Letters5/7/2009

Dear Editor,
The Board has completed its review of spending priorities for the 2009-10 school year, and is ready to present a budget they support to the community. This has been a particularly difficult financial time for planning, as you are well aware. Difficult decisions will need to be made for the school district over a period of several years. Your input, questions, and participation is valued.
The combined effort of staff, administrative team and Board has assisted in maintaining focus on a high level of instruction and learning in the district. Our recently adopted Strategic Plan provides the new “floor” for future planning with an emphasis on preparing students as global citizens in a changing, diverse society. Efforts for the rollout of this program have begun, and appear in the 2009-10 budget.
Let me quickly highlight some of the programs, services and activities that remain in place for students. We continue to host a many and varied electives for high school students, including Advanced Placement, technology, leadership and fine arts classes that assist them complete their Regents graduation requirements. All of the competitive sports teams at every level have been maintained, and clubs as well as activities for students will remain in place. We are all proud of the progress our middle school team has made in moving to a school “In Good Standing” relative to state assessments; this is a status we intend to continue. Our growth and refreshment plan for curriculum-related technology is helping to provide meaningful tools for instruction in many classrooms. Even with a ten percent reduction in each building budget, we will be able to provide assemblies and field trips for children.
The 2009-10 budget includes annual statutory increases for personnel of step, increase, health and welfare benefits. It also accounts for reductions of approximately $900,000 with reductions in staff that align with our continued decline in enrollment. The total budget proposed budget of $49,865,219 represents a dollar-to-dollar budget increase of $1,439,759, or 3.42%- an amount below the contingency calculation of 3.97%. The anticipated levy increase (including last year’s budget increase of 3.08% with no levy increase) is 6.38%. This amount continues the District perspective of using prudent measures to contain cost and maintain an even levy for taxpayers.
The annual Budget Vote is Tuesday, May 19th. Polls will be open from @:00 p.m.- 9:00 p.m. at the three elementary schools and the West Hurley site. Three Board candidates are listed for election on the ballot. In addition, voters are asked to consider two propositions. The first proposition would allow the District to remain on the bus replacement schedule with the purchase of two buses. Our current fleet has buses older than 10 years with more than 200,000 miles on them. The second proposition asks voters to approve already collected dollars from the fund balance to cover the cost of items necessary to the Auditorium modernization project. The two largest items are electric winches and rigging for lighting and scenery. Without these items, lighting and scenery would have to be dead hung from the ceiling. These items have been removed from the base bid, and will directly add to the quality of the Auditorium use for years to come.
Earlier budget presentations are available for you review on the District website. I want to thank all of you in the community for the care and concern you demonstrate for our students in so many ways.
Sincerely,
Leslie Ford, Superintendent
Onteora School District

