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Letter to the Editor: 03.28.19

Thu, 05/23/2019 - 15:34

Hauntings|

Westford, Mass.

March 22, 2019

Dear Mr. Rattray:

I read with great interest the March 21 article about hauntings at, among others, the East Hampton Library. When my mother worked there in the 1960s, she was greeted one night with a most awful sight that made her naturally curly hair stand on end. She never tired of talking about it.

It was a teenager voluntarily reading “Silas Marner.”

DAVID McDONOUGH



Dr. Vaughan

Amagansett

March 21, 2019

Dear Editor, 

I recently learned that Dr. James Vaughan has retired from his dentistry practice. Dr. Vaughan saved my public life. His expertise, innovation, and compassion literally saved my public-speaking life despite having a mouthful of problems. I would not have been an effective teacher, town crier, or historical tour guide without the dental work that Dr. Vaughan performed on me for over a decade.

I wish him a happy and long retirement.

HUGH R. KING 



Ever Grateful

Springs

March 25, 2019

Dear David,

I want to send a sincere thanks to the Springs Fire Department and the other local fire departments that came to the rescue this past Saturday in response to an accidental brush fire that started at my home on Gerard Drive. Their incredibly swift response saved irreparable damage and loss to myself and my neighbors. I am ever grateful. I feel fortunate to be a member of this wonderful community.

A special call-out as well to a couple of fearless men working on my neighbor’s property who jumped the fence to respond before the fire trucks arrived. Unfortunately, they disappeared before they could be properly thanked. If you read this, I hope to be able to extend my gratitude in person!

My best,

DONNA LENNARD



Quick Action

Springs

March 25, 2019

Dear David,

Hats off to the Springs Fire Department and the other fire companies that responded so quickly to the brush fire on Gerard Drive this Saturday. Their quick action on a very windy day contained the fire and prevented serious damage to houses that were in the path of the fire. We are so grateful that they saved the day!

DIANE FRANEY

CLAUDIA FRANEY JENSEN

RICK JENSEN



Reckless Behavior

East Hampton

March 20, 2019

Dear East Hampton Star,

We have all noticed that our busy season begins earlier and earlier every year. To my mind it always begins with the appearance of people who seem to always be in a rush and nowhere do we see better evidence of this than on our roads. 

I returned from my annual holiday pilgrimage to Manhattan late in January to an East Hampton with few if any speeders. About mid-February I began to notice an uptick in the number of tailgaters (not the kind you find at ball games) and it has been growing steadily ever since. 

Last Saturday, I was on a back road where the limit was 25 m.p.h. and picked up a tailgater in a black BMW who kept flashing his lights and honking his horn even though I was already going 30 m.p.h. He then proceeded to pass me on a blind curve, nearly hitting a car coming the other way, and proceeded to tailgate the car in front of mine. He then passed that car at a stop sign, on the left, not even slowing down. He then proceeded to speed away, nearly hitting two other cars. 

Since the St. Patrick’s Day/Easter holidays, the East End has seen a real rash of this kind of reckless behavior reminiscent of last summer. This year I’m preparing to again do my shopping before 9 a.m. and then spend the rest of my time at home, just like last summer. Luckily, the places I need to shop are open at this time. 

As always, my concern is that this kind of behavior on our roads is all too common during the recognized season and if it’s beginning halfway through March, what is it going to be like in June, or August? My plea is the usual one: Try to remember that there are thousands —soon to be tens of thousands — of people using our roads. This is also the time of year of the “trade parade.” If you can’t leave early, reconcile yourself to being late. The speed limit is there for a reason and for that matter, so are traffic signs and road markings. 

Thanks for reading.

Sincerely,

MATT HARNICK



Plant-Based Food

East Hampton

March 20, 2019

Dear Editor: 

Spring brings renewed enthusiasm for all sorts of endeavors; it’s also a superb second chance to actualize those New Year’s resolutions favoring more exercise and healthy eating.

The shift toward healthy foods is omnipresent. Fast-food chains like Chipotle, Starbucks, Subway, Taco Bell, and Wendy’s all offer plant-based options. Vegan recipes are part of most food websites. Global Meat News reports that nearly half their consumers are reducing meat intake. 

The financial community is taking note of innovative plant food start-ups, like Beyond Meat or Impossible Foods. According to Gallup, plant-food sales grew 8.1 percent in 2017 and exceeded $3.1 billion last year. Britain’s The Economist declared 2019 the “Year of the Vegan.”

Reasons abound: The World Health Organization links processed meat consumption with elevated cancer risk. United States dietary guidelines recommend reduced meat consumption. The media keep exposing factory-farm atrocities. And animal agriculture is the chief culprit in climate change.

We can celebrate spring by checking out the rich collection of plant-based food options in our local supermarkets. An internet search on vegan foods offers an unending variety of recipes.

Sincerely, 

ELIJAH HANNESBURG



Selden Mosque

East Hampton 

March 25, 2019

Dear Editor, 

Soon it will be spring and holidays of freedom and redemption will be celebrated by many faith communities. We cannot celebrate the old without acknowledging the pain of the present. I have been in communication with Dr. Yousuf Syed from the Selden Mosque since the horrific acts of terrorism that took place in New Zealand. I hope our community will embrace the words of support we exchanged.

