Letters to the Editor: 03.03.16

To Splendid Spring

March on! Head forward against the blustery wind.

Rain slashes, yet clouds clear: a sunbeam warms your face. At last!

Is spring far away?

 

We’ve sloughed and bundled our way through slush and tempest, sleet and snow.

Soon: the Ides, the Shamrock, the Madness,

then Passover and Easter will obtain.

 

Do you hear the cardinals calling, careening?

That red flash settles on an ice-encrusted branch dressed by night’s frozen rain.

The bough sways up and sways down, cracking off its icy coat.

Showers of jewels sparkle to the frozen ground,

chiming and tinkling a crystal percussion to the cardinal’s winsome song.

Will more of Nature join the pageant?

Oh, when comes the Grand Marshal, Miss Robin?

 

Ferocious lions become caring collies, urging us onward.

Gladly now do I join this parade to splendid Spring.

The saps run. With smiling head up, I will, I shall

March on!

BRUCE BLUEDORN

To Ralph Carpentier

Springs

February 28, 2016

Dear David,

Like so many others, I was grateful to The Star for featuring so prominently your first-page picture tribute to Ralph Carpentier in last week’s paper. Doug Kuntz’s lucid and perfect photograph, the gesture of respect and affection portrayed in the touch on the coffin, the light and the crowd, the atmosphere both sad and joyful, all made real the emotion of the gravesite ceremony that celebrated the life of one of our great citizens. When I showed the front page to my classes, one of my students said, “He must have been a pretty important guy.”

Certainly he was important, but not in the way most people recognize importance. He was a man who lived by three simple principles. One, everyone can make a difference. Two, small things, maybe even unnoticed things, can have a huge impact on our lives over time. And three, never give in to the forces of mediocrity, even when it appears as popular, or as financially desirable, or as just impossible to resist against the tsunami of stupidity that has come to overwhelm much of our confused lives.

So the man dedicated himself to constant involvement in civic, artistic, and environmental activities in our town. He believed that attending to even the smallest detail in the exhibits at the Marine Museum, an institution that he conceived and built as a hope, would eventually result in the preservation and memory of the way of life he saw disappearing around him. He painted pictures that reflected his vision of the profoundly beautiful enormity of the universe and the small beings — human, canine — that dwell in it. And to the last days of his life, he continued to work, painting pictures infused with the aesthetic values by which he lived. 

For five years back in the ’80s, I worked as his partner at the East Hampton Historical Society. Ostensibly, I was his boss, but actually I was an apprentice to a master who taught me everything I know about the rich history of our town, its roots in the farming and fishing community of generations of Bonackers, the bumps and jolts of its transition to a summer resort, and the ever-present dangers lurking in what Ralph characterized as “killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.” In the process of his 14 years at the helm of the Marine Museum, he ennobled the search for local history through his vision and foresight. 

Ralph was dedicated to making our community a better place. He saw it for what it was, a diverse community of farmers, fishermen, artists and artisans, doctors and lawyers and realtors and cops, glued together and served by an ever-growing number of members of diverse occupations and ethnicities, increasingly dependent on the dollars generated by its growth as a resort community. He was a constant proponent of the idea that memory of and love for what is in the moment must be passed on to the future, and his redolent landscapes are visual reminders of the beauty that surrounds us and is so fragile and easily lost.

I remember Ralph as a dignified and warm human being, a loving father and husband, a man who stood for no nonsense, a man with callouses on his hands and paint under his fingernails, a tough guy with a hammer and a saw, a delicate touch with the brush, a steadfastness to his art and to his philosophy of life. I have always admired his wife, Hortie, for enabling him in all the right ways, and I was astonished and happy to see the number and diversity of people whom he had inspired and who loved him assembled at Green River Cemetery and at Ashawagh Hall. 

Yes, he was an important guy, but not because he was rich and famous. Not because of any of the things that might be written down in the history books of the future. But he was important because of the things and the people he loved, the community he loved and served, the values he stood for — and stood up for. He was dedicated to preserving everything sane and beautiful and glorious and profound in our community. That was not an easy job, nor will it be for any of us if we follow his path.

