Letters to the Editor: 05.17.18

Blessed

East Hampton

May 4, 2018

Dear David, 

On April 17, 2018, after giving my dog, Windsor, his medication, the pill bottle (which contained 14 pills) dropped from my hand. I turned my back for two minutes, and in that time Windsie swallowed all the pills in one gulp.

In a panic, I called the East Hampton Veterinary Group, which has taken care of all my dogs and cats for the past 27 years, and Sarah Grogan answered my desperate call.

She told me to get Windsor to the East Hampton Vet Group right away. As I am unable to drive, she referred me to East Hampton Animal Control. I called and spoke to Heather Miller, and, within five minutes Heather was at my door and she drove Windsor to the East Hampton Veterinary Group. Not only that, she brought him back home the next day. 

I want to publicly thank Heather Miller for all her help. She is truly an animal lover. We are blessed to be living in a town that provides wonderful services, such as East Hampton Town Animal Control.

Also, I want to sincerely thank the staff of the East Hampton Veterinary Group, Ken Palmer, D.V.M., Paul Hollander, D.V.M., Debbie Lester, Patty Bock, Lynda Verity, as well as Sarah Grogan, for always being there for me and Windsor, a beagle mix.

ELIZABETH VOGT ROSSUCK

Huge Thank-You

Amagansett

May 14, 2018

Dear David,

Seems like old times. 

May 7 article in New York Post, page 28, praising Hampton Jitney, 50 years young!

Yes, well, our own Judith Hope, as town supervisor, fought for and supported the Jitney creation. Judith deserves a huge thank-you. What a marvelous and courageous I might add town supervisor she was.

Kind personal regards, and thank you, Judith.

LONA RUBENSTEIN

 

Disrespectful

East Hampton

May 13, 2018

To the Editor:

A hearty thank-you to Adina Azarian for her recent open letter (“Being Coerced”) to Orogold Cosmetics of Newtown Lane. I completely agree that their “sampling” behavior is annoying, off-putting, and disrespectful. I too have crossed the street to avoid this obnoxious behavior, and it is not fair to their retail neighbors that I avoid that area to prevent this harassment (I’m glad one of my favorite nearby shops relocated).

 I’m all for “free enterprise” and giving some flexibility to our local businesses, but Orogold Cosmetics is exactly the type of business that hurts our village (multiple stores in 30-plus cities nationally/17-plus internationally) by squeezing out locals. I understand the days of our neighborhood mom-and-pop stores are behind us, but I sure miss the warm relationships these shops had with residents. Orogold: Treat us with some respect!

Sincerely,

ROBERT LIKOFF

 

Writers Workshop

Amagansett

May 10, 2018

Dear David,

As an Amagansett resident for more than 20 years, I love the Amagansett Library. Sadly, it is not living up to its mission statement, which reads “to provide quality materials and services, which serves the educational, informational, cultural, and recreational needs of the entire community in an atmosphere that is welcoming and respectful.”

For a few years, until last spring, there was a writers workshop at the library led by a qualified writer that was open to all. It became a group of about 15 that provided supportive critiques to writers who presented new material — until a personnel issue led to the group’s ouster from the library. 

The writers workshop now meets at a private residence that is not accessible to my husband, a published novelist who uses a wheelchair. The library is completely accessible, but my husband no longer has access to this group.

A new group at the library was formed under the leadership of one of the librarians on staff. Unfortunately, this has not been a successful replacement for writers who wish to receive feedback for new work. There are unlimited obstacles for persons who rely on a wheelchair for mobility. It is sad to see such a missed opportunity.

I ask that the Amagansett Library again hire a qualified person to lead a writers workshop that will provide access to all. The library is tax supported and its staff should not let their personal issues or preferences stand in the way of serving our community.

SUSAN RETZKY 

Father’s Day

East Hampton May 11, 2018

Dear David:

My father, Michael Enid Connolly, was born in County Galway, Ireland, on Sept. 9, 1907. This is a letter I wrote to him as part of an assignment for a legacy class I took with Dr. Nancy Peppard at the East Hampton Library in the fall of 2017.