I wrote, in part, “We here at the Jewish Center of the Hamptons are in deep mourning for those lost in New Zealand. No human should ever feel vulnerable when they are in prayer. No human should be killed in a house of worship. When will it all end?”

“When will the swords be turned into plowshares and the spears into pruning hooks? When will it end? When will it be that ‘nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore’?”

Our prayers are with your community. Let us stand together as members of faith communities, committed to Shalom, committed to Salaam.”

Dr. Syed responded, “On behalf of the Muslim community of Long Island I thank you for your sympathy and kind words at the time of great pain and sorrow, your prayers and support for our aching hearts are very timely and needed, we appreciate it immensely. Peace, Yousuf U. Syed, M.D., M.P.H.”

DEBRA STEIN

Cantor-Rabbi

Jewish Center of the Hamptons



Growing Menace

Montauk

March 18, 2019

To the Editor,

Following the tragic events of Christ- church, I remembered a letter to The Star from Neil Hausig dated May 19, 2003, titled, “Fascist Agenda.”

Alas, since then, too many things have happened confirming Mr. Hausig’s fears: bombings (McVeigh?) etc., marches and confrontations by supremacist groups displaying swastikas and flags, and calling that patriotism and pretending to speak for the American people.

What is appalling are the remarks expressed by President Trump following the confrontation at Charlottesville, as well as minimizing the importance of the group that perpetrated the New Zealand massacre. To neglect that growing menace is showing ignorance of the past.

It is like saying that the many thousands of the brave who did not return from fighting the Nazis died in vain.

Sincerely,

LOUIS C. MARTIN



Extra Taxes

Springs

March 23, 2019

To the Editor.

Living as we do on the edge of one of the most beautiful and ecologically-sensitive places on the East End, Accabonac Harbor, a part of our property on its wetlands, and after a lengthy complicated process of land inspections and applying for available state and town grants, my wife and I were elated to get the go-ahead from the Suffolk County Department of Heath Services to install a wastewater treatment improvement system to replace our decades-old septic tank. The awards would allow us to help preserve the harbor with no personal financial loss.

The very same day, we read in the March 14 Star: “Surprise Tax Due After Septic Grants,” about how the grants will be considered 1099 taxable income. The design and installation companies receive the actual cash payment directly from the county, along with a 1099 taxable income statement from which they have the ability to deduct their expenses. The landowner gets a clean septic system (great!) and a 1099 additional income statement from which they cannot deduct a dime (sucks!). 

As we are retired, living on a fixed income, the sudden addition of this money will result in extra taxes that we will struggle to pay. What was that about “preserving the harbor with no personal financial loss”? We will just have to decide to keep flushing in to the waters of Accabonac Harbor, a place for which we care deeply.

Simple common sense has no place in these decisions. The combinations of arrogant entitlement, ego, and fear of litigation will shortly damn the planet and its inhabitants.

NIGEL NOBLE



Glyphosate Kills

East Hampton

March 25, 2019

Dear David:

The world’s most widely used herbicide Roundup, which contains gly-

phosate, is poisoning our soils, our water, our air, our pets, and our bodies. It is manufactured by Monsanto and is used daily on lawns and farms on the East End and across the country.

Roundup is marketed as a safe and effective way to control weeds but it is seriously polluting our drinking water and poisoning our food supply. Recent studies have shown the direct correlation between glyphosate and numerous other diseases, including non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, celiac disease, cancer, A.D.H.D., Parkinson’s disease, autism, kidney disease, birth defects, and many others. The World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer ruled in 2015 that glyphosate is a probable human carcinogen. A unanimous ruling in California recently stated that Roundup caused the terminal cancer of a groundskeeper, awarding him $289 million in damages, and Monsanto is now facing over 9,000 similar lawsuits. The California Environmental Protection Agency has declared glyphosate a probable carcinogen as well, and there is now a moratorium on its use in Los Angeles County. As of last week the use of glyphosate is banned in Miami. It is also banned in many countries across the world, including Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain, to name a few, as well as many states across the U.S. 

Since glyphosate kills nearly every living thing with which it comes into contact, Monsanto has had to genetically engineer and patent an entire lineup of “Roundup Ready” crops that are resistant to its application. When soils are depleted of nutrients and killed by glyphosate, the result is severely nutrient-deficient compared to food grown in healthy soil. We’re dealing with that right now across the country. Food items such as almonds, carrots, quinoa, beets, rice, cereals, soy, and dozens more have been shown to contain high levels of glyphosate. As a result, it is important to buy items with the “Non-GMO” label and to go organic more often than not. Without our health we have nothing.

Glyphosate is everywhere throughout our food chain. It’s in our food and water, but we’ve got to start somewhere. We must begin an end to its use on the East End now. We have serious issues with our own drinking water and the breast cancer rates are off the charts. Education is key, so please do your own research on this, as there is a great deal of information available. With our current supervisor and town board members, we are destined to put into place many bold ideas that preserve everything we love about living here and at the same time move forward in creating the quality of life we all deserve. Time for a major cleanup. Glyphosate has got to go.

