Job Well Done
Patchogue
November 13, 2024
To the Editor,
Now that this year’s election cycle is finally over, I would like to take a little time to publicly thank one of the most dedicated public officials that has represented the citizens of the East End, the First District Assemblyman Fred Thiele.
Fred is retiring from elected office first as a Suffolk County legislator, then Southampton supervisor, and finally as a member of the Assembly, where he spent 30 successful years.
The impact of his work will be celebrated for generations to come.
I first met Fred in the late 1970s when he was working for Assemblyman John Behan. When he first ran for office, he had my support, and his representation was always well reasoned and thoughtful. District boundaries changed, and lifestyle and family life caused me to move to Manorville and now Patchogue, but I have followed Fred’s illustrious career with great interest.
Congratulations to Fred on a remarkable career! I know he is not done yet, but the very public portion of your work is slowing down. Soon Albany will be in the rearview mirror, but new challenges will be found. Thank you, Fred, for a job well done!
Sincerely,
KEN COENEN
Ban Hiking
Amagansett
November 12, 2024
To the Editor,
At the risk of adding even more fuel to the Letters to the Editor fire that is sparked by the Maidstone Gun Club, please add my voice to those in favor. I am a 70-something retiree who is terrified of guns, but I defend those who would like to shoot them. Sure, shooting can be dangerous. So can hiking. Someone on a hiking trail could break a leg or get bit by a snake or contract Lyme disease from a deer tick — or, more likely, get mowed down by a mountain bike. But you don’t hear people wanting to ban hiking. As your editorial writer notes, “Gunning may not be your cup of tea, but it’s as valid a use of public land as any other recreational pursuit.”
ALICE HENRY WHITMORE
Booze Ashore
Idaho Falls, Ind.
November 17, 2024
To the Editor,
The Prohibition story by Megan Bardis brought back memories. Norman Edwards Sr. used to tell the story of how a very prominent member of the community came to his door one night, offering a tidy sum if he’d bringing booze ashore. Norman immediately threw him out the door. He’d have no part in illegal rumrunning. It made for some great stories at the dinner table for Norm Jr. and me. I just wanted to clear his name, since there was no “rest of the story.”
Cordially,
LYNDA A.W. EDWARDS
Step Aside
Amagansett
November 16, 2024
To the Editor:
Voldemort speaks! His 11-paragraph missive in last week’s letters column so bursts with semiotics*, I feel grateful for the opportunity to unpack it.
For starters, he who shall not be named but exercises iron control over the local Democratic Party placed the identical letter in the Other Paper, a violation of Star rules and (may I add) of civility. Was Voldemort unaware of the rule, or just figured it doesn’t apply to him? You decide!
The letter itself is a masterpiece of arrogance, false humility, oversimplified political analysis, and prognostication, and a rather delightful Own Goal. V. laments that the party lost working-class voters, while calling them “stupid,” pitchfork-bearing “Forrest Gump[s].” Way to get them to vote Democratic next time!
He criticizes the “One Percenters” without acknowledging that he is a leading member of a power hierarchy running interference for them. Then, in an oblivious, defiant manner, he spends several paragraphs lamenting the failure of his party to communicate its message to the people he again calls “the pitchforkers.” He concludes, “We need to figure out some new strategies around messaging.”
Seriously, V., the local party needs to acquire a small-d democratic personality, a heart, and a conscience.** It lacks all these, and stands for nothing (interests without issues) because of you. This is on you. You imparted your own personality as you expelled every independent, compassionate Democrat from the board, the trustees, and the committee, promoting bullies like Van Scoyoc and conservative Republicans like Lys.
If you mean what you say, if you want to give the party any chance of making a comeback by acquiring a real narrative, there is only one move: Step aside. Relinquish! “If you love something, let it go.”
* If I am able to continue writing these letters to The Star for a few years more, I aspire to become Fully Otic.
** The county, state, and national parties are afflicted with similar problems, a topic well handled by other writers to The Star. But “all politics is local,” and any effort to fix the party must start at the local level everywhere.
For democracy, and better Democrats, in East Hampton,
JONATHAN WALLACE
Sayville Summerfest
Wainscott
November 14, 2024
Dear David,
It is too bad that Johnathan Wallace is so unhappy with the decision to hold a World Series party with picnic tables for the fans to watch on Newtown Lane. I wonder if his announcement of what he ate for lunch was supposed to illuminate his tastes, as if anyone cares?