Dear Editor,
My name is Tony Fletcher and I am running for a position as Trustee on the Board of Education here in the Onteora Central School District, elections to take place along with the Budget Vote on May 19. I would like to share with your readers my mission statement, as follows.
I am running for school board because I believe in this school district.
I believe our community elementary schools (Bennett, Phoenicia, Woodstock) are the solid foundations on which our students’ successes are built, and that we must support and maintain them accordingly.
I believe also that these schools are core factors in the economic vitality of the various communities that make up our geographically large district.
I believe in district-wide representation on the school board, that it must never again fall into the hands of a proven minority with a hidden agenda.
I believe the teachers and other district employees are our partners in shaping our children’s future, and that they should be treated accordingly by Central Administration.
I believe in maintaining safety nets for the less advantaged among our district’s children, including those with Special Needs; if we “catch” them early, we all save in the long run.
I believe in promoting and building upon our school district’s many strengths and achievements, and working with other district and regional bodies to attract more families to raise their children here.
I believe in ongoing scrutiny of our District's spending, keeping any budget increases to an absolute minimum.
I believe the current system of financing school districts through property taxes is detrimental to all concerned. I support the New York State Assembly’s Equity In Education Bill (A6009), and invite all members of our community to do likewise.
If elected, I promise to listen to voters, to try to reflect community opinion when it comes to board decisions, to prove open to innovative ideas, and to promote a positive spirit on the board and harmony within the district.
Some background: I was raised and educated in the UK, and have spent the last 21 years living in New York State, during which time I became a proud citizen of the United States. I am the author of several books, including a major biography on Keith Moon, and the upcoming All Hopped Up And Ready To Go: Music From The Streets of New York 1927-77, have written freelance for a vast range of national and international newspapers and magazines, and have also worked over the years in many other areas of media and music. I am a keen runner, including marathon distance, and avid skier, and in 2005, my wife and I fulfilled a long-term dream of moving full-time to this area, one that we chose not just because of its natural beauty, its outdoor opportunities, and its historical sense of community, but because of its popular and successful schools.
We have two sons in the district. One is about to move into high school. The other has been designated as a pre-school child with a disability; I am happy to say that he is receiving appropriate education through our school district, which I sincerely believe will enable him to eventually integrate into regular education. We live in Mount Tremper, in the town of Woodstock but on the very border of Shandaken; our older son, who spent two years at Phoenicia Elementary, now goes to school in the town of Olive; we have good friends in all these towns and also in West Hurley.
Our sons’ age range and health issues mean that by next September, I will have been privy to four separate levels of education in the Onteora District (pre-school, elementary, middle school, high school). In addition, over the last two years, I have attended the vast majority of School Board meetings, which means I have a clear sense of what I’m taking on and how the school board (and to an extent, the district at large) operates. This past year I have served on the Communications Committee. Our theme for the upcoming school year’s calendar is Many Towns, One District.
The Onteora Central School District is not perfect, and there are several issues that merit attention and discussion. It is, however, statistically the top-performing district in Ulster County (alongside New Paltz), and I have seen firsthand the dedication of teachers, other staff, administrators, parents, the students themselves and community members who have helped make it so. We have much more to achieve, and a positive outlook will help us do so.
I am running alongside current Trustee Laurie Osmond. Please look for campaign literature that outlines our district’s successes and areas for improvement, and we invite you to support us at our facebook page (search for “osmondfletcher09”).
rward to your vote on May 19 and to serving this community as a School Board Trustee.
Tony Fletcher
Mount Tremper, NY

Dear Editor,
About a year ago, I started putting signs up for Didymo on the Esopus Creek from the Boiceville market all the way to Phoenicia and a few places beyond that point. I meet with region 3 fisheries before posting my signs to show them my signs. They had no comments, just stated do not post my signs on DEC easements to the Esopus creek, I complied. I also asked when you are going to put up signs on the Esopus a number of times throughout the 2008 summer. Reply no money no manpower.
After contacting many private land owners, and posting my signs. I then contacted the Ashokan Pepacton TU chapter board members, and asked them if they would be willing to defray some of the payments for the signs. Their reply was, “if you came to us before you posted your signs, we may have considered giving you some money to defray from the cost of the signs” that reply came from Rodger Walters”. None of the board members offered to assist me in putting up additional signs. Mr. Walters is a board member of APW & region 3# TU vice president. Only 2 board members were supportive.
I was very angry that they were not willing to do anything! I continued putting up more signs regardless. The Catskills Mountain Railroad gave me permission to post my signs anywhere on the side of the tracts, they were supportive.
As of now, there are 72 signs posted, 42 for Didymo & 30 notice signs. Cameras were also put up which land owners paid for, some did pay for the signs.
Posted signs Boiceville to Phoenicia, Coldbrook Road & beyond. Risley Road by closed bridge, USGS station off of 28, one mile on the tracks going to Phoenicia, back roads Woodland Valley, Rondout Creek; 1.6 miles all posted. Cost of all signs $900.00.PDQ, in New Paltz, dramatically reduced the cost of the signs, a great help.
Synopsis: All summer long in 2008, inmates were planting pine trees at region 3# DEC headquarters New Paltz, plant trees yes, signs no. All state signs are made at 2 correctional facilities, inmates paid approximately 31 to 61 cents a hour materials state pays slightly over cost, as for manpower, they could of used outside gangs for help, free labor. DEC has a responsibility to protect all streams. As for the APW they are the watchdog of the Esopus, supposedly.
April 2, 2009 DEC knew about Didymo but did not confirm it.
April 9, 2009 Schumer and APW Rodger Walters & others announced 15 million to help with signs and other things.
April 15, 9,215, 9inch trout, put into the Esopus. They should have put them elsewhere.
April 27, notices went out from DEC that Didymo is in the Esopus.
Nowhere in Ulster County are there posted Didymo sign or anywhere in region 3# my signs are not going to stop Didymo, it was to alert & educate people, to reduce the possibility. And with some luck prevent it coming into the Esopus. No longer the case now!
Everyone from William Janeway DEC Region Director & Rodger Walters & Chet Karwatowski APW president knew that Didymo was in the Esopus on April, 2 or there about.
The rest of the story is what I call the Potomac two-step or as most know CYA. All the above are un-disputable facts.
Jim Littlefoot
New Paltz, NY

