8/26/2010

Dear Editor,
Like many of my neighbors, I was concerned to see that the Shandaken Town Board has once again postponed a vote on the Catskill Watershed Corporation's offer to assist the Town in preparing and evaluating a plan for a sewage treatment system for Phoenicia, and perhaps Chichester. It's difficult to think of any logical reason why an offer of free assistance, with no strings attached, would not be accepted both promptly and with gratitude.
The CWC has repeatedly said that it doesn't wish to interfere in any way with the Town's right to self-government (i.e. "home rule"). If there were any doubt about the proposed contract impairing home rule, that doubt could be resolved in a matter of minutes, not months. All that needs to be done is to add a paragraph to the proposed contract, stating: "Nothing in this Agreement shall be deemed to limit or restrict in any way the right of the Town of Shandaken to home rule under the laws of the State of New York." One sentence-problem solved.
Without a modern sewage treatment system, those of us who live or operate businesses in Phoenicia and Chichester are facing a serious threat to our future. A large number of our old septic systems and cess pools have already failed, or are on the brink of failing. The cost of replacing an individual system today is well over $20,000.00, which is unaffordable for many of us. What's even worse is that at least 30 lots in Phoenicia alone are undersized, and cannot accommodate a new septic system. Without a community sewage treatment system, what would happen to those homeowners and businesses? Would they be forced to choose between paying to pump out a tank every 2 or 3 months, or closing down? Would they even be able to sell their property, if they chose to leave?
For more than 13 years, New York City has been offering to build us a sewage treatment system, at their sole expense, and to cover 85 percent of the operating and maintenance costs. All over the country, there are communities that would give anything for an offer like that! If the Town of Shandaken does not proceed toward accepting this offer of funding, the City has stated it will be withdrawn, and the money set aside for us will be given to some other community.
We are now down to the wire. If the Shandaken Town Board does not move forward in the next 2 months, our failing cess pools and septic systems will still be here, polluting the groundwater and the creek. But we will have lost our only source of outside funding to correct the problem.
We urge the Town Board to act, before it is too late!
Patricia L. Ellison, Bob Grimm, Karen Samuelsen-Grimm. Leroy Winchell, Anne Maroney, Steve Stettine, Jacquie Guglielmetti, Louis Guglielmetti, Marilyn Manning, Ruth Houska, Kerry Henderson, Rebecca Roper-Caldbeck, Jen Williams Dragon, Gail J. Lester, Laurence Feehan, Kenneth J. Umhey, Jr., Buffy Kibe, Harry Jameson, Declan G. Feehan, SueTaylor, Margarete Nolte, Mark Wilsey, Ray & Robin Kirk, Syed Shahzad-A-Shah, Grant Warfield, Dorothy Rotella, Mary Alice Hummell. Shirley Perpetua, Pete Scully,
Steve Newman, Barbara Laurence, Edward & Jessica Ryder
Phoenicia, NY
Dear Editor,
This is in response to the news story regarding the Phoenicia,Players. There were many inaccuracies.
In 1975, I was living in Pine Hill. There was some sort of celebration at the Pine Hill Arms, and a woman from Phoenicia attended. She was, I believe, the head of the committee planning the celebration of the Bicentennial. She mentioned a number of things that were being planned, including, she said, a Bicentennial play. At the time I had recently published a number of stories in national magazines, and I found myself telling the woman that I would be happy to write the play.
Sometime later I was contacted by a man called---I think---Gary Goodrow. I am not sure of his name, because this was a long time ago, and I am now 83--prone to forget certain things, especially names. At any rate, he was a very bright young man. He was the music teacher in Tannersville high school.. We agreed that the play should represent Shandaken's history, beginning with the Hardenburgh Patent. It included Shandaken's first town meeting, after it was separated from Woodstock, the tannery days, the times when new tress were made into barrel staves, and finally the great hotel days. And the more recent times--all were mentioned. There was a short movies, The Great Train Robbery, which was filmed a long time ago when a railway went through the notch between Phoenicia and Greene county. There were also many songs---contemporary ones. Gary was very worried that the owners of the songs might sue us for using them without paying royalties. Thankfully this never happened.
About then, Gary asked me if I could write the lyrics for the song that became "Happiness Is Shandaken." During the next week I wrote the lyrics, which mentioned most of the villages in Shandaken. I have a strong memory of writing it. It was winter, bitterly cold. I had just bought a house for four thousand dollars. It had no insulation. There were big holes in the floor, from which cold air came up from a drafty basement. The only heat came from a kitchen range, which had a kerosene heater on one side and gas burners on the other. My writing career was at one of those frequent low ebbs. I was miserably poor. Anyhow, I sat there with my feet in the oven, freezing, weeping, and wrote "Happiness Is Shandaken."
The play was originally scheduled to be put on in the Onteora school auditorium, but for reasons I forget, this was cancelled. Instead it was performed for three times in the Pine Hill church, which at that time belonged to the village. It was happily received, to our delight. Every performance was well attended. It was reviewed for the Woodstock Times by Jo Chalmers, a professional actress who was a leading light of the Woodstock theater group. If the paper has retained its old copies, the review may still be available.
Elaine Mueller (formerly Elaine Balcomb)
Pine Hill, NY
Dear Editor,
I want to express my enthusiasm for the fabulous job done by all who were involved with the Phoenicia Festival of the Voice. The weekend was extraordinary and wonderful artistically, and beautifully executed logistically. I have lived here since 1990, and have never seen our town so full of energy.
