Letters to the Editor: 11.10.16

We Are in Good Hands

October 31, 2016

East Hampton

Dear David,

A few years ago, Jessica and I moved into her parents’ home on Dunemere Lane. It’s been in the Mansell family since 1969, she grew up here watching orange fall sunsets and walking to the beach on hot summer weekend mornings. Of course the stories are abundant and tell of how our generation benefits, following the good fortune and cautious planning executed by my daughters’ “Poppie.”

Frank and Mona Mansell bought this house because it had cable TV. Their first home on the other side of East Hampton was bigger and had a turn-of-the-century feel, but in 1969 it didn’t have cable TV. Frank and Mona’s boys were all getting older and not coming around as much so the smaller, more up-to-date home on Dunemere Lane made good sense. It also meant Frank could watch his Mets, Giants, and horse races without interference. 

One day in the mid-’70s, on a spring weekend, while Frank was on the golf course, Mona came home from the A&P. She got out of the car with her first bag of groceries and found that the door was locked. In trying to get the door open she managed to set the alarm off, and in a short time a young man from the East Hampton Police Department arrived to check on the house. Being a kind, well-mannered gentleman, once the situation was under control he offered to help her take the rest of her bags into the kitchen. She loved telling the story and was forever grateful.

This evening, I arrived home to find a quiet house. Jessica was out with friends and I was left to cook dinner for myself, a welcome change of pace. Upon looking in the fridge I found that my bride had planned ahead, buying me a nice New York strip from the fine butcher shop at the Red Horse Market. After settling in and starting a fire in the kitchen fireplace, I set my cast-iron grill pan on the burner over high heat. Once ready I placed the steak in the middle of the pan and gave it a few minutes on side one, then my phone rang and I stepped out of the room. I’d forgotten to turn the hood fan on. Returning, I found the steak smoking and developing that charred crust that I was hoping for. Unfortunately I was too late turning the hood on, and the alarm went off a minute later.

As I mentioned, we’ve been in the house for a few years, so the code on the alarm is not top of mind. I made an effort with several different combinations of numbers to no avail. By the time I had opened all of the doors and taken the smoking pan into the backyard, the East Hampton fire team started to arrive. Within three minutes three young studs had entered my kitchen, along with one of my old-time customers from Estia in Amagansett, their leader, Kenny Wessberg. 

I’m writing today to express my thanks for their quick response and to say I’m sorry for neglecting my responsibility as a homeowner; I should know the code. But most important, to let your readers know that we are in good hands here in the Village of East Hampton. The fire team that showed up in my time of need showed up on time, alert, and ready to act if needed. They were respectful, kind, and clearly capable.

As they moved through the first floor checking the details that they’ve been trained to check on, I felt the presence of my mother-in-law, Mona. I swear she was standing there telling me, “You see, dear, the house is safe, in a good place, and your neighbors care.” She loved it here on Dunemere Lane and so do we. Whatever happens moving forward, I just need to take a moment and recognize how Jessica and I feel honored to have neighbors like Kenny and his team, to have an opportunity to buy quality steaks from the Red Horse Market, and, most of all, how much we appreciate all that the East End has done for the Ambrose family. 

COLIN AMBROSE

Janis Put It Perfectly

Montauk

November 1, 2016

Dear Editor,

I heard about the accident from two friends at White’s. It had been confirmed it was Janis. After the initial shock of learning of such a sudden death, my thoughts almost immediately went to a “Relay” piece that she had written nearly nine years ago.

Atenea (Ah-tee-nay-a) had arrived at our gate in Rincon at Thanksgiving time, 2006, when my wife, Kathy, and a friend were spending a few restful days. Mange-covered, flea-infested, swollen teats from pregnancy, and a pronounced limp from recently being hit by a passing car, she sat so quietly. Janis put it perfectly in that Jan. 25, 2007, column when speaking of her experience with a Puerto Rican sato: “She politely stood . . . peeking . . . with eyes so sweet and soulful.” 