DAVID SWICKARD

For Mary Rattray

Bellingham, Wash.

February 26, 2016

Dear Editor,

That was a wonderful obituary for Mary Rattray. I worked for Mary at the Queen of Diamonds on St. Marks Place when I was about 12 years old, and later, after I graduated from high school in 1963, I worked for her in Provincetown. I lived with Mary and Howie that summer. I made earrings and necklaces for the shop and helped customers. In those days she did not sell vintage clothes and in Ptown she made me wear nice clothes that were sold in the store so I would not look like a beatnik. 

I was 15 when Mary and Howie got married. At the wedding reception I met the poet Gregory Corso, who took me away on a night of East Side parties with the poet Diane di Prima. He kissed me and told me that if I ever ran away I should come see him first.

Mary knew the most interesting people! She and my mother, Ernestine Lassaw, were very good friends, and the three of us spent many mornings wandering on trails in the woods and we did sometimes get lost, ending up miles from the car. 

I will always think of East Hampton in those sweet days of the ’50s and’60s, before commercialism and real estate took over and ticks were not a death sentence.

DENISE LASSAW

The Water Is Coming

East Hampton

February 28, 2016

Dear David,

Thank you for your editorial “The Nation’s Shoreline Circa 2100.” Actually, in our coastal community, we do not have to wait for 2100. Anyone walking from Main Beach this week witnessed the latest assault on the East Hampton shoreline. The dunes have again been battered by high winds and surging tides, made more violent from rising sea levels. Shoreline dunes have been carved out, leaving cliffs with beach-grass roots blowing in the wind. The beach is littered with debris washed on shore from remnants of “protective” snow fences and other useless structural efforts. You are so right, “the water is coming.”

The Star’s lead article this week, “Town Sets Its Sights on Climate Change,” outlines the town’s commitment to developing a plan for “coastal resiliency.” In addition to developing a Coastal Erosion Assessment and Resiliency Plan, the Department of Natural Resources has already worked with the town’s energy sustainability committee to produce a town board-approved climate action plan, now available on the town website. At present, a $100,000 grant has been awarded to the Department of Natural Resources to study, with the energy sustainability committee, the development of a “microgrid,” a small-scale renewable-energy resource, to power designated municipal services responsible for the safety, security, and well-being of the community during an extreme weather event if the town’s electrical grid is compromised.

Yes, “the time is now,” and town leadership is responding with strategies to address the challenges of a changing climate charged by the growing levels of carbon dioxide in the earth’s atmosphere. 

LINDA B. JAMES

Georgica Pond Pollution

East Hampton

February 24, 2016

Dear David, 

Christopher Walsh’s recent article “Georgica Pond Is in Trouble, Supervisor Says,” indicates that the level of pollution in Georgica Pond is a result of human activity; namely, septic and cesspool intrusion and water runoff from roads and lawns. These have resulted in high levels of nitrogen that appear to have caused large, dangerous algae blooms for the last two summers. This man-made situation needs a man-made solution, sooner rather than later. All the stakeholders agree to move swiftly. This is a good thing.

The newest generation of sewage removal systems for private homes is regulated and must be approved by the Suffolk County Department of Health. To date, this has not happened. Whenever I ask when a new system will be approved, I’m told “next year.”

What are we waiting for? Let’s do something now. The Health Department should be leading the way, not procrastinating.

Once the Health Department approves a system, the town must be ready to quickly update the town code to encourage the use of these updated instillations. With new construction continuing unabated, there is not time to lose.

BARBARA McCLANCY

Recording Secretary

League of Women Voters 

Of the Hamptons

Video Not Doctored

Amagansett

February 29, 2016

Dear David:

I am the spokesperson for Safe Access for Everyone, an organization advocating for safer conditions on East Hampton’s beaches, most notably with regard to the S.U.V.-pedestrian conflict at the Napeague beach commonly referred to as Truck Beach.

Faced with indisputable facts and actual video evidence about the atrocities being committed on a Napeague beach, it is unfortunate that CfAR has resorted to lies and libel to attempt to distract from the truth at Truck Beach. In fact, had SAFE known the mere 45 seconds of video we released (out of our more than 16 hours of video in our possession) would have garnered the reaction that it has — both among our critics and our supporters — we would have done it much sooner.

