|
Dear Editor,
Historically, the Republican Party came about in the 1850s. The
Republicans were the people in the north wanting to outlaw slavery
on a Federal level, the Democratic Party were the people in the
south who said that the Federal Government has no right to tell
them what to do. That was the real issue of the civil war: how
much power should the federal government have? Your daddy and
daddy‚s daddy voted Republican because of this. The Republican
Party, like the Green Party today, at the time was a third party
- the traditional two being the Democrats and the Whigs. Lincoln,
of course, was a Republican President - the very first. He was
a great man, and cared deeply for the well being of his country
as a whole, above and beyond personal and vested interest. Strangely
enough, the Republican Party was also instrumental in getting
women the vote, and favored women‚s suffrage, as well as
preserving vast amounts of public lands. Currently, however, the
Party is seeking to reverse many of these accomplishments by privatizing
our national forests and parks, and creating an atmosphere where
anyone with a differing opinion is told to "get out",
or worse, which are the beginnings of a Fascist Party. In short,
the Republican Party of today is but a scrap of what it used to
be.
You should know why your family voted the way they did. My father
voted Republican all his life, as did his father, etc. But now
my father, being an educated man and able to think for himself
with critical analysis, is not going to vote Republican because
he knows that the "Republican Party", as they like
to call themselves, are not really that at all. In fact, political
analysts and historians say that the current Democratic Party
is more like the Republicans of yesterday, and the current Republicans
are really a Conservative Party, and a fairly extreme one at that.
And that‚s what they should call themselves. They should
be a third party and fight it out with Ralph Nader. Like my father,
you too should think twice before you vote out of habit, or out
of a feeling of loyalty to something you don‚t necessarily
fully understand.
James Krueger
Pine Hill, NY
Dear Editor,
It is time for the Onteora Board of Education and Administration
to do the right thing. It had been a little over two years since
the death of Kevin O‚Connor. For the last two years I have
watched the O‚Connor family struggle with the death of their
oldest son. The O‚Connors just want the truth of how and
why this has happened and the appropriate people held accountable
for the decisions they made that lead to their son‚s death.
For over two years Kevin‚s family has been told the accident
was unavoidable and unpreventable. It does not sound like Don
Williams, the Ulster County District Attorney, believes this.
Negligence and wrongdoing was what he said. Onteora do the right
thing. You owe it to Kevin O‚Connor and his family.
Lorene Oaks
Shokan, NY
Dear Editor,
As a practicing psychologist in Ulster County for the past 19
years, I have worked extensively in the Family Court. In so doing,
I have come to know first hand the judicial excellence practiced
by Mary Work in her role as a Family Court Judge. Her long experience
on the bench handling the complexities of family problems makes
her ideally suited to be elected to the Ulster County Surrogate‚s
Court. I know Judge Work, and I know she will provide all of our
County residents with fairness and judicial acumen. I strongly
support her candidacy for the Surrogate‚s Court and hope
you will too.
Steven B. Silverman, Ph.D.
Kingston, NY
Dear Editor,
I was hoping your readers could answer these questions that have
me really confused about The Large Parcel Bill:
Why did the Onteora School Board enact this alternate means of
assessing when Olive had begun a total town re-val and when the
Olive Town Board was successful in appealing ORPS assessment of
the Ashokan Reservoir?
Didn‚t the 120% rise in the ORPS assessment of the Reservoir,
without the Large Parcel Bill, bring all the towns of the Onteora
School District into single digit percent differences of the Large
Parcel method of assessment?
Why did the Board of Education not focus on the fact that Shandaken,
like Olive, has not re-assessed its properties for many, many
years?
Will the Gitter project throw Shandaken into The Large Parcel
Bill status? Why hasn‚t Shandaken challenged the under-assessed
State properties?
When New York City sues Olive, once again, for over-assessment
of the Ashokan Reservoir, will all the towns who shared the tax
benefit chip in to fund the lawsuit?
Why did Legislative Minority Leader Donaldson from Kingston get
involved in an issue of the non-political school board?
Is The Large Properties Bill similar to The Large Parcel Bill
in that the towns in Ulster County will share in the revenue of
the Town of Ulster Malls?
Is HurIey considered a town with a large parcel since it also
contains the Ashokan Reservoir and city properties? If so, why
isn‚t the Kingston School District affected?
Why is Woodstock only fighting for equal taxes in Onteora? What
about the part of its town that is in the Kingston School District?
I‚d like answers to these disturbing questions.
Karen Hanson
Ashokan, NY
Dear Editor,
"No, they haven‚t let me play in the sandbox yet."
That was the young marine‚s answer to my, "Have you
been to Iraq?" He and the young woman were walking across
my lawn to their car after their outdoor visit and as I walked
towards my door I was stunned by his answer and repeated aloud
to myself, "They haven‚t let me play in the sandbox
yet."