I didn’t hear one word of complaint from the places that sold the delicious fare to the participants. Business flourished.
I briefly stopped on my way home and saw the smiles on the faces, the game in such a festive mood. The village mayor and his staff brought the game here to town. Brilliant event for the people who live here, just as the huge crowds flocked to the park for the vintage car show the village produced.
I have always found Mayor Larsen and his staff friendly toward everyone. May I suggest you travel to Sayville, UpIsland, for their annual Summerfest? The entire streets are lined with vintage cars and thousands stroll on Montauk Highway. Maybe if your letters showed a happy face, David might put your letter higher up.
You made mention of the war in Ukraine. If the current president didn’t state, “Well, a small incursion by Russia is acceptable!” Acceptable to whom, may I ask? He didn’t ask the citizens of Crimea.
Next season is not far away and maybe Mayor Larsen and his staff will come up with another great entertainment venue for the village.
ARTHUR J. FRENCH
You Are Weak
St. Petersburg, Fla.
November 14, 2024
Dear Editor,
I echo the brilliant retort by Michael Bouker (Nov. 14) to your flamboyantly hilarious opinion slop you had the supreme audacity to publish in the Oct. 30 edition of The Star. And you call yourself an editor? It’s one thing to own your political beliefs but to skew the truth to fit your reality is a clinical, psychological disorder. It’s also blatant propaganda and the shameless twisting of the facts. You are the driver behind the destruction of trust in traditional journalism and why it is going the way of the horse and buggy. I subscribe to The Star just to stay informed and on top of ideological hypocrisy and idiocracy.
And yet you’ve done it again! To use an unarguable, uncontested, fair, and transparent election landslide loss with no subsequent financed, organized violent protests burning down cities, desecrating federal monuments, and pummeling police with bricks brought in on pallets so ungraciously, turning it yet again, on the deplorable majority, goes to show how patently the liberal left is stuck in their own pathetic, progressive ideological existence.
You are weak and you project weakness to the females who look up to you. Instead of licking your wounds in safe spaces, gathering in church basements to lament why the impeachments didn’t work, the lawfare didn’t work, comparing the president-elect to Hitler didn’t work, and shaming his supporters as garbage didn’t work, examine your own conscience. And if you do have daughters, explain to them democracy not only didn’t die in the last election; it’s proof its legacy is thriving exactly as the Founding Fathers designed it. Despite identity and trendy, cultural un-American ideologies being rammed down Americans’ throats and race-baiting journalists shamelessly pushing for civil unrest and upheaval, intelligent Americans of all shades and persuasions saw through the rot and voted to preserve our constitutional Republic in its purest form. It starts with the freedom to speak, dissent, debate, and discuss without censorship or fear of arrest or government retribution. This election wasn’t paid for, it was won by the will of the majority. And women will still be able to get abortions on demand. Guaranteed. And isn’t that the whole point of a free democracy according to you and people like you?
CAROL DRAY
No Interest?
East Hampton
November 11, 2024
Dear David,
This past Sunday, Nov. 10, the East Hampton Library and BookHampton co-hosted a special event with Felipe Luciano whose book “Flesh and Spirit — Confessions of a Young Lord” had just won a prestigious American Book Award.
As I mentioned in my introduction to his talk, Felipe is universally recognized as one of the towering and major social-justice figures of our time. The book chronicles a young Black Puerto Rican man’s odyssey and transformation from an incarcerated gang member to becoming the founder and chairman of the Young Lords Party — the Puerto Rican counterpart to the Black Panthers of that era. Growing up poor and fatherless in New York City’s Latino community, he became a member of the original Last Poets, forerunner to the hip-hop movement of the 1960s and 70s. He’s been a longtime and strong advocate of interethnic communication and is the longtime host of “Latin Roots,” a Latino program on WBAI radio.
His impact extends beyond the Puerto Rican community in New York City to many marginalized groups from the global south in New York and other parts of the country, including the Latino community in East Hampton, which he talked about extensively during the event.
