m-m-m.
Steve Josephs; where did you get your "kill" figures re: Iraq from? Are not the insurgents and terrorists killing their own [with a few Americans] each time an IED goes off? My problem is that we are not breaking things and killing people. That's how WWII was done and won. I would rather we were not there, but since we are we may as well clean it up and go home.
Johann Christian Arnold faults the media in a left handed way for reporting the VA. Tech shooting. Hey Pastor, I will wager that your face was in the boob tube along with the rest of us. In fact we have had an exciting though unpleasant month which removed Iraq from the rest of the world. My Bible states that "he who sheds mans blood, by man shall his blood be shed" The old capital punishment syndrome, eh?
As for Bob Neilsen; keep a 410 with a tablespoon of rock salt down the barrel. The bears don't like to get hit in the can with that and it won't harm them. He'll be back with a friend soon.
Last but not least is Leonard J. Battifarano's letter and I would advise him and his wife to not pay any attention to town officials in Olive.They are lonely and should rejoice that they are not set upon by a disgruntled "temp" from NYC. I grew up in Olivebridge, went off to WWII, worked in and for NYC, retired and returned to spend my money and travel. I feel left out but if "they" leave me alone I will reciprocate.
Last item. We just learned today of the horrible sequel to the Margaretville incident where possibly the trooper may have been hit by "friendly" fire. As law officers have explained, these events generate confusion, stress and anxiety. It occurs in the military as in Pat Tillman. The bottom line is that the perpetrator was/is the cause of all that happened and our law enforcement officers are fine public servants who protect us and our property without reservation. Our hearts go out to the families and friends of all those affected.God Bless them.
Glenn T. Anderson
Olivebridge, NY

Dear Editor,
In a recent letter the author has transformed naivete into a far-flung conspiracy theory. The author believes that Islamic Terrorism is funded by the CIA, Christian fundamentalists are as dangerous as Islamic extremists and the U.S. government is responsible for 911. Wow! A real live one. It is a disservice to those who died in 911 not to recognize the true killers, Al Qaeda and the Islamic Jihadist movement. People's willingness to believe anything that supports their ideology detracts from legitimate criticisms of the Bush administration. Bush needs to go but we are doomed if we don't keep our sights on the real enemy, Islamic extremists (Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, Al Qaeda). They hate western culture and despise democracy. Maybe the author would prefer to live in an Islamic state, where Sharia is the law of the land. Petty crimes result in capital punishment, the press is restricted and women can be stoned to death for violating religious codes. I could go on. Muslims are mostly responsible for their current affairs. They are free from the yokes of colonialism but are enslaved by the failures of Islam to blend modernity with religious values. They have embraced fanaticism, death and hatred. The Jihadists do have unity, faith and the willingness to go to any extreme to reach their goals. What we have are silly folks with the arrogance to state that our government is responsible for the Islamic revolution that is taking place within the Arab world and increasingly in the western world too. As for the 911 truthgroup promotion, the internet is littered with those groups espousing the "inside job." It's a lot of bunk being promoted by profiteers such as Alex Jones. While searching the 911 conspiracy sites, stop by the flat earth websites. Is the U.S. responsible for claiming the earth is round too?
Jeffrey Cohen
Phoenicia

Dear Editor,
Last week President Bush issued a proclamation that U.S. flags be flown at half staff "as a mark of respect for the victims" at Virginia Tech. (1) As that period of symbolic mourning ends, urge him to show the same respect to our military.
Over 3,300 American military personnel have given their lives in Iraq, in service to their military, to their Commander-in-Chief and to their country. These brave servicemen and women can be honored by flying the flag at half-staff. As the U.S. Flag Code states: "By order of the President, the flag shall be flown at half-staff upon the death of principal figures of the United States Government..."(2) U.S.Code, Title 4, Chapter 1, §7
Our military personnel are without doubt "principal figures" of the U.S. government and this show of respect for our troops would let them know how deeply we appreciate their sacrifices.
Fly your flag at half-staff until there are no more U.S. military fatalities in Iraq.
You don't have to wait for a presidential proclamation to fly the flag at half-staff. It falls within the First Amendment rights of every American to display the flag as they so desire(3), but a presidential proclamation would make this show of support and respect even more poignant.
"I regret that I have but one life to give for my country." Nathan Hale, American patriot 1776 A.D.
The idea of paying with your body for the values of your mind has been an invaluable tool used by recruiters of U.S. military and the militaries of most other nations. President Bush, though he did not actually serve in the military himself, has repeatedly called our military personnel great patriots, now he can make it official:
Contact President Bush and urge him to proclaim that all flags should be flown at half-staff to honor our fallen military personnel.
Contact details can be found here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
Call or write your members of congress and urge them to proclaim that all flags should be flown at half-staff to honor our fallen military personnel.
Contact details can be found here: http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/
Call or write your governor and urge him or her to proclaim that all flags should be flown at half-staff to honor our fallen military personnel.
Contact details can be found here: National Governors Association
SOURCES: (1) http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/04/20070417.html; (2) http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode04/usc_sec_04_00000007----000-.html; (3) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Flag_Code
Sincerely,
Norm Magnusson
Lake Hill, NY