“Don’t let her in the yard,” I said on the phone from Montauk. “She’ll think she has a new home.” Kathy returned to Montauk to resume teaching, and a few weeks later I was off to Rincon.

As I opened the gate of our house upon arriving, there she came, out of the woods, milk-filled teats dragging as a dog that had recently given birth. So polite, humbly peeking up, never attempting to cross into the yard. Eyes so “sweet and soulful.” Needless to say, Atenea moved in shortly thereafter. Some nine years later, she sleeps nearby, in a sun-filled spot on the living room carpet. 

After I read that “Relay” column in January 2007, I called Janis right away to let her know that Atenea had made the cut. Janis’s ability to put into words those everyday occurrences (especially when it came to the subject of dogs) was extraordinary. I am one of many readers who will deeply miss her.

Affectionately,

JOHN McGEEHAN

Changing Our Habits

East Hampton

November 7, 2016

Dear David,

I’m an active proponent of environmental protection, and live by the mantra of “think global, act local.” Inspired by a recent news article proclaiming France’s  accomplishment in banning single-use plastic cutlery and plates, I thought we would do well to enact the same here in East Hampton. 

Following the successful campaign to ban plastic bags in the village and, recently, in the town, I think the logical next step would be to introduce legislation banning disposable, noncompostable, single-use plastic cutlery and plates as well as E.P.S., or foam, containers. This is what France has done, and the law will go into effect in 2020. 

Most disposable plastic cutlery, plates, and foam containers are extremely long lasting and detrimental to the environment in many ways. Some of these items can outlast their intended usefulness (an average of 7 to 10 minutes’ use) by 100 years or more. The resins used in these products are difficult and costly to recycle and most of it never even makes it to a facility. 

Disposed of improperly, plastic cutlery and foam containers leach harmful chemicals and pose a threat to wildlife that mistake them for food. Single-use products, especially coming from large summer parties and events, also make up a very large part of the waste that the town has to manage and pay to transport to the proper facility. 

Replacements for plastic and Styrofoam disposables are thankfully numerous. We now have fully biodegradable alternatives, such as bamboo and corn starch-based utensils, paper cups, and plates (though not much further behind plastics in terms of environmental cost), and we even have traditional, regular old (reusable!) metal silverware and glass. And I’d like to offer one more option as a plea to the culture: Bring your own! 

Perhaps we can sacrifice a momentary convenience by changing our habits, and perhaps businesses can pass on their savings on disposables to the consumer by offering a discount. Imagine how much a business could save on never having to order this stuff anymore. For those that offer the newer alternatives: Yes they cost more, but they will be sending a message that they recognize this problem and are addressing it, and maybe the consumer will catch on and can pay just a little more for their “convenience,” just as we’ve done with the fee for plastic or paper bags.

Change is possible and it’s happening, regionally and globally. Forward-thinking nations, like France (way ahead of us in recognizing the ills of disposable culture; even the gas station rest stops offer metal silverware and real food) and our island neighbor Nantucket, have instituted regulations on these harmful products. 

Ultimately, the decision to ban plastic cutlery, plates. and foam containers is about disrupting the waste stream and recognizing that convenience culture has to end for true sustainability to take root. 

I have started a petition at change.org under this banner and already it is more than 600 signatures strong. I urge you to sign if you feel the same. Let East Hampton be a leader on this front!

SCOTT BLUEDORN

Concerning Croissants

East Hampton

November 1, 2016

Dear Editor,

I have decided to take a break from my usual heavy subjects and bring readers something that is actually pleasant and even amusing. In this increasingly perfection-seeking world, for those of us who are less than perfect (and I have never claimed to be otherwise), it can be a great happiness to find that we are not alone, especially if that imperfection is one that is shared and can bring a smile to everyone. As someone who has fought a lifelong battle with both dysgraphia (a.k.a. graphomotor disorder) and very mild dyslexia, I know how nasty people, particularly teachers, can be about penmanship and spelling. I had a very tough English teacher for four years who constantly gave me D minuses because he was not allowed to fail me based on penmanship alone. This was in an era before computers and even before dysgraphia was a recognized learning disability. 