I am already looking forward to next year.
Bravo, and thank-you!
Christie Scheele
Chichester, NY
Dear Editor,
I read recently about the beaver biting incident of tubers in the Esopus.
I know no one wants to be bitten by a beaver, and that there was medical aid required. The thought came to me, "I sure hope they don't kill the beavers because of this incident". I "assumed" level heads would govern the situation.
I am beyond furious to read that the beavers were indeed killed. This is their territory, their natural right - not some tubers, that I now read were harassing the animals. Even if not not harassed this is what comes with the territory, any territory in the "wilds" of the Esopus.
Is the plan to kill all the beavers in the area to satisfy the tubing company? And I sincerely would like to know the name of the coward that issued the order and who could not stand up to those who were for the killing. This is beyond ridiculous and my disappointment runs deep, as we claim to love the country, love our land, love our natural resources but kill the indigenous creature that abides there?
Where is the balance? And can't the tubing company instruct tubers how to act if they come upon beavers? Or do we just run rod over them?
Also, by their normal pond drying up during those terribly hot days, they had to go somewhere and they live near water. When I read stories like this, I want to say to the ones responsible that you don't deserves to live in the countryside. Because you are willing to eliminate elements of it in order to make your few dollars.
If the Esopus wasn't there, there would be no need for tubing, like it's a huge thrill or anything. And beavers come with rivers and ponds. Not people in rubber tires.
This is small town thinking and small town acting. The residents of Phoenicia should have been alot more vocal about this, as often this is just the tip of the iceberg.
It's a sad commentary, but I'm not feeling sad about it, but more mad that it's just another day in the news - sure it's news of a small town like a million other towns in this country, but if we start stripping away, the natural layers that make the land, we deprive the creatures that make their homes here and have for years.
This was a bad move, an incautious move and a cowardly move.
Let me end this by saying, if you as a town are not ashamed of yourselves, well I am for you.
Louise Luna
Woodstock, NY
Dear Editor,
On Saturday, something extraordinary happened in Phoenicia. Damned near miraculous.
We had, in the Phoenicia Park, a performance of Verdi's Falstaff that was so accomplished and thoroughl professional that you had to pinch yourself to remind yourself that you weren't in a gilded opera house like the Met or La Scala -- this, on a beautiful evening in the Phoenicia Park in my own hamlet!
Phoenicia's got plenty to brag about, but a superb opera performance is something we've never had before. Our local Met star, Louis Otey, starred as Sir John Falstaff, fat suit and all, in a role he was born to sing. Other local residents Maria Todaro and Kerry Henderson also had leading roles in this opera for ten voices, and simply blew away the crowd.
Every member of the cast sang with real intelligence and strength, dazzling the audience. They should be named and given lifetime contracts with major opera companies all over the world: Christian Reinert, Charles Sokolowski, Gabriel Cargari, Stephan Kirchgraber, Michelle Jennings, Nancy Allen Lundy andKorby Myrick. Roger Cantrell summoned all the power of a large Verdi orchestra into a single piano, and Steven White conducted this amazing assembly.
Falstaff wasn't the only accomplishment of the First Phoenicia Festival of the Voice. We also heard the justly-famous Elizabeth Futral in a stunning recital the night before and, earlier that morning Rozz Moreheadin an exciting and thrilling hour of gospel music
And so many other exciting events! Here, right in my own backyard!
Local businesses should be advised to take advantage of the Second Phoenicia Festival of the Voice, announced for next year. And to any of my neighbors who might have never heard an opera before.... don'tbe afraid, don't let it scare you. Seeing and hearing a performance like Saturday night's Falstaff is guaranteed to make a real opera fan out of you! Believe me, Falstaff was easy to love.
Many thanks to all involved, and special congratulations to Kerry Henderson, Louis Otey and Maria Todarofor being the brains and the muscle behind this extraordinary event.
Jay Fahey
Woodland Valley, NY
Dear Editor,
On Monday morning, Aug 16, as I jogged west on Rt. 28 in Shokan, I heard a screeching car, and turned to see a tan Camry rapidly braking to avoid a collision with a dark red pickup truck that was slowly, casually turning left, across the Camry's lane, into the Citgo station. This near collision, reminded me how carelessly and recklessly many people drive on Rt. 28. Last Tuesday morning, jogging along the same stretch of Rt. 28, I witnessed several emergency vehicles rushing west-bound, and later learned of the fatal rollover in Boiceville that took a young man's life. One evening last November, from my backyard in Shokan I heard sirens and helicopters responding to a head-on collision that I later learned took the life of the father of my son's close friend; his friend was a badly injured, rear seat witness to that personal terror.
My son is not yet 10, but to him it has been obvious for at least a year that not enough is done to make Rt. 28 safer. He has seen many accident detours on Rt. 28. He has also seen efforts to improve road safety elsewhere, like the electronic signs on Rt. 73 in Essex County in the Adirondacks, that show how fast cars are traveling as they come within their range. These are placed close to speed limit signs, and remind drivers to slow down, especially as they enter reduced speed zones. He also knows that it is possible to have electronic detectors along roads that sense speeding cars and record their identity.
Sharing my concern with my neighbor Mike, who just returned from England, he described some of the ways that the British curtail speeding and accidents. Their electronic signs flash "SLOW DOWN" when cars are speeding. They have invested in electronic surveillance and ticketing, realizing that they are more time-effective and cost-effective than manned police speed traps. Consider how much more effectively police could be reallocated to other public safety and crime matters that need a person, rather than an electronic system, involved. Finally, they post the number of people killed on certain roads.
