Dearest Letter
East Hampton Village
November 12, 2021
To the Editor,
John Fierro wrote the dearest Star letter last week, all about what the village has given him over the years. John, you have given us light and smiles, never mind the scrumptious pizza! Your spirit is what makes our village such a happy place.
MARY DAMASK
Engines Running
Montauk
November 14, 2021
To the Editor,
Every day, when either going to the post office, I.G.A., or basically any other store or destination in town, I am always surprised to see at least one, and most times several, cars sitting parked with no one in them with the engines running. These persons are doing their shopping or whatever other business they need to complete while they leave their car parked with the engine running. Considering we are a town that prides itself on its natural beauty and all of the things we enjoy from our natural surroundings, I find it surprising that so many people simply don’t consider the pollution their autos are spewing into the air while just idling and serving no purpose.
When I asked a woman this past summer at the local nursery why she left her large S.U.V. running while she shopped for flowers, she cursed me out. When I asked Tony, whom I have known for many years, who left his van running outside the local hardware store, he stated that he had a battery issue; at least that was a plausible reason.
Most cities have car-idling laws to help prevent unnecessary, additional air pollution. I am not saying that a law be enacted for that purpose in East Hampton. God knows we have enough rules and regulations. I just don’t get why people leave their engines running while they do their shopping, etc., when simply shutting the cars off saves gas and limits the amount of pollution already getting put into the air. Something to think about, no?
FREDDY GOLD
Brooklyn 1940s
Sagaponack
November 11, 2021
To the Editor,
Just have to respond to the most recent “column” by each week’s end-of-letters writer.
I also grew up in Brooklyn in the 1940s and 1950s. I never heard of nor knew or experienced anti-Semitism, at P.S. 152. I had all sorts of friends of different races and nationalities, and, by the way, my neighbor five houses away was Bernie Sanders, one year older than I am.
The first I knew of what your “columnist” discusses with an extreme slant and distortion was when I moved to Tenafly, N.J., in 1955. The teacher in the last two months of sixth grade said to the class, “Isn’t it nice that we finally have a Jewish boy in town?” The next couple of years were then, in fact, pretty difficult, without getting deep into details. I did, however, get through that and went on to live a nice life — and the 250, or so, class of 1960 at Tenafly High School had gotten a new and more honest understanding about those Jewish kids.
LOU MEISEL
Supposed to Be
Plainview
November 14, 2021
To the Editor,
The injured, non-playing Jets’ quarterback Zach Wilson says, “I’m supposed to be a senior in college right now,” while the uninjured, non-teaching me says, “And I’m supposed to be in my 57th year of teaching, but instead I’m in my 19th year of (blissful) retirement!”
RICHARD SIEGELMAN
Public Safety
East Hampton Village
November 9, 2021
Dear David,
While others have written about the significant quality of life issues posed by the brewery-tavern project proposed for the old Diamond’s Furniture store warehouse site located on Toilsome Lane, we are writing to express our profound public safety concerns and request that the village take a serious look at its impact on the neighborhood’s vehicular and pedestrian traffic.
We have seen the site plans for the brewery-tavern. Anyone who has driven on Toilsome Lane knows there is a sharp 90-degree turn where the road transitions from Toilsome Lane to Gingerbread Lane. This is a blind corner with yellow signs calling for cars to reduce speed to 10 miles per house, with few if any drivers slowing down to the recommended speed limit.
The proposed entrance to the brewery-tavern parking lot will be on Toilsome Lane just before or after the 90-degree corner depending on the direction one is driving. Anyone approaching from the west and wishing to enter the parking lot for the brewery-tavern will have to cross over the road, where they will have a very limited view of oncoming traffic. Conversely, anyone approaching from the east will need to slow down and even stop before making a right hand turn into the parking lot, giving cars behind them very little notice, if any of their drivers stop, due to the blind curve in the road. Simply put, this is a recipe for a car accident waiting to happen.
It is common knowledge that Toilsome and Gingerbread Lanes are utilized as an alternative to Route 27. That means heavy truck traffic, buses, and, in the summer months, many more cars are on these roads. Turning onto or across Toilsome from the various side streets in the summer is difficult enough; with the brewery-tavern, it will be nearly impossible.
In addition, not only are there no sidewalks in the area, but there are also no shoulders on these roads. Hence, there is no physical margin for any vehicular error and there is certainly no way for pedestrians to safely cross these roads to access the brewery-tavern.