It was morning and I saw them looking at my work. I went out to
meet them. What was first noticeable was the fellow‚s military
buzz haircut. To me he projected machismo, a restrained aggressiveness,
even hostility. That is what basic training is about, along with
helping to compensate for whatever doubts the individual has about
his manliness. She, a painter and furniture maker, was the reason
they stopped. She was wearing a Marine Corp tee shirt.
I thought about them. Was he short? Was he trying to impress her
with that talk or did he need to hear himself say it? A couple,
more different in their being, I have never met. She was slender
and perceptive, and made me think of Diane Arbus or Sylvia Plath.
I hoped they weren‚t married. She was keen to hear
me explain about my creative process and he became uncomfortable
and impatient. When I asked if they were staying in the area,
he answered with vehemence, "Not around here".
He was very respectful. He held the car door open for her. Maybe
if he gets to kill a few Iraqis he will feel more like a man.
Bob
Jacobson
Mt
Tremper, NY
Dear Editor,
Evidence shows that the church‚s claim to have had an unchanging
attitude towards homosexuality is pure fabrication. Yale
history professor John Boswell found records of same sex unions
in the Vatican, in St. Petersburg, in Paris, Istanbul, and in
Sinai, dating from the 8th to 18th centuries. The Dominican
Jacques Goar included such ceremonies in a printed collection
of prayer books.
A Kiev art museum contains a Roman icon from St. Catherine's monastery
on Mt. Sinai. It pictures St. Serge and St. Bacchus, homosexual
Roman soldiers canonized by the church, being married and having
Jesus as their pronubus/best man. Pictorial proof that the
church condoned same-sex unions with the blessings of Christ.
Separating time and place Basil I, the founder of the Macedonian
dynasty, was married twice to men by ordained clergymen.
For much of the last two thousand years little churches and big
cathedrals, throughout Christendom and in the heart of Rome itself,
recognized homosexual relationships. Same-sex unions were
validated by the churches through clergymen and seen as a God
given right to love and commit to a same-sex person, and to have
that love celebrated and honored with the blessings of Jesus Christ.
Contrary to popular belief, Christianity's concept of marriage
did not evolve in the days of Christ, but has evolved over time
as a concept and as a ritual.
For further readings on this topic, see the writings of Jim Duffy,
historian, or Yale history professor John Boswell.
Judith A. Boggess, MSC
Shokan, NY
Dear Editor,
I have been a resident of New York City all my life, and one of
the many things I have learned out of living there is that free
speech is a beloved thing. The city is so alive with street side
performances, demonstrations, fundraisers ˜ and so diverse,
too, are these events and their coordinators! ˜ how could
it not be? One thing is for sure: New York City could not have
gotten where it is - "The Capital of the World"
- if it had no freedom of expression.
For the past four years, however, huge changes have been going
on internationally. And in these four years (the previous term),
I have watched our government erase many important things that
I, and many others, stand for. I have watched our president shatter
my values ˜ misinterpret them, to say the least ˜ and
feed them back to me. I have watched myself be generalized as
a horrible, bloodthirsty, conniving person wishing for the deaths
of innocent people, when indeed I wish exactly the opposite and
am only being lumped together with a small group of politicians
I didn‚t even elect (myself, I am a Democrat... having my
country governed almost entirely by Republicans is pretty upsetting
in itself). This is why I, as well as millions of other people,
am compelled to march.
Marching is one of our most powerful voices. However, in the past
term the voicing of our opinions has been ignored, even stifled
as our government blunders heedlessly along. We try to tell them
what we want! After all, that‚s what they need to know to
do their job, right? Isn‚t that what a government - a president
- is supposed to do. Be a sort of "spokesperson" for
the American people? Sure, they pretend to listen. It looks good
to the public! But they don‚t really. Otherwise they would
do something. Why don‚t they do something?!
For four years I have watched while their mistakes affect the
world. Badly. Horribly! Agony has been wrought beyond imagination
because of the misjudgments of one man and his posse. And now
they have had their convention in our city. These so-called "runners
of our country" decided that they wanted the Republican
National Convention of 2004 to take place in a city that prides
itself on being largely Democratic! What hospitality had they
a right to? Certainly not ours.
And then they forbid us to march! (Like I said, New York City
loves free speech! Where would we be without our freedom to express
ourselves?!). It is depressing how they fumble for excuses! I
have been told that we were not be given the permit because the
grass in the Great Lawn in Central Park must not be disturbed.
Ah! - so now I see where we are on their priority list. Below
grass, apparently.
Kudos to all those who were a part of the Sunday, August 29th
march against the Republican National Convention in New York City.