What would such numbers show for Rt. 28? How many victims does it have this year? Last year? The year before? Our local highway is a road of tragedy. Clearly, the fatalities and injuries are not only due to speeding, and that makes the problem more difficult to address. However, it is time for New York State to take action to improve safety on Rt. 28. I urge the DOT, the highway patrols, and elected representatives to actively address this persistent, dreadful problem.
Rich Feldman
Shokan, NY
Dear Editor,
Approximately seven years ago Olive had it's own Baseball & Softball Little League, then over the years it just sort of faded out, like the children strolled back into the corn, never to be seen again.
I moved up here from Long Island about six years ago and brought that baseball feeling with me. I have on many occasions sat at the Shokan Mobil Station having coffee with other men of all ages and have brought up this question. A lot have told me they played on the Olive Baseball team when they were younger and had a great time moving up the ladder of little league, but it just faded into the sunset, never to be thought of again.
When my grandson turned 7, I was out playing with him and saw the potential that he could very well play on a Little League team, but did not know where to go due to town lines. I finally found out that he was able to play on the Hurley team which took over the Olive area. We got involved, I as a coach and fundraiser and he as a baseball player. He went from a shy (hide behind mom's legs) to a very decent ballplayer, outspoken & moves to the front of the line type of child. One I'm very proud of.
The other day I was speaking to our President Jeff Ferrer and he asked me a question which has puzzled me for years. "Where are the children from Shokan?" As fundraiser and coach I'm privy to addresses of those children who have signed up for little league, and it's true, not many children are from the Shokan area. T
he Hurley Little League Board of Directors would like your readers to answer these questions: I don't sign up because: 1. The fields are too far to travel to. 2. it's too expensive to sign my children up. 3. We don't have the time. 4. We were never notified... Or any other explanation you may want to express.
Next year we will be going into our 55th year and we would like to have the best that Olive has, fields, children, parents who can volunteer their time to help out at the concession stand, umpire, coach. Readers, believe me, at 71 years of age I still get a chill run up my spine when I see the smile come on the child's face when over the loud speaker their name is announced and they step toward home plate and are greeted by their team mates' manager and coaches.
If you care to respond to this letter, you can mail your response to Hurley Little League, PO Box 241, Hurley, NY 12443. Please remember this is a non-profit organization, no one gets paid, all money raised goes towards field maintenence, insurance, equipment which runs into the thousands of dollars, banners of supporters who have donated what they could, and I wish I could put every one of you down here that has donated from Boiceville to Kingston. We love you and thank you.
Peter G Polis
Shokan, NY
Dear Editor,
So. another of the Onteora Board of Trustees has resigned. This one being one of the elected four who promised not to close the Phoenicia Elementary School,
who voted against consolidation because of dwindling student population and who voted to let our previous superintendent go before her contract was completed, even though this superintendent was doing a superior job for the district.
In addition, this trustee supported a district policy that would keep all class sizes under 23, supported not consolidating the fifth grade in the Phoenicia school and supported Kindergarten class sizes of 10 per class.
And yet this same person, who supported the lack of diversification by keeping miniscule, private school level class sizes has now moved to Kingston citing "better education and more diversification" with a middle school that begins
with grade six (another thing this person voted against at Onteora)and has larger class sizes
One of the elected four gave up early on in their tenure because of "conflicts within their own FOUR" and now another vacated their elected position, each
taking little notice of the responsibility and commitment owed to the people who elected them.
It makes me so sad that we let our school district slip into the hands of trustees whose self serving private agendas did not include the entire district of innocent children whose educational well-being was entrusted into their hands.
Better luck, voters in the Onteora School District, when you get to choose again in May of 2011.
Rita Vanacore
Shokan, NY
Dear Editor,
This year's Shandaken Day event will take place on Saturday, August 28th at the Glenbrook Park on Route 42, Shandaken.
The Phoenicia Rotary, which will have a booth at this year's event, would like to request that anyone attending this event, please consider bringing a non-perishable item to drop off at their booth, as a donation to the town's food pantry.
Canned goods, cereals, rice, pastas, as well as paper products (paper towels, toilet paper, etc.) would be greatly appreciated. As the demand for food and toiletries increases locally, the necessity to reach out to the community also grows. Rotary has been committed to assisting with the local community's needs for many years with the area's most dedicated volunteers, and would ask that others be compelled to chip in and donate what they can. A can of soup may not seem like much to one person, but may mean the world to someone else.
As always, we hope you enjoy yourself at this wonderful annual event.
Hope to see you all there.
Jane Rossitz
Shandaken Day Committee
Dear Editor,
I laughed out loud reading Supervisors Stanley's Letter to the Editor from the July 29th 2010 Phoenicia Times. In the letter Stanley states, :I'd also like to thank our special lunchtime guest, as a bald eagle soared above the park to investigate our work."
Obviously the Bald Eagle was checking out what will be on the lunch special menu opening day of the park. Just ask the DEC who found 28 dog and cat collars in the eagle's nest by the reservoir a couple of years back.
I am so surprised that the self appointed dog expert who designed the doggy park didn't inform Rob of the danger that prevails. Have these dog lovers (fanatics) never been to the National Gallery and seen paintings of Bald Eagles with all kinds of small prey dangling from their talons?