How in the world can the village promote a project that would, by its very nature, promote drinking at a location situated off a very narrow road with a blind curve, with no sidewalks or shoulder in a residential neighborhood? How could the village promote take-out for this site, which will further increase traffic on these roads?
Are we really becoming a village that promotes business development at all costs — human life being the biggest?
As this development presents a serious public safety issue, we ask for the village, the zoning board, and any other government office involved in the decision to use basic common sense and recognize the serious danger to all of us posed by this project.
Respectfully,
ELLEN JOSEM
MICHAEL GOLDSMITH
Disturb and Destroy
Southampton
October 15, 2021
To the Editor:
Although I do reside in Southampton, for over 20 years now, I regularly spent much of my time in East Hampton enjoying the many quality events, restaurants, and shopping, as well as visiting friends. I have been following with great interest the controversial proposal to build a brewery in the middle of a residential area. I cannot figure out how the village, as well as the local community, would allow such a project to move forward since it’s obvious it would disturb and destroy the privacy and safety of everyone living and visiting the area.
I also hope most of this community, as well as East Hampton residents’ majority, would vocalize their opposition to the project.
Respectfully,
ANTONIO ESTADELLA
Town Engineer
Amagansett
November 14, 2021
To the Editor,
Tom Talmage retired, and since then we’ve never had an actual town engineer. We’ve had a consultant, a title that can allow for the culpability to be hidden under layers of paperwork. How can our board and trustees have signed the wind farm agreement when it clearly states what the town engineer will be reviewing as they dig up the roads in Wainscott? Who will watch the watchers? Still here.
JOE KARPINSKI
New America
Sag Harbor
November 14, 2021
Dear Editor,
Murder and slavery go hand in hand in Biden’s new America. I just finished watching an episode of the TV series called “Cops.” In this and other “Cops” shows most of the people pulled over for traffic violations were either on drugs or had them in their vehicle. Hold that thought for a moment. Where do these drugs come from? Many of them come through our ports and over our open southern border. It is the Democrats who endorse and maintain an open southern border. When you listen to most of the news media, they only speak about the migrants coming to America. Little to nothing is covered on the amount of illegal and addictive drugs that are now pouring into our country and killing Americans.
Then there is the issue of slavery. Democrats today have been fixated on reparations for past slavery and racism. It is the Democrats who say there is systematic racism in our country, but it is the Democrats who are supporting a new era of slavery as a result of their open-border policy. Thousands of people, mostly women, being brought across the border by Mexican cartels for exorbitant fees are being used as sex slaves, as reported by our own Border Patrol. These women will be kept in bondage until they are no longer of use to their captors.
I want to know how people who vote for the Democrats can ignore what is happening to these poor people. Step back and think about this. Put yourself in their shoes for a minute: You are a woman who pays your life savings to a cartel criminal to take you to the U.S.A. You have high hopes of a new life, and then walk hundreds of miles to reach the U.S.A. border. You then have to walk across the Rio Grande River to what you believe is your safe haven, only to find out there is no safe haven, as you are led to bondage and become a sex slave. When you vote Democrat, this is what your contribution is towards, sex slavery, for it is the Democrats’ policy of open borders that contributes to this heinous environment. If you have any decency or morality, you should not support the open border policy of the Democratic party. This is just one negative aspect of the open border policy of the Democratic party.
There are other negative aspects that are happening by voting Democrat, and that is how the drugs that flow freely across the southern border are killing Americans. If you check the statistics on our government websites, you can see the deaths from illicit drugs are growing at an enormous rate (70,000 deaths in 2019 alone). The border wall, if it was completed, would have an impact on saving lives, but no, the Democrats will not allow it.
My purpose of writing to you is not to cause people to stop voting Democrat, but to try and wake up Democrats to see what their Democrat party is doing to hurt America. I only ask those Democrats that have read this letter to put pressure on their elected officials supporting open borders to stop this awful policy. If you are not aware, consider this fact: Our government is secretly flying illegal immigrants in the middle of the night from Texas to locations all over America. Some flights have come to New York. This must stop, and is another reason why we must pressure our representatives in government to stop this activity. If not stopped, there will come a day when these flights and buses will bring these people, many of whom are criminals, to all over New York, including the Hamptons. It is up to all of us to speak up and stop this now.
