Effective Leadership
East Hampton
June 27, 2021
Dear David,
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the many Democratic committee members, friends, and supporters who made my victory in the Democratic primary possible. I am both humbled and honored.
The Democratic voters of East Hampton also selected incumbent Deputy Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez and Cate Rogers for town council to join me on the November ballot, along with the entire Democratic committee’s slate of trustees.
These fine and dedicated people have demonstrated effective leadership qualities so crucial to solving the many challenges our town faces. Their work ethic and proven ability to work with others will serve the public well in the years ahead. There is so much more to do, so let’s work together to get good things done for East Hampton.
I stand ready, willing, and able to continue serving all the people of our town.
Thank you,
PETER VAN SCOYOC
East Hampton Town supervisor
Far More
Springs
July 3, 2021
Dear Editor:
I read your obituary for Betty Mazur today. Though it gives us an insight into the kind of person she was and what we should all hope to be, she was far more then her listed accomplishments.
She was a wonderful and wondrous human being. I can’t imagine any of us who knew Betty not being the better for it. I can’t imagine any of us not feeling blessed for knowing her.
BRAD LOEWEN
Impending Lawn Care
East Hampton Village
July 1, 2021
Dear David:
Alas, we have no peace, no moments of contentment anymore. Between the jumbo jets and combat-size helicopters flying overhead literally every three minutes from early morn to high moon; the heavy earth-moving equipment whining and clanging across the street at 8 p.m. last night; the still fuel-powered blowers that are rushed in and out, intent at avoiding attention regarding compliance with village (and town) laws, we’ve had another more-serious vexation this summer.
Every week, we get a white 4-by-6-inch postcard from SavaLawn warning us of an impending “lawn care pesticide application to a neighboring property.” This is the scary part: “You may wish to take precautions to minimize pesticide exposure to yourself, family members, pets or family possessions.”
Do we stay indoors? Barricade our doggy door to keep Magnolia (Cavalier) and Vita (ARF mutt) inside? Bring in our striped patio cushions? Park our cars elsewhere?
Our Huntting Lane neighbors share a boundary with the Nature Trail, as we do, and our mutual lawns slope downhill, straight toward the duck pond, which feeds into Hook Pond, along the dreen. After reaching out by phone, we were informed that “a green lawn is very important” to them.
But wait a minute. What are these pesticides doing to the water quality? The wildlife? To all our lives? That’s what is important to us.
LYSBETH ALLYN MARIGOLD
One-Stop Market
Springs
July 3, 2021
Dear David,
We are writing to thank the One-Stop Market staff for the wonderful service it provided us throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. We knew we could always count on them to deliver groceries to our home when we were hesitant to go into stores, and they made it so easy – just call in the order and, not long after, a delivery by Colin Brown.
When items were not available, we received a phone call asking if we would like to replace it with another brand. Having our baby granddaughter living with us made it particularly important for us to be cautious. We are so appreciative!
Now that our family is all vaccinated and we are able to go out and about, we have not felt the need to order our food this way, but wanted to publicly express our deepest gratitude to the owners and staff.
With appreciation,
NANCY and CRAIG KARLEBACH
Double Feature
East Hampton
June 30, 2021
Dearest Editor,
The last double feature I saw was “Jason and the Argonauts” with “House on the Haunted Hill,” in a tiny movie theater in Astoria, Queens, that sold popcorn for 19 cents, so I’m long overdue to enjoy another double feature, and what better locale to enjoy such an experience than in Herrick Park, sponsored by the Hamptons International Film festival, but hauling my vintage-lime PVC chaise longue to view “Harry Potter” or “Shrek” on a beautiful summer’s eve is not at the top of my list.
However, having shot and edited nearly a hundred productions at the iconic Guild Hall, such as Kate Mueth’s “Hysteria” and “Romeo and Juliet,” or Hampton Ballet’s “Coppelia” or Valerie diLorenzo’s musical shows, which are available on YouTube for free, these are adult shows which I would gleefully attend and I’m sure many others would find very entertaining.
And so, after such a horrible lockdown, forced to watch reruns of “Laverne and Shirley,” I pray, once again, to attend a wonderful double feature, I hope, in Herrick Park.
Thank you,
FRANK VESPE
History of the Flags
East Hampton
July 1, 2021
Dear David,
This letter is written to correct errors that are being propagated, first in the Star editorial of June 23 and now in letters to the editor of June 28 and in the July 1 issue of The Star.