Dear Editor,
The Phoenicia Times and other papers report that “Coalition to ‘Save’ Belleayre,” UC Legislature Chairman Donaldson and still-unknown Delaware County officials again called on Governor Paterson to direct economic stimulus funding to the expansion of public Belleayre Mountain Ski Center, BMSC.
Exactly what construction plans do they suggest be funded? Economic stimulus money is for "shovel ready" infrastructure projects–already reviewed, approved and ready for bid--to put people to work immediately.
DEC and other State officials have confirmed in multiple press reports that the expansion of BMSC is nowhere near shovel ready, as "Coalition to Save Belleayre" and County officials know perfectly well. They should stop misleading the public and Governor Paterson with press releases and letters containing wildly exaggerated prospective jobs numbers. They are responsible for the delay.
Fact is, expansion of the ski center was severely retarded by their attempt to use PUBLIC BMSC to enable speculative PRIVATE Belleayre Resort, a proposed commercial real estate development with multiple restaurants, bars, stores, hotels, spas, condos and mountaintop timeshares, larger and higher in elevation than ever before permitted.
Fact is, NY taxpayers must first “acquire” the land needed for DEC's ski center expansion plan, as well as the hostage Big Indian parcel, from the private developer! Leaving aside constitutional issues, the entire house of cards collapses if Crossroads Ventures investors do not get their price and everything else they demanded in closed-door negotiations from then-Governor Spitzer. Fortunately the concerned public has remained engaged because this proposal would harm Catskill Mountain communities, ecology, wildlife and scenery—our primary economic engine, and very likely increase local taxes.
Thanks to this unfortunate shotgun wedding DEC's tardy plan for expanding the public ski center now must go through SEQR review in tandem with the controversial private development. Readers can find the final DEC scope for the joint Belleayre review and more info at SavetheMountain.net
Julie McQuain
Save The Mountain!
Hardenburgh, NY

Dear Editor,
I want to thank the Onteora School District community for its support during my School Board service. It has been an interesting three years, and I have tried to meet the challenges thoughtfully and fairly while getting to know many of the people who live in our communities. Working to increase the excellence in our schools and balancing what we all pay in taxes is not easy and the Boards I have served on have been very cognizant of this. I am not running again, given the immense time commitment and my desire to have more time with my family. I will continue to support our schools, and volunteer where I can to help the district.
Onteora has much to be proud of, and also much work to do. This year’s strategic plan is a good curricular map for Onteora to follow, addressing K-12 curriculum; graduation rates; special education and the culture and climate of our schools. Looking to the future, there are many complex issues to debate and decide upon; our middle school configuration, retention of community schools, keeping a rich curriculum and associated extracurricular activities and upgrading our facilities. And, I hope the debate will include surveying the entire community regarding what it is willing to support, given the associated tax impacts. Long-range planning and decisions have to be made and this needs to be done openly and thoughtfully. The choices are not easy, but communicating the complexity to the community and then getting its input is essential.
When I was elected to the board three years ago, the specter of our divided towns intimidated me. But I’ve learned in these years that the divide doesn’t really exist to the degree we read about in the papers. A few key voices constantly beat this drum, but I don’t believe they speak for the majority of us. We need to put talk of such differences aside because it lessens people’s willingness to be involved in our schools. And, that involvement is needed from all corners of the district. And key to accomplishing real change in the district is the shared vision of the Board, administration, staff and community.
I’ve always been disappointed that our board meetings occur with very few people in attendance. And though they are finally being televised on Channel 20 twice a week – most people get their school news from the newspapers or from anecdotes, venues which rarely reflect the complexity of the issues or the discussion that takes place. So I hope people will start tuning into our board meetings, and get a sense of these things for themselves. And let the Board and Superintendent know what steps they might take to gain their involvement.
So, it’s school board vote time again. Please go to the polls on May 19th to continue your support for our school district.
Thank you.
Maxanne Resnick
Onteora School Board President
Chichester, NY