Felipe is an Emmy Award-winning journalist and the first Puerto Rican news anchor on a major television network. In recent years, he completed a Master of Divinity at Union Theological Seminary in the field of Christianity and Social Justice.
This was a rare opportunity for the East Hampton community and especially the young people of its Latino community to meet such a major national, historical figure close up and personal.
By the response of those who did attend, the afternoon was a resounding success and revelation.
Yet The Star was nowhere to be found or represented.
A brief blurb for the event was covered in the bits and pieces section of the paper — that was it. Daniel Bubbeo of Newsday, The James Lane Post, 27 East, BookHampton, all covered it. It was blasted out to X, Patch, Facebook, and numerous other social media outlets. But no Star — which is the major journalistic voice of East Hampton.
I sent information of the event weeks in advance to The Star, the library did the same, yet no staff writer took on the task of interviewing one of their own to publicize it.
The one staff writer I had personally asked to interview Felipe had to be out of town at the time and could not attend.
He acknowledged he was unable to garner interest by others to do the interview.
No interest?
This was a talk that would have interested the clergy and congregants of East Hampton’s churches and synagogues; it would have been of interest to great numbers of the extensive literary and media individuals who make East Hampton their home or second home; it would have been of great interest to the burgeoning Latino community — especially young Latinos; it would have been of interest to the extensive activist community in the area; it would have been of interest to those musicians and performers who play and entertain so many of us in East Hampton; it would have been of interest to the larger East Hampton community who would have enjoyed learning about a slice of life they may not have been familiar with; it would have been of great interest to the African-American community of our town.
The list could go on and on.
A member of the audience asked me after the talk why The Star had not written a more extensive piece on such an event.
I asked her what she thought was the reason.
She responded by saying it was a missed opportunity.
Then she thought about it for a minute longer and simply said, “They just blew it.”
I’d love to get your take, David — we could still make up for the lost opportunity/snafu.
The library taped the talk. Perhaps The Star could still do an after-event interview with Felipe or at least publicize the link to the talk?
Would be the right thing to do.
Very best,
JIM VRETTOS
People Who Helped
East Hampton
November 12, 2024
To the Editor,
I want to express my greatest thanks to all the people who helped me this past week when I had an injury at home.
This includes the police department of East Hampton, the E.M.T. folks, all the medical staff and doctors at Southampton Hospital, as well as the staff at Hampton Medical Care, where I went the next day for a follow-up checkup. And of course, I’m so thankful my husband, Bill, was there to help me through this.
I was cleaning up a spill in the basement and when I stood up, I hit my head on a pipe on the heating system and the bleeding was gushing and I could not get it to stop. Finally, we called 911 and the operator was also amazing. patient and helpful, talking me through everything until the emergency staff arrived, which was very quick. And after they worked with me, I had to go by ambulance to the hospital.
I’m fine now, I did not have a concussion, and the hospital staff were able to fix the cut that I had on the top of my head that caused the bleeding. And I should pay attention to the big sign that I put on the heating/air-conditioning system that says, “Watch your head.”
TRINA SULLIVAN
Kind Community
Amagansett
November 18, 2024
Dear David,
Once again, the community has stepped up for their neighbors, setting the table for a successful 13th annual Harvest Food Drive to benefit the East Hampton Food Pantry.
On Saturday, customers at the Stop and Shop on Newtown Lane filled cart after cart manned by energetic high school volunteers — some clad in costumes. Across the street at the East Hampton Middle School, volunteers accepting additional donations from community members stopping by to help fill our shelves.
Big shout-outs to Stop and Shop and the East Hampton School District, which have graciously allowed us to set up every November for over a decade. Thanks to the Rotary Club for holding simultaneous food drives at the East Hampton and Amagansett I.G.A.s, as well as local businesses like Corcoran East Hampton, which held its own food collection and delivered it to us on Saturday.
The glorious, golden autumn day was the perfect setting to show how our beautiful town boasts a bounty of generosity, every year helping us make the holidays a bit better for local families and seniors.
But the need doesn’t end when the last bit of tinsel is packed away for the year. Local families continue to experience food insecurity as winter stretches on. At the East Hampton Food Pantry, we strive to address the need, thanks to the help from so many kind community members, organizations, and businesses.