The Everit Albert Herter Post 550 Veterans of Foreign Wars has not been involved with putting up the flags in the Village of East Hampton since July of 2017.
Now let me go over some history of the flags here. At some time in the past (the 1930s, ‘40s, ‘50s, or earlier, I don’t know), the East Hampton Ladies Village Improvement Society and the Amagansett Village Improvement Society decided to display flags on various holidays in respec-tively the Village of East Hampton and the hamlet of Amagansett. I do not know if they paid whoever did it when it was started or not, but they bought the flags. The bases were installed in recent years by Village Department of Public Works in East Hampton and, I guess, the Town Highway Department in Amagansett. I do not know when that started.
I believe that the A.V.I.S. pays to have the flags put out. In East Hampton, Dave Buckhout did it for many years with help with various volunteers. I think that I started to assist him around 2000. After he passed in 2005, I proposed to the V.F.W. to do it as a post project and we got some volunteers. The East Hampton L.V.I.S. did not pay either Dave or us, but gave out gift cards once a year.
The flags were put out when Dave Buckhout and when the V.F.W. were doing it on the following days: Martin Luther King’s Birthday, Presidents’ Day, Armed Forces Day, Memorial Day, John Howard Payne’s Birthday, Flag Day, Fourth of July, Soldier Ride, L.V.I.S. Fair Day, Labor Day, 9/11 Memorial, Columbus Day, Election Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, and Pearl Harbor Memorial Day.
The flags were put up starting from Guild Hall and the library on Main Street to the monuments at Memorial Green on Pantigo Road, to Cedar Street on North Main Street and on Newtown Lane from the intersection with Main Street to Herrick Park — a total of 110 flags. Some years, the flags were not put out on Martin Luther King’s Birthday or Presidents’ Day because there was snow on the ground and the concrete bases in which to insert the flags could not be found. The hardest time was in the fall when the leaves covered everything and when people stuffed various items in the holes. The L.V.I.S. maintained the flags and replaced them when necessary.
In 2017 our membership was aging and I could not get volunteers who were willing to get up early in the morning to put the flags out and take them down in the evening. We tried to get various groups to assist but it did not work out so we explained this to the L.V.I.S. They got the Chamber of Commerce and the Y.M.C.A. to take over the duty, with fewer days and fewer flags.
I do not believe that our starting the flag project with the L.V.I.S. was noted in the press, but there was a small ceremony at the L.V.I.S. Fair on July 26, 2017, with pictures, at which the post was thanked, and we passed the duty to the Chamber and Y.M.C.A. I do not know who is doing it now. This year for Memorial Day the village mounted flags on light poles and someone also put out flags in the concrete bases.
I think that your editorial did everyone a disservice because you did not check your facts. And considering that Juneteenth was just made a holiday the day before you could have cut everybody some slack before hammering them and creating conflict, which was not necessary.
If you look at the list above used in East Hampton Village when the V.F.W. was doing the flags, you will see that it is not a mandated list but a list that grew organically over the years. I am sure that they did not put up flags in Amagansett for John Howard Payne’s Birthday or L.V.I.S. Fair Day. Communities do things organically. Organizations meet, suggestions are made, decisions are made, and actions are taken. It takes time. We have the privilege of living in a free country. We are not told how to respond to everything, as in North Korea or China. Our communities develop over time, hopefully in a good way.
I am going to research old issues of The Star to see if I can determine when the flags were first put out, how the system developed, and will let you know.
Sincerely,
BRIAN P. CARABINE
Quartermaster
Everit Albert Herter Post No. 550
Veterans of Foreign Wars
Unexpected Visit
East Hampton
June 29, 2021
Dave,
As I know you have been a lifeguard before, I thought you might appreciate this letter of gratitude. On behalf of East Hampton Village lifeguards we would like to thank the new and much-improved village board.
Right before the summer kicked in we got a pleasant unexpected visit from Mayor Larson, Chris Minardi, Sandra Melendez, and Marcos Baladron. After they introduced themselves to the staff in a very clear manner, they assured us of their enthusiasm, confidence, support, and respect. Mayor Larson looked us all in the eye and made it clear that if we need anything to make East Hampton Village lifeguards the best ocean rescue agency ever and that his door was always open for ideas and suggestions.
We also appreciate all the new equipment, proper lifeguard chairs, working Wi-Fi, and of course a very experienced and professional staff. East Hampton Village Board, thank you!