Daddy, you were the “quiet man,” for sure, and so gentle. One never knew you were in a room, but your presence was felt throughout my life.

There was the oatmeal in the double boiler when we awoke. You worked late evenings and came home early in the morning. We never saw you cook the oatmeal, but there it was, like a magic elixir.

Daddy, there you are sitting at the table with your bowl of tea. You are turning the collar of your shirt or mending your socks or sewing on a button. I never thought to ask where you learned to do these things. Mother always said I had magic hands like her sister, but maybe my talent really came from you.

I loved to help you with the ace bandages you wore for your varicose veins. We stood at opposite ends of the long hallway in the apartment and you would roll up the bandage and walk toward me or I would walk toward you. You would put on the clips and we would do another.

How about the Sunday afternoon excursions to Central Park, where you took the four of us out in a rowboat? We never knew you could not swim. Neither could we back then, yet there are no life jackets in any of these pictures of those delightful afternoons.

Remember the time you and mother rented a bungalow at Rockaway Beach and you came down to watch us play in the water? You sat in a folding chair and wore a white dress shirt with dark trousers, black oxford shoes, dark socks, and a straw hat. You were the most dapper man on the beach. It never dawned on me to ask why you did not wear shorts or a bathing suit. It only mattered that you were there watching us.

You were the one who took us shopping for Easter and Christmas apparel, wool coats with velveteen collars, and matching wool leggings when we were young and suits when we were teenagers. There were always velveteen hats at Christmas and straw hats at Easter. I was worried about the cost, but you said, “Mary, don’t look at the tags” and the cashier cut them off. “Don’t tell your mother” was another admonition. Kathleen, who was a year younger, said, “What do you care how much they cost?” 

Daddy, I wish you never smoked. I hated the cigarettes and would ask you to throw them away. Back then, it was hard to understand the addiction and the hold it had on you. I cared for you when the cancer came. Even then, you begged me for a cigarette. After dinner, when I picked up your tray, you would say, “Mary, this is the time I could use a cigarette.” It made me cry to think of your suffering but I thought you were “cured.” Six weeks after surgery, you returned to the city and mother bought you a carton of cigarettes. I cried for three days. I understood later how it hurt you not to be able to quit.

Your last Father’s Day celebration was at our home, where you had recuperated a year earlier. You filled the ashtrays but the cigarettes no longer mattered to me. I knew you had no control over the demon. You sat in a wheelchair on the deck looking out at your grandchildren. You turned to me and said, “Mary, this is the happiest day of my life with all my family around me.” You left us five days later, and there is still a hole in my heart. Michael E. Connolly died June 23, 1978. He was 70 years old.

MARY CONNOLLY FIX

Shooting Parties

East Hampton

May 11, 2018

Dear David,

Trapshooting at bay beaches! Twice recently I have encountered shooting parties on Little Albert’s Beach. Today a party at Barcelona Neck was shooting toward where I was walking at Mile Hill Beach. There were pieces of clay pigeons in Northwest Creek and on all of these beaches. At Albert’s and Little Albert’s there were many whole targets easily visible in the water. 

Is this legal? And if it is, is it nice? It certainly litters the water and beaches. Having to walk by the shooters and endure the sound of gunfire reverberating over the water is extremely unpleasant and unnerving.   BARBARA A. STRONG

Solomon’s Justice

Amagansett

May 5, 2018

Dear Editor,

In his letter to The Star (May 3, 2018), John Karoussos accurately describes the dire situation on the western, dirt portion of Stony Hill Road. (The eastern portion, like the rest of East Hampton’s roads, is maintained very successfully by the East Hampton Town Highway Department.)

The dozen or so homeowners on the western portion suffer severe, recurrent potholing making passage dangerous and destructive for much of the year. This is a severe health hazard. Should emergency vehicles be required to attend to seriously injured residents, the poor condition of the road is life threatening. Yes, life threatening. (There is a nearby Red Dirt Road precedent. Town attorney: Think litigation.) Even people with simple “bad back” flare- ups become stranded in their homes. Family members and friends refuse to traverse the road in their cars.