Dear Editor,
For over a year much misinformation has been disseminated regarding consolidation in the OCS district. Opponents claim that towns will be damaged if schools are closed. They also warn that local businesses will be adversely impacted and that real estate values will decline. Furthermore, they claim no one has been able to show that substantial savings will be gained. Meanwhile the quality of education will definitely suffer.
Consolidation proponents made well researched presentations prior to the school board election and budget vote. Their zeal to tackle the enormity of a runaway budget for a school with rapidly declining enrollment called for massive changes requiring the closing of schools, reducing staff, and implementing an unpopular middle school reconfiguation.
In the end, the fear tactics employed by the opponents convinced the populace. The voters rejected facts and logic. The proponents failed in part because they did not present a concrete example of a specific school district in which the best use of resources result in significant savings while still meeting state education mandates.
Highland Central School District located in Southern Ulster County has a current enrollment of 1950 students. Its proposed budget is just over $35 million. Onteora, with more than 200 fewer students is proposing a budget of approximately $15 million more than Highland. How does Highland educate a student for nearly $10,000 less than OCS?
Last year I spoke with the former Highland superintendant, John McCarthy.
When I asked how Highland had a budget so much lower than ours, he answered, "We have three buildings."
In 2006-2007, the last year in which I could find statistics regarding high school performance, Highland High School ranked 302 out of 809 public high schools in New York. with a 16:1 fulltime teacher to student ratio while Onteora High School ranked 330th with a 14:1 fulltime teacher to student ratio. Although Highland High had fewer teachers and a drastically lower budget, its students outperformed ours. These figures are actual evidence that spending more money on education doesn't automatically guarantee superior results.
I attended Onteora when there were 25 students in an elementary class. Bennett School, Phoenica and West Hurley did not exist. All elementary students attended Woodstock or were educated in the west end of the current high school/middle school. I rode on a bus with the high school students. Through all of these challenges, I and many others graduated from Onteora and became productive citizens.
In a perfect world all of our elementary schools could remain open. In a perfect world foreclosures and tax sales would not happen. Everyone would have health insurance. Unfortunately, we don't live in a perfect world. People are losing their homes. Lives are being devastated. Many are living on the edge wih constant anxiety over how they will pay their bills. For many, the cost of living has far outstripped their resources. Life is hell for them. How does it profit a child to attend the Rolls Royce of school districts while his parents are stressed to the max and in danger of losing their home?
While it is not illegal to keep pressuring the district's tax payers to finance enormous budgets, it is absolutely immoral. I am outraged with the current situation at Onteora, and I am certain that there are many others who would like to see a budget similar to our neighbors in Highland.
Take heed. Onteora is top heavy with buildings and the cost of their maintenance, staff, and administration. Our enrollment clearly does not justify the current situation. Simply put, Highland has proven that a comparable education is attainable for thirty percent less than what we are spending at Onteora. Fifteen million dollars is not chicken feed.
I challenge the opponents of consolidation to be honest about the following. If you were faced with a challenge in your personal lives in which similar results could be attained by spending either $70,000 or $100,000, how many of you would opt to spend $30,000 more? Isn't it much easier to spend other people's money more frivolously than how you spend your own?
Those who successfully opposed the consolidation plan have only delayed the inevitable. Consolidation will happen. The May 1st Daily Freeman carried an article addressing the issue. Assemblyman Kevin Cahill, speaking at a tax reform forum in Red Hook which addressed the funding of education via real estate taxes, stated that he would support an approach to bring about changes in the educational model, including consolidations. "He said he would support a 'Berger-like' commission to review school districts across the state and make recommendations for efficiencies." The Berger commission closed a number of hospitals and forced others to merge in 2006. Cahill said, "We have not consolidated our schools in over fifty years."
He was not only speaking about consolidating within a school district; he was implying that if the state gets involved adjoining school districts might be forced to merge for the sake of efficiency.
I urge everyone in the Onteora district to consider the very real possibility that the state will one day mandate consolidation under its direction. We will have little or no say in how this proceeds. However, if we get our house in order we may avoid this invasion. Let's work together to solve our district's challenges on our terms before we are forced into a situation which we will all regret. Let's set aside what has happened in the past and work together for a better future.
John R. Tisch
West Shokan, NY