BARBARA LAYTON



Disturbing Aspect         

Springs

March 25, 2019

Dear David,

I was pleased to read that the East Hampton town planning board is reviewing the proposed school-bus depot on Springs-Fireplace Road. In previous letters to your paper, I lamented the decision to sell this land for such a project. Though many Springs residents protested that a school-bus depot would add to an already burdensome traffic situation, homeowners adjacent to the East Hampton School District property prevailed.

To ensure that the property would be properly zoned for the bus depot, the previous town board changed the zoning to commercial-industrial. Following that decision, they determined the property to be “surplus” so that it could be sold. For me, this has been the most disturbing aspect of the deal. The town does not own many parcels of land in East Hampton that it can use for purposes other than recreation and conservation. None of this unencumbered land should ever be considered surplus.

This letter is in support of Randy Parsons and Ian Calder-Piedmonte, who are willing to challenge “the parameters for discussion” that were delivered to the planning board. I hope that all planning board members will join them in conducting a thorough and meticulous examination of this project.

According to your reporter, the sale of this property has not yet been finalized. Hopefully, the final terms of the sale, if it finalizes, will be influenced by the findings of the planning board. These findings should be based on what they think would best work for everyone, and not be predetermined.

Sincerely,

PAMELA BICKET



On the Street

East Hampton

March 24, 2019

Dear Editor,

In most communities decent people would not accept a senior citizen suffering from dementia living on the street. It is something straight out of Dickens. Yet in East Hampton, one of the richest communities in the United States, Town Hall couldn’t care less. 

When the town attorney was approached last year to file a complaint with the elder-abuse section of the district attorney’s office, when $92,000 went missing from an elderly woman’s account and she ended up on the street, he refused. His theory was that since the town operated just a referral agency for senior services it had no responsibility beyond the referral. Imagine a demented elderly adult signing checks to cash of $10,000 and ending up on the street with no one in Town Hall wanting to do anything about it.

That is why I want to see the status quo change in Town Hall. The do-nothings need to be sent packing. This Chris Kelley patronage machine needs to be deprived of oil. The dummies who can’t get a senior center built need to be removed.

The spectacle of five seniors coming to the town board begging for improvements to the senior center needs to stop. We should not have to wait for the patronage machine to figure out how to pad the cost of a senior center in order to get rudimentary senior services put in place.

You, the voters, have a choice this year. You can vote for the current crew of incompetents or you can give the Reform Democrats and their allies a chance to make things better. Know this — without a change for the better in Town Hall what happened to one unfortunate elderly person will happen to many more. 

PAUL FIONDELLA 



Worldwide Science

East Hampton

March 25, 2019

Dear David,

I’ve been reading about the upcoming elections with great interest but no one has addressed the number-one issue of this election cycle. What is each candidate’s plan to fulfill the Comprehensive Energy Vision unanimously adopted by a bipartisan G.O.P. administration in October 2013, and to achieve the 100 percent renewable electricity, 100 percent equivalent renewable energy goal for transportation and heating fuels? This goal was also adopted unanimously by a bipartisan Democratic administration. We have a great example of a bipartisan energy policy contributing to an overall environmental conservation policy that was not adopted through political ideology, only from common sense and logic.

Manny Vilar’s letter to the editor, titled “Ideology,” in last week’s paper almost hit the nail on the head. It is the closest analysis to my vision I’ve seen to date, except I wish to add one more word, “logic.” The dictionary definition of logic is “reasoning conducted or assessed according to strict principles of validity.” Scientific fact is a great example of the practice of logical thought through a peer-reviewed scientific process.

We know common sense is not too common. I agree with Manny that we should not put political ideology in front of common sense; we also should not put it in front of logic. Most folks will agree that logic and common sense should determine political ideology but many times we have the cart before the horse. This is where Manny goes south when he equates the Green New Deal with offshore wind. That statement lacks logic, especially since we should all agree when he said in the letter that polluting the environment is wrong regardless of political affiliation.

It is accepted science, a scientific fact, that burning fossil fuels impacts climate change and is causing ocean temperatures to increase, from thermal expansion alone, will cause sea-level rise. If anyone disagrees with that statement, they should read the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Fifth Assessment Report, the synthesis of worldwide science on climate change. It’s not about believing in climate change; believing is reserved for religion. It’s a scientific fact. From that fact, it is only logical to conclude using renewable energy is good environmental conservation policy. With an abundant supply, uninterrupted supply of wind offshore, it is logical to conclude offshore wind electricity is good environmental policy and a good energy policy.

The Comprehensive Energy Vision contemplates the town board to set goals and milestones, which was unanimously adopted in a bipartisan Democratic administration in May 2014. Subsequently the town board was supposed to convene experts to develop an “economically efficient and environmentally sustainable comprehensive municipal energy policy‚” according to the C.E.V. No technical experts and consultants have been convened to “craft an energy policy plan.” No such plan has begun. The town board fiddles while sea levels rise. 

Montauk wells are already experiencing saltwater intrusion and plans are underway in the form of a hamlet study to address Montauk going under water. There is a fierce urgency of now. The two milestones, 2020 for 100 percent renewable electricity is next year, 2030 for equivalent renewable energy for transportation and heating fuels being the heavy lift is coming up quickly.