VICKI LITTMAN
Chairwoman
East Hampton Food Pantry
As Sharks Go
Amagansett
November 18, 2024
Dear Mr. Rattray,
As you might find unsurprising, many of my friends and family members wanted to know my thoughts and feelings following the election. One friend even asked if I thought my book was just as relevant now that the campaigning was over and the results finalized. My answer was that the book remains an indispensable guide for anyone living in a vibrant democracy. Or wishing to. I’m sure you agree, Mr. Rattray. Or not. Presumptuous of me to suggest.
But my usual response to the tortured fears of my mostly liberal friends is to reference a recent article in The New York Times about the Greenland shark (Somniosus microcephalus), which has been found to have a life span of 400 years or more. Think of it — 150 years before there was a United States of America! A great percentage of Greenland’s population in 1624 were the Inuit, who had migrated from northern Canada hundreds of years earlier. The Viking Age was still a major force in Norwegian society, a time when the Little Ice Age was well underway in much of Scandinavia. England was ruled entirely by its monarchy. And on the home front, Pilgrims had just established Plymouth Colony. Four hundred years ago this year, the Dutch West India Company established what was then called New Amsterdam — present-day New York. (All the while the great mass of our continent was still home to and governed by Indigenous peoples.)
But back to the Greenland shark. As sharks go, a really unattractive creature, photos of which accompany The Times piece. (Though I’m sure others of the species would disagree. Fine.) If among the Greenland clan there might have been a historian, some brainy Somniosus who could have chronicled the events in and around the lands of northern Europe and beyond these hundreds of years, “What a tale their notes might tell,” to paraphrase Gordon Lightfoot’s song. Which brings me to my reaction to the election results: It will be some time before the impact of the new leadership is known, its effects understood. Not 400 years, of course. But not tomorrow. Not the day after tomorrow.
You know that I try to be an optimist, so here’s my hope. He will realize he no longer owes anybody anything. He won the prize and his hands won’t be bound by, um, loyalty. Never have been. Sort of his modus operandi anyway. He could defer to the judgement of the “better angels” (assuming he knows a few). Will that happen? A lot of folks think I live in a dream world, but so what? I’ve got grandkids to think about! And I remind us that when our Constitution was written it definitely did not describe the nation as it existed, but as it should be. The “all men are created equal” thing was part of a wish list of freedoms it would take generations to realize. And which are still being fought for today. So I’ll keep on dreaming, and hoping, wishing for the best.
And I’ll leave it to the columnists and commentators to explain why the Democrats got it wrong, why Black men and Hispanics voted this way or that. The good news is that, for the most part, people weren’t saying after the fact, “The system is rigged.” We voted. Peacefully. A joyful win for many. A sad loss for many. I can only hope that the new gen of Greenland sharks born this year will marvel that we’re still holding peaceful elections in 2824.
Good wishes and Happy Thanksgiving to all.
LYLE GREENFIELD
Walk Owner Children
Montauk
November 11, 2024
Dear David,
I am truly concerned about the economic viability of the Village of East Hampton when Trump’s massive deportations of undocumented immigrants take place. Will there be enough legal immigrants to: cut the lawns of the McMansions; blow the leaves away from the McMansions; clean the houses of the McMansions; service the pools of the McMansions; clean McMansion windows; paint the McMansions; walk owner dogs; walk owner children; cook owner meals; eat owner cats and dogs; tutor owner children; serve as waitstaff at tony restaurants; bus tables at tony restaurants; mix drinks at tony venues, and serve as hosts at tony venues?
To be honest, I am too old to cut my own lawn and trim a couple of hedges that grace my abode in Montauk, but wonderful people from Jamaica (all legal) take care of me.
The great thing is that I will never have to take time away from managing an investment portfolio to worry about the issues I mentioned. I have never eaten a cat nor dog.
Cheers,
BRIAN POPE
Boy From Hicksville
East Hampton
November 15, 2024
To the Editor,
If I am an Elite, which I doubt, it is just barely. One boy from Hicksville has gone far, two would be a stretch.
Such as I am I’ve taken to walking on Egypt Beach at sunrise just to make sure those madcaps Donnie and Lee haven’t put up the For Sale sign yet on the sun.
So far, so good — but it is early days.