That said, all dogs under 9 pounds are in danger if let off the leash at this park. Dogs over 9 pounds and up to about 17 are at risk of being injured due to possible
failed hunting attempts by the Eagle. I know this because I studied wild animal keeping at the LA ZOO and we covered Eagles and their prey in depth. The renowned zookeeper at the time of my studies had just successfully reintroduced an endangered type of eagle back into the wild. This was the first known successful reintroduction of a species into its natural habitat.The discussions at the time of the reintroduction included the danger the program had to unsuspecting household pets.
Lets give Rob the benefit of the doubt. After all, he has a great sense of humor and he did say "eagle, special and lunchtime" all in the same sentence. Possibly he was just poking fun that no one at the park that day realized that their little dog was in fact about to become a snack for our National Symbol..
Ellen Kinnally
Shandaken, NY
Dear Editor,
What's happening to this place
that I once called home
To the trees I used to climb
and the fields I used to roam.
I used to play with the waves
that jumped over my head
Now these waves, if I swallowed
would surely make me dead.
So many gorgeous species
are now going away
Are they on another planet?
will they see another day?
I know much less now than I did
before the billionaires grew
Since their profits only increased
by more people getting screwed
Information coming to me through
the media that they own
Now that Google's one of them
I'll soon forget what I'd once known.
I don't have any answers
only hopes that I'm not alone.
If we make our voices heard
perhaps we still can save our home.
Jill Paperno
Glenford, NY
Dear Editor,
I have been following stories on natural gas hydro-fracking and see that those in favor of the one year moratorium or those opposed to "fracking" in general are almost universally termed "environmentalists." I have stood at the rallies with a sign that pleaded for a one year moratorium but I do not consider myself an environmentalist.
I consider myself a homeowner with rights to my land. Natural gas companies are trying to pass legislation allowing them to use eminent domain to drill into my land against my will. (Lehigh Valley News, August 14, 2010).
I consider myself pro-business. Toxic mud and spills of "frack fluid" into creeks accompany drilling in virtually every community where drilling has occurred, (Aspen Daily News, August 3, 2010). Ulster County west of Kingston is dependent on tourism. A spill into the Esopus would wipe out the businesses built on that tourism.
I consider myself pro-community. Current fracking procedure brings hundreds to thousands of workers from out of state into the community to be fracked. Housing is quickly taken up by these non-residents. 600 trucks rumble down small town roads for each well drilled, ruining the infrastructure. (Billings Gazette, August 15, 2010). We already struggle with housing and road issues and cannot afford to further deplete our resources.
And, lastly, I consider myself pro-health. I want clean water to drink. Thirty-five to fifty families in Dimock, Pennsylvania have no clean drinking water. Cabot admits they did not build proper casings around their drill rigs and is trucking water in to the residents now, (Associated Press, July 22, 2010.)
Our one year moratorium on hydro-fracking is through the State Senate and goes to the Assembly next month. It says "let's take a year to look at this practice and make sure we are doing it safely." That's it.
Support Ulster County. Support the moratorium.
Deb Weir
Boiceville, NY
Dear Editor,
That was some weird history lesson Mitchell Langbert addressed to me in the July 29th issue. I must respond. But where to begin?
"The centralizing party was always the party of the rich," says Mr. Langbert. Maybe, maybe, but my take on it is that the centralizing parties were urban, and didn't really get the upper hand 'til most of the populace lived in cities. When suburbs were invented things got more complicated.
Surely inner city slums rife with vice weren't invented by Progressives in 1904. The very meaning of the term Progressive varies from age to age, but few would have wanted to exacerbate slum vice. No?
Teddy Roosevelt was a socialist? He surely was for regulation of business, robustly so. But that falls way short of my notion of a socialist, who would outright nationalize business. Is there no gray in Mr. Langbert's world? Has he a Calvinist view of the world, wherein any little sin sends you to hell forever?
It annoys me when folks want to define our nation as the opposite of the old Soviet Union. We predate them, and always had lots of common interest stuff. We shouldn't let ourselves get too warped by our long struggle with that awful, awful system. Fie upon them, sure, but I still like public transportation.
Teddy Roosevelt was not the first Liberal. Taft was not the first Conservative. Woodrow Wilson was not the first metrosexual. I state this bluntly as I am getting to the blunt bits of my letter, e.g.: Th. Jefferson was surely our first metrosexual President.
The best part of our Constitution is not the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights has some stuff that I do not like. (Don't the ninth and tenth contradict one another?) Sure, the first amendment is a big favorite of mine, for self-evident reasons, but the third is a major big plus, too. Some folk like the second a lot, and I am not among them. A poorly constructed sentence.
I like Article V best (that's five, for you non-football fans). The thing that let's us change things, with effort.
Finally, i fear I must slap Mr. Langbert in the face with a crowbar for calling Social Security "ineffective." Not so at all! The elderly used to be the largest cohort of the deeply poor, but are no longer. Highly effective! Mr. Langbert might respond that it's a Ponzi scheme, doomed to collapse, and he'd have a point. Still, it can be managed. My favorite idea is to eliminate the cap on income subjected to the tax. That would raise so much new money that we could lower the rates. FICA is currently a hugely REgressive tax. Fie. I'm against regressive taxes, taxes that hit the poor harder. Who isn't?
Really. Who isn't against regressive taxes? Let's see some hands.
Gus Murphy.
