East Hampton ForeverSpringsOctober 31, 2016Dear David,In the late ’90s a friend and colleague invited me out to East Hampton for a visit. Now, I was no stranger to Long Island. I summered in Jamesport as a mere slip of a girl when the North Fork was from end to end a farm; then there were 35 years on my beloved Fire Island. On the drive out when I passed the signs that indicated Fire Island was south of me, I began to lose patience with the tedious drive. When I sighted those magnificent trees lining 27 on either side of the Jewish Center, I let out an audible “Wow.” But when I turned the corner and saw the pond with the swans gliding on its tranquil surface, I almost drove into it. I fell in love. Truly one of the most spectacular sights ever!I lost my bearings and drove down the wrong road, which allowed me to turn around and see the pond again. I knew at that moment that East Hampton was where I wanted to be forever. My family wanted me in Water Mill near them, but Water Mill did not have my pond, so East Hampton was where I would settle. Now there is a move to change that landscape for the sake of the Maidstone Golf Club, as there is also push in Southampton to change the layout of the Shinnecock Hills Golf course to suit the golfers (Mr. Bloomberg). So, must the needs of the community give way to the rich? Don’t the rest of us matter at all? Must beauty be sacrificed to indulge the wants of the rich? Sincerely,Phyllis Italiano Only SolutionMontaukOctober 27, 2016Dear David,Much has been said and written about how to protect downtown Montauk and our beaches. If one has a long-term memory, there is a model which clearly dictates our only choice, albeit unpleasant.Ditch Plain Beach may look as it always has, but appearances are deceiving. The area where we used to sit on the sand is now under water. The “poles,” which once were erected to protect the ill-fated Rheinstein “windmill” house, would now be out where the waves are breaking, the beach at some distance behind the poles rather than in front of it. In fact, the land that that house stood upon is gone; we’ve watched the foundation fall. Kondyra’s cottages are now waterfront, while originally set back far behind the now nonexistent dune. In short, Ditch Beach and the high-water mark has moved inland at least 50 yards. Similarly, the beach in town is moving landward, year by year. This cannot be stopped by sandbags or sand replenishment. In a few years, the beach will be where the waterfront hotels now stand. Really, the only choice we have is to just let it happen or to face hard facts and start a managed retreat. It is, of course, an unpopular solution, and not an easy one, but it is the only one.Judith Edwards Budget Hearing?WainscottOctober 31, 2016To the Editor, I would like to respond to the Bridgehampton Fire District claim about its response to a “Skipped Budget Hearing? No way . . .” story in The East Hampton Star on Oct. 27. F.Y.I.: I personally believe that a public meeting is not held when one commissioner is in the truck garage inspecting a new piece of apparatus, a second commissioner does a drive-through on the property and does not enter the building, and the district secretary, who stated that the meeting occurred, is not present but is on vacation in Florida! My advice is to consider your sources of information and whose integrity you consider to dispute and challenge!TIM SIEGERDo Not FitEast HamptonOctober 29, 2016To the Editor: With the new pedestrian island installation at the intersection of Newtown Lane and Main Street, how could the cobra-head street lamps have been installed? These utilitarian lamps do not fit in with the vintage lampposts that currently line the streets of the village. Rather, these are the lights you see on a major road, such as the Long Island Expressway. How did the village let this slip by?Jeffrey LautinNot DonaldAmagansettOctober 29, 2016Dear David:This may be only one of several letters on the subject, but to set the record straight, the gentleman killed while crossing Main Street in Amagansett all those years ago was Robert G. Reutershan, not Donald.Susan CrandallReutershan LotEast HamptonOctober 27, 2016Dear David, While the recent letter to the editor titled “Crossing Main Street” touches upon the important problem of jaywalking, it incorrectly states the Reutershan parking lot was named after Donald Reutershan. The primary village parking lot was named in honor of my father, Robert G. Reutershan. He was struck and killed by a car in 1964 as he crossed Main Street, Amagansett. At the time, he was a village trustee who handled much of the assemblage, condemnation, and creation of what became that parking lot, hence the dedication to him.Sincerely, CYNTHIA MARSHALLTricky DealSpringsOctober 30, 2016Dear David:I would like to take this opportunity to call your attention, and the attention of all Springs School taxpayers, to what occurred at the last meeting of the Springs School Board. We taxpayers were presented with a shocker concerning Superintendent John Finello. Back in July, it was publicly announced that Mr. Finello would be stepping down from his position as the