TOM MACKEY
1,825 Days
Amagansett
November 17, 2024
To the Editor,
Nov. 19, 2019, from the zoning board of appeals agenda minutes, when we were subjected to the then-third meeting for homeowners that block Bay View Avenue:
“Ann Glennon, principal building inspector, 191 Gardiner Avenue, Appearing before the board to address any issues the board had and also to advise that two letters went out to the homeowner over a period of time when the Building Department realized that access to the road was blocked. Homeowners were notified that they needed to open up the road. Ms. Glennon made herself available for questions from the board.”
Since this moment, 1,825 days, and 2,308 days since the road was blocked, with another adjourned Zoning Board of Appeals meeting this week. If only this was about a gift card we’d already have red envelopes everywhere and hearings out the wazoo.
Still here,
JOE KARPINSKI
An Addendum
Water Mill
November 18, 2024
Dear Editor,
In your editorial “For Harris-Walz” from Oct. 30, you’re advocating for many causes and groups here in America, but some, which seem so obvious to me, you’ve neglected to mention. Perhaps an addendum to your editorial should read: For the Jewish Americans who don’t feel safe.
For the Jewish East Hampton residents who don’t feel safe, who experienced firsthand antisemitism as reported on by The East Hampton Star (Oct. 30, “Montauk Confronts Antisemitic Vandalism”).
For the return of the seven American citizens (along with the remaining 94 hostages) still being held hostage in Gaza.
For Jewish-American college students to have protection and feel safe at our campuses.
For the American working class who have found it harder and harder to put food on their table.
For our veterans, shall we strive to make sure no one who has fought for our country lives on the streets and can’t get proper health care.
For funding our police, so that they can continue to protect us.
For a day in which our country’s media, be it The New York Times, CNN, Fox, or, yes, The East Hampton Star, can show inclusion, empathy, and fairness to all groups, even if it’s different from their editor’s personal viewpoints.
Sincerely,
MICHAEL FRANK
The Blue Marble
Springs
November 17, 2024
To the Editor,
I’m responding to the brief if not taunting Letter to the Editor in the Nov. 14 edition of The Star titled “A Red Wave” that stated, “The streets of East Hampton Town are flooded with a red wave and liberal tears are raining down!” We could certainly use some rain out here but this is not the case.
Ironically, in a first-page article in the same edition of The Star, [the local Democratic chairwoman] pointed out that “Harris won East Hampton by more than 30 points, 66 points vs. 34 percent despite losing Suffolk County by almost 11 percent points.” Look over your shoulder west, past Suffolk County to New York City, and the Harris ticket did extremely well. In New York State over all, Harris won 55.6 percent of the votes. Plus, we still have two Democratic U.S. senators. Some may counter that historically Long Island has been more a part of New England. If that’s true, that is a big solid chunk of blue sitting above us. A strong line of blue extends down the entire coast to D.C.
I would describe the support for Trump on Long Island as an island within an island, and East Hampton as an island of that island. Certainly, this and other factors provide reasoning for those believing in splitting the East End off into Peconic County.
Some insight from my perspective into a local liberal reaction to the Harris/Walz loss. I attended a small election-watch gathering with family and friends. I knew Trump would win the Old Confederacy, results which came in first, but after seeing the early results come in from some of the swing states, I knew we were done by midnight. No tears here. Profound sadness, yes. Disbelief, yes, but we knew in an economy-centric election the potential for a loss was there. Many of us don’t view this as a sporting event with a blue team vs. a red team. The country has problems and divisions affecting all of us. Always has, always will. For some groups of people in certain eras, the U.S. has lived up to its promises; for others, not yet. Progress in social reforms has been glacial. I, probably like many liberals, reached out to friends following the election expressing disbelief but gaining strength from connecting with like-minded people. Some of us planned dinner parties.
Acknowledging contemporary issues, I just don’t believe Trump and MAGA are offering solutions to the problems presented. Worse yet, the platform being offered could make things worse and create additional problems. Much of the MAGA platform is uncharted. There is talk of using the military to round up violent immigrant criminals. Yet the evening news will probably show us innocent children in cages split from families and women crying outside of houses raided at gunpoint during the night. The push to make the U.S. a Christian nation goes against the Bill of Rights and the separation of church and state. Besides, the version of Christianity being imposed does not align with my understanding of the religion.