CfAR, unable to refute the conditions depicted in the video on the merits, has stated that the video was “doctored,” and “the group SAFE and some of its supporters once again knowingly circulating false and misleading information in their efforts to privatize Napeague Beach,” according to the CfAR board member Tim Taylor’s letter to The Star last week. 

The fact is that the video was not doctored in any way; the Jeep was not sped up to make it appear as if it were going faster — it really went that fast, right past playing children. This week we will be uploading to Facebook the time code that accompanies the video to prove that the car is indeed traveling at an alarming speed. Once we do that, I suspect critics will say a speeding car is a rare occurrence, but in fact by my count there are an unbelievable 52 other examples of speeding vehicles in one day that we haven’t yet shown to the public. Fifty-two! 

Some may say that simply more enforcement is needed, but on two occasions a car speeds right past a Marine Patrol officer without incident. We also have in our possession a photo of a woman peeing next to her vehicle and a disgusting three-minute video of a man and woman taking turns urinating next to their vehicle on the beach (some of which is shown in the commercial). It’s simple: Truck Beach is out of control.

Tim Taylor also wrote that the extreme congestion of vehicles is a misrepresentation of reality because of the extensive piping plover closures that closed off half of the beach. So by default, Mr. Taylor agrees the videos show an extreme congestion of vehicles. Which supports our point exactly because there was not a single piping plover closure at Truck Beach in 2014, the year the video in the commercial was shot. (Again, the time code can prove this.) Anyone can read the East Hampton Town plover report by Googling “plovers,” “East Hampton,” and “2014.” (There were only two plover nests in Napeague, at Ocean Colony, which is more than 2.6 miles away from Truck Beach.) Thus CfAR is willing to publicly and outrageously lie to try to justify the egregious acts that are being committed at the beach, and we find this despicable. 

And again CfAR is insisting we are trying to privatize the beach, when in fact we clearly state we wish to make it a pedestrian-only beach like many other East Hampton beaches.

Perhaps CfAR’s position is best summed up by a repugnant Facebook comment by Billy Toad Helmsorig in response to our video last week: “If you get hit by a slow moving truck on a beach your [sic] an idiot anyways and most likely had it coming to you.”

The town board alarmingly is expecting taxpayers to continue to lay out hundreds of thousands of dollars, and potentially tens of millions, defending CfAR’s lies and outrageous beliefs such as Mr. Helmsorig’s. Taxpayers will expect the town board to answer for this. 

We at SAFE are grateful to the hundreds of residents of East Hampton who are taking the time to watch the video at safebeach.org/#!video/c0w3r and adding their names to the growing list of those who would see beach driving ended at the densely populated Napeague beach in question, along with an end to the waste of financial resources by the Town of East Hampton on defending the S.U.V. special interests in light of such incontrovertible evidence that beach driving at Napeague is unsafe, unsanitary, and out of control.

CINDI CRAIN

Serving on a C.A.C.

East Hampton

February 29, 2016

Dear Editor,

Some of your readers may not be aware of the existence of citizens advisory committees beyond those times when their actions make it into the news. C.A.C.s exist in each of our hamlets as an outgrowth of the first comprehensive plan adopted by the town. They advise the town board about issues of importance within the community. When a consensus can be reached on a C.A.C., the town board listens.

I serve on the East Hampton C.A.C., which meets for an hour once a month and covers the village and the East Hampton School District boundaries outside the village, including Northwest and Sag Harbor. Our liaison on the town board is Sylvia Overby. Sylvia is a second-term council member who originally became involved in community service when she became a member of her own Amagansett C.A.C.

And that is what this letter is about — the East Hampton C.A.C. as a starting point for community service. East Hampton is an aging community with approximately 32 percent of its year-round population over 65. This population will dramatically increase over the next 15 years. Many of our community leaders will retire and move out of East Hampton to Florida or to where their children have moved.

That leaves us with the possibility that our town government will be captured by special interests. The huge amounts of money that went into the last election do not bode well for the future.