As Mr. Karoussos correctly states, GPS has helped turn a road that once provided idyllic opportunities for enjoyable walking, jogging, and horseback riding through the pristine forest into a throughway characterized by dust, high-speed traffic, and noise. This contradicts the entire intention of the conservation easements.

As the town makes admirable progress in developing alternative energy sources, protecting water resources, and encouraging progressive transportation solutions — using substantial public funds and advanced technologies —  it should be able to provide all East Hampton taxpayers with the basic right to safe passable roads.

There are solutions that secure the basic rights of the local residents and benefit the entire town.

Laws reducing speed, prohibiting heavy vehicles (except for local deliveries) and declaring, “restricted access conservation area — no through traffic” should be introduced and enforced. These are quick, inexpensive, important steps to making the road safer and at the same time reducing surface deterioration. A few highly publicized traffic tickets will be welcomed. Everybody benefits at a very low price. Reducing speed and reducing traffic, especially by heavy vehicles, serves the interests of everyone and saves the town money. Restricted access could well cause GPS to direct traffic away from Stony Hill Road. Everybody benefits.

As we celebrate 50 years of landing on the moon, there must be materials and technologies available to make the unpaved surface of the road less prone to potholing every time there is a shower. (I am not suggesting moon rocks.) A serious effort to find the right materials and engineering solutions (more effective drainage) benefits everyone and will eventually lead to substantial savings. At present the Highway Department must invest special resources and expensive, dedicated equipment attempting to keep the road passable —without success.

Note: No one is using the “P” word — paving.

Surely, no town resident will deny western Stony Hill residents safe and passable road access to their homes. And no one should insist that western Stony Hill residents endure impassable and dangerous roads from the luxury of their own homes accessed by (paved) safe and passable roads. It is our right to demand passable and maintainable roads. It is for the town officials and professionals to weigh the alternatives and determine the required solutions and surface materials. That is what they are elected and paid to do. Don’t dismiss our rights by simplistically inferring that we are demanding paving. We are not. We are demanding “safe and passable” — year round. There is a difference.

There is an additional solution. Sever Stony Hill Road into two parts — Stony Hill East and Stony Hill West — with no through motorized-vehicle connection between them at all. (Though there could and should be footpath, horse path, and emergency vehicle connection.) That solves the through traffic problem once and for all and creates truly quiet and pleasant cul-de-sacs for residents and visitors alike — enhancing the conservation easements. 

Why not? Who would object, and why?

And let the handful of homeowners on the dirt sections on each end — by majority vote — determine not only the location of the separation, but the surface they desire from options suggested by the town. As those who live on Stony Hill West are the ones directly affected, they should be the ones to decide.

A modern variation of Solomon’s justice that works for everyone.

DAVID GROSSMAN

Dangerous Project

Amagansett

May 14, 2018

To the Editor,

I attended the public hearing on May 2 regarding the planned work-force housing development at 531 Montauk Highway in Amagansett. In response to your article, it is a horrendous exaggeration to say a “chorus of support” was expressed. No cheering was heard and less than a dozen people spoke. This is not a progressive agenda, but will be an intense burden on our sensitive land that is not in the best interests of the village of Amagansett or the town of East Hampton. 

I stand strongly against this proposed project, as I believe it will not be helpful to the residents of East Hampton. The Town of East Hampton has no business setting a precedent of a high-density housing development at a time when our resources are at a critical danger point. 

For example, every week I read an article detailing the contamination of our local water supplies. The Stony Hill aquifer supplies water to the majority of residents in this town. The property proposed for these work-force housing units is in a special groundwater management zone. The Suffolk County Department of Health and Human Services permits only 600 gallons per acre in this zone and since 531 Montauk Highway is 4.6 acres, this would allow for no more than 2,760 gallons of waste flow. This dangerous project would flood our land with 8,370 gallons per day, which is why a sewage treatment plant is necessary for their scheme to move forward. So the sewage treatment plant is not intended to be helpful to the residents or the environment, but to help the Housing Authority force more development where there should be nothing but natural empty space. 