David, I hope you will join me in asking one question of the candidates in the upcoming election: What is your plan to achieve the 100 percent renewable energy goal? We should be given details on what type of technologies they contemplate to use. If the G.O.P. and Independents oppose offshore wind, then very simply: What is your plan to achieve the 100 percent renewable energy goal? For those candidates and incumbents who voted in favor of the C.E.V. and 100 percent energy goal we should ask the same question very simply, after six years of doing nothing, the town board has no idea yet how to achieve the goal so we need to ask them the same question.

Sincerely,

FRANK DALENE

East Hampton Energy

Sustainability Committee



Saving the World

East Hampton

March 24, 2019

To the Editor:

I have an idea. The Deepwater wind farm plan, which contemplates a basic alteration in our electric power supply and significant infrastructure changes, does not have the full confidence of the community.

Like most such projects, it slipped through the feasibility, planning, and review stages, attended mostly by officials and environmental activists. Now, as implementation looms, the plan is endlessly controversial. I cite as one bit of evidence the fully two-column-long letter in last week’s Star addressing at length eight issues raised by a single questioner.

We are stuck because a sweeping transformation in a crucial aspect of our lives is supposed to solve a problem that is not a problem, just a controversial scientific hypothesis about climate change during the rest of the century. On every side are demands that the whole world change to address this problem “in time.” Many of the same environmental ideologists throw in as part of the problem world poverty, unequal distribution of wealth, lack of free health care, eating meat, and low wages (see the “Green New Deal” endorsed by dozens of Senate Democrats).

So, in East Hampton, we are proposing to lead the East Coast and the country toward saving the world from its latest existential threat (remember the “running out of natural resources” doom and the “population bomb” doom?). But that is all too much to wrestle to the mat, so, in East Hampton, we fill newspaper columns with debate over details. If there were a convincing problem, those details would be less controversial.

So, as I wrote at the outset, I have an idea. President Donald Trump, a climate skeptic from the start (his crack about global warming as a hoax by China was no more than a joke), has proposed forming a president’s commission on climate security. It would conduct an independent, scientific review of the Fourth Climate Assessment and other official reports bearing on national security. Unlike most climate research, the commission’s deliberations would be subject to the transparency requirements of the federal Advisory Committees Act.

In a letter dated March 18, a coalition of almost 40 leading environmental-policy organizations and 100 prominent public leaders urged President Trump to proceed and endorsed as the proposed commission’s chairman Dr. William Happer of Princeton University. Anticipating continued fierce establishment resistance to re-examining government “climate science,” the letter to the president said that the independent review was “long overdue.” “Serious problems and shortcomings have been raised repeatedly in the past by highly-qualified scientists, only to be ignored or dismissed by the federal agencies in charge of producing the reports.”

Too often, federal bureaucracies have even been accused of fraud in manipulating data and findings to support their politically backed conclusions.

The letter is easy to find online, but two paragraphs are worth quoting here:

“An underlying issue” [for the commission is] that so many of the scientific claims made in these reports and by many climate scientists are not falsifiable, that is, they cannot be tested by the scientific method.”

And: “The conclusions and predictions made by these reports are the basis for proposed energy policies that could cost trillions of dollars in less than a decade and tens of trillions of dollars over several decades.”

My idea: Put on hold implementation of the Deepwater project until the proposed commission delivers its independent report. The letter suggests that unlike other federal climate reports this one be reviewed by the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering.

At that point, our decision in East Hampton about drastic measures by which we will “combat global climate change” can be made with more confidence. For once, we — and, in fact, the country and the international community — will have a high-level scientific assessment not dominated by the one (“green”) side of the debate.

We could save ourselves a lot of trouble.

WALTER DONWAY



Falsehoods

East Hampton

March 25, 2019

Dear David:

In a letter this week, Benny Sorgie purports to correct my claim that Supervisor Van Scoyoc and Councilwoman Overby have uttered eight falsehoods to sell Deepwater Wind to the East Hampton public. Mr. Sorgie offers a new (and old) wealth of misinformation, including repeating claims of Van Scoyoc and Overby that have already been overtaken by events and shown definitively to be false. For the rest, Sorgie does not rebut my points, as he claims to do, but invents versions of his own with which he then does battle.

Mr. Sorgie begins by saying that I made these points “supposedly to show that the current supervisor, Van Scoyoc, and Councilwoman Overby are either liars or stupid.” That is Mr. Sorgie’s characterization, not mine.  

I said that they have been selling the project based on falsehoods and that should make us all deeply skeptical about its merits. I also said that we do not know whether they are lying (always a possibility with falsehoods) or merely grossly indifferent to the truth, but that it doesn’t really matter, because “they have a public responsibility to ascertain the facts before making decisions that affect so many people” and have done nothing. I stand by my own words. Mr. Sorgie’s characterization is his business.

The most important fact is that the town board has so far done absolutely nothing to ascertain the impacts of the proposed project on our beaches, our fishing industry, or anything else in East Hampton, but has instead rushed headlong into trying to give Deepwater Wind the beach-crossing easements it wants. Despite being criticized about this for more than a year, they have yet to take any concrete steps either to investigate the impacts of the project or to present any case on behalf of East Hampton before the Public Service Commission. Nada. That is the indisputable fact.  

Before turning to the shortest rundown of the eight points that I can manage, I must also point out that Mr. Sorgie has a profoundly perverse understanding of democracy. If my facts are wrong, fine, correct me. But he complains that I am exploiting Deepwater Wind as a “wedge issue” for electoral advantage, both last year and now. He also takes every opportunity to impugn my character, claiming that I do not believe the things I say. I most certainly do.