Sincerely,
JIMMY MINARDI
East Hampton Village lifeguard
Lumber Lane
Springs
July 5, 2021
Dear East Hampton Star,
I am writing to express my frustration with the village government decision to remove long-term parking for residents in the Lumber Lane parking lot. At a time when we are all trying to encourage use of mass transit, this has the opposite effect. Rather than parking for a few days and taking the train or bus to and from the city, the $10-per-day fee now discourages this and encourages everyone to drive.
No shoppers from the shopping district park in the long-term lot; it’s really used by commuters, who all live in the neighborhood. I urge the village board to reconsider their decision on this parking lot decision.
Thank you,
PETER KINGHAM
Turned Away
Springs
June 29, 2021
Dear Editor,
Can anyone explain what’s going on with East Hampton Urgent Care? My family has been turned away twice this month. Both times we were told there were no appointments that day.
This past Saturday, as my son had been sick for several days, I called to check that they were open and was told to come in. When we arrived — a good three hours before closing — we were turned away: “No more appointments today.”
We thought that urgent care meant urgent care. In all of our years of walk-in experiences (which were consistently first rate), we were never before told we needed an appointment. One can easily imagine the demand for their services has greatly increased, and so I am also writing to ask, if this is indeed the case, what can be done to support them? Is it a question of staffing? Funds? Perhaps someone can report on the situation to raise awareness. I would hate to think of any other sick child being turned away.
RACHAEL HOROVITZ
Aid in Dying
Springs
July 2, 2021
Dear David,
“In July 2019, Zachary Cohen was diagnosed with incurable brain cancer.” These words begin a video about my choice of life.
I want legal control over my death. I must be allowed to determine when I will die, especially when it is known that I will not live much longer. But current law in New York will not allow me to determine my future even if I become barely alive.
The video was made at my home at the end of April when I met with New York Assemblyman Fred Thiele. For almost two hours we discussed the Medical Aid in Dying Act as the video crew filmed us. The video, edited down to about one minute, was to be shown to the full State Legislature to encourage passage of the act. Unfortunately, the Legislature adjourned this year on June 10, without complete action having been taken.
This video became witness to my love of Schubert’s final piano sonata, which I played, and my support of a law permitting individuals who suffer from chronic, fatal diseases to determine and choose their time to die. My wife, Pamela, and I smiled as happily and broadly as we had ever done in our lives.
Please see the YouTube video titled “Real Stories. Real New Yorkers. Zachary Cohen Supports the Medical Aid in Dying Act.”
ZACHARY COHEN
Delta Variant
Amagansett
June 20, 2021
Dear David,
One can understand the feeling of relief following the Centers for Disease Control’s decision to drop the mask mandate. However, while there was good news on the vaccination front, the highly contagious Delta variant was raging in India and Great Britain.
Vaccinated people can still be struck by this variant, which is airborne and far more contagious than earlier versions of Covid. In this situation, we should put caution and common sense ahead of comfort and keep masked.
GERRY PANE
Springs Cellular
Springs
July 5, 2021
To the Editor:
Recently a presentation was made by City Scape Corp. at a town board meeting that showed the beginning of a plan for a coordinated communications system for the Town of East Hampton. This presentation was distributed to the Springs Citizens Advisory Committee, of which I am chair-woman, for discussion at our June meeting.
Most everyone was delighted that a process has been started to assess and then remedy the abysmal communication situation in Springs. But this initiative is in its infancy and it will no doubt be well over a year before any communication improvements will be realized.
Communications are vital to the safety of a community. We need to be able to report medical emergencies, traffic accidents, fires, and crimes. Our ability to do so has been declining because our cellular service has deteriorated dramatically. Were there not a readily available temporary solution we would have to wait. But there is a solution and we should embrace it immediately. A cellular tower has stood at the Springs Firehouse since 2015 that could provide us with improved service within a couple of months. Temporary service, until such time as the town, working with their newly hired consultants City Scape, can provide us with a permanent site that will be part of a bigger network throughout our town.
The tower at the Springs Firehouse has stood there for six years. There are no plans to dismantle it. The additional equipment needed will all be internal — no visual changes. There have been no safety issues. It may not prove to be the optimum location for a permanent installation but right now it is there and we should use it!