Brooklyn, NY
Dear Editor,
A local government official has revealed a shocking statistic to the Town of Olive Republican Committee. The average cost of education in the Onteora school district is currently $31,000 per enrolled student. The official who revealed this number compares Onteora's $31,000 per student tuition to a national average of $10,259 per enrolled student and a New York State average of $17,200. New York's public tuition is the highest in the nation, according to the official, but Onteora's is 80% higher than the state's average.
Assuming the $31,000 per student cost number is accurate, let us see how Onteora's costs compare to private schools'. Nationally, in 2008 the average private school tuition was $8,549, 27% of Onteora's. Nonsectarian secondary schools averaged $27,302 while Catholic elementary schools averaged $4,944. Many of the nonsectarian secondary schools are elite schools that cater to the wealthy. According to one survey Northfield Mount Herman in Massachusetts is the top ranked private elementary school. The tuition for day students, according to its website is $31,700, roughly the same as Onteora's cost per student. The UN International School, one of the best private schools in Manhattan, charges $24,350 per year, 21% less than Onteora. The Beekman School in Manhattan has tuition of $28,500. The Rudolf Steiner School, with a 1:8 faculty-student ratio charges $29,468. Beekman calls itself "the tutoring school" and offers customized schedules, university-level classes in math, science, humanities and English, an average class size of eight (8), and one-on-one tutoring in concentrated subject areas. Beekman has a one-on-one college placement program (one guidance counselor to one student) with continuous follow up conferences to refine college choices. Guidance counselors guide students through the college application process. Specialized classes with three (3) students may be formed if requested, such as for advanced placement. Tutoring is available once or twice per week. The school provides eight written evaluation reports in addition to four quarterly report cards. 98% of Beekman students go on to college.
What is the college attendance rate for Onteora High School graduates? Given that the three Onteora schools are more expensive than Beekman, do they provide similar services? Are class sizes limited to 8 students? Is there intensive career guidance? If a student wishes to study acting, is a course set up to cater to them? If not, where is the $31,000 in teacher jackpot money going?
It is going to keeping an extra school open. Moreover, the Onteora School district puts students far down on its list of its priorities. The $31,000 per student cost is a pretext to fund teachers' salaries, pensions and administrative bloat. Teachers are more interested in indoctrinating students ideologically than in teaching the three r's. The Democrats are loyal to the teachers' unions, and could care less about your children. In part, this is because of the dominance of academic certification organizations like the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), which could care less about the three 'rs and exclusively emphasize political correctness.
In his book Capitalism and Freedom, Professor Milton Friedman came up with an ingenious idea. Give school budgets to parents in the form of vouchers, and let them decide the school to which they send their children. Schools would compete for students just as automobile manufacturers used to compete for customers before the Bush-Obama subsidies. Onteora would have to compete with Beekman and the UN School, and provide an education of a comparable standard to Beekman's for the same price. Since the taxpayers of Olive have magnanimously chosen to spend like a rich person on behalf of the Town's children, it is foolish to squander the money on subsidies to Onteora's unproductive school administrators as the Democrats have chosen to do. We Republicans believe that if we are spending as much on education Olive's children ought to be given as good an education that rich Democrats' children receive. It is true that this arrangement would likely mean lower salaries and pension benefits for teachers, less administrative bloat, and fewer make-work jobs, which is why the teachers hate libertarians and the GOP but love the tax-and-spend Democrats. But there is little doubt that your children would be better educated under a voucher system. Perhaps it is time to ask the Onteora School district to compete with Northfield Mount Herman, the UN School and Beekman, and to end the festival of waste in the Onteora School District.
Mitchell Langbert
Town of Olive Republican Committee
Dear Editor,
I'm not usually a letter writer, but the recent letter (July 15) of Mitchell Langbert is so outrageously false and illogical that someone has to answer with the facts - can he really be a teacher?
First, he says that the jobs picture "has gotten worse, not better, since the stimulus." Nothing could be farther from the truth: we were losing 750,000 jobs a month when the present administration took over. Do the math.
Next, he says his "friend" didn't get a stimulus because it was "awarded to an Italian " (no mention of beds, etc.). This smacks of the bigotry of the KKK who, among others, hated Italians. It continues today among the right-wing fringe; example: President Obama pictured with a bone through his nose at a Tea Party meeting.
Then Mr. Langbert claims that we have been "brainwashed" towards progressive ideas in school. I too was educated in NYC and was told that America was the greatest, freest, fairest country in the world. On the other hand, I learned little of the slaughter of Native Americans by the Puritans and U.S. Army, or the killing of hundreds of poorly-paid union strikers time and again by local police and U.S. Army soldiers. I could go on and on about the "robber barons," the Klan and the heart-breakingly true stories in "The Grapes of Wrath" and "The Jungle" - but literate people know about these facts.
Mr Langbert, if your mind is still open to facts, read Howard Zinn's fully-annotated "A People's History of the United States," which has sold millions of copies for 30 years.
No, Mr. Langbert, the public did not acquiesce "like sheep" to injustice in the 20th century. Ever hear of Dr. Martin Luther King's million man march for racial justice, the enormous protests against the immoral war in Viet Nam, or the recent demonstrations in the streets against the banks and brokers that crookedly brought our nation home losses, unemployment, and deficits?
Again, I was not taught that Karl Marx's "Communist Manifesto" was a great work (which it is), but that it was anti-American. On the other hand, I was taught Adam Smith's "The Wealth of Nations," which is largely discredited today. Example: Alan Greenspan's (former chairman of the Fed and disciple of Ayn Rand) admission that he was wrong about laissez-faire capitalism after the recent world depression.