superintendent by year’s end. Basically, the superintendent was giving the board his six-month notice of departure, as pursuant to his contract obligation.However, apparently Mr. Finello never bothered to put his intentions into writing (as required by his contract) and he has since had a change of heart. Now he tells all that he intends to be sticking around “for a while,” but it’s unclear exactly how long that would be. Apparently Mr. Finello also seems stifled by having to fulfill the generous aspects of his sweetheart contract that pays him $215,000 for a contractually obligated work year of only 96 days (which works out to about $2,240 an actual workday). He would like out — but still, somehow, manages to stay in and call some shots — like who gets to design the new school. Should I stay, or should I go? What to do? I know! I’ll ask a gullible and easily manipulated school board to vacate the current contract and give me a new one!And, unbelievably, that’s exactly what is scheduled to happen! Yes, the school board chair stated publicly last Monday that they are, by mutual agreement, indeed entertaining tearing up Mr. Finello’s current contract (that is obviously so binding and hindering). Instead of requiring the superintendent to fulfill his contract, they would basically permit Mr. Finello to work a bit more freely — on a per-diem basis! I can’t wait to see how much that is going to cost us taxpayers. This also means that all the contractual requirements of actual attendance, sick-leave rules, personal days taken, used vacation time, etc., will go out the window. This new arrangement would thus allow the superintendent to become some sort of a hired gun and troubleshooter with no real diurnal accountability — except coming in on those days he may feel like working.You might expect this kind of a tricky deal would be given to a stellar performing athlete or even a big movie star, but it could happen right here in our own backyard. What is the point of even having a contract if neither side is held to it? If the job of being superintendent of the Springs School is so easy to perform that it can basically be done on a part-time basis and at the picking and choosing of the actual employee, then why do we even have a superintendent at all? The newly elected school board members need to wake up and get more involved. Regards,Don CirilloKicked or Cat-CalledSpringsOctober 31, 2016Dear Editor,The Neo-Political Cowgirls want to publicly acknowledge and thank the ferociously generous and talented people who helped us resurrect our theatrical haunt for our community while raising money for our creative education and professional programming, as well as for the brilliantly important work of the Amagansett Food Institute. Thanks to the A.F.I. folks: Kim Donohue, Marissa Silverberg, and Kathy Masters, and its board of directors. A big thank-you also to Michael Cinque for allowing his sweet wine tasting room to be open for spirits and to Tyler Armstrong for embracing the fun of the season and generously working the tasting room in full costume. Without the following N.P.C. company members, board members, and community volunteers this highly challenging event, “Hysteria,” would be nothing at all: Corey Jane Cardoso, the powerhouse of commitment and muscle behind so much of what we do; Talia Sawyer; Nancy Cardoso; Diane Goncalves and Joan Anderson, the divine Halloween goddesses of Cooper Street fame; Dom Cardoso and his great team of men, Tucker Costello, Sebastian Paczynski, Joe Brondo (sound man of steel), Riley Duchemin, August Gladstone, Josh Gladstone; the East Hampton Key Club, Susan Stout and Sarah Azzara for all the assists and scripting help; Greg Donohue, and all of our incredible and tough performers — from our local kids and talented actors to our stellar ringers from New York City — you are a brave bounty of beauties! We are breathless with thanks and gratitude for every inch and mile of help given. It truly is what makes community — the coming together for a cause and some good fun. Thank you. We would also like to take a moment to speak about something we at N.P.C. care very much about and feel that theater is one of several tools by which we can observe our society to better understand what’s happening in our world. The topic of “Hysteria” was not chosen randomly for this performance. And while it may not have fundamentally made a difference in what we witnessed, the nature of the topic only goes to prove our current concerns about women’s safety in our society.While most of our audience that passed through this haunted walk were wonderful and respectful and involved in all the expected ways, we unfortunately had several groups of teenage boys — and a couple of groups with children and grown men — behaving and commenting in very disturbing ways. Comments such as “Dare me to touch her?” by boys and men when watching our dancers, and kids kicking our young girls in the midst of their scene, and crude comments called out to our female performers tells us we have some work to do. We are not new to this genre of Halloween performance; we give all proper precautions and