Sincerely,
LORING BOLGER
Exclusionary Message
Springs
July 5, 2021
To the Editor:
Visitors to Clearwater Beach in Springs might have noticed the recent placement of imposing wooden signs at several entrances to the neighborhood that read, “Clearwater Beach, Private Community.” As longtime homeowners in Clearwater we are disturbed at the exclusionary message that these signs might send.
The phrase “Private Community” is confusing; after all, virtually every community is in some sense “private” if residents have the right to exclude outsiders from their own property. If the signs were intended to indicate that access to the private beach “reservation” in Clearwater is limited to homeowners, then they should have said so. In any case, the existing signs at the entrance to the beach should serve this purpose already.
Whatever their intent, we believe that these signs can easily be interpreted to mean that nonresidents are not welcome to drive, walk or bicycle on the streets of our neighborhood (which are very much public, and maintained by the town at taxpayer’s expense) or to visit the shores of beautiful Gardiner’s Bay on the public beaches. This goes against the very reason that we chose to live here in the first place: Clearwater Beach has long been one of East Hampton’s most diverse, creative, and welcoming neighborhoods. The placement of these misleading signs diminishes what’s best about our community.
Sincerely,
DAVID ROSENBERG
JONATHAN LIPKIN
JOY MARCUS
DANAE ORATOWSKI
CATHY LIPKIN
Dangerous Drivers
Plainview
July 2, 2021
To the Editor:
I sure hope East Hampton, Southampton, and all Suffolk judges are wiser than certain Mineola, Nassau County, judges.
One Mineola judge recently released a drunk driver with “red glassy eyes and slurred speech,” whose car had four empty bottles of vodka, rum, and Jack Daniel’s whiskey in it — -even though he had just “careened onto a sidewalk” and crashed into a 3-year-old girl and her uncle, causing abrasions and facial fractures. This menace to society, with a previous D.W.I. conviction, is now free to drink and drive again.
Another Mineola judge set free the drunk driver who, after crashing into another car and fleeing, then drove through an elementary school’s metal chain-link fence “at a high rate of speed,” endangering 60 to 80 children on that field. Wise judges would have protected further victims by keeping these two dangerous drivers locked up until trial.
And judicial stupidity is clearly not limited to East Coast Long Island, considering that on the West Coast a federal judge has overturned a California ban on military-style assault rifles, comparing these mass shooting killers’ weapons-of-choice to can-opening Swiss Army knives!
Do these three judges have even a combined I.Q. of 100?
RICHARD SIEGELMAN
The New Noisy
East Hampton
June 29, 2021
Dear David:
Government is the police power. We agree if our rights are violated, in the case I address by outrageous noise pollution and disturbance of the peace, not to retaliate but to call upon the police and by implication the entire justice system.
Every hour of the day, where my family lives not far from the corner of Stephen Hand’s Path and Route 114, the air is ripped by the gunning of the new noisy cars and trucks accelerating off the intersection as though at a racetrack and drawing out their screaming departure for half a mile or more.
This is 100 percent deliberate. Detroit has knowingly pandered to the new craze for noisy cars (you know, virility, defiance, in-your-face). Their drivers are pathetic macho addicts.
Read the headlines: “Inside New York City’s Insane Loud Car Culture (The New York Times, Oct. 16, 2020), “The Loudest Cars Ever Tested from Every Segment” (Car and Driver, Feb. 20), “Boom Cars and Loud Motorcycles (NoiseFree.org), “20 Street Cars with Ear-Damaging Motors” (Nov. 4, 2018), “Illegal Mufflers Are Roaring as Loud as Airplanes” (Orange County Register, Nov. 4, 2018).
Frankly, government study after study documents and warns against the new risky behavior of drivers. It may to an extent be cultural, but frankly, that does not matter. Rational enforcement of the law, including against defiant “lifestyle crimes,” would help change the culture to everyone’s benefit.
This is behavior that has never been seen in East Hampton. And that behavior defies our customs and laws about disturbing the peace. It joys in noise pollution as a weapon and a power symbol. What are we going to do?
It is a problem for police, but East Hampton Chief of Police Michal Sarlo is tone deaf to the problem and so his overcompensated troops go on focusing all their attention on harvesting income from parking violations. I have said repeatedly that an officer, or Star reporter, monitoring the corner of Stephen Hand’s Path and Route 114, with the window down, or a decibel counter, would hear outrageous assaults on civility — the equivalent of desperados riding in to shoot up a town in the Wild West.
A few stops and tickets for disturbing the peace, noise pollution, and speeding would broadcast the message very quickly: You can’t get your kicks by shattering the peace of old fogies.