With this in mind, I want to be totally clear that I am not mocking anyone or putting them down in any way. Rather, I want to share something which I find absolutely hilarious both as a person with terminally poor penmanship and as a cook. I hope we can all have a good laugh about this!

One morning as I was waiting for breakfast at the Golden Pear, I happened to look up at the handwritten menu board, vaguely wondering if I was going to have lunch from there as well. I had to take a second look because what a quick glance had shown me was Countey Chickon Soup, Hampletons Sefoud Chunder and Spinad and Moshroon Quiche. A second look showed that all the proper letters were there, just penned in such a rush that they had got garbled. I vaguely wondered if it was actually worth coming back at lunch just to try the Spinad and Moshroon Quiche. I also wondered who Hampleton was, what Chunder might be (other than a stew or soup), and mostly what Sefoud might look like. 

This reminded me that this was not the first time that oddly penned signs had turned up in the Golden Pear. If you look at the machine-printed menu boards, the ingredient lists in many of the sandwiches include All Natural. You might ask “all natural” what? The answer is nothing. The listing of ingredients begins: All Natural, Roast Turkey Breast, etc. Of course, the mistake is that there should be no comma in between “All Natural” and “Roast Turkey Breast.” The comma makes the All Natural a noun instead of an adjective, and therefore an ingredient instead of a descriptor of an ingredient. 

So again, my mind wondered just what “all natural” might look and taste like. I decided it would be a spice or condiment, kind of like an organic version of Mrs. Dash or the American equivalent of Vegimite (hopefully less salty). 

And then there was the carefully and beautifully lettered handwritten sign advertising frappes. I know what a frappé is but without the accent, it’s pronounced the way my grade-school friend and I used to guess Bugs Bunny would pronounce it — “frape.” I once pointed this sign out to a friend I had chanced to run into at the coffee station and her comment was, “Well, it’s not as if it’s French or anything.” 

I have also heard that comment from people wildly mispronouncing “croissant.” I don’t mind people calling them crescent rolls or butter crescents. It’s when they constantly mispronounce the French, which is not difficult, that I begin to wince. This goes back to around 1982 or so when McDonald’s introduced the “Cressandwich.” They ran a radio commercial on my favorite station in which about 10 people completely mispronounced “croissant” as “croosant” and “crowsant.” It was funny about four times, it was old after eight, and by the 20th time, it was getting on my nerves. 

It also bothered my French teacher at the time. He had gone to school with Peyo, the creator of the Smurfs, and would draw beautiful Smurfs comics on the board every morning. On one particular morning, the strip featured Verité (Brainy Smurf to English-speaking audiences), listening to the commercial and breaking down into a tantrum and then tears at the mangling of such a simple pronunciation. 

In fact, most people call them crescents, and that’s just fine by me. The French may have invented them, but they don’t have a monopoly on the name. After all, Belgians invented what we call either French fries or freedom fries, but we don’t call them “frites” (unless they are served in a French or Belgian restaurant) or “chips” (unless they are served as part of fish and chips, the English staple). 

The funniest encounter I ever had concerning croissants was when I walked into a bakery in French-speaking New Caledonia, asked for a croissant, and was greeted with a strange look. It turned out that in New Caledonia they were called “lunettes,” or “little moons.”

So, I wanted to stress that I offer this letter only as a source of levity in a time when we could all use it. 

MATT HARNICK

P.S. For those readers who might have reason to be on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, Zabar’s now makes not only butter croissants but whole wheat and multigrain croissants as well! (Now I’m hungry!)