Who will manage these work-force housing units? How much will it cost to contract an operator for the sewage treatment plant? What if the first and second pumps fail? Who will be responsible if something goes horribly wrong? Many questions remain in my mind, and I hope now my fellow residents will be asking themselves the same questions. 

It both disappointed and frustrated me immensely when the planning board voted to close the two-week window for writing in at the suggestion of Housing Authority representative Ms. Casey. While my conviction to speak at the meeting had been outweighed by my apprehension, I now feel compelled to make my voice heard.

I am a lifelong resident of Amagansett, stepping up to say “No Thank You!” The land of Amagansett and all that surrounds it has been abused in the name of profit and construction and development for too long; enough is enough.

In the name of being helpful, they will actually be doing the opposite. 

Sincerely,

JENNA A. ROCKER

Clean Energy

East Hampton

May 7, 2018

Dear David, 

Thank you for your May 3 editorial: “Great Deal From PSEG-Long Island.” The South Fork Peak Savers program is one of East Hampton Town’s energy sustainability committee’s resources in its clean energy portfolio. Your editorial clearly states the Peak Savers advantages in reducing the consumer’s utility bill and meeting the need for excess fossil fuel-generated power from a growing East End demand. With this opportunity at hand, here is the next step.

Saturday at the East Hampton Village street fair, “Energize East Hampton,” www.EnergizeEH.org, was launched at the energy sustainability committee booth. This new partnership initiative, “Energize East Hampton,” is committed to helping the community understand the financial benefits of the efficient use of clean energy at home and in businesses while striving, as a community, to deliver on the town’s 100 percent clean energy goal. 

At the committee booth you could learn more about Energize East Hampton, including, “Solarize East Hampton,” “Long Island Green Homes,” and the South Fork Peak Savers programs. It is our local community’s opportunity to participate in the town’s 100 percent clean energy goal while reducing individual utility expenses. Fewer fossil 

fuel-generated emissions in our community creates a replicable clean air model from a coastal community in response to greenhouse gas emissions loading the Earth’s atmosphere. What could be more “energizing?”  

LINDA JAMES

Chair

Energy Sustainability Committee

New, Clean Source

Amagansett

May 11, 2018

To the Editor,

I am a supporter of Deepwater Wind’s offshore wind project. Our community needs more power, and it should come from renewable energy. Just like Block Island, the cable will be buried deep under the beach and in the roads, and no one will know it’s there. Deepwater has even agreed to bury the existing overhead lines on Beach Lane and parts of Wainscott Main Street. That’s a good deal!

I’ve heard and appreciate the concerns of the fishermen. They advocate for artificial reefs because of the fish they attract. That’s what these 15 turbines will be! Not to mention there are already cables all over the sea floor. What’s one more? And this one will be buried.

We are supposed to be a forward-thinking town. If we can’t support a project like this, what community will? For those who are opposed to these turbines, you might want to reconsider. This new, clean source of energy will serve our community well. Let’s make it happen!

TAYLOR BARTON

 

Local Due Diligence

May 14, 2018

Amagansett

Dear David,

Many are narrowly perceiving the public discourse of the proposed Deepwater South Fork Wind Farm as a debate between wind renewable energy investment and the fishermen’s interests. Many are also declaring that if we don’t approve this project now, we aren’t doing enough to address carbon emissions.

These perceptions do not capture what many concerned citizens, be they professional environmentalists, fishermen, planners, financial experts, or circumspect residents, are trying to communicate in our public protest of this project. 

This project should be evaluated as a development proposal whereby the developer is asking the community to lease or ease our public trust. This project should be perceived as a rare placement of industrial infrastructure in our marine and coastal environments. This proposed development should call to action the highest level of local due planning review. It should be evaluated in depth for its impacts to the health of East Hampton’s economy and residents.