warnings pre-entrance, and we are not naive about the behaviors that pop out in these types of events. We’ve seen this before. But it is time that we look at why it is when fear (self-created fear at that; we all know these are not real situations) bubbles up that women and girls become the major targets of the vile abuse that comes from our boys and men. Why are these lack of boundaries found to be acceptable? Why do we devolve into violence and verbal abuse when we experience fear in our minds and bodies within the circle of what should be good natured fun? Fear is the mind-killer. And if it’s not fear, then what? These people are just arrogant show-offs wreaking pain on our performers? Either way it is not acceptable. It is not welcome. And just because one is in a mock-terror situation (that is meant to be fun) it does not allow for this type of abuse. I have a husband and a son; I know that most men and boys are not like this. But those of you who are need to take heed, look at what it is you’re doing and saying and know that it is utterly beyond the pale. Performers are living, breathing humans that are due full safety at all times and do not deserve to feel threatened or fearful of you, the audience. Parents: When we see this in kids we are reminded that this begins with you and it is about treatment of anyone and everyone. For us here at N.P.C., we deeply appreciate and thank our supporters and fans, 99.9 percent of whom are wonderfully respectful and beautifully engaged in our work. For those others who find it difficult to respect girls, women, and any humanity who are here to offer you an experience that should be fun for all, I invite you to one of our company’s Young Cowgirls workshop performances so you might begin to understand and hear straight from the source all of the ideas, energy, and power our girls feed into our communities. They are valuable. They do not deserve to be kicked or cat-called, with their “worthiness” placed at your feet. When behaviors like this arise it is a perfect time to dig in deeply, look at them, and ask, “Why?” Then we must assist in making the needed change. For us, it begins with dragging it out of the darkness and into the light. We don’t want to be abused this way anymore. Scream away, laugh, shriek, yell out that you’re scared. We want you to have fun! But don’t make our looks or our bodies the punching bags of your fear. Thank you East Hampton, Amagansett, and all of our respectful audience members. Thank you to all those engaged in the coming together in a creative force for good, and let’s help others to step up to the plate on all gender respect issues. This being said, we very much look forward to next year’s Neo-Political Cowgirls’ Halloween event.Warmly, KATE MUETH About the ‘Thing’AmagansettOctober 31, 2016Dear Mr. Rattray,I’ve been hiding in our crawl space for eight days. It’s dark and damp in there, pretty uncomfortable. I’m grateful to Mary for bringing me sandwiches, raisins, and orange juice, and for removing my adult sanitary garment (which I carefully wrap in a plastic bag, thank you).My hope is that when this is over we can return to some level of normalcy —just have breakfast together again, dinner at Rowdy Hall, not see a Michael Moore movie. That kind of thing.I did emerge from the claustrophobic darkness late Sunday afternoon. I’d heard it was a beautiful day, but it started raining almost as soon as I opened the door. Promised myself I wouldn’t watch the news or look at the headlines. Basically just want to be distracted by simple things for another week. At the I.G.A. I lingered in the aisle, reading the ingredients on a bottle of catsup. That’s what old people do, isn’t it, Mr. Rattray?Then a giant bag of toilet paper caught my eye: “18 Roll = 36!” it said in big letters on the package. How can 18 rolls equal 36 rolls? And why am I thinking about this? I just came in for a quart of milk. $1.99.It was good to watch the game. I think it helped. Two teams from the Midwest. Throwing balls. Hitting balls. Catching balls. A very large man came out onto the field and sang the National Anthem. I was moved to see every single player and fan, hats off, hands on their hearts, singing along. I can’t explain that moment, but it had a sacred quality. And then the game. Just a game. Sweet.Monday morning, I got up early and dug six post holes. Now I have to get some posts. Killing time, working the shoulders. I don’t know what the posts will be for. Later I went to the dentist in Southampton for a check-up. He said, “Do you bite your lip?” And I said, “Yes, I do.” “Well you should stop doing that if you can.” I replied, “Yes, I will stop. As soon as this is over.” He nodded, and the dental hygienist gave me a plastic bag with a toothbrush, dental floss, and toothpaste in it. Always a good feeling. None of us talked about the “thing,” for which I am grateful. Don’t want to run into people and get in another conversation about “it.” Everybody knows I’m a social and economic liberal — I came out 50 years ago. So do what you need to do. Pull your own levers, and I’ll pull mine.For now, I need to take a long hot shower and buy