The left or socialism is not, as you simplistically opine, "a butcher movement." Ask the socialists in Western Europe and Canada how they feel about health care. Even Reagan's friend Margaret Thatcher said (I paraphrase), "We love our health care in England."
Yes, government has grown, and with it came Social Security, Medicare, the minimum wage, the Clean Air and Clean Water acts, etc. Want to give up these socialist benefits, Mr. Langbert?
And "Committing 40% of the budget to waste and subsidies?" Facts? Subsidies like those to corn farmers, millionaires, oil companies, and corporations who transfer their factories and jobs overseas are not problems? The military budget, which President Eisenhower warned you about, IS the problem. It comprises the bulk of our budget because our military is larger than the rest of the world's combined.
No, Mr. Langbert, federal taxes are NOT at an all-time high; they are at an all-time low since 1950. Do a fact check on your computer.
And yes, Mr. Langbert, there are modern experts in economics like the Nobel-winning Paul Krugman who say the stimulus hasn't gone far enough, and Professor Rubin, who predicted the recent depression. And, of course, you know that conservative economists have maintained that defivits do not matter. Hence, the two greatest deficits in our history are the products of Reagan and Bush, Jr.
Of course, you are entitled to your opinions, Mr. Langbert, but don't try to pass them on as "facts."
P.S. I love the Route 28 valley in which I have fly-fished, shopped and lived for 40 years.
PPS I enjoy every aspect of your paper.
PPS Keep up the fight, Jill Paperno!
Guido Giuliani
Hunter, NY
Dear Editor,
We're in for a Republican win this November and that will result in the re-taking of our country by the corporations. Now that they (the Republicans) have returned Newt Gingrich into a leadership role, (not necessarily a Presidential candidate) they should have no trouble sailing in, with puppets such as Sharron Angle and Michele Bachmann following his lead. Of course, they'll put his strategy into their own "down to earth" language, so that the people will "get it" and move, not on the real issues, but on their interpretation of the issues. And Newt will allow them to speak in their language, but won't use the phrases by himself.
For instance, I noticed Newt's quote on the "Mosque," (i.e. the community center, that is said to include an Interfaith section) - "The folks who want to build this mosque - who are really radical Islamists who want to triumphally prove that they can build a mosque right next to a place where 3,000 Americans were killed by radical Islamists..." I don't know for sure, what this "mosque" is going to be, but I expect that it will be carefully observed by our countries homeland security forces, don't you?
Besides, what terrorist with any brains would make it into a new training ground, as some are already calling it. Forgive me, but there were certainly big brains behind the 911 attack. It was brilliantly planned and executed, with all kinds of pre-planning, etc. For instance, on the morning of the 911 attack, we had a military mission going on. It was the very day and time that war games were being practiced. This was the reason that the FAA, NORAD and the Air Force weren't available for our protection. Coincidence? Maybe. Pre-planned? Maybe. I'm not presenting a 911 conspiracy theory here, I'm merely presenting a reason to believe that the terrorists were not stupid, and I wonder why we can't at least find out how they, (not Saddam Hussein), planned it. Of course, you could argue that they are just lucky - but that might turn you into a religious convert, because any religion with that kind of luck might be worth looking into.
Speaking of religions, how long do you think it will take for them to tie this "mosque" into questioning President Obama's religion? (You have heard that he is a Muslim, haven't you?) As soon as Muslim and Radical Islamist become one, (oh, it already has?) - well, as soon as Obama and Muslim become one, Newt can take credit for a job well done. He didn't say it, they did, and as a reasonable Republican, he can then run for something - maybe not president, unless he can have his ex-wives somehow converted into his supporters.
Well, I'm going back to my issue of disappearing oil in the Gulf and my belief that if we don't get involved in politics, politics will take charge of all of our lives. Please remember that Democracy is not a spectator sport.
Jill Paperno
Glenford, NY
Dear Editor,
Senate Republicans have tried to employ the filibuster more over the past year than in all of the 1950s and 1960s combined. Republican are shutting down the Senate over a routine nomination. A presidential nominee for the National Labor Relations Board received 52 votes out of 100, which is a clear majority. The nomination, was subjected to a filibuster, because Republicans are using the filibuster in ways, that it has never been used before in history. They've use it to force a 60-vote supermajority for every single substantive vote in the Senate.
When Republicans lost the majority in the Senate in January 2007, they started using the filibuster on nearly every vote. Consequently, the Senate is no longer capable of passing legislation or approving presidential nominees. Our Constitution specifies a supermajority for ratifying treaties, ratifying constitutional amendments, overriding presidential vetoes, expelling members of Congress, and impeachment, because those are the things, that our Founding Fathers believed should be really hard to do. However, the Republican minority in the Senate has decided that a supermajority is required for everything.
The last time the rules affecting the filibuster were changed was in 1975, when the supermajority rule changed from 67 votes to 60. It was changed, because Senators thought it was being abused. The way it was being abused back then was nothing compared to how it's being abused now.
The House of Representatives is where legislation actually gets done on Capital Hill. A total of 290 bills have already passed by the House and are waiting for the Senate to take action. Some of them were passed last spring. Everyone of those 290 bills were passed by a simple majority in the House and many of them were passed with a lot of Republican support.