There is law on the books in East Hampton and a concern for civility, and if we send a message about upholding civility, we make a general point about the culture of civil peace, the refusal to permit the thrills of shattering the peace.
Let me offer a salutary little chill as we contemplate how enemies of the civil peace test our readiness to demand and enforce standards of living together. This from Hilaire Belloc:
“We sit by and watch the barbarian. We tolerate him in the long stretches of peace, we are not afraid. We are tickled by his irreverence; his comic inversion of our old certitudes and our fixed creed refreshes us; we laugh. But as we laugh we are watched by large and awful faces from beyond, and on these faces there are no smiles.”
We need a police chief in East Hampton able to see a threat to our cherished values — and our rights — as Mr. Sarlo apparently cannot. The future of towns that we love depends upon law enforcement.
WALTER DONWAY
Blower Ban
Barnes Landing
July 4, 2021
Dear David,
I want to express my thanks to our supervisor and town board for implementing the May 20 to Sept. 20 gas and diesel-powered leaf blower ban. It has made a huge difference in my neighborhood (Barnes Landing). I was a bit skeptical as to how effective the ban would be, as these local laws often rely on good enforcement. I’d also like to extend my gratitude to the professional landscapers who, by and large, are adhering to the new restrictions.
MIKE BOTTINI
Fresh Opportunity
Springs
July 5, 2021
To the Editor,
The process of considering the future of East Hampton Airport presents the town with an opportunity to reconceptualize the usage of the area now occupied by the airport if it were closed or reduced in size.
Contractors from within our community and from down-Island travel daily to the town’s largest industrial area along Springs-Fireplace Road before proceeding to their jobs. Present commercial and industrial usage and projects in the pipeline will increasingly negatively impact the surrounding communities and roadways, changing the rural character of the surrounding communities, creating traffic delays, and resulting in dangerous intersections. Study after study have repeatedly recognized that Springs-Fireplace Road has less road capacity than the potential buildout.
Closing the airport or reducing its footprint would offer opportunities for industrial and commercial expansion. This will supplement the limited development opportunities offered along Springs-Fireplace Road.
The reuse of the airport grounds as an industrial complex would offer a fresh and innovative opportunity for the town’s ever expanding commercial demands without the burden of conforming to the decades-old hodgepodge development now found along Springs-Fireplace Road. Environmental concerns and traffic circular flow would be built into the design before the first shovel hits the ground. The new industrial complex could offer an orderly and attractive site while offering contractors the additional space for their operations.
The reuse of the airport area for commercial and industrial use would have the benefit of diverting contractor traffic from DownIsland before it hits the village and residential hamlets.
The many acres that the airport occupies offer town planners and decision makers a once in a lifetime opportunity to make for a better East Hampton!
The benefits of reuse of the current airport site into an industrial park are many:
• It would eliminate the negative impact of air traffic on residents.
• The industrial park would expand the tax base and create new job opportunities for locals.
• It would mitigate some of the problems associated with the overdevelopment of the Springs-Fireplace industrial corridor.
• There would be less commercial traffic in the village and the hamlets of East Hampton and Springs.
• The reuse of the airport would offer greater environmental protection through a well-thought-out holistic plan using our current understanding of groundwater and by using modern construction design and techniques.
FRANK RIINA
Outrageous Numbers
Noyac
June 29, 2021
Dear Editor,
Southampton has been the doormat for the East Hampton Airport for years. We have been bothered by aircraft noise while trying to enjoy the outdoors with family and friends. Sometimes aircraft noise will shake our houses and wake us up. The East Hampton Town Board finally accepted responsibility for the negative effects the airport has on Southampton by holding Tuesday’s meeting on the possible repurposing of the airport.
When the F.A.A. grant assurances expire in September, the town will have control over the airport — if the town does not accept additional F.A.A. money. Noyac particularly hopes that East Hampton does not accept F.A.A. grant assurances again.
Minor adjustments to flight paths have been made over the years. A new flight path now comes over Noyac to avoid East Hampton. So in addition to this “November Route” that brings all helicopters over us, Noyac is now the preferred doormat route for planes headed to the airport. Look at the landing and takeoff maps to see the outrageous numbers of aircraft that constantly fly over Noyac, North Sea, and other areas in Southampton.