The Awful Truth

Springs

November 7, 2016

Dear Editor,

I was very pleased to read Henry Marks’s letter titled “Broke the Law.” By a stroke of strange luck, Mr. Marks and I have learned that we have been duped by the very same person, greatly aligning our interests in this serious matter.

I hired this same contractor (who was recommended by a friend) for a two-bathroom renovation. The contractor claimed he was an “expert” plumber, electrician, tile-layer, and fence-builder. He boasted that he had “so much experience” and was going to do “such a beautiful job” for me and I was in “the best hands” with someone who had “enough experience to be a home inspector.” I liked the idea of giving a fellow Springs resident the work. He claimed he would beat any other estimates I received if I “packaged” the services I described above. He gave me the estimate in writing with a one-year warranty on all of the labor.

What followed (work which dragged on months after the promised deadline of April) was nothing short of living a nightmare: constant floods, leaks, clogged and nonworking toilets, improperly installed or nonworking fixtures, valves, and vents; a leaking shower pan; poor and unfinished tile work, and a 100-plus-foot fence left without the posts properly cemented.

Out of 12 summer weekends, I had perhaps just four without some kind of emergency. When confronted, he blamed all of my plumbing woes on my cesspool lines or bad and faulty parts. I spent thousands to replace the cesspool lines at his recommendation, but upgrading the lines never fixed any of the plumbing problems. When I had another (final) flood on Labor Day weekend, I knew I had to get someone else in A.S.A.P., despite his pleas for me not to. He promised (as always) that he would fix everything. When I said I no longer believed he could actually fix anything, that’s when I could see on his face that he knew the awful truth was about to come to light.

This person is not a plumber. He is not an electrician. He is not anything he said he was. He is a fraud. Since Labor Day, I have spent thousands upon thousands of dollars on repairs and redos to address all of the damage he did. Pretty much all of my plumbing had to be ripped out, the electrical mostly re-wired, and shower tiles are being ripped up as we speak. According to the professional licensed contractors who have since handled all of my repairs, they are saying literally 75 to 80 percent of my renovation had to be redone. I sent him all of the paperwork. He still has not paid me back and has stopped responding.

I learned a hard but great lesson here: Never hire anyone, no matter how nice or honest they may seem, without at least two references of similar work, a license, and insurance. As Henry said, it is illegal for any contractor to accept the work without a license, and a charlatan like this one must be reported (as both Henry and I have already done). I have only just begun to take the action necessary, not only to recover my own losses, but more important to protect my community from this ever happening again.

SHARON L. AINSBERG

Close the Airport

Sag Harbor

November 7, 2016

Dear Editor: 

Three decades of community concern about noise from East Hampton Airport, expressed verbally and in writing to local, county, state, and federal officials and supported by thousands of noise complaints, have done nothing to reduce noisy, polluting operations at the airport. Now the courts have ruled in favor of unfettered access to East Hampton Airport by any aircraft able to land on its runways, ensuring that our next summer season will have residents the length and breadth of Long Island reeling from aircraft noise and increased traffic, day and night.

This past season, like the season before and the decade before that, significant increases in air traffic were recorded at KHTO. An increase in traffic means an increase in noise and fuel emission pollution and a corresponding decrease in our quality of life. However, community concerns continue to be derided by the local pilots association and the out-of-state aviation interests as they advocate for the town to accept Federal Aviation Administration subsidies to cover airport expansion and the rising costs of maintenance that they themselves do not wish to pay for. (Many residents will recall the levy for airport maintenance applied to tax bills of all East Hampton property owners who, until a couple of years ago, were obliged to help fund the high costs of keeping the airport open year round for the enjoyment of aviation enthusiasts.) These people have the gall to call themselves “Friends” of East Hampton Airport, as they file lawsuit after lawsuit against the town and continue to bombard thousands of residents from East Hampton to New York City with aircraft noise and toxic fuel emissions. 

