Letters to the Editor: 02.18.16

So Many Caring People

East Hampton

February 8, 2016

Dear Mr. Rattray:

We at East Hampton Meals on Wheels want to thank the East Hampton Rotary Club for the delicious spaghetti and meatball dinner they prepared for our clients and their caregivers on Sunday, Jan. 31.

We also thank the individuals who purchased the tickets to provide the meals. What a lovely gift for our homebound residents — a bright spot in an otherwise dreary, cold January day.

It is very gratifying to know that our town is filled with so many caring people. On behalf of our clients, volunteers, staff, and board of directors, we thank the members of the Rotary Club and we wish the very best for their organization and for their efforts in our community.

Very truly yours,

COLLEEN RANDO

People He Would Thank

New York City

February 14, 2016

To the Editor:

On Feb. 3, my dad, George T. Dracker, died at his home on Dayton Lane at the age of 94. In recent months he spent a lot of time reminiscing about his life in the beautiful Town of East Hampton and all the people and organizations that meant so much to him. There are so many people he would thank if he could, and so I do so now in his name. Many of these people predeceased him but he never forgot them.

George and his wife, Ellen, arrived in East Hampton 68 years ago, a time when the town welcomed only one or two new families a year, and that welcome was both warm and inclusive.

The first to welcome George were Arnold and Jeannette Rattray. They were in desperate need of a typesetter, and appreciative that George agreed to stay, following his interview, to help get the paper out that week. They were generous employers‚ helping George with housing accommodations, holiday turkeys for their staff, and years of subscriptions to National Geographic for the Dracker children. George would be the first to offer a warm thank-you.

E.T. Dayton, the regional director of the local Boy Scouts, talked Dad into being a Scout leader for Troop 102. Having coached semipro baseball for many years in his youth, George was a natural at this. E.T. had several camps near Three Mile Harbor and Montauk’s Hither Hills, and he let the Boy Scouts use these for their camping expeditions. He ultimately sold Dad’s property on Dayton Lane for our family home and arranged for a mortgage through the Cedar Lawn Cemetery Association — probably the only mortgage Cedar Lawn ever issued. E.T. also let the Dracker family use his island in Three Mile Harbor for summer vacations, and despite the fact that we were evacuated several times for hurricanes and attacked by nesting terns, we have very fond memories of the times we spent there. Dad would give an appreciative thank-you to Mr. Dayton.

Dad would also be quick to thank another Dayton‚ Ernie Dayton, who oversaw the construction of our family home on Dayton Lane in the early ’50s. It was the first house Ernie built, with the exception of his own house. But it was the bay window that Ernie built that brought Dad such pleasure. It was before the introduction of prefab windows, so Ernie built the bay window frame by frame, pane by pane. As children, we put on many plays in that window, with Mom’s floor-length drapes serving as stage curtains.

Dad and his father and brothers also helped build the house, but in the warm spirit of community that existed in East Hampton, many locals also stopped by to offer help. Seeing Dad mixing cement in a trough, Mr. DiGate dropped off a cement mixer for Dad to use. Russ Smith, a professional housepainter by trade, offered to paint the window frames and gave Dad a literal in-house tutorial on the ins and outs of painting. To these kind souls, Dad would say thank you.   

Dad and his children are also deeply indebted to Dr. David Edwards. This old-fashioned country doctor was fondly referred to as Doc Edwards by his patients. One night Mom got up to care for the latest addition to our family, and as she was going back to bed, she dislocated her neck. Doc Edwards was there in minutes. He simply had Dad hold her feet and he placed Mom’s head back in place. Doc Edwards was unflappable, courageous, and a true humanitarian. The town was very lucky to have him in their midst.

Dad was a member of the East Hampton Volunteer Fire Department for more than 23 years, an organization that, in addition to fighting fires, was also a center of community life for the town. It was famous for the annual family picnics at Fresh Pond. We all looked forward to the kettles of steaming corn on the cob, hot dogs, clams, and watermelon races. And on Christmas Eve, a fire truck would stop outside our house and down would come Santa, delivering a gift to each lucky child inside, courtesy of Dad’s fire company. The Fire Department also flooded Town Pond each winter, providing a perfect skating surface for the town’s children. 

When the Sea Spray Inn was burning down in 1978, Dad was on the top, an equivalent of the third floor, when a combination of the water-slick roof and his leather shoes caused him to begin to slip backward off the roof. It was only the quick thinking and strong hands of Griff Collins that saved him from a serious accident or death. The only time Dad was injured during a fire was when the Edwards Movie Theater and Chez Labatt on Main Street burned down in 1964.  Dad got several broken ribs while retrieving the cash box for Chez Labatt. Dad would be the first to offer an appreciative thank-you to the Fire Department and Griff Collins for the roles they played in his and his family’s lives.