I fully support your actions and am very troubled that I was unable
to attend.
Yours sincerely,
Audri Augenbraum,
Age 12
NYC
& Olive, NY
Dear Editor,
It‚s getting closer and closer to the big election and the
rhetoric from Bush and his team is really hitting the air waves.
The other day Bush said that no matter how much Kerry flip flops
getting rid of Saddam Hussein was the right thing to do. It seems
to me that Mr. Bush himself has flipped flopped a few times on
his reasons why he led this nation into war. Remember those images
of President Bush flying in on that ship walking up to the podium
and announcing that the major combat was over. At the time about
one hundred young men and women had been killed. Today there are
over one thousand young men and women that have been killed. Not
to mention the almost seven thousand young men and women that
has been wounded. And what about all the destruction in Iraq and
the thousands of Iraqi people that have been either killed or
wounded. That‚s a terrible price to pay for getting rid
of one man. To top it off the war in Iraq has increased terrorist
activities around the world. If Bush gets reelected who knows
what country he‚ll want to attack. We see plenty of images
of Bush and his spin doctors, but have you noticed that we don‚t
see any images of the caskets coming home. You can draw your own
conclusion as to why the government won‚t allow any television
cameras to take picture of the wounded and of the caskets coming
home. I think I know why.
William Warnecke
Glenford, NY
Dear Editor,
I/we have been on our annual pilgrimage to Michigan's Upper Peninsula
for 10 weeks and I am back to entertain my friends; those who
agree with me and conversely, to torment those who are not on
my "page".
First I must mention my most pragmatic friend, Dominick LoGiudice
whom I have never met. His wisdom [and humor] seems to be unending
and I appreciate his remedy for "tracking" illegal aliens
and other miscreants who should not be here (Times, Sept 2). Bravo
Dominick!
Now, another person I admire greatly is the Olive town clerk,
Sylvia Rozzelle for a number of reasons. It seems she ran into
the same [blockhead] stone wall that I did when calling the Onteora
District office in Sept., 2003. The lady (?) who answered her
call requesting phone numbers of public [school board] servants
with a snarling, "Well if you folks in Olive..." (Times,
Sept. 2). Sounds like the same nasty woman that ran interference
for the O.S.D. tax collector and hung up on me when I inquired
re: my school tax payment [which was short $.39 and returned the
check to mewhich might have caused delinquency on my part]. She
certainly is efficient; for the arrogant school board, the Admin.
office and especially for the board president, M. D'Orazio, PC.
This "lady" is badly in need of a major attitude adjustment
and counseling as to how to respond to requests and dispense information.
As an instructor of new Supervisors and Managers in the NYC Dept.
of Parks & Rec. I offered this bit of advice; " always
listen to a problem whether real or imagined because to the employee
or client it's real". And further, "if someone is seeking
information and you have no answer tell them you will get back
to them or ask them to 'hold' while you dig it up".
It costs nothing to be nice. And if one is a public servant [paid
by our taxes] thay have no right to be arrogant or visit their
own philisophy or anger on their constituants. We don't care who
lives in Woodstock, Shandaken or even Olive for whatever reason.
Ms. Rozzelle reminds us that Woodstock and Shandaken were not
well off in the 40's-50's and Olive voted to admit them if only
to put their insolvent heads inside the tent. Well, you all know
Aesop's Fables.
Because of the prevailing attitude of the O.S.D. board members
and their leadership [who sets the pace/tempo] Ms. Rozzelle had
to chase all over for the information she requested and be tied
up with innovative delaying tactics. How dare they? How dare one
person who after all is nothing more than a "switchboard"
operator.
I would be remiss if I failed to mention the stalwart perseverance
exhibited by Town Supervisor Berndt Leifeld in his efforts to
reason with an unreasonable school board; as in the book of Isaiah.
Supv. Leifeld has been at the helm of the "SS Town of Olive"
for more than 23 years without foundering, collision or grounding.
He deserves to be Town Supervisor for life.
Lastly, but which should move to the top of "things to do"
is what Ms. Rozzelle describes as a "counter attitude"
that is developing in the Town of Olive. I have news for you all.
Secession from the O.S.D. is a long overdue action that has much
merit and practicality and is bubbling and festering in our minds
already. We still will have the NYC reservoir; it's not going
anywhere. Olive [and Hurley if it's a joint venture] will determine
where and how the NYC tax money will be disbursed. Not the Socialistic
Onteora School Board.
O.S.D. sports teams may not want to play "Tongore" as
our team members might be wearing Gucci cleats or Bruno Malli
track shoes. Ain't that a Hoot? "Rah, Rah, go Tongore"!
Glenn T. Anderson
Olivebridge, NY
|