With last Friday’s decision by the Second Circuit Court ruling out local control of the East Hampton Town-owned airport, it is time for the majority of East Hampton residents to benefit from land that so far has benefited only those few with aviation interests. Millions of dollars could be flowing annually into the town’s general resources to lower residents’ property tax obligations and fund, among other things, desperately needed road and infrastructure repairs. Instead, all airport income goes to a dedicated airport fund, benefiting only users of the airport and a handful of businesses located there. 

This large tract of land sits above our sole-source aquifer, is part of the Long Island Pine Barrens, and could be protected yet transformed in an environmentally and socially sensible way to benefit all residents, not only those who have no shame in shouting that their “right to fly” should override the quality of life, health, and well-being of thousands of Long Island families. Shame on them.

It is time to close the noisiest, most polluting operation on the East End: KHTO, East Hampton Airport, and transform the area so all East Hampton residents can enjoy as well as benefit from the land.

PATRICIA CURRIE

Time to Hit Back

Wainscott

November 6, 2016

Dear David,

The brain-dead decision to block airport noise is astonishing. Our town board gave us some relief from being bombarded with sleep deprivation by late night noise, caused by the so-called elite.

First they tried to buy the last election so they could run amok, disregarding our right to some normalcy of enjoying our homes. Then they started litigation against the town, costing us enormous legal fees. That will continue, to justify our rights as citizens of this town who own the facility.

For the last two years, our elected officials took a stand putting “us” ahead of the special-interest groups in order to give us a peaceful night’s sleep without being blown out of our beds by late-hour arrivals. Remember Bruce and your 2:45 a.m. arrival, when your helicopter flew in at treetop level, or the jets roaring in and out as early as 5 a.m.?

Now the clear-cutting of almost one million square feet of woodland over a federally designated sole-source aquifer and recharge area because a few want to come in as heavy fog obscures? Do we have any rights? Political hack judges decide that we are not important? Health concerns caused by interrupted sleep patterns are well documented, disrupting the circadian rhythm.

It is time to hit back and hit hard. Maybe it should start with a health department investigation into the lack of permits? I have never advocated closing, but enough is enough. To overturn what the town board has instituted to give us some normalcy in the late hours, is clear. Money talks, or who has houses here? Wake up, little Susie, it is coming!

ARTHUR J. FRENCH

Better Change Her Ways

East Hampton

November 7, 2016

To the Editor:

When I was a boy back in the 1930s, a frequent insult of a greedy neighbor was that he or she would “rather be rich than president.” Hillary Clinton has long wanted both, and has knowingly or just stupidly pursued both.

I write this on Monday, the day before the election. If Donald Trump is elected president it will mainly be because Hillary Clinton has long and brazenly sought riches with her power. The Democratic Party has signed off on this. They have been so sure of her popularity they paid no attention to the very clear signs — notably the indifference of Trump supporters to his insult of John McCain — that Trump had their firm support. How could she say, and say it so casually, that she accepted $225,000 per speech from Goldman Sachs “because it’s what they offered me”? How could her Democratic cronies like Senator Barbara Boxer defend her acceptance of such flagrant favor-selling to a Wall Street firm because there’s no proof she has or would give them favors?

What about the smell test?

Are voters supposed to become investigative reporters digging through records and cornering in-the-know executives in swanky hotel bars who might spill the beans?

But this is, and for 20-plus years has been, the Democratic Party of Hillary Clinton.

If we have awakened Wednesday morning to the news that we have elected a president who proposes giving nukes to South Korea and Japan, we should ask ourselves how we will feelwhen China decides to give nukes to Mexico and Salvador.

If Hillary has won, she’d better clearly change her ways, or Trump or his like will be back and win in 2020.

Sincerely,

RICHARD ROSENTHAL

What Was in the Pond

East Hampton

October 31, 2016

Dear David,

Almost certainly The Star will endorse Hillary Clinton for president, rationalizing her behavior, most typified by her decision to use a private server(s), unsecured, for government business, then defying a summons by destroying 33,000 emails and so on as not disqualifying her morally, if not legally. On Friday a laptop that was in the hands of Huma Abedin, her most trusted adviser, and her husband, Anthony Weiner, came to light with government information contained in its memory. This laptop contains over 250,000 emails that have addresses and tags that link it to official government business. Inexcusable that this was permitted to occur. 