Dad had been ailing in recent years, and more so since Mom died in August 2014. They had been married for almost 69 years, never having been apart during that time. There were so many people who touched Dad’s life at the end, and he was thankful to all of them: Roma Karp, Most Holy Trinity’s outreach ministry program, and the Eucharistic ministers who brought him Communion every week; the East End Hospice staff who attended to him in the last six weeks of his life, all the friends and neighbors who visited him and brought tasty goodies‚ including the Tim Sullivans, the O’Briens, and Richard and Janice Whalen; his daughter Pune and his great-grandchildren, who kept him entertained with their letters and drawings, and, finally, his son, George Jr., his daughters Pat and Merry, and his son-in-law Greg Bellafiore, who cared for him with compassion, patience, and creativity. 

Dad constantly told us how blessed he was for the gift of life, his faith, and the love of his wife, Ellie, and the rest of his family and friends. But we know we were the lucky ones to have had him in our lives.

Thank you, Dad.

With a heavy but thankful heart,

BARBARA ELLEN DRACKER

Stuart’s Truck and Sign

Montauk

February 10, 2016

Dear Sir,

When my family moved to Montauk in 1951 the first person I befriended was Stuart Vorpahl, we were both 12 years old. We fished and clammed together and built a longlasting friendship. 

Stuart was a talented man; he was a fisherman, a first-class shipmate, a welder, a boatbuilder, and a crusader. Stuart fought relentlessly for what he believed in. His years serving as town trustee proved he was a man for the people of East Hampton and not to be swayed by politics. As unjust fishing regulations began destroying the fishermen and their communities, Stuart began his lifelong crusade, fighting the bureaucrats and their unjust regulations until the end of his life. His truck and sign parked at his funeral attest to that. 

I would like to see the fishing museum in Amagansett make arrangements for Stuart’s truck and sign to become part of the museum collection, as a constant reminder to all of what we lost.

Yours sincerely,

CAPT. PAUL FORSBERG

Crucial Importance

Amagansett

February 15, 2016

Dear David,

A big thank-you to The Star for its spot-on editorial “Houses Too Big for the Block” last Thursday.

This piece spotlights the crucial importance of the work done by the East Hampton Town and Village zoning boards, particularly in these times of escalating pressures. By steadfastly doing their job, the editorial shows us, these boards stand as the “critical front line” in the increasingly difficult battle to preserve our town’s treasured sense of place.

I add my appreciation and thanks to the Z.B.A.s and repeat the message: Stay strong!

Sincerely,

BETTY MAZUR

Law Is an Incentive

Springs

February 15, 2016

Dear David,

I am helping a friend apply for a permit to install an affordable accessory apartment in her home. My wife, an architect, informed me that a town law was passed in 2004 adopting “a policy whereby all town departments, agencies, and boards shall grant priority to all projects involving an affordable housing element.” Another bonus is that “all application and review fees for affordable housing projects shall be waived until further notice by the town board.”

The law applies to both town and private applicants. The wording of the law does not limit the kinds of affordable housing projects it applies to, and it covers the entire application process, including work with the Planning Department, planning board, and zoning board.

This law should be more broadly known as it is an incentive for private property owners to create much-needed affordable housing, whether it be a single accessory apartment or an entire complex of them.

ZACHARY COHEN

No to White Buffalo

Sag Harbor

February 14, 2016

To the Editor:

I understand that East Hampton Village has until the end of July to decide whether to renew the contract with White Buffalo, the out-of-state group that caused great injury to the deer with their sterilization process last January in the cold. In addition, an estimated 19 of their “sterilized” does died gruesome deaths giving birth, many to stillborn babies.

I would say with this record, the village should vote a resounding no to anything to do with White Buffalo. I myself would like to see punitive action, and most certainly not the renewal of any contract for any procedure that involves the welfare of deer. It is one thing to want to thin the ranks; it is quite another to torture these animals and leave them to die unspeakably painful deaths. And there is the alternative noninvasive immunization process, which really works and which should be supported by money and resolve by town officials.

If bringing a spotlight to the White Buffalo debacle is what is needed, and making sure they do not do this again, I urge you all who care about the deer to make your voice heard. Please consider writing a letter to The Star or to the Village of East Hampton. You can write to Mayor Rickenbach and the village board c/o [email protected]. It will only take five minutes to make a huge difference for the animals.