THOMAS METZ
Prices Even Higher
Montauk
November 14, 2021
Dear David,
Joe Biden is testing the patience of American citizens with his coldhearted fumbling of inflation. Fuel oil rose 12.3 percent, totaling 59 percent in one single year. Meat, poultry, fish, and eggs up 1.7 percent just for a month and 11.9 percent for a year. After inflation, real wages fell .5 percent, while wages at this time may be rising; the cost of just about everything is rising faster than anyone could imagine.
Still Biden insists Congress pass a $2 trillion, or higher, inflation bill. Most leading economists try to argue the bill could definitely push prices even higher, especially short term.
What world does Joe Biden live in? As he goes on TV, swears up and down this bill will not cost you one single penny. Really, what kind of idiots does he think the Americans are? This bill is full of handouts, far-left climate, increased regulations (which is exactly what we need), and higher taxes, which includes raising taxes for the middle class. This bill could also show an economic slowdown, resulting in the dreaded combo of increasing prices and slow-down growth. Your record, Joe Biden, you definitely are beating Jimmy Carter.
Listening to Jen Psaki, she believes the rise in gas prices over the long term makes an even stronger case for doubling down our investment and we can then focus on clean energy options. Joe Biden, Jen Psaki, we do not need any more regulations, we need to dismiss many of the regs that we already have just to survive. I can’t afford the heat bills nor the gas prices to put in my car just to go to work. I need the job to survive.
Plenty more truths and real facts to come concerning Hillary Clinton.
In God and country,
BEA DERRICO
Admission of Complicity
East Hampton
November 14, 2021
David,
Nov. 9 marked the 88th anniversary of Hitler’s first attempt to overthrow the German government. He and his cohorts went to prison for a while, but 10 years later, in 1933, the Nazi Party took control of the government. This is the cautionary tale for the Jan. 6 committee as it investigates the insurrection or whatever it is being called. (A happy, slightly violent visit to the Capitol.)
So, what if the Capitol invaders had succeeded in capturing Pelosi and company and had convinced Pence to overturn the election? Trump would be president, 5 million people would be dead from Covid, and we would be starving to death as in Afghanistan.
How would we as a country deal with our first and only successful insurrection since the Civil War? The congressional investigators need to seriously ponder that question because too many politicians, police, and military actively encouraged and supported the action. It is difficult to fathom that the action would have succeeded as it did without the support of the police, who disappeared, and the military, who never showed up. If all the warning signs hadn’t purposefully been ignored there is no way the capitol would not have been properly defended.
This isn’t the ignorance and false bravado that permitted 9/11 or the blatant incompetence that allowed for Pearl Harbor. Jan. 6 was carefully planned and orchestrated by an important part of our government, an inside job. Guilty by omission is never easily provable, but the absolute disconnect by the Republican Party from the Jan. 6 investigation is a clear and unquestioned admission of complicity, sometimes known as treason in the old real world. So, treason is redefined not to include acts of violence to overthrow the existing government when the cause is just. “Just cause” becomes tricky (as my 6-year-old granddaughter would say) because the electoral fraud claims were refuted unanimously by every judge and court and state that participated in the verification process. So, treason is not only reasonable but clearly provable.
Treason is serious shit. Treason now includes everyone connected to the action. Penalties like life in prison or the electric chair seem more reasonable than not. The Rosenbergs didn’t try to overthrow the government and look what happened to them. We didn’t have videos or selfies or banners or even witnesses demonstrating their guilt and yet we still put them to death.
So, the lesson of Hitler and the Nazis has to be taken into consideration when bringing the Capitol rioters to justice. Nine-eleven killed 3,000 people and destroyed a bunch of buildings, but it didn’t try to take down our government. We began two wars and spent trillions of dollars to rectify 9/11; should a serious attempt to take down our government merit less of a response? The absurd parallels between Nazi Germany and the United States today would normally scare the crap out of most people. They really should be taken seriously. Four years in prison for the head rioter would make Julius and Ethel Rosenberg rise from the grave. Someone needs to step up and kick ass. (Kids selling crack got 5 to 10.)
There is a gross misconception that the country is divided in half — Trump won 27 percent of the electorate, 73 percent didn’t support him, didn’t vote for him, and didn’t support Jan 6. It’s just the lunatic fringe, many who are elected officials, that continues to perpetuate the idiocy. Our government stood up to the election fraud accusations. Jan. 6 requires the same response, not to disabuse people of doing it again in 10 years, but because it was a heinous, repugnant crime that needs to be punished.
NEIL HAUSIG