Jim O'Leary
Delhi, NY
Dear Editor,
Last Saturday about 80 people squeezed into the Woodstock Historical Society building on a beautiful afternoon to listen to and take part in a program about the Spirit of Camp Woodland, an extraordinary camp which lived in the Woodland Valley from 1939-1962. Norman and Hannah Studer, the directors, set out to create this unique and wonderful institution which did the prime collecting of the folk songs and folklore of the Catskill Mountains, embraced the traditional people of these beautiful mountains, helping to preserve a world which was fast disappearing. At the same time it brought with it "up from the City" the belief in integration, challenging social and economic injustice, internationalism and a deep love of music. Woodland found a way to bring these two worlds together by reaching out with mutual respect and love for the land.
So on Saturday we sang and told the story of Camp Woodland, while laughing and crying. The beautiful music rang out as fabulous musicians - Eric Weissberg, Mickey Vandow, Pat Lamanna and Joe Hickerson - Camp Woodlanders all! - sang and led us in the choruses.
I want to thank the Woodstock Historical Society and especially Weston Blelock and Letitia Smith who worked so hard to make this a reality. Their generosity and their interest in this extraordinary institution which was Camp Woodland is deeply appreciated by all of us.
Woodland has managed to send its legacy out in many directions - with those who fight for social justice, with those who believe that the voices of children are important, with those who believe that the past is rich with culture and value and with those who are willing to stand up for what they believe and of course with those who keep singing.
I talked to my son Mat, who has been organizing with "mountain folk" in WV to stop the destruction of mountains by the Mountaintop Removal done by Big Coal Companies, about the event. I said that I had told people of his work and that it was so reminiscent of the spirit of Woodland, mountain folk and radicals brought together with shared love and respect for the mountains. He said he too has been talking to people in WV about Camp Woodland and its love of the mountains and its legacy which he feels has proudly inherited. The the spirit of Camp Woodland goes on.
So thank you again to the Woodstock Historical Society, Letitia and Weston for their incredibly hard work and for making that wonderful day possible.
Sue Rosenberg
Saugerties, NY
Dear Editor,
Levon Helm and his band have graciously offered to perform in a benefit concert for the Onteora School District Friday, October 22, 2010, 7:00 pm at Onteora's renovated Harry Simon auditorium.
Appearing with the Levon Helm band will be: Levon Helm, Amy Helm, Larry Campbell, Teresa Williams, Howard Johnson, Clark Gayton, Steven Bernstein, Erik Lawrence, Jay Collins, Byron Isaacs, Jim Weider (Onteora alumni) and Brian Mitchell.
Ticket prices are $65, with limited $100 VIP seats, and are available for purchase at www.levonhelm.com. All major credit cards and Paypal are accepted. Proceeds from the concert will be equally distributed to the district's five school PTAs/PTSO and HS Parent Alliance in support of the arts programs. For further information email ocsbenefit@yahoo.com
The event is being organized by the parents, students and community of the Onteora School District and we greatly appreciate your support.
Rennie Cantine, Beckie Evans, Gina Maloney, David Nelson-Epstein, Maxanne Resnick, Sharon Wood
The Levon Helm Concert
Committee At Onteora
Dear Editor,
On the morning of August 3, 2010, my wife and I experienced a devastating fire which destroyed our home and took two of our three beloved dogs. It was a dreadful shock, and we are just now coming to terms with the disaster and starting the process of picking up the pieces. There are many people in the community, both friends and strangers alike, that stepped in during this time to offer their help and show their support. I would like to recognize them for their love and friendship at this difficult time in our lives.
Thanks to the Shandaken, Olive, Margaretville and other companies that responded to the fire call and spent the day battling the flames. My appreciation goes out to the Ulster County Red Cross, The Emerson Resort and Spa, and the many, many people that offered food, personal belongings, well wishes, etc. We will never forget. Thank you.
Very truly yours,
Robert and Barbara Jones
Shandaken, NY
Dear Editor,
In the LRB, (London Review of Books), July 22, is a 2-page review of the Collected Stories of Lydia Davis written by Clancy Martin. Miss Davis was named a Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French Government for her fiction and translations. She received high praise for her translation of Marcel Proust's "Swann's Way'. I was told some time ago that Miss Davis lives in Port Ewen.
Clancy Martin wrote that one of his favorite stories, "Information from the North Concerning the Ice", is a single 20-word sentence as follows: "Each seal uses many blowholes and every blowhole is used by many seals."
I will excerpt from fairly long paragraphs that Mr. Clancy has written; "It is, we realize, a depressing parable about love and sex: men are seals and women are blowholes (blowholes!); the seals go where they please, the blowholes are passively used by the seals...what has this young woman suffered that gives her this ugly view of sex and love? ...only a young woman could have narrated this parable of destroyed love."
Mr. Martin goes on and it is pretty awful and I felt bad that Lydia Davis had this done to her.
I bought the book and it is great and a somewhat rare thing; when I read it she gives me courage.
In the next issue of LRB, Aug. 5, Eliot Weinberger, a poet, in the Letters section, you might say comes to her defense. Referring to Clancy Martin's overwrought allegory of penises and vaginas, he writes, "Davis was 54 when the story was published, and sometimes a blowhole is just a blowhole. Ask a seal."
Robert Jacobson
Mount Tremper, NY
Dear Editor,
Olive Day is coming up on Saturday, Septenber 11th. Homeless Dogs Need Your HELP! Please go through your closets and look for old blankets and towels that you don't want anymore. You can bring them to Olive Day and make homeless dogs happy! YOU WILL BE THEIR HERO!