Dear Editor,
We are writing in support of Tony Fletcher and Laurie Osmond as candidates for Onteora School Board. We've known both of them - and their children - for several years, and can't think of anyone better qualified to represent both students and taxpayers in the district. They are conscientious citizens, great parents, and daringly hopeful and imaginative people.
Laurie Osmond has been on the board for a year and has proven to be a strong voice for everything from at-risk kids to the emerging Green consciousness in the district, and she continues to be outspoken and active toward keeping the budget reined in and reasonable. As the parent of a student at Phoenicia Elementary, she sees and appreciates first-hand the positive results of an educational system in which active parents get involved in the process of readying Onteora kids to face the world. She is a fixture at the school - rolling up her sleeves and making things happen. Her dedication to and faith in the process of education is genuine and contagious.
Tony Fletcher, the father of an Onteora middle-school student and a preschooler, has been a constant presence at school board meetings since moving to the area several years ago. As possible changes in our schools’ configuration came under discussion, he was always there, asking questions and tirelessly researchin g the subject. Last year, he effectively managed the very successful campaign to elect a board that is more representative of the entire district. We've spent countless rich hours talking with Tony about the many facets of Onteora - the difficulties, the history, and the possibilities. Like Laurie, he understands how our district’s schools are integral to our greater community, and we all will be well served to have him join Laurie on the board.
Both Tony and Laurie want to keep Onteora a beacon for families who come to our beautiful mountains to raise their kids. They are hard workers with great ideas. With deep gratitude to them for giving untold amounts of time and energy in the service of Onteora and all the district’s taxpayers, we encourage everyone to go out and vote for Osmond and Fletcher on May 19th. Every vote is crucial!
Robert Burke Warren
Holly George-Warren
Phoenicia, NY

Dear Editor,
I am writing to express my support for Tony Fletcher and Laurie Osmond in the upcoming Onteora School Board election. Our school district is facing unprecedented challenges, and these candidates have demonstrated their commitment to our schools and our children time and time again. Without their efforts, the Phoenicia School would now be sitting vacant. Tony Fletcher will be a new face on the board but he is ever present at school board meetings. He played a key role in last year's election to help bring in a new team of trustees. Tony is very well versed in our school district, the issues that the board faces, and the manner in which it functions. I am grateful that we have candidates who are so well qualified and willing to take on the responsibilities of serving our community. Please show your support for our candidates and vote in the upcoming elections on May 19th.
Nick J Alba
Phoenicia, NY

Dear Editor,
I am running for reelection to the Onteora School Board because I believe in the students and I believe in the communities that make up this district.
As trustees, our primary concern must always be the success and welfare of our Onteora students.
Our most important investment in our future is our children. We cannot succeed as a community or a country if we do not provide our children with the best education possible. The viability of our local economies depends on those who will emerge prepared to create new businesses here at home. The ability of America to compete globally is dependent on the abilities of those who walk the halls of our schools today.
Our schools and our communities are inextricably linked. A thriving school helps a community to thrive, both economically and socially. Our community schools are not only charged with producing the local and global leaders of the future, but are economic engines for our towns as well.
The troubled economy and property taxes are a reality we must deal with. Budgets must be managed frugally, and cuts made where they will least impact the ability of students to excel.
I believe that the only true property tax reform is tax reform that takes the funding of schools, which is in our national best interest, off the backs of local property owners. I urge everyone to add their voices to the growing call for change, and contact their local representatives to support reform.
While we are all facing hard economic times, we must not let fear shortchange us of schools and graduates we can be proud of.
I believe that we create what we focus on. If we focus on the negative, that is exactly what we will bring about. But if we focus on navigating dark times with an eye to the horizon and a positive belief in our schools and our future, that is what will ultimately shine through.
Whether your family has lived here for generations or you are a recent arrival from another part of the world, we all know this part of the Catskills has magic to it. It’s drawn people here for centuries. The Catskills have meant outdoor recreation, arts and entertainment to Americans since the 1800’s. Woodstock is the most famous small town in the world. Like other residents of remarkable places, we sometimes take the natural beauty, rich history and varied offerings of this area for granted. We forget how lucky we are to live here.
A place as special as this deserves to have schools that are special.
I support our schools.
And that is why I am running for re-election to the Onteora Board of Education.
Please vote for the budget and for Board trustees on May 19 from 2-9 at your town’s elementary school.
Thank you,
Laurie Osmond
V.P. Onteora Board of Education
Woodstock,. NY