This shows bad judgment that fails to protect American security and that passes any rational understanding. Such a person should not advance to our presidency. Any injury to H.R.C.’s political aspirations are and were entirely self-inflicted. So please do me a favor and withhold The Star’s endorsement for the office of the presidency.

From your writing, I find that you and I share a love of Hook Pond. Both of us have walked and paddled from the Fithian Lane drain to the drain at the ocean, even to the cove to the Ocean Avenue parking lot. Besides boating and hiking, I have done it by ice-skating, in a couple of rather cold winters in the late 1950s. We agree that the pond is suffering from silting-in, and that needs to be remedied. Town Pond is suffering even more. Both need to have the bottoms reshaped and restored to where they were a century ago, more in Hook Pond. 

Town Pond was a disease-filled swamp when the settlers arrived, and was dug out then to create a pond and as a way to eliminate disease. In the 1950s there had been runoff silt to the point that there were about 18 inches of depth in the middle of the pond and about a foot of muck below that. I know, I waded across with a friend in 1959. Now the pond is about six inches deep. It could be reshaped in a week, to three or four feet deep in the center and tapering to the sides. In 1959 the pond had carp, turtles, northern catfish, muskrats, mallards, and mute swans as either full-time or part-time residents there. One day I watched an osprey take a carp for lunch from the pond. That is the state that the pond should be returned to. 

Hook Pond is far more complex. It should be cored every 100 feet or so, from the road bridge to the ocean drain, and the Ocean Avenue cove as well; then reshaped, possibly in a three-phase project over three years, to return the pond to its productive past, based on an analysis of the core samples and the depth of water 350-plus years ago. That should tell us what is in the pond now and what was in the pond in the distant past, pre-colonial hopefully included. 

During my exploration of the pond, by myself and with friends, we found the pond contained yellow perch, smallmouth bass, perch, largemouth bass, small sunfish, and freshwater minnows. Two types of turtles, muskrats, weasels, fox, osprey, sparrow hawks, mallard ducks, wood ducks, Canada geese, the very occasional snow goose, and assorted smaller birds all lived or visited there during migration. Pheasants, of course, were in the fields on or near the pond. Garden snakes and the black snake were there too. 

Once the pond is reshaped, it should be restocked with the fish and turtles that were then determined to be residents prior to the reshaping. The transients will return by themselves and fill in the slots that they occupy in nature. This will make the gateway to and interior of America’s most beautiful village still more attractive. 

East Hampton High School science classes might consider picking up part of the research required to do this; some initial core samples and analysis should be considered — netting and doing a census of the fish, checking and classifying the plant life around and in the pond. Then compare to the pollen samples, fish scales, seeds, etc., in the cores, and write a paper that could be received by the town trustees for further action. Possibly even be printed in The East Hampton Star! 

PETER C. OSBORNE

The Right to Life

Montauk

November 1, 2016

To the Editor:

The most important right in our Bill of Rights in the Constitution of the United States is the right to life. Not because I say it is, but because the founders understood natural law. I’m not going to claim to be an expert in natural law, but I have heard it explained by people much smarter than I (John Paul the Great) make the point that life is the most sacred possession we have. If we as the United States of America can’t get that right, then the hand of God will most definitely be removed from us and it could be a millennium or longer before his hand comes back to protect us.

I’m saying this now because I want to thank God for giving Bishop William Murphy the courage to speak out like he did this past weekend. Bishop William Murphy, head of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, said in a letter read at masses yesterday, Oct. 30, that “support for abortion should disqualify any and every such candidate from receiving our vote.” 

God bless and protect Bishop William Murphy!

VINCENT BIOND