I cannot make sense out of Sorgie’s complaint. Does he think that Deepwater Wind is not a “real issue” of great concern to many of our residents — in Wainscott where they want to land the cable, in Montauk where fishing is a mainstay of the economy, and among residents, such as Thomas Bjurlof and Dr. Michael McDonald, who are very knowledgeable about the technical issues and highly critical of Deepwater as technically inappropriate for our energy needs and a financial boondoggle to boot?

What does Mr. Sorgie think town board elections are supposed to be about? Does he think we should not be discussing the issues faced by our community and the way our elected officials do or fail to do their jobs? What then should we be talking about — baseball? And if Deepwater Wind is a “wedge issue” when I criticize it, how is it not a “wedge issue” when Van Scoyoc and Overby tout it, despite having undertaken no investigation whatsoever of the facts?

With that, the eight falsehoods uttered by Van Scoyoc and Overby, and the Gruber-Sorgie score (just to set the record straight):

Falsehoods 1-3: That Deepwater was legally obliged to obtain the beach-crossing easements before applying to the Public Service Commission; that as a business matter Deepwater has to have the easements in advance or it would not apply; that granting the easements in advance of the conclusion of the P.S.C. process would enable the town to participate in the process (and give the town “more control” — a ninth Van Scoyoc and Overby falsehood I did not mention but that Sorgie does).

Sorgie: The easements don’t take effect unless the project goes forward. (Duh!) Without the easements in advance Deepwater would risk getting approval and not having a route, perhaps requiring Deepwater to repeat the process for a different route. Getting the permit without having the land would be like getting a permit on a house before knowing the land is for sale. Working with Deepwater preserves the most control to minimize impacts.

Score: Gruber 3 – Sorgie 0. Sorgie evades. Councilman Bragman asked the general counsel to the P.S.C who advised that easements in advance are not legally required. Only then did Van Scoyoc stop saying this, but he never made any effort to find out or he would have known. The P.S.C. process itself requires a separate proceeding to approve easements, which follows the approval of the project. It is right there in the law.

As to the second point, Sorgie is out of date. Deepwater did in fact apply to the P.S.C. without the easements in hand. Deepwater is required to present all alternatives for landing the cable to the P.S.C. There is no second round. Giving easements in advance would only allow it to evade this responsibility. In any case, it is not the town board’s job to protect Deepwater’s business interests. Its job is to protect us. 

Sorgie evades the third falsehood — the claim that the easements were legally required in order for the town to have intervenor status before the P.S.C. The town has intervened without granting the easements, as it always had the right to do. 

As for the ninth falsehood uttered by Sorgie himself, about giving easements now to maintain “control,” it is self-evident that, rather than gaining control by giving the easements in advance of the P.S.C. process, the town would have abandoned all possibility of control. The interest and leverage of East Hampton would have been gone. I have no compunction about saying that is the stupidest negotiating strategy possible. 

Falsehood 4: That while claiming that the P.S.C. proceeding will protect us, the town board has done absolutely nothing to prepare an expert submission to the P.S.C.

Sorgie: The town board has hired a specialist attorney to represent it in both the state and federal proceedings and serve as our watchdog.

Score: Gruber 4 – Sorgie 0. Pure invention by Sorgie, who has no idea what he is talking about. The attorney hired by the town has no expertise with the regulatory process. He is a real estate and municipal law attorney hired for the sole purpose of negotiating the easements with Deepwater, in other words, to give away the store before the P.S.C. process concludes.  

Sorgie apparently also doesn’t know that Van Scoyoc, faced with withering criticism at the last Wainscott Citizens Advisory Committee meeting, said for the first time that he was no longer sure that granting easements before the P.S.C. process concludes is the right way to proceed. Fact is, other than filing for intervention, the town board has yet to do anything at all to prepare a submission to the P.S.C, as also acknowledged by the supervisor in response to my question at the Wainscott C.A.C. Maybe Sorgie should attend so he will have a clue.

Falsehood 5: That the $8 million of “community benefits” touted by Van Scoyoc and Overby is a good deal for the community, when it is in fact far below the going rate of $30 million. 

 Sorgie: We are protected because the town’s attorney will work with the trustees’ attorney (who does have expertise) and the deal has not yet been made. 

Score: Gruber 5 – Sorgie 0. As with everything else, the town board made no effort at all to investigate the facts before making claims to the public. Knowing nothing, it claimed the $8 million was a good deal. We only know the going rate now because the trustees hired an expert attorney with experience, while the town board did not, just as I said above. Fortunately, the trustees are doing their best to do the job that the town board won’t.  

Falsehood 6: Landing the cable in East Hampton addresses East Hampton’s renewable energy goals. It doesn’t, because the power supplied is destined for all of Long Island. The impact on fossil fuel consumption in East Hampton will be negligible.

Sorgie: The project’s stated purpose is to address South Fork power needs, and connecting at an alternative site, such as Shoreham, would not achieve this.