Thank you.

BEVERLY SCHANZER

East Hampton Group for Wildlife

Airport Safety Claims

East Hampton

February 11, 2016

Dear David,

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote to call attention to the fact all, save one, of the airport projects either completed by the current town board or under way had been recommended at the beginning of 2014 by the airport planning committee, noise subcommittee that I chaired. We were charged by the board with making a comprehensive proposal regarding all aspects of the airport — operations, safety, finances, infrastructure, and noise. We identified and made proposals on the critical safety issues. Since then, I proposed the study of airport pavements now ongoing so that we may budget properly for the airport’s needs.

Contrary to the constant accusations that those affected by noise are secretly trying to close the airport, our objective is a safe, efficient, well-run, well-financed airport that meets the needs of local pilots without destroying the quality of life of the rest of us. This is an achievable goal as long as we maintain local, town board control of the airport. If the Federal Aviation Administration is in control, any measures to control noise from helicopters, noisy jets, and heavy turboprops are impossible. 

Fortunately, F.A.A. control over airport excess came to a close at the end of 2014. But if the town were again to take money from the F.A.A., the F.A.A. would again be in control for 20 years, with no possibility of breaking that control short of an act of Congress. It is for that very reason that those who are affected by noise are most eager to see the airport on a sound financial footing — but self-financed, out of airport-user fees and rents.

I promised to tell the story of how all this is explained by the mysterious case of the deer fence. Here goes. You may recall that in the 2011 election the board majority was not determined until January 2012, with the then-supervisor, the Republican Bill Wilkinson, hanging on to defeat the Democrat, Zach Cohen. 

For reasons I really don’t understand, the local Republican Party has always been adamantly opposed to our own town board controlling the airport and has done everything possible (including when there was a Republican majority submitting false documents to the F.A.A.) to maintain F.A.A. control. Wouldn’t you think that local government would want control of this important asset in local hands? Mystifies me.

In any case, with the election undecided, aviation interests eager to prevent the town board from ever recovering control of the airport from the F.A.A. suddenly decided that deer on the airfield were a critical threat to aircraft safety. Bear in mind that there have always been deer on the airfield, kept under control by hunting and a partial deer fence that goes back to the Bullock administration. 

From the ’80s, when the partial deer fence was built, until late 2011, nary a word of complaint was heard from pilots about the lack of a deer fence fully enclosing the airport. At any time in the course of those 25 years, it would have been an easily affordable matter to complete the deer fence if necessary. Not a word, until it was unclear whether the Democrats, pledged to forgo F.A.A. money, might take control of the town board.

With the election undecided, then-Councilman Dominick Stanzione made an “emergency” application to the F.A.A. for funding for a deer fence, requesting that the F.A.A. act within a matter of days, a preposterous demand that of course the F.A.A. ignored. However, to drive the point home, Stanzione made an unauthorized lobbying trip to the F.A.A. in Washington, accompanied by the town’s aviation counsel, Peter Kirsch. I am informed that Stanzione and Kirsch actually told the F.A.A. that it ought to act immediately on the funding application lest the Democrats become the majority on the East Hampton Town Board and F.A.A. control of the airport then slip from the F.A.A.’s grasp. The F.A.A. did not respond to this invitation to violate federal law by allocating airport funds on an inappropriate basis. 

As the trip was not authorized by the board, Kirsch then hid Stanzione’s travel expenses in one of his legal bills. That became an issue in the 2013 election, in which Stanzione lost badly, coming in last. You might wonder why, in light of that conduct, Mr. Kirsch is still representing the town in airport matters. I leave you to wonder.

Some months later, after the F.A.A. declined to fund a deer fence, the project morphed into a $1 million high-security fence, purportedly to prevent terrorism at East Hampton Airport. Apparently Stanzione and Wilkinson thought that protecting the airport from terrorists, rather than Uzi-toting deer, might engage the F.A.A.’s interest. That flopped too, not least because the application to the F.A.A. was replete with falsehoods. In the end, the town obtained no more money from the F.A.A. and the grant assurances that prevented the town from controlling airport access ran out at the end of 2014.

The point of the story is that claims about airport safety have often been a ruse by which airport interests have sought to obtain F.A.A. money and keep the F.A.A. in control of East Hampton Airport.