Dear Editor,
It appears that Governor Patterson is not on the same page as the President with regards to economic recovery. In the President's recent speech on this topic, he stated that further layoffs result in further recession. The Governor's ongoing threats against the state workforce fly in the face of the Presidents message and his efforts to bring us out of the recession. The Governor's actions, on the other hand, only serve to further contribute to the recession.
Imagine nearly 200,000 state employees and their families facing these ongoing threats. The only sane reaction would be to become extremely financially conservative, stop spending money, stop investing money, thus contributing in a significant way to furthering the recession in this state.
Instead of these ongoing media moments I would like to hear his reaction to the legitimate proposals the unions are making to him and which he will not discuss or negotiate. These would cut real waste from state government. Although those proposals may not be as politically expedient, they would bring more accountability and transparency to state government while lessening yet another reason for hundreds of thousands of our fellow citizens to lose even more sleep. If this recession is ever to be resolved, all of us, including the Governor, need to get on board.
John Steele Jr.
Highland, NY

Dear Editor,
Congrats on your excellent paper. I picked up a copy at Phoenicia diner (and a super breakfast, to boot) last Friday. An amazingly good job. If the mainstream did it this well, they wouldn't be going out of business. The piece on GMO is a masterpiece; it deserves wide circulation. The rest is worthy of playing in the same league, so to speak.
I have friends in Margaretville, Roxbury etc.. . Will ask them if they read it--if not, will make 'em.
I’m an old Mnpls Star Trib reporter (so old as not to matter), and author of A Sailor's Notebook, and various other stuff.
Thank you.
Deke Ulian
Cotuit, MA

Dear Editor,
Why do we continue to hear requests for federal "stimulus funds" for the expansion of the Belleayre Mountain Ski Center from the Chairman of the Ulster County Legislature, The Coalition to Save Belleayre and Crossroads Ventures itself? This is a moot point as evidenced by on the record statements from NYS Deputy Secretary of the Environment Judith Enck and NYS Department of Environmental Conservation Region 4 Director Yancey Roy but still they keep pretending it isn't so.
The defunct Highmount Ski Center property where the majority of the proposed new ski trails are to be located is still owned by the private developer Crossroads Ventures. The state has to buy this land with taxpayer funds from the private developer in order to do the BMSC expansion and that sale is intertwined with approval of the private resort construction. Nothing can begin until the environmental review is complete on all parts. We don't know if Crossroads would sell Highmount to the state if they are not able to get permitting for building the resort, besides such a sale would nullify the Agreement in Principle New York State and Crossroads Ventures signed and the required legal process would have to start all over. Hence the BMSC expansion is far from shovel ready.
If the Belleayre Mountain Ski Center had announced an expansion plan that didn't marry the two, it would be shovel ready, eligible for federal stimulus funds and much needed local jobs would have been created. Instead they (DEC) decided to hitch their wagon to the Crossroads time share proposal. That’s the real reason the long overdue BMSC expansion remains in limbo.
And in the face of these facts the Chairman of the Ulster County Legislature, The Coalition to Save Belleayre and Crossroads Ventures blindly continue to pretend the BMSC expansion is an independent shovel ready project. Who are they trying to fool?
John Carney
Hardenburgh Association of Residents and Taxpayers
Hardenburgh NY

Dear Editor,
I am writing to continue the conversation started by Mark Antman's poignant and informative letters regarding reasons we should avoid using chemical pesticides and herbicides in our gardens and lawns. I am a professional gardener and in every horticulture class I took pertaining to lawns and gardening I was advised repeatedly to steer clear of chemical pesticides and herbicides. And here is why. These products, designed to eventually break down in the outside environment, are easily tracked inside the house by people and pets. Once inside, without wind, rain and sun to break them down, they create a toxic and carcinogenic home environment Unfortunately it is the smallest of immune systems who are impacted by this: our children and pets. These highly toxic chemicals also end up making their way into our wells and drinking water. I found that with encouragement and education I was able to assist my clients to reorient their aesthetic toward seeing a picture perfect green lawn without one single weed as a vast expanse of toxic poison and to see our natural lawns scattered with whatever the wind might blow in as the healthy, beautiful environment intended by Mother Nature.
Unfortunately some of our biggest users of these toxic poisons are lawn maintenance companies and landscapers who, in fairness to them, are concentrating on giving their clients what they want. So speak to your maintenance crew, mower or landscaper and tell them you prefer weeds to chemicals. The repercussion of losing bees is huge for our plants and food supply. But also take note at the increasing amount of cancer in our beautiful Mid Hudson Valley. We need to learn how to work proactively with our farmers but right now we can stop buying herbicides and pesticides. For my bug problems, if I cannot squish them with my fingers I use a product called Neem, which is a natural oil, and can be found at Adams.
Lindsay McGowen
West Shokan NY