Score Gruber 6 – Sorgie 0. The power will enter the pool of energy serving all Long Island. It is not dedicated to the South Fork in any way regardless of where the cable lands. The reason to land at Shoreham has nothing to do with where users are located. The reason is that the necessary distribution infrastructure exists there and does not now exist east of Riverhead. Deepwater has refused, despite multiple requests, to provide an “energy flow diagram” which would show the claim that the energy is for the South Fork to be false.

Falsehood 7: The rate to be charged by Deepwater, 22 to 24 cents per kilowatt hour, is justified because the project is a first, even though other contemporaneous projects will charge ratepayers only a third of that.

Sorgie: A false comparison by Gruber between an 800-megawatt project and a 90-megawatt project. He asks, why would a regulated utility make a sweetheart deal?

Score Gruber 6 – Sorgie 0 – Tie 1. Sorgie’s faith in regulated utilities is very touching. The reason for a sweetheart deal is that the Long Island Power Authority is managed by PSE&G and PSE&G is a business partner of Deepwater in New Jersey. Unlike every other project on the East Coast, where the power purchase agreement is disclosed, the agreement between LIPA and Deepwater is being kept secret. Fred Thiele has vowed to change this by legislation. 

I will allow the possibility that Deepwater is not making exorbitant profits, but we don’t know as long as it hides its LIPA contract from public view. Why is it hidden? We do know that, although this project is not even approved, Deepwater was sold last fall to Orsted for $500 million. If the profits are not exorbitant, then the cost is. The New York State Energy Research and Development Agency has recently opined that projects of less than 400 megawatts are likely uneconomic. 

Falsehood 8: While claiming the project is an environmental benefit, the town board doesn’t know because it has undertaken no investigation whatsoever of costs and benefits or the impacts on East Hampton.

Sorgie: We are protected by the federal and state regulatory processes for reviewing environmental impacts. The public can review and participate in the process.

Score: Gruber 7 – Sorgie 0 – Tie 1.  The regulatory process is adversarial. It only works if the interested parties make their own case. That is why the state law gives the town, the host community, the right to intervene. But to participate, you have to know something about the issues.  The town knows nothing and has made no effort to learn anything, just as I said. 

Sincerely,

DAVID GRUBER



The Windmills

Gardners, Pa.

March 24, 2019

Dear Editor:

My wife and I have been fortunate to be able to spend the winter here in Pennsylvania. Nice, and as much as I want to escape East Hampton for a while, I can’t deny my connection to my home and follow what’s happening, often through the online edition of The Star. I’ve seen the debate continue concerning the wind farm’s effect on various people and how proponents demand sacrifice for the good of the planet. 

People sure are willing to sacrifice much and expound on the necessity as long as it’s not them. The people of Wainscott will experience a temporary loss, and we fishermen will lose much more but must continue to be lectured about how we need suffer, which made me wonder. Is there a limit and scope of sacrifice that exceeds even those who are willing to accept somebody else’s pain? I hope to make a point. 

Assuming the windmills are going to go forward as advertised, we can guess that’s a price the proponents are willing to press on their neighbors. That is, 130 megawatts on an underground cable to an existing substation from 15 windmills on productive fishing grounds. That’s about 8 1/2 megs per windmill and at full build-out in just the area past Montauk. At 300 hundred or so mills that’s 2,550 megs. Yup, hard to understand, so what to compare it to?

It so happens that a new natural gas-fired electrical station just went online a few years ago less then 15 miles from my house in Pennsylvania. It produces 810 megs (the same as the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant) and sells electricity to Canada, east to New Jersey and New York, south to North Carolina, and west to Illinois. It’s been sold once to an investment hedge fund. (Sound familiar?) Though it burns fossil fuel, gas is the cleanest known. The plant itself is quite small. To see for yourself go to Google Earth at Hunterstown Power Plant and Google will give you all the stats. I think that’s important to see. It’s pretty much where I get my electricity and, as an aside, I pay 6.6 cents per kilowatt-hour. 

But here’s where I wonder how much people are willing to pay. The wind farm can produce many megs of power, and they will sell to the highest bidder and the Long Island Power Authority is in the business of selling it, maybe even to Illinois. LIPA can buy what it needs and more: 810 megs of offshore power is about 95 mills, and LIPA may want to buy even more.

If you look at the production in Hunterstown you will see how small it is, but you will also see how enormous the distribution system is. Numbers of substations large and small, acres and tens of acres in size, miles of high voltage wires strung from scores of 80-foot towers. There is nothing in town to carry that load so they’ll build what they need where they need it.

Nothing is being asked of you yet, but what happens when it’s decided 800 megs of wind power is cleaner then 130. What will you say when you’re told you need to sacrifice?

BRAD LOEWEN



Radiation

Sag Harbor

March 25, 2019

To The Star:

Beach Lane is one of the few tranquil roads left on the East End, where children can walk or ride their bicycles unattended in relative safety to and from the ocean beach. To subject these unknowing children to electromagnetic radiation from Deepwater’s high-voltage cable, buried alongside Beach Lane, is a travesty, and should not be allowed.

A better alternative would be to run it down the middle of Georgica Pond from the ocean to the Montauk Highway. Its only effect then would be on blue-claw crabs and residential fish.

Note: Electromagnetic radiation can damage living cells beyond that resulting from simple heating and can be a health hazard.