If you live here, this will affect you and your children. The infrastructure projects that are needed may never be built. The laws to protect your property values and safety may never be passed, because the people put up for election may be running with little experience of what actually goes on and is important to those of us who live here.

The experience of serving on a citizens advisory committee is very important.

In the past year our C.A.C. has met with the county to help redesign the intersection at North Main Street, Springs-Fireplace Road, and Three Mile Harbor; discovered a county occupancy tax that can be used to limit motel-like houses from appearing in residential neighborhoods, discussed ground­­water and soil contamination on local farms, supported a farm museum on North Main Street, discussed pedestrian safety and the need for crosswalks across Pantigo Road, and many other issues. We are always open to new members and to citizens who want a low-key forum to bring matters of concern to the attention of the town board.

On Monday we will have our East Hampton police chief attending our 6 p.m. meeting in Town Hall to hear citizen concerns.

If you are a 20-something who wants to have a future in your hometown, or a middle-aged parent with children, or a retired adult with time on your hands, consider volunteering an hour a month to your C.A.C. or bringing matters of concern to you to our attention. 

Sincerely,

PAUL FIONDELLA

Vice Chairman

East Hampton C.A.C.

A Safety Hazard

Springs

February 29, 2016

Dear David,

I think people are confused (as was I) about the new LED lightbulbs. We are used to just going to the store and buying bulbs based on watts. We knew what the light would look like if we bought a 60-watt bulb. That changed when compact fluorescent bulbs came on the market and we had to choose bulbs based on lumens. Now we ask for 900-lumen bulbs if we want the equivalent. 

LED bulbs are a different matter. They are being highly touted by the manufacturers. And they are “energy efficient.” However, LED bulbs present a number of issues that are just now being examined by health professionals. Turns out that LED bulbs have a high percentage of “blue light waves,” which can damage the eye, interfere with night vision, disrupt circadian rhythms (important biological systems), and, when used outdoors, contribute more to skyglow than other light sources.

I appeared on LTV last week (“Democratic View With Phyllis Italiano”) and explained all of these implications in detail, along with recommendations about using LED bulbs. I urge your readers to either watch the show on LTV on Chanel 20 or go onto the LTV website for the streaming video.

I also urge your readers to see the demo LED streetlight in East Hampton Village north of the railroad station, at night. It produces glare into the eyes of drivers, interfering with night vision, and is a safety hazard. Please ask the village board to refrain from installing LED bulbs until the technology improves. The manufacturers can reduce the glare and the amount of blue light waves if enough people ask them to. I’m working on it. 

SUSAN HARDER

International Dark Sky Association

There Were No Options

Bridgehampton

February 26, 2016

Dear Mr. Rattray:

We just wanted to clarify a point made in the article “A Loss for Project Most” by Christine Sampson. We left Springs because we were asked to, not because we wanted to. When we tried to find a different venue in East Hampton, there were no options that made sense for both the race and the town, so we decided to explore moving to Southampton instead of simply closing shop. 

The loss to Project Most is one of our biggest regrets about having been forced out of Springs. As we have stated in these letters before, we firmly believe in the mission of Project Most and hope that in the near future we can figure out as many ways as possible to help fund it. But the marathon was no longer welcomed in East Hampton, and for that reason, that race as a source of funding has to move with us to Southampton Village.

We are very excited to be starting anew in Southampton and to be supporting S.Y.S. there (among other beneficiaries), but hope that we can continue to work with Susan Gentile Hackett, who remains a good friend to us both, in coming up with ideas to help keep Project Most afloat. 

Best,

AMANDA MOSZKOWSKI

DIANE WEINBERGER

Hamptons Marathon

Value of a Newspaper

Stamford, Conn.

February 23, 2016

To the Editor:

Millennials and many others don’t value newspapers the way they should, and here’s exactly what they are missing. When you scan through the pages of a paper, you get an overview of the world not provided anywhere else. The information being provided is not being cherry-picked to fit a TV time slot, or purely done to be ratings-driven. So detail is more extensive, and unlike the Internet, facts are checked.