This appears also to be true of aviation interest claims that the now-closed runway 4-22 should be reopened, at great expense, for safety reasons. Yet, all professional airport wind studies show that the existing secondary runway, 16-34, is superior to 4-22 in terms of wind coverage. Claims that there is a seasonal bias in favor of 4-22 are likewise not supported by the wind data. But what reopening 4-22 would almost certainly do is exhaust the airport’s financial resources on something wholly unnecessary. That might then require the town to go back to the F.A.A. in order to meet the truly necessary safety and operational needs of the airport.

In approving the repair of the taxiway on old 4-22 to runway standards, the town board wasted several hundred thousand dollars of airport funds. If, as is planned, the taxiway parallel to the main runway is completed, taxiway 4-22 will be obsolete. My committee recommended that the 4-22 taxiway be repaired on a short-term basis while the parallel taxiway, of far greater utility to aircraft, was completed.

Whether the town board was misled by aviation claims or made a political decision to appease airport interests even at the cost of wasting airport resources, I don’t know. What I do know is that it is those in our community who want to control noise who have thus far been the strongest advocates for a safe, well-maintained airport, with decisions about airport infrastructure guided by engineering, not politics. We will continue to urge sound, data-driven decision-making about the use of airport resources so that the airport can be both well maintained and a good neighbor.

DAVID GRUBER

 

An Audacious Scheme

Springs

February 8, 2016

Dear David,

We have spent $936 million on subsidies such as Medicare, Medicaid, etc., for high-priced coverage of Obamacare. Less and less are signing up for this Affordable Care Act as it is too expensive. 

If you listen to President Obama, it’s the greatest thing he ever did. He claims about all the millions that now have coverage; well, what about those who don’t have, or lost their coverage? 

Health Republic had 215,000 customers holding their breath while trying to find new insurance with only a few months to do it. Twenty-three nonprofit consumer-operated and consumer orinted plans were created under the A.C.A. to increase competition and offer low-cost health care. Since their debut on federal or state exchanges in January 2014, 12 have gone out of business.

The federal center for Medicare and Medicaid services gave the co-ops starting loans and solvency loans, which were provided to make sure they had start-up money. Health Republic found other loan companies, but these loans had to be paid back. Now the local schools are crying they can’t afford health care for all. The schools claim there are uncontrollable costs for health care.

Obama’s next bright idea is executive amnesty. This plan for untold millions of illegal aliens who have invaded America is an audacious scheme for winning future elections for the left. Hillary will pursue this scheme. So we are still on spend, spend, and tax, add tons of regulations and America will stand still, the poor will stay poor, middle income will not exist, and the rich — well, who knows, especially if their income is taxed to the hilt. They may leave the country.

One other thing, President Obama, why didn’t you mention the six soldiers who were killed by a suicide bomber on Dec. 21, so fresh in our minds but left out in your speech on Jan. 12. Strange, every chance you get you mention Muslims, but never American soldiers. You stand up for Muslims’ rights but nothing for the Christians being slaughtered, and the Jews not even a mention.

In God and country,

BEA DERRICO

There Is Always Hope

Sag Harbor

February 15, 2016

Dear David, 

All things come to pass and perish through strife. Even though we do not understand it. 

Before and during the U.S.-led war in the Persian Gulf, the world was abuzz with something called the “new world order,” and enthusiasm for the war effort was remarkably high. The speed which the patriotic sprit fanned by war soon faded, and the new world order eventually became a term for mockery. But there is always hope. A light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.

At this very moment at least Senator Bernie Sanders has lit at least one candle to light the way. The rest are in our hands. Busting up the big corporate powers will be a struggle. But Wall Street is starting to shake. If Hillary Clinton falters, Bloomberg will enter the presidential race before March. Super PACs are not doing so well. Bloomberg has a large super PAC and is ready to spend $1 billion. He already brought a third term as mayor of New York City, at one time considered illegal.

Senator Sanders may be a big barrier in his way, and Clinton appears to be in trouble. The pundits are telling us the economy and billionaires and schools are his priorities. The path ahead seems to fall in the grasp of Sanders. Remember the mantra by so many: Bernie Sanders can never make it. I believe he can. He is an unknown candidate who has a mandate for both the rich and the poor. His wife, Jane, sounds like she could be the first lady — two for the price of one. 

Without a vision we will perish, meaning more of the same. His cliché is catching on: Enough is enough. If not, what kind of a legacy are we leaving our children? Their voice cries out: I have a $35,000 loan and never expect to own a house or car. Not a good way to start off life. The so-called American Dream is a broken promise. 

One last question: How many more people to have to be assassinated? Their blood flows from one generation to another.

In peace, 

LARRY DARCEY