GEORGE McAULIFFE



Easily Duped

Bridgehampton 

March 25, 2019

Editor,

Perhaps your entire editorial staff will apologize for the complete fact-less bull crap you spouted against the president — all driven by hatred — ugly, stupid, narrow-minded hatred. Perhaps open your closed minds and wake up to the reality you were so easily duped.

Now let’s see if you have the balls to ask what did Hillary know and when did she know it.

I won’t hold my breath.

You should all be ashamed.

TED DAMIECKI



No Collusion!

Montauk

March 25, 2019

To the Editor,

Two years and $35 million because Hillary lost. Maybe the moronic Trump-deranged Democrats will lie dormant for a while and let the best economy in 50 years keep building, maybe the Trump-deranged liberals will understand that minorities jobs are the most in 50 years, maybe the Trump-deranged demon-crats will see and understand that more people and women are working these days, maybe the Trump-deranged fools will understand that Trump’s gross domestic product is 3.4 percent, with higher spikes, while Obama’s never got above 2 percent. Maybe the Trump-deranged people will see that China now buys rice from America. Build a wall; we are in crisis mode at our borders while 7,000 illegals want to storm into our country. 

God Bless America and Donald Trump. 

Oh, unless you’re crediting Obama for Trump’s success, then you should just shoot yourself. 

DAVE SCHLEIFER



MAGA Concept

East Hampton

March 23, 2019

Editor:

In the MAGA world of white-trash America there is a cluelessness that MAGA means bend over suckers. The ancient MAGA concept has worked for thousands of years perpetrated by hundreds of devious lunatics always to the detriment of the people. It hasn’t been used in 100 years in our country, but some Americans remember Hitler and Mussolini, Stalin, and Mao.

Usually both political parties would be necessary for a MAGA regime, but having one that is particularly vile and cowardly (see McCain) seems to be sufficient.

Hopefully they will be appropriately punished and we will survive. 

NEIL HAUSIG



Served His Country

Springs

March 22, 2019

To the Editor: 

In July 1967 the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Forrestal was on Yankee Station in the Gulf of Tonkin off North Vietnam. It wasn’t a brand-new, fancy nuclear-powered carrier like the Nimitz-class carriers being built at the time, but still, a powerful, good old World War Two, conventionally-powered warship with a 35 knot cruising speed. It was the largest aircraft carrier ever built in 1955, when it was launched, longer than three football fields, and crewed by over 5,000 men. It was a floating city. 

Building aircraft carriers and their operation are one of the most difficult things human beings have ever done. Nothing human beings do is more difficult than landing a jet aircraft on the pitching and rolling deck of an aircraft carrier in the full light of day, or let alone in the complete blackness of night. 

For three days that July the Forrestal had been on Yankee Station launching round-the-clock combat sorties against enemy targets in North Vietnam, averaging 50 sorties a day for a total of 150 — the most intense and sustained bombing campaign of the war to date. 

The fourth day of the campaign, July 29, 1967, was a beautiful, cloudless morning as the carrier and crews were getting ready to launch the second sortie of the day. The sea was relatively calm and covered in a dome of luminous blue sky. A bit windy, but it was such a beautiful day that off-duty sailors were sunning themselves on deck or watching flight operations. 

Twenty-seven combat aircraft, awaiting takeoff, packed wing to wing on the carrier’s stern, were fully loaded with jet fuel, armed with heavy caliber machine gun ammunition, and loaded with rockets, missiles, 750-pound bombs, and 1,000 pound bombs. 

At 10:51 a.m., just prior to launching that second sortie of aircraft crowded together on the carrier’s stern, an Mk33 Zuni missile pod from an F-4 Phantom fighter bomber sitting on the starboard stern quarter of the carrier accidentally discharged a missile that traveled 100 feet across the deck, severing the arm of a sailor, before hitting the 400-gallon external fuel tank of an A4-Skyhawk sitting on the opposite, port side of the carrier’s stern. 

The fuel tank instantly ruptured and poured flaming jet fuel over the deck, quickly engulfing all 27 airplanes of the sortie in wind-swept flames, their terrified pilots strapped in, awaiting launch. Pilots tried franticly to escape their aircrafts; many of them jumping off their airplanes and deck into the carrier’s man-overboard safety nets to escape. Some never got out. 

Within seconds of the fires starting, two 1,000-pound bombs dropped from the initially damaged A4 aircraft onto the burning deck. One minute and 30 seconds later one of them exploded, followed 10 seconds later by the simultaneous detonation of the other 1,000-pound bomb on the burning deck and another 1,000-pound bomb still under the wing of another A-4. Forty-four seconds later another 1,000-pound bomb detonated. 

The bombs created huge holes in the armored deck. Forty thousand gallons of burning jet fuel from the destroyed planes poured through the gaping holes into below-deck compartments including one berthing compartment where all 70 men, sleeping, were instantly killed. 

Within five minutes of the fire starting eight 1,000-pound bombs, one 750-pound bomb, and a 500-pound bomb had detonated, tearing seven holes in the flight deck. Numerous air-to-air missiles and air-to-ground rocket warheads also exploded as rounds of heavy caliber ammunition cooked off, firing bullets everywhere through the air like swarming wasps. 

The crew rallied to save the ship, which was nearly lost except for their heroic, superhuman efforts. It took over 20 hours for the fires to finally be extinguished, leaving 21 aircraft totally destroyed, 40 badly damaged, and leaving 134 sailors dead and 161 injured. 