Here are some mind-boggling statistics for air traffic over Southampton for this year: Helicopters have increased 414 percent. Jets have increased 43 percent. Turboprops have increased 189 percent. Seaplanes have increased 82 percent. The yearly air traffic increase over Southampton from May 2020 through May 2021 is 77 percent. Enough is enough!
On May 11, East Hampton Town released a report, “East Hampton Airport Preliminary Economic Impact Analysis,” which is worth reading. The summary basically states that if the airport were to close, there would be quality of life benefits, reduced pollution, reduced noise, and an increase in property values. Repurposing the airport will benefit everyone on the South Fork.
East Hampton Town held several discussion sessions with North Fork residents and the air traffic over the North Fork dramatically decreased, a.k.a. less noise pollution, a treasured benefit. So what about Southampton? East Hampton cannot continue to abuse Southampton residents. Stop sending aircraft over Southampton.
Sincerely,
ELENA LORETO
President Noyac Civic Council
Precious Open Space
New Orleans
July 2, 2021
David,
Again let me commend you for your recent editorial. It makes sense and is so well devised that perhaps the uncertain will come to see what a huge opportunity East Hampton has to reclaim precious open space and water recharge area. The most valuable resource of the 21st century to communities and individuals alike will be reasonably priced potable water.
I’m still out of town, but have sent the town board remarks to be incorporated in the record for the upcoming work session.
Bravo to you! And thank heavens for The Star.
PETER M. WOLF
Preserve That Land
Noyac
July 1, 2021
Dear David,
In the editorial in this week’s Star, you got it so, so right. Preserve that land.
That would be a priceless gift for a healthy future for East Hampton, and all on the East End would also benefit. Precious open spaces, with the town steward of its own property once more.
Thank you,
PATRICIA CURRIE
Nasty Business
Montauk
June 19, 2021
Dear Mr. Rattray,
Regarding your editorial “Close Cash Campaign Loophole” (June 23), while I understand your articulated concern about indirect funding for political campaigns, I disagree with your solution.
I’ve been an East Hampton resident for a relatively short time, but in that time and before, I followed both local politics and this newspaper’s reporting and opinions. Politics are what they always are: a nasty business. But I am surprised and disappointed by this newspaper’s failure to maintain its own high standards as a true pillar of this community, all as a consequence of what seems to this reader to be a personal issue with Mr. Van Scoyoc. You and The Star can and should do better for the people of East Hampton — as you normally do.
Politics is largely a nasty business. Why would anyone in politics voluntarily agree to unilateral disarmament? That is precisely what you and this newspaper recommend. You would have politically endorsed candidates voluntarily decline and disavow the support of those who endorse them, because you think it’s unfair. You object to candidates and parties functioning lawfully, because the people who are not endorsed by their party are thus at a disadvantage. My goodness, that’s the whole point.
Perhaps it would be helpful to put it differently, in a way that is specific to The Star. Taking your recommenda-tion at face value, would the Star silence itself volun-tarily from endorsing or commenting on individual candidates? Surely, the reporting in this newspaper, as well as the editorials, could be taken as favoring one candidate over another and given the high standing that this newspaper has in this community, that reporting and editorializing has significant value. And while this newspaper serves an important function in terms of providing information to the general public, you as its editor exercise enormous influence over how that information is presented and determine with absolute and unfettered authority whom The Star endorses and how forcefully those endorsements are made. It is clear from your recent editorial (and those that preceded it) that you have a view — but why shouldn’t that view be voluntarily and unilaterally silenced, too? Certainly, there’s no First Amendment or free press concern, since it would be voluntarily.
None of this is to say that your concerns are unworthy or invalid. Political parties — and their influence — are a fact of life in every community. But your effort — in advance of the general election — to pressure endorsed candidates to voluntarily and unilaterally give up the legal, financial, and practical advantages of party endorsements, including the well-funded support of the local Democratic Party, does a disservice to the community (most especially to those who voted in the recent primary).
You might consider writing about and advocating for substantive political reforms, whether implemented locally or in Albany. Should the town board (including the supervisor) be term-limited? Should all elected offices in East Hampton be term-limited? Would that require action from Albany or just at the local level? Similarly, if you argued for open primaries (allowing any registered voters to vote in a given primary) or public campaign financing, you and your newspaper would have done a service for the community by engaging a discussion for real reform and solutions that would change the dynamics. But you didn’t do that. You could have chosen to report and opine on structural and procedural advantages that incumbents and endorsed candidates have over others and to advocate for those changes. That would have been something valuable and informative. In fact, you could still do that, and perhaps you should.