Mary a present, something special that might remind her of the time before this “thing.”Let’s smile when we see each other at the fire station in Amagansett on Tuesday. It’ll all be fine. Right?G.B.A.,LYLE GREENFIELDMisbegotten ElectionEast Hampton October 30, 2016To the Editor:In this misbegotten election we have only two choices for the next occupant of the Oval Office: Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump. Clinton would be a problem and Trump would be a disaster. Much better to have a problem than a disaster. Therefore, I hope all will vote for Clinton, personal feelings notwithstanding.Sidney L. DelsonDo-Nothing CongressEast HamptonOctober 31, 2016Dear David,A do-nothing Congress dominated by Southern conservatives and governed by the Hastert rule. What’s the Hastert rule? The Hastert rule is named after President George W. Bush’s majority leader of the U.S. House of Representatives, Dennis Hastert. It states that no bill shall be brought to the floor for a vote by the members of Congress unless a majority of the Republican Conservative Caucus, a minority of the House, votes yes. Congressional votes are held hostage by a minority of the house. Our out-of-touch members of Congress vote in lockstep with the Conservative Caucus in support of Southern Republicans who really don’t care for New York. Federal money goes south and New York subsidizes those conservative states, where while decrying socialism they take more money then they give.We are foolish, perhaps stupid, to support this do-nothing Southern Congress and the Hastert rule, and a congressman supporting those positions.On a practical, pragmatic basis, we need to elect Anna Throne-Holst. Intelligent, tough- minded, concerned for her constituents, she shall be a member of Congress helpful for a long time. Who is Dennis Hastert? He’s a felon jailed for money laundering, a known pederast, now infamous for making his fortune off federal spending in his former district. Now there’s a man Donald Trump could follow, but why does our congressman? Vote Anna Throne-Holst Tuesday.Very truly yours, WILLIAM FLEMINGTea Party TypesSoutholdOctober 31, 2016Dear David,It’s vitally important not only to obliterate Donald Trump at the polls, but also to give Hillary Clinton a Democratic House and Senate. Otherwise our nation has to brace for more years of the Washington deadlock that drove us all crazy. In that regard, Anna Throne-Holst, no stranger to readers of this paper, is precisely the experienced leader we need to represent us in Congress. As town supervisor, Anna showed again and again that she is both pragmatic and principled. Anna knows when to fight, but she also knows when to work across the aisles to get important things done.By contrast, elect our Representative Lee Zeldin, and you can bet the dreary deadlock continues. Mr. Zeldin has a decent record as your local congressman, but inexplicably he aligned himself with the Republicans’ far-right fringe, which repeatedly held Speaker Boehner hostage to its obstructionist tactics. The Tea Party types are not interested in governing but only in proclaiming their barren ideology.What’s worse, Lee Zeldin should pay a price for being one of Donald Trump’s earliest and loudest cheerleaders. He doesn’t like to talk about it now, but he and Jeff Sessions of Alabama were touting Mr. Trump last winter when a united stand by Republicans might have stopped him. And Mr. Zeldin’s support continued. The New York Times called him Mr. Trump’s leading surrogate in the House. I call him a first-class enabler.Mr. Zeldin has taken some bizarre stands for a veteran and active Army reservist. Presumably he believes Mr. Trump would make a great commander in chief. If so, he is the only one. Mr. Trump mocked John McCain, disrespected a Gold Star family, thinks he personally knows more than all our generals, and continually sucks up to Vladimir Putin, whose hands are bloody from pulling the strings in Syria and Ukraine. Would anyone besides Mr. Zeldin want Mr. Trump’s finger anywhere near the nuclear button?Anna Throne-Holst is by far the better choice to represent the East End in Congress. Unseating an incumbent is never easy. The race is tight; every vote counts. Yours could put Anna over the top.Fred Andrews‘Facts’ DisprovenWainscottOctober 31, 2016Dear Editor,Sense of decency, propriety, and basic manners could all be called subjective. Some, like me, could be appalled by Anna Throne-Holst’s questioning Congressman Lee Zeldin’s “moral compass” as a father and husband because of his support of Donald Trump. For her to go down that road, an argument could be made, is disingenuous at best and rude and clueless at worst. But the use of such a personal attack within a political context will most always be either forgiven or rejected based on one’s political party allegiance. Subjectivity, it might be said, often disabuses itself of decorum and taste.Veracity, however, is a whole other ballgame. There’s the truth. And then there’s, well, then there’s the “L” word. And in my opinion, Throne-Holst has availed herself of more than her fair share of L words. She’s been making claims