I believe many false conspiracy theories are part of a much larger real conspiracy. The creation of an enemy from within — them, the other — is a scapegoating distraction. The tearing down rather than the building up. Politics are like a pendulum, swinging back and forth, propelled by discontent. The midterm elections are a first check. How quickly people forget the world survived a global pandemic. Food production, manufacturing output, and distribution networks were all negatively impacted. The entire world has faced shortages and inflation, the U.S. perhaps not as badly as large parts of the world. Add in global conflicts and weather events. Also, the basic equation of increasing populations wanting and needing more. All muddied through disinformation.
I was a boomer born in 1960. Small town of roughly 3,000 in the rural Allegheny foothills of western New York State. Seeing the first images of Earth from space captivated me. The big blue marble. The realization that the planet and its people are all interconnected. Through the power of reading, writing, and academic achievement from a quality public education, I was able to study-travel to the Big Island of Hawaii (1978 to ’79), Southern California’s Mojave Desert (summer 1978, 1980), two journeys to East Africa in Kenya and Tanzania totaling a year and half (1979 to ‘80, 1984), a year in India top to bottom including six months in the Kingdom of Nepal (1983), and my senior thesis in the Golan Heights of Israel (1984 to ‘85). All before the age of 25. I participated in scientific research, freely contributed my time, and immersed myself in culture and religion. Not from a silver spoon. Never had or will have a silver spoon. After graduating from college, I dedicated 12 years of the prime of my life to nonprofit education.
Nearly 30 years ago I moved to East Hampton with my two young children. They were raised here then left because they wanted to. It is the longest I have lived anywhere in my life. Being from a small town, I can relate to locals. I work with my hands building and caring for things and have many blue-collar friends. When I came of age in western New York during the 1970s, I watched as our local economy crumbled. Small farms could no longer compete. My friends did not want to be tied 365 days a year to dairy farming. The region’s small manufacturing plants fled New York State from high taxes. Big-box retailers destroyed Main Streets, then a succession of chains destroyed each other. The Amish moved in and bought up some of the area’s best farmlands. Great neighbors, but we were moving back in time to the age of horse and buggy. I like to joke that upstate we wish wealthy people would discover us because we have plenty of land and alternate roads, unlike the Hamptons, which has neither. I met my first Long Islanders upstate while growing up. They attended the many colleges and universities that dot rural upstate New York. Many decide to stay Upstate. I am reverse osmosis, western New York sending a quota back to Long Island. In the off-season I get the rural upstate vibe I prefer.
In East Hampton, the local economy is nearly the opposite. There are opportunities for many with good pay, if you can afford a place to live and the high cost of living. I grew up poor in a large family and in my teens in a single-parent household. Then I lived and studied in some of the world’s poorest regions in Asia and Africa. In East Hampton, I have worked as a hands-on caretaker/manager for over a dozen years for some of the wealthiest people in the world. A study in contradictions.
For such a geographically small place, the eastern end of Long Island encompasses a wide diversity and therein lies its unique beauty. So many interesting people live here. Many tongues are spoken. Within a few minutes’ drive you can be at the open Atlantic Ocean then up to the sheltered bays and coves of the north side. Montauk is a different scene entirely. There are huge ultramodern homes alongside humble abodes dating back hundreds of years to the beginnings as the oldest English settlement in New York State.
We have a vibrant music and art scene. So much so that I was able to combine the two to have my music photography featured in Beach Magazine, Hamptons magazine, The East Hampton Press, Long Island Voice, and the front page of The Star. Soon my music-performance images will be featured in an upcoming book of the Stephen Talkhouse history. And I will have a page in the upcoming book “Projectile Points of Eastern Long Island,” published by the Southold Indian Museum. I was not an artist before moving to East Hampton.
Artists have long said there is something special about our light. If not the crystalline sunrise rising off of the ocean, then the hazy sunset over the population centers to the west, and every degree in between. It’s a strange land of contrasts. Wealthy and poor, life in the fast lane to sitting in hours of traffic jam. No red wave, and hopefully no red tide next year. If decreases in the prices of food, gas, and housing don’t come through next year, I will really feel shortchanged after this election.
ROBERT COMES