As for the Internet, it does not give you a single source overview to pursue. Turning a page in print and reading a newspaper paints a picture, not just a few brushstrokes. And size does matter here, so unless you want to Velcro together several tablets, the visual impact is not the same. There may not be any likes or shares, but nor will your newspaper catch a cold from an unfamiliar news website that has a virus you didn’t see.

Google “best overview of news,” and it will show you 525 million websites, from CNN on down to Twitter. Or, you could pick up a newspaper. Why? Because even if you took six zeros off that total, who has time for the other 525? So a newspaper is a more time-conserving, fact-finding format. So don’t be limited by only what’s trending, or overwhelmed by seemingly endless options.

A newspaper creates an uninterrupted, No-buffering, no multiple web-searching site-for-sore-eyes information experience. A newspaper allows you to rapidly scan through events in the world around you, from local, national, to news around the globe, and you get to be the editor. Just turn the page and get turned on by a headline that catches your eye. There is no waiting, and it can be as rapid-fire as you want it to be, so you set the pace.

Think about that the next time you have to sit through someone trying to sell you something during a website pop-up advertisement, or TV news commercial. Plus, you don’t have to power up, down, or search around on your desktop, laptop, or tablet. Smartphone apps are the est, but someone has to point you to something specific in the first place.

These observations do not come from ignorance, age, or an analog man in a digital world, since for many years I sold computers for a living. It’s just I got smarter, or maybe wiser, than my smart devices.

I have taught my son the value of a newspaper and would stack his knowledge of world events (foreign, domestic, and local) against any of his college classmates’, and it has paid off for him in school. He once took a jab at me and asked, “What’s a newspaper?” Still quick on my feet, I said, “It’s the Internet made out of trees.” Now he has learned how to branch out. Where else do you get a better single source, on all levels, for what’s going on around you?

The volume on the Internet is so vast that you need another vehicle in place that you have a history with, to narrow what’s important and not just what’s trending (and there is a difference). So if you only want information given to you by unknowns, you will have no accurate canvas you can create to draw your own big picture.

Newspapers offer hard memories in an era where we just tend to have soft ones sitting on our hard drives. I still have copies of newspapers passed down from my father from when man first landed on the moon. This was something that excited my adult son when he saw them recently for the first time. This came from a millennial, who takes five times the photos we used to on just his smartphone alone, but yet you would be hard pressed to find a framed anything in his home.

Getting your news is like going to the grocery store. You pick up the things you know and check out the things you don’t. Point being it’s all there right in front of you. With a newspaper, the only difference is you’re feeding your mind. So go devour a newspaper!

RICHARD C. ILSE

 

Long-Term Optimism

East Hampton

February 23, 2016

To the Editor:

Last week, it was reported that in 2015 not a single passenger died from a jetliner accident anywhere in the world. It was also reported that more that 3.5 billion passengers were transported safely. Long-term optimism is the only realism.

DAVID ASTORR

All These Injustices

Sag Harbor

February 29, 2016

Dear David, 

One of many attempts to destroy Senator Bernie Sanders when he referred to his background as a Polish immigrant without explicitly describing himself as being the son of a Polish “Jewish” immigrant: Rabbi Michael Paley of New York was taken aback. That prompted the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, a news service feeding the Jewish press worldwide, to ponder, as its headline put it, “People are confused why Bernie Sanders won’t own his Jewishness.” 

Much like John F. Kennedy, who had to overcome anti-Catholic sentiment, “he’s a good politician and he knows what he’s up against,” it said. One more breakthrough is good, not bad. Actually there is a retreat house in New York City that many years ago started a movement called one spirit, many religions, which has been a great success.

Since then Senator Sanders has said he is proud to be Jewish and recalled a man named Hitler who killed 50 million people around the world including a million Jews. Hatred of the worst kind. Hopefully that was the limit for humankind. Basically we are all human. See how our politicians fight these days over religions. Absurd!

In The New York Times on Feb. 24, a headline read “News Media Is Part of the Establishment Sanders Rails Against.” I too believe the corporate-control powers teach how to think. Thank God we have Sanders to speak out against all these injustices. A man who went beyond the fear and broke the silence most of us knew about for far too long. In every generation young people create change. What would we do without them? I’m 86 years old but not a member of the walking dead — not yet.