However, because your endorsed candidate lost in the Democratic primary, you published a second editorial attacking Mr. Van Scoyoc’s support from the Democratic Party committee that endorsed him. I get it — everyone gets it. You dislike Mr. Van Scoyoc for whatever reasons, and you’re frustrated that Mr. Bragman didn’t beat him. So, you cry foul and suggest that the primary wasn’t a fair fight. But why didn’t you raise issues about local campaign finance three months ago or three years or three decades ago? None of what you complain about is new, especially to a local newspaper that’s been around forever.
Bottom line, here’s what I understand from an objective perspective: In the recent Democratic Party primary, the candidates endorsed by the local well-funded Democratic committee defeated those candidates who were not so endorsed. More specifically, Mr. Van Scoyoc resoundingly defeated Mr. Bragman, despite this paper’s endorsement of the latter. You don’t like that outcome. You object to the benefits of party support (at least when you dislike the endorsed candidate). You want to change the rules in advance of the general election to give your preferred candidate a better second shot. You want the candidate who beat your guy to surrender hard-won political and financial advantage, despite its being entirely legal.
Your editorial tastes like sour grapes. You can do better and usually do.
JONATHAN YELLEN
—
The financial advantage for some campaign committees is not limited to those backed by political parties alone. However, Chris Kelley, the East Hampton Town Democratic Committee treasurer, explained in a letter to the editor last week that the current $117,000 cap on individual contributions to constituted, or political action, committees was not in play but that the Democratic committee’s endorsed candidates instead ran as a team and aggregated their contributions adhering to the Suffolk Board of Elections $1,000 limit on primary contributions to candidates. Ed.
Hide Out in Florida?
Amagansett
July 5, 2021
My Fellow Residents:
Joe Karpinski here. On May 23 Jill Danis wrote a letter to this paper asking “Is it true?” Well at this point, was it? Did Councilwoman Sylvia Overby hide out in Florida during the winter months? Did she Zoom all those calls while we all dealt with the rules and regulations here? She ran around Florida, an “open” state, during the pandemic?
Quite simply, LTV should be able to provide all of us with the IP addresses for all those meetings — should we FOIL them? Should someone ask an attorney to request the information?
Jill Danis asked some great questions not yet answered: “Did the supervisor approve her absence from town? Where is the town leadership?” Leadership? We’ve all been asking that for years.
I know personally I was told in early April, “Not for nothing but a member of the town board has a car that hasn’t moved out of the driveway since November.”
Remember on Nov. 2: The time is now — Walles, Aman, Karpinski — we are the community.
JOE KARPINSKI
Republican and Conservative Candidate for East Hampton Town Board
Does Not State
East Hampton
July 2, 2021
Dear David,
Thank you for adding your comments to my letter “Served Town Well” in the July 1 edition to dispute what Laura Michaels had written in the June 17 edition. You referred to the news article that you wrote in the May 27 edition, titled “Why Duryea’s Deck Deal Failed.” That article does not clearly contradict what Ms. Michaels wrote. In fact it states that Mr. Rowan asked for a meeting with Mr. Van Scoyoc, and that Mr. Lys attended part of it. It does not state that it was a secret meeting. It also states that Mr. Sendlenski’s signature appeared on the settlement agreement in the place where Mr. Van Scoyoc’s should have been.
The article also states that when Ann Glennon asked Mr. Sendlenski whether the town board members were aware of the settlement order, that he didn’t respond. He also asked Ms. Glennon not to email him with reference to the settlement, and that he resigned after the board realized what had happened. It states that Mr. Van Scoyoc said he was angry with Mr. Bragman when he criticized him for “not working hard enough” on the settlement, which he later said was a “misstatement.” None of the above contradict what Ms. Michaels wrote in her letter.
The one important thing in dispute is the claim in an affidavit from Mr. Rowan that Mr. Van Scoyoc told him that he should sue the town in order to facilitate the process. The article says that Mr. Van Scoyoc “called that a mischaracterization and ‘not true.’ “ Neither you nor I was present when this was allegedly said, so we do not know its veracity. I am hoping that Ms. Michaels, as well as the parties who were actually present for these events, will write to give more clarity to this matter.
JON HOWARD
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In his affidavit and sworn court deposition, Mr. Rowan testified that Mr. Van Scoyoc said the town would be willing to resolve Duryea’s land-use issues under “judicial supervision,” even though at the time Mr. Rowan had not sued the town over them. Ed.