If our local government officials and staff do not have expertise in renewable energy infrastructure and the potential environmental and economic impacts of this project, then they should call upon third-party experts, their advisory committees, and the general public to weigh in with multiple public hearings. 

There are many unknowns to this proposed project, be it the transmission cable alone or the 15 turbine wind farm to which it is tethered. Is the project providing the best renewable energy solution for East Hampton’s energy grid and peak demand needs? Are we selecting a climate change solution with the greatest return on investment in carbon emission reductions per dollar spent? Have we given sufficient opportunity for stakeholder input on the lease or easement of the public trust to a developer? Have we given enough time for the cautious vetting of the terms of the proposed community benefits package? Are we designing sufficient controls and limitations on the developer and having protections in place if things go wrong?

For those who love wind, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority has a comprehensive New York State Wind Master Plan that is the result of a multi-year planning process to best site and manage wind development to mitigate impacts to the environment and a diversity of ocean user groups. NYSERDA is developing the policies to oversee the wind developer bidding process to ensure fair costs to rate payers. You will have wind. And there is process. The Deepwater Wind South Fork Wind Farm does not fall under NYSERDA’s comprehensive master plan, nor other states’ master plans because of its geographic location. It is an outlier and oversight has been limited. This is a huge flaw to this particular project.

If East Hampton wants to be a role model in renewable energy development for the United States, then we should ensure we are exercising our local due diligence and not letting a developer undermine good governance with the dangling carrot of a community benefits package. Thank you for your time.

RACHEL GRUZEN

Re-Examination

Springs

May 14, 2018

Dear David,

Whatever the decision of the town board and trustees on the Deepwater Wind proposals, history will be repeated — but which history is the question.

Did the town learn in 2009 about problems that follow from opaque accounting and from self-reported financial disclosures? In some ways, this situation is worse. Back then, no one had any good idea of what the real story was. With Deepwater Wind and the Long Island Power Authority we are brazenly told that known and important financial information is their trade secret. When information is not made available, one should assume an unpleasant surprise in the future.

The town did not hire an outside independent expert to guide them through a review of the Army Corps of Engineers project in Montauk and they have not hired outside experts in either environmental effects or energy economics to help them make knowledgeable decisions about the Deepwater Wind project. History has shown that is a mistake that should be rectified before the town board grants any approvals.

As to the threat of this not being stoppable, and that it would be foolish not to accept the community benefits package — here history provides a positive example of refusal to submit to what others thought was unstoppable. Remember Shoreham? The David(s) beat Goliath in that case, and an East Hampton law firm of young dedicated lawyers catapulted themselves into prominence as part of that effort. If East Hampton says no, it will begin the environmental, financial, and legal re-examination of this project.

Many documents will be submitted to today’s public hearing that will provide both criticism and also proposals for alternatives that are better, green-energy solutions with lower financial and environmental risks. Everyone who is interested, and especially the town board and the trustees, should incorporate these thoughts into their decision process.

The negative consequences that are the outcome of taking the easy political road never look good in history books.

ZACHARY COHEN

Listen and Speak Out

Springs

May 14, 2018

Dear David,

On the evening of May 17, the East Hampton Town Board will hold an especially important meeting, at LTV: On the agenda is the proposed permit enabling the South Fork Wind Farm to land its cable in Wainscott. If you want to protect our local fish and all marine life from the accelerating acidification of our precious ocean, and/or if you support our town’s commitment to 100 percent renewable energy by 2030, come to this meeting, listen, and speak out.

The wind farm is our best chance to slow the acidification of our oceans, enabling the closure of aging, heavily polluting fossil-fuel plants and avoiding any demand to build new ones on the East End. 

Together with more solar energy and greater energy efficiency, the wind farm will enable us to reach 100 percent renewable energy, and do so in the least expensive way.

This week, the town is strengthening our transformation to renewable energy with further support for each and all of us to install solar energy and improve energy efficiency in our homes and businesses. 