Finally, another powerful headline in The Times, in the editorial column on Feb. 26: “Mrs. Clinton, Show Voters Those Transcripts,” which begins with “ ‘Everybody does it’ is an excuse expected from a mischievous child, not a presidential candidate. But that is Hillary Clinton’s latest defense for making closed-door, richly paid speeches to big banks . . . then refusing to release the transcripts.”

One lame excuse: Goldman Sachs offered it to her. Or, “I am happy to release anything I have when everybody else does the same, including the Republican Party.” Records show her personally earning $11 million in 2014 and the first quarter of 2015 for 51 speeches to banks and other groups and industries. Even the Democratic Party is asking her to release the many talks before daring to walk into the White House, which I doubt. Nobody trusts her not to lie to the American people. 

As we all are aware, money is the bottom line. If Sanders does not win the presidency it will be a sad day for America, to return to more of the same super PAC’s power and corruption.

LARRY DARCEY

Out of Control

Amagansett

February 28, 2016

To the Editor:

Oh, my! Now Trump wants to change the First Amendment in our Bill of Rights, if elected, so he can sue newspapers who say derogatory things against him! Are we talking out of control? This man is so used to his business power that he seems to think he can erase our protection of speech and press. Please reconsider voting for (what I believe to be) a dangerous megalomaniac. His words and actions give conservatives major concern.

Please vote No to Trump and Yes to a constitutional conservative we can trust to bring this country back into balance. Ted Cruz wants to ensure the rights of all American citizens while curtailing the cronyism and overspending in Washington, D.C. We don’t have much time left to turn this around.

LYNDA A.W. EDWARDS

The Jewish Guy

East Hampton

February 24, 2016

To the Editor:

Why Bernie? The question that all Americans are asking themselves and don’t completely get. As Americans we tend to be isolated in the world. Spend too much time in front of the television and too much time in church. Too little time traveling around the world and no time learning about other cultures and peoples. Denying history and believing in a set of ideas that are blatantly inaccurate. Consequently we have to choose between four buffoons and Hillary, none of whom get it like Bernie does or have his innate, naturally selective breeding.

Bernie’s a Jew. Not too serious a Jew, but a Jew, with the obvious trappings. From a historical, intellectual perspective, how would anyone not want to have a Jewish president? The contributions of Jewish intellectuals, from Marx to Einstein to Freud, dwarfs those from non-Jews by ridiculous multiples. The odds of Bernie being a great president are overwhelming compared to the other choices. In truth, there are no other choices. Enough of the same old crap of people pretending to know what they are doing. Smart money is on the Jewish guy. 

When Bernie was 13 he got a fountain pen and $400 in bonds that matured when he was 53. His father told him to get a job. Trump got $25 million and a job, and his father bailed his ass out every time he took another company to bankruptcy.

At 13 Bernie was Bar Mitzvahed and was now a man of the chosen people. For delirious evangelicals, Cruz and the little guy might go to your church but they can’t get you into the chosen elite, because they are too late to the chosen-people game and will never be allowed in the door. Bernie probably can’t get you in either, but you could claim elite status by association with your president.

Bernie as a sexual symbol. Compare Monica Lewinsky to the women our Jewish ex-governor consorted with. The entire world mocked Bill Clinton more for bad taste than for screwing around. With Bernie we’d never face the humiliation of bad taste.

The American people have struggled for 35 years before Obama began the process to get us out of the mess. We allowed the black guy to bring us out of the wilderness; now we should let the Jewish guy bring us to the promised land. He’s got the experience and the vision and has history on his side, no matter how one wants to pretend it really happened.

NEIL HAUSIG

Cruz for President

Santa Monica, Calif.

February 23, 2016

Dear Editor,

If the creation of money out of thin air (known as quantitative easing) were really more effective than harmful, the U.S. government would do it all the time — not just in a recession. It merely masks a lack of growth, and the more we do it the more rampant the inflation we will have. (This inflation has not happened yet, but that’s because there is a lag factor.) 

Things will be better in the long run if we end quantitative easing. Thus we should elect Ted Cruz for president.

ALEX SOKOLOW