Dear Editor,
A few weeks ago I wrote a letter expressing my concern about the potential effects that herbicides and pesticides have on humans, animals and honeybees. Numerous questionable products are easily available and widely used to treat lawns, gardens, and homes. Due to inactivity by the EPA, few if any of these chemicals have been tested and little is known about the effects they produce. At long last, on April 15, the EPA announced it will require manufacturers of 67 chemicals known as endocrine disruptors commonly used in pesticides to test their products to evaluate their effect on endocrine systems.
According to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, “Endocrine disruptors are chemicals that interact with and possibly disrupt the hormones produced or secreted by the human or animal endocrine system, which regulates growth, metabolism and reproduction. Endocrine disruptors can cause lifelong health problems – especially for children.”
Congress mandated that the EPA assess the safety of potential endocrine disruptors when it passed the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996. The law vaguely required that the program be implemented within three years, but assessing the health effects of endocrine disruptors was simply not a priority of the Bush administration. It is not a surprise that EPA announced the beginning of the testing process just three months into the Obama administration.
The list includes such chemicals as Atrazine which has been banned in the European Union. Atrazine is among the most common, if not the most common herbicide used in the United States. Other recognizable chemicals on the testing list include diazinon, malathion, carbaryl and permethrin 2,4-D, and imidacloprid.
It will take about two years to collect the data and another year to make a final determination about the effect of the chemicals. So if a pristine lawn is more important to you than your family, your pets the environment and my honeybees, you’ve got a few years before the real effects of this poison is evaluated. It would be nice to think that most sensible folks would refrain from using these chemicals immediately.
Mark Antman
Woodstock, NY

Dear Editor,
Thank God for mothers! Mother's Day is an opportunity to make life special for them. It is a chance to celebrate family. I thank God for my mother, who died some years ago. There is one thing I regret: for too many years I did not appreciate her enough and took her for granted. She was always there for us. I thank God for my wife. We have been married for forty-three years and have eight children. God has blessed us with forty-one grandchildren.
Mothers are the backbone of our society and the glue that holds a family together-their work is vital but often unseen. We all need to show greater appreciation for them. I pity the man who does not have a good wife to take care of him.
My favorite Hasidic saying goes, "God could not be everywhere at once, so he gave each child a mother!" Mothers should be proud to be mothers. It is a God-given task and privilege. Actually there is a mother's heart in every woman, whether married or single. In the past, motherhood was regarded as the noblest calling of a woman. Today it is too often pushed aside by more "desirable" occupations such as careers, and seen as an inconvenience or even an embarrassment.
A true mother thinks day and night about the well-being of her children, and is the first to praise, comfort and protect them. She is willing to sacrifice her life for them. The pains of pregnancy and childbirth are borne by the mother, and she continues to carry the child in her heart her whole life.
Motherhood is a mystery. It is something truly divine for which every human heart longs. This is why mothers provide the most powerful influence on a child's life, and are the most important role models for positive change in our society. When anyone is in trouble, or knows that they are dying, the first person they think of is their mother. When children start going wrong ways a mother's prayer is powerful. Mothers remind us that there is a loving God above us who will take good care of everyone, especially children. Whenever a tragedy occurs-no matter where in the world this happens-you will always find mothers both weeping for the dead and bringing comfort and security to the living.
As we seek to improve the education of our children, let us start by taking better care of our mothers. This will enable them to provide better homes for all of us, and ensure the survival of our society. Never before in our history have so many men abandoned the children they fathered. Fathers are vanishing from their children's lives, not just physically, but legally as well. Therefore, congratulations to all single mothers and grandmothers who do their best to raise children on their own. They often struggle under the most difficult circumstances. They are the real heroes of the family-and not just on Mother's Day.
Happy Mother's Day to all of you!
Johann Christoph Arnold
Woodcrest Bruderhof
Rifton, NY