I will be there collecting used blankets and towels for homeless dogs under the Fire Department Tent. Cold weather is coming and the dogs need something to snuggle with.
Love,
Annie Lee VanKleeck
Shokan, NY
Dear Editor,
The third annual Shandaken Art Studio Tour was once again a great success. Over $6,000 worth of art was sold that weekend, and art-lovers are still being drawn here by our brochures and website. Hundreds of visitors gained new knowledge of our beautiful town and its many attractions. Judith Singer and I are very proud to have organized the event, and delighted to be a part of the new artistic movement taking place here - along with the amazing Festival of the Voice, Mount Tremper Arts, the Leaping Trout Project, great theater at STS, animated receptions at The Arts Upstairs and the cool, polished curation of Cabane Studios.
We wish to personally thank all the artists and local businesses who helped with their support, including a home run for Michael Koegel who allowed our sculptors to exhibit their works on the lawn at Mama's Boy in Phoenicia, and the Phoenicia Times for their smart, powerful arts coverage. The Belleayre Ski Center and the Emerson Resort also hosted big art tour exhibitions, bringing our message to thousands of utterly surprised tourists.
The arts enrich us in many ways beyond the financial. They offer delight, comfort and meaning in these stressful times. You don't have to wait until next July to see our studio tour artists and their work. This fall, we are having a huge exhibition at the Emerson. Look for the announcements and come to the reception. In the meantime, visit www.ShandakenArt.com to see which artists appeal to you. Give a call or email. Many of our artists would be happy to invite you for a personal visit throughout the year.
Judith Singer & Dave Channon
Shandaken, NY
Dear Editor,
We would like to thank everyone who helped with our yard sale 7/24/10 . Thank you to the Shandaken Allaben Fire Dept for the use of the fire house. The following businesses Nest Egg, Threads of Time, The Tender Land, The Blue Barn and the many people too numerous to list who donated items and money to this effort. You help make it worth while.
For those who missed it you can send a donation to The Shandaken Day Beautification Committee c/o Sharp, Main Street, Phoenicia NY. We plan to but hamlet flags for each of the hamlets. Allaben, Bushnellsville, and Shandaken
Thank you,
Mr. & Mrs. Rossitz, Mr. & Mrs. R. Stanley Sr., Mr. & Mrs. A. Peck,
Ms. K. Williams, M. Lane
Shandaken Beautification Committee
Dear Editor,
AshokanBoaters.org is a community group supporting the DEP's efforts to bring recreational boating to the Ashokan Reservoir. We salute the DEP for its successful pilot program at the Cannonsville Reservoir and look forward to a program suitable to our beautiful Ashokan.
As responsible boaters, we will work with the DEP and local environmental groups to ensure a program that is respectful of other recreational activities, environmentally safe, and supports or even enhances the DEP's efforts to sustain water quality.
Over 750 people have signed a petition split fairly evenly between paper and online. The idea is simply to publicize the solid support the DEP would have when they bring their recreational boating program, which includes kayaks, canoes, rowing boats, and small sailboats to the Ashokan. AshokanBoaters.org recommends anyone interested go to the AB.o website where the petition can be signed, paper copies and poster printed, and lots more information is available. The petition drive will wrap up in September and we expect to have over 1000 signatures by then.
Curry Rinzler, Project Manager
Woodstock, NY
Dear Editor,
The Olive Free Library has, and continues to be, an important asset to the people in the Town of Olive. I remember many years ago , when the Olive First Aid Unit was in it's infancy and the ambulance was parked at members homes, when we met for our monthly meetings it was at the library. As my children were growing up the library was where we would go for Story Hour where all the little ones had a story and craft and a snack, I still see my youngest child sitting on Mrs. Burgher's lap as she read to them! When a meeting room is needed for a gathering the library opens its doors when a fund raiser is planed for someone in need we go to the library . When the Olive Senior Art class wanted to have a showing of all the wonderful artworks they had done it was the library that made it possible. Through the years it is the library where we all go for meetings, for books, movies, computers, classes and so much more! It is truly the center of our wonderful town, where they not only know your name but what kind of book you might be interested in how they can get it for you! A couple of years ago I directed a play, Our Town, as a fund raiser for the library and was amazed by the reception it received, I plan on directing another play there soon, again, as a fund raiser. The financial burdens that face a local library such as ours are indeed hard and the library board has done a tremendous job in trying to meet those burdens without restricting services. The people of Olive now have the opportunity to help keep the library the wonderful resource that it has been in the past is now and wants to continue to be far into the future. I hope everyone will support the efforts of the Olive Free Library now!
Linda Burkhardt
Olivebridge, NY
Dear Editor,
It is said that a place where two waterways meet is sacred ground- and here, between the foothills of Mount Tremper and the Mighty Esopus, we created something unique and magical, and the trees and mountains and creatures in the woods and rocks and water and the people who live here came together, and were united by this great primal vibration we call voice-and united in song.
We are overjoyed with our first annual "The Phoenicia Festival of the Voice." We want to thank all of your readers who attended, and invite all to attend our Festival next August
We had extraordinary artists give magnificent performances under gorgeous skies (for two of the three days) - and all to great acclaim.
And, for the several months leading up to the festival, and during the weekend, we had many volunteers - of all ages - who unselfishly gave of their time, their enthusiasm and their knowledge - to help us orchestrate this phenomenal event.
We thank you all profoundly.
Maria Todaro, Kerry Henderson, Louis Otey, Founders
www.phoeniciavoicefest.com

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