Dear Editor,
I just wanted to say Thank You for the beautiful article you did in the Phoenicia Times for my husband and Agent Orange. There are so many Vietnam vets who are
sick and dying from this horrible contact. Alot of them do not know where to go. or better yet give up because of all the paper work involved. It is a shame that these men and women have to prove the are sick due to this AO. Just like today with the young men and women in military , alot of them will be coming home with PTSD, and they also will have to prove this. What a sin that our young people can fight for our freedom, only to come home and be forgotten by our government. I believe if these brave young people seved in any kind of war, they should automatically receive life time health benefits, it is the least we can do to honor these wonderful service men.
Sorry I get carried away some times. Again thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Pat Walley
Phoenicia, NY

Dear Editor,
This year the Phoenicia Library will be holding its tremendously popular Plant Sale at the Library Fair on Saturday, June 2. It takes a lot of gardeners to grow a plant sale! We are asking our gardeners in the Town of Shandaken to help us out. Now is a good time to start dividing perennials and potting up groundcovers, shrubs, houseplants, and herbs for the sale. Label the plants with their names, and we will help them find a happy new home. Or, if you need some help with digging and dividing, we have a few volunteers who may be able to come to your garden and assist you.
You can bring your plants to the library on Friday, June 1. Or, if you need to have them picked up, we will see if we can arrange that.
For help with digging and potting, or someone to bring your plants to the Plant Sale for you, please call the library at 688-7811
We look forward to seeing everyone at the Library Fair in June. It’s all for a wonderful cause: the Phoenicia Library.
Veronica Rowe
Phoenicia Library

Dear Editor,
I came 'home' from Philadelphia to help support the Gabriel Family Fun(d)raiser last Sunday. I was moved by the grace and power and style that the community brought forward once again. The magic was everywhere, with too many examples to list individually, but still as a 'body of work' deserves acknowledgment. Some people from out of the area remarked about how incredible the energy of the town was, and I was proud to know that it is part of who and what the area really is - every day. I am writing here to thank you all for the way you show up regularly and not just for special occasions.
I wish to thank Rich Parrish of the Rescue Squad and Mike Densen of the Woodstock Fire Department for their support of the car wash which helped over 50 cars shine and raise almost $900. Thanks also goes to Denise and Joe at Bearsville Garage, and Police Chief Harry Baldwin for their no problem attitude. I'm grateful to have you in my life.
Walter Pustilnik
Malvern, PA

Dear Editor,
If you are concerned about the quality of life in the Catskill/Shawangunk region, now is the time to act! Our area is plagued by constant low-flying airplane traffic, to and from the Metro area airports. The FAA is in the final stage of its Northeast Airspace Redesign, and is accepting public comments through May 11, on its website: www.faa.gov - click on the link for NY/NJ/PA Airspace Redesign, then "Send us your comments."
These comments really do matter - they often appear in the final reports. The FAA is considering changes that will directly impact our area, including raising the elevation of air traffic over our heads. This would reduce noise considerably for some of the worst-affected mountain areas.
It is imperative that the FAA receive comments supporting any and all measures that will reduce airplane noise in the Ulster County region. This is our last chance to have our area represented and our concerns recorded as the FAA considers its final Noise Mitigation strategies. This is the final stretch of an ongoing battle to reduce noise and improve quality of life in Ulster County. This Airspace Redesign will shape Northeast air traffic for the next 50 years - please act now and send your comments!
Euphrosyne Bloom
and Martin Keith
Woodstock Overflight
Focus Group