Let’s all sign up for Peak Energy Savers: Get your free NEST thermostat to improve PSEG’s peak power management and save on your PSEG bill. Ours is being installed May 25. Take a look at the full range of exciting opportunities such as “Solarize” and “Green Homes” at “Energize East Hampton,” energizeeh.org. 

The Town Board meeting is at 6:30 p.m. at LTV, 75 Industrial Road, Wainscott.

ALICE TEPPER MARLIN

Vote Rigging

East Hampton

May 14, 2018

Dear David,

As the [East Hampton Town] Democratic Committee approaches its convention for the nomination for the special town board election this November, the seat to which Councilman David Lys was appointed, matters seem to be going from bad to worse. I have to wonder whether the current leadership of the Democratic Committee has completely taken leave of its senses.

To review for your readers: On the eve of what was expected to be an election in February for a successor to the current Democratic Committee chair, Jeanne Frankl, a committee member raised the question whether the roll of voting committee members had been corrupted by the removal of duly-elect d members from their seats, something party leadership has no power and authority to do, and the purported appointment of others to those seats. The election was then postponed. 

I looked at the current committee roster published by chair Jeanne Frankl and compared it to the official Board of Elections tally of committee members elected in the September 2016 primary election. It was immediately obvious to me that a number of members are no longer in the seats to which they were duly, publicly elected. Unless those members had resigned in writing, as required by Suffolk County Democratic Committee rules, they are still in the seats to which they were elected. Ms. Frankl has not only failed to produce any signed resignations, which she surely would if there were any, she doesn’t even bother to claim that she has ever received any, as required. 

Incredibly, in two cases, the leadership claims to have appointed new members to vacancies that never existed, because the duly elected members have never resigned. So there are now two people listed by the leadership as being voting members of the Democratic Committee who are not, because there were no vacancies to appoint them to, and four people who are still voting members and are either not listed in the election districts where they were elected or not listed at all. 

  The unlawful changes to the committee roster, including people who are not actual committee members, have systematically had the effect of reducing the voting strength of those who oppose the current leadership and increasing the voting strength of the insider faction led by Ms. Frankl and Chris Kelley. Coincidence? Maybe. 

But here’s where things really go nuts. Some time ago, Ms. Frankl, having postponed the election for her successor in February because of the questions raised, told me in conversation that she had referred the matter to the law committee of the Suffolk County Democratic Committee. That seemed a sensible thing to do. But, as far as I know, the county law committee has not yet responded, and the matter is now also before the courts. And yet, a couple of days ago, Ms. Frankl called a snap election for her successor, although the true voting membership of the committee is very much in doubt.

Well, not really in doubt. Ms. Frankl and Mr. Kelley are both lawyers. Do they actually believe that publicly elected officeholders can be removed from office, and sympathetic successors then appointed to replace them, merely by leaving those officeholders off a list? That would certainly make a mess of American democracy.

It’s bad enough to have made these errors and then refused to correct them. But to try and hold an election while the courts are considering the matter makes it ever harder to believe that the mistakes in the roster are merely innocent error.

Democrats nationally have been appalled by Republican voter suppression, gerrymandering, and other tactics to rig votes and prevent a majority from having its say: You know, that thing that is supposed to happen in a democracy. That local Democratic Party leaders would themselves engage in such tactics is appalling. 

Tammany Hall is gone. Chicago-style party bossism is dead. They are not going to be revived in East Hampton of all places. Whatever the immediate outcome of the manipulation of the membership of the Democratic Committee by party insiders, I confidently predict that they are destined to fail. If they succeed in the short term in subverting democracy by vote rigging, these erstwhile leaders will be thrown out. Rank- and-file Democrats are not going to stand for this.

Have they taken leave of their senses?

Sincerely,

DAVID GRUBER

Skill and Courage

East Hampton

May 14,2018

To the Editor,

We are writing to express our belief that East Hampton is in good hands with David Lys on the town board.  We would be surprised if your readers do not already know David, or know of David, as he is simply the best possible product of the Town of East Hampton. David embodies all the character traits we all would like to see in a town councilperson. His roots in the town are long and deep. His parents raised David and his sibling here. He is a graduate of East Hampton High School, where he played sports with the skill and courage that he would draw upon later in life. 