One of those injured sailors was a young naval aviator, Lt. Cmdr. John McCain. It was his A4-Skyhawk’s external fuel tank that was hit by that first Zuni missile. His plane was violently shaken by the explosion, and fire quickly engulfed his entire plane. He literally had only a couple of minutes to live if he didn’t get out of that cockpit. He unbuckled himself, threw open the canopy, and quickly, but calmly, climbed out of the cockpit, shimmied himself down the cone of his airplane, wrapped in fire, and then jumped to the burning carrier deck below from the end of his airplane’s refueling probe. 

McCain ran through the deck fire and clear of his burning plane, now totally engulfed. He was unhurt, but noticed a fellow pilot on fire and quickly turned back to help him when the first bomb, the 1,000-pound that had fallen to the burning deck from his A-4 Skyhawk, exploded with a tremendous force felt through the whole ship as it trembled from bow to stern. 

His plane, the one he’d just gotten out of seconds before and the sailor he had turned back to help were gone. He was knocked back 10 feet and wounded with shrapnel in his chest and legs. 

Less than three months later, John McCain, recuperated from his wounds, was flying combat sorties over North Vietnam again, when he was shot down over Hanoi, grievously wounded, beaten badly by his captors, and taken prisoner. 

Because of his principled courage and perseverance he became one of the most famous American P.O.W.S of the war. He spent six years in the Hanoi Hilton, much of it in solitary confinement in the Calcutta Hole. The Hanoi Hilton is one of the most notorious military prisons in history. 

Whatever we think of the Vietnam War and its rightness or wrongness, or John McCain, the politician and public servant who went on to become a major controversial figure at the turn of the centuries in American politics, there is no denying that he sacrificed for and served his country mightily, even if, as he said in his own words, “imperfectly.” 

Just his military exploits alone prove this. He was an American military hero in the truest traditions. It is only fitting that he is buried near the Revolutionary War naval hero John Paul Jones. 

The sad thing is that in other times in American history that service and sacrifice would have carried him to greater political heights than he reached, except he was, unfortunately, the hero of an unpopular war. As of yet no Vietnam veteran has become president, and it is unlikely at this point that one will ever be elected president. 

John McCain was a big, idealistic, complicated man, who unquestionably understood both the meaning and cost of service to one’s country. He dedicated his entire life to serve the country.

A stark difference to the selfish, petty, and envious small men surrounding us in the world today who despicably speak ill of dead heroes, but have no idea themselves about what service to country means. For our country’s sake, let us hope that John McCain is not the last big man to grace the American stage of history. 

L. W. GREEN



Are All Ploys

East Hampton

March 24, 2019

Dear David,

Since the Democrats lost the election they want to change the rules. On March 7 Nancy Pelosi stated that we should let illegals vote. This undermines the Supreme Court decisions in support of voter verification. Maybe it’s time for her to open a dictionary and learn the meaning of the word “illegal.”

Then again, on March 14 she advocated lowering the voting age to 16 years of age. Senator Cory Booker wants to change the number of Supreme Court justices to 15. Elizabeth Warren wants to go to a popular vote. Kirsten Gillibrand wants to give Social Security to everyone. 

These are all ploys to improve their voter base. Democratic advice is the only commodity on the market where the supply always exceeds the demand. Their negative mind will never give us a positive life. Democrats must learn Americans aren’t just dolls that you can play with, then put them back in the box. They should learn in the time of a storm the shallowness of the root structure is seen. 

There is great power in letting go and there is great freedom in moving to bipartisanship. Just like the waves in the ocean, no challenge is permanent. One can never know what extraordinary adventures may be awaiting us just beyond what party lines dictate. Life is a treasure hunt. We all have a key to it. Unfortunately, many don’t unlock it by standing up and voting for the right person, not simply a party.

History is a straight line with Americans standing on the cutting edge. They believe that with the right leadership there is nothing they can’t accomplish. But today it is not so, with the current obstacle of the Democratic leadership. Americans should not downgrade your dreams to match this reality. We should all upgrade our faith to match our destiny and be driven by spirit not driven by ego. Politics can create major stumbling blocks. We must learn to turn them into steppingstones of cooperation by electing the right leadership.

TOM BYRNE 



Wrong Twaddle

Plainview

March 21, 2019

Dear David,

Donald Trump has just tweeted that “The Brilliance of the Electoral College is that you must go to many states to win, while with the Popular Vote, you go to just the largest states.”

This is totally wrong twaddle, since a candidate can become president merely by visiting and winning the 11 most-populous states that control a combined 270 electoral votes (California, Texas, Florida, New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Georgia, North Carolina, and New Jersey). He (or she) can thus totally ignore the other 39 states (and D.C.) with their (unnecessary) 269 electoral votes. 

Trump won the presidency despite garnering three million fewer popular votes than Hillary Clinton, but theoretically and mathematically he (or his opponent) could lose by 70 million popular votes (100,000,000 to 30,000,000) if he won those 11 key states by one single popular vote each — while not receiving one single vote from any of the 39 “smaller” states — and still become president.

This possibility, while remote, is one of the biggest reasons to eliminate the Electoral College.

RICHARD SIEGELMAN


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