that, were she Pinocchio, would require help from the Army Corps of Engineers to extend her proboscis from Montauk to Hampton Bays.Let’s get down to brass tacks as real and shiny as the buttons on Congressman Zeldin’s former paratrooper uniform. (Yes, Zeldin served our country as part of the Army’s elite 82nd Airborne, was deployed to Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom, and serves even today as a major in the Army Reserves. Do we really want to question his “moral compass”?) Throne-Holst has gone on and on (not only at the recent debate, which I personally attended, but at two previous debates, I am told) about how Congressman Zeldin wants terrorists to have guns, and has voted 20-plus times to stop gun control. What’s astounding is that the 25 bills that she lists really do have absolutely nothing to do with gun control. I’ve looked them up myself to see exactly what these bills do and it’s a fact (again, veracity as a virtue) that none of these have anything to do with firearms.The truth? Here are the examples: Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act, Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act, and National Strategic and Critical Minerals Production Act. What do these have in common? Again, more truth: Not a single one has anything to do with gun control.It speaks volumes about someone’s “moral compass” and character when someone continues to try to make a lie work, despite the fact that “the facts” have been disproven at every turn. The worst part about all of this is that, short of time-consuming research and digging around to find the veracity within the vitriole, there must be people who still believe the lies. How else to explain their continued dissemination?Throne-Holst has recently added new nonsense to her repertoire with some bunk about how Zeldin voted to defund the Environmental Protection Agency. Anyone who has actually paid attention to Zeldin’s work would know that he has been extremely supportive of environmental protections and conservation. But for some reason Throne-Holst thought it wise to attack his record on these matters. In the most recent debate, Zeldin even yielded some of his time so Throne-Holst could fully explain her latest fabrication to the crowd. (You know, give ’em enough rope to hang themselves . . .) Unfortunately for her, the congressman knew exactly the bill she was referring to and knew that it had never made it out of committee. Follow me here. See, if it never made it out of committee, Congressman Zeldin never even had a chance to vote on it, let alone vote it down. In short, Throne-Holst accused Zeldin of supporting a bill that would cut E.P.A. funding, when in reality it never came before him.In a normal political climate, fallacies like these would prove an embarrassment to a candidate. These are very different times, however, and in a world where incriminating WikiLeaks abound, emails are bleached, cellphones are hammered into nonexistence, and mainstream media is complicit in skewing what was formerly known as “the truth,” it’s no surprise that hubris supplants humility. What once would have been humiliating now often goes unquestioned in the name of party allegiance.The E.P.A. is all about cleaning up our environment. As we have seen, Zeldin supports it. I suggest that Throne-Holst clean up her act and focus on veracity versus unfacts and vitriol.Yours,GRETA BLACKBURNA LiarEast HamptonOctober 31, 2016To the Editor, Anna Throne-Holst has recently added a new lie to her repertoire with some nonsense about how Zeldin voted to defund the Environmental Protection Agency. Anyone who has actually paid attention to Zeldin’s work would know that he has been extremely supportive of environmental protection and conservation, but for some reason Throne-Holst thought it wise to attack his record. Zeldin even yielded some of his time so she could fully explain her lie to the crowd. Unfortunately for her the congressman knew exactly the bill she was referring to and knew that it had never made it out of committee, and he never had a chance to even vote on it. In short, Throne-Holst accused Zeldin of supporting a bill that would cut E.P.A. funding, when in reality it never came before him. I know Throne-Holst is a liar, but she could at least research these fallacies before trying to use them if only to save herself the embarrassment.Long Island needs a congressman like Mr. Zeldin.Thank you,MAX WEINTRAUBPalm TreesSouthold October 28, 2016Dear Editor, I’ve seen many artists’ works. Some were very good, lots were pretty bad, but one who painted the colorful autumn leaves was the greatest artist we ever had. Take a drive through the highest mountains this time of the year and the exciting colors and awesome foliage will bring you to gasp, and your eyes a tear. The view just catches your breath, in such a spectacular surprise. What else this time of my life can make my eyebrows rise? The Southern palm trees!In a cluster dotting along the bays or in a circle can equal the Northern autumn days. ANITA FAGAN
Published 4 years ago
Last updated 4 years ago
Letters to the Editor: 11.03.16
November 3, 2016