As an undergraduate at Penn State, he was diagnosed with cancer. After surviving a number of painful and incapacitating surgeries, he was deemed fit to pursue his B.A. in kinesiology, which benefited him and, later, many local residents. We think it was this personal encounter with cancer that formed the sensitive and caring David Lys of today, who is dedicated to his hometown and willing to make tough decisions on behalf of the residents of East Hampton.

In keeping with his efforts to give back to the East Hampton community, he has headed up the restoration of the Amagansett Life-Saving Station. As an appointed member of the town’s zoning board of appeals, he has been a leader in the effort to improve the quality of life in our community.

David and his wife, Rachel, and their four daughters are engaged in many activities to improve and enhance our town. But it is David’s character that distinguishes him to those of us who know him. He is honest, tireless in his efforts to help our town, and courageous in helping others.

It has been a pleasure watching David employ his work ethic and knowledge recently as a councilman. As we have witnessed over the nearly two decades we have known him, he always puts his heart into his work. We are thankful he is watching over our town’s interests in his most recent role.

Sincerely,

JIM and KEVIN ABERNATHY

Judgment

Bridgehampton

May 7, 2018

Dear Editor,

A few years ago, on Thanksgiving weekend, Rudy Giuliani drove his four-wheel drive right into the ocean at the end of Ocean Road in Bridgehampton. He asked us all to please not take pictures. A woman stayed in the car, while another sat on the sand, a few feet away.

Mr. Giuliani would not allow the tow truck to pull him out, afraid it would damage the bumper.

Joy-riding at the edge could be extremely dangerous, if you do not have the good judgment to the elements. We were all happy they returned home safely.

ROCCO LICCARDI

Political Candidates

Rochester

May 9, 2018

To the Editor:

I was recently asked to consider being a third-party candidate for Congress. The seat had been held for a long time by my congresswoman, Louise Slaughter. Very sadly, she passed away suddenly after suffering a fall in her home. It has always been my dream to run for Congress one day. I would especially like to make the case for a Canadian-style national health insurance program to cover all Americans.

However, I declined the offer to be the candidate of this third party. Here’s why:

Louise Slaughter had been good friends for about 40 years with a local officeholder. He had just announced his candidacy to succeed Louise. I believe that Louise would have wanted her good friend to take her seat in Congress. I believe that no one should run against Louise’s good friend in 2018 as a way to honor what Louise would have wanted. So I declined the offer.

I did not write this letter to promote myself. I did it because I want people to share my hope that some day we will have political candidates who will want to do the unselfish thing. Right now, we all know that we have very few who do.

Sincerely,

STEWART B. EPSTEIN

Voted for Trump

East Hampton

May 12, 2018

Editor:

From France the trains are on strike every three or four days. The unions, desperate to save what they worked to get over 60 years, use the only tool they have. An unbelievable drag if you aren’t French. A drag but perhaps important if you are.

Following the United States model of destroying the unions and leaving working-class people without representation, Macron is making the case for transferring wealth from the middle class and transferring it to the already wealthy. But the French are not ignorant of the process, as most Americans are, and are fighting Macron by calling him out and refusing to betray the unions. At least for now. Macron isn’t ideologically right or left, but that doesn’t mean that he isn’t a pig.

From an American perspective, at least they have the unions. All we have is a pathetic Democratic Party that refuses to step up and call out the piggery of the Republicans. We don’t even have a solid union base because so many union members voted for Trump with their heads up their butts. In truth, they voted for the final burial of middle class America and for the separation of the country into rich and poor. The destruction not the construction of our middle class.

We have always bordered the line of narcissistic perversion, but the line has been erased and there is no ambiguity as to who we are, how we behave, and what we believe. However ugly we are when we look in the mirror we still see Rock Hudson and Doris Day and not the racist, narcissistic pig who is calling the shots.

NEIL HAUSIG