Why Do You Stay Here?
Wainscott
July 5, 2021
Dear David,
Jeff Plitt has challenged our resident “verberrhea” far-out bloviator of horse bleep. I only scan his weekly missives for the sometimes vulgar language, which seems to be a part of his vocabulary. I thought one of his prior letters, writing about necrophilia, was in outer space. Attacks on this country and even religion added to the head scratching. Where does this come from?
I think we have more than paid back France for helping us gain independence. Normandy was our and the Allies’ second rescue of France and liberated Europe and the world from the Nazi disease. Hey, jackass, twice, American blood was spilled and you spit in the face of those young heroes who died so ingrates such as you can rant. I had suggested you open a Burkina Shop on the French Riviera, where you could have made a fortune.
As you slobber over Paris and the Arc. You forgot the film clips of jackboots and M40 helmets parading under that arch, as Hitler’s demons ravaged France, which had surrendered and many collaborated. Do the incidents at Malmedy and the murder of American troops in the frozen field, the Wereth Eleven Black artillery heroes murdered and desecrated by the S.S., Joachim Peiper’s Panzers, [mean anything to you]? He directed the murders of all prisoners. That means nothing to you.
Peiper escaped hanging due to some liberal JAG lawyer. He retired to France. Then one day in 1976, his house was mysteriously firebombed and his charred remains were all that was left. He was snuffed out, burned in hell, as they say.
Go vacation in Sainte-Mere-Eglise, where the real, patriotic French citizens still honor the 82nd and 101st Airborne troops that liberated them. Grab a megaphone and spew your anti-American vitriol in front of the church steeple where the parachute and figure is still honored. I don’t have to wonder what they would do. Don’t confuse their gesture with Dupuytren’s contracture of the middle finger.
I don’t see you pulling up stakes and fleeing this deplorable place. If it is so bad why do you stay here?
By the way, when my oldest brother, now 93, was 15, he lied about his age when he enlisted.
Proud to be an American,
ARTHUR J. FRENCH
Political Killer
East Hampton
July 4, 2021
David,
During the past week almost every medical facility in the U.S. and the rest of the world has issued a warning about the Covid-19 Delta variant. A serious problem that has shut down cities and brought mask wearing back to the mainstream. It’s real, a little scary, and absolutely essential to pay attention to. There is nothing political; 600,000 dead people is the political price. Not understanding that most of those 600,000 didn’t die by accident, they were killed. And the killers are still out there plying their trade.
Fox News on “The Laura Ingraham Show” did the political-killer number once again. Some doctor who has cured Covid-19 patients with cow dung accused Dr. Fauci of lying to the public about the British study on the Delta variant. “The variant isn’t that bad.” “Pushing the vaccine is unAmerican.” “People shouldn’t wear masks again, if they ever did.” Fox didn’t report the news. It politically editorialized. It stated that since the death rate from the Delta variant is significantly lower than from other variants, unvaccinated people don’t need to worry.
While death rates are lower, almost all the new cases contracted from Delta are unvaccinated people. Furthermore, of the five variants that are being tracked, Delta is 20 percent more likely to spread then the original Covid-19.
The mindless, insipidly stupid Fox commentator seems not to understand the progress we’ve made in preventing people from dying. But the real question raised is what’s the point? Will denying the variant make it go away? Will creating anxiety and discord help resolve the problem? What is Fauci supposed to do?
The concept of variants is a major piece of epidemiology, the mutation of diseases a normal function, always a big deal because of the potential damage. All science. Only science. Not politics. No bullshit.
In a Vox article, Umair Irfan states that the tragedy of anyone falling sick or dying from the Delta variant is that there are vaccines available to avoid the result. Self-inflicted as a function of ignorance. Stupidity and manipulation by deranged killers.
Covid-19 was a problem that the wealthiest, most sophisticated health care system didn’t handle. Couldn’t handle. The root cause of the failure is political. Trump and Fox didn’t cause the problem but they perpetuated and prolonged it as part of tearing apart our institutions — a piece from the Nazi playbook, the sadistic cruelty of the gas chambers under the banner of cleansing for Jesus.
What is the point? The question raised is intent. If the dissemination of false information is to destabilize the health care system, resulting in death and sickness for hundreds of thousands of people, are we not talking about criminality? Simple murder?
NEIL HAUSIG