Fish Chowder
East Hampton
June 17, 2024
To the Editor,
My late mother had a modest but high-quality shelf of cookbooks. One of her favorite sources for recipes was several collections of favorite recipes by the members of ladies’ clubs or interest groups, each recipe followed by the name of the member who had provided it.
I have some of them to this day and find them marvelous sources, and the older versions superior to the more recent.
I spent some time trying to track down a similar volume from my current home in East Hampton, and eventually found a copy of “The 70th Anniversary Cook Book from the Ladies Village Improvement Society of East Hampton,” published in 1965.
Each recipe is followed by the name of the society member who submitted it. I chose just one to send to The Star:
NEW ENGLAND FISH CHOWDER
1 C. chopped celery
2 lbs. haddock
1 bay leaf, crumbled
2 oz. salt pork, diced
2 onions, sliced
4 large potatoes, diced
1 qt. milk
2 Tblsp. butter
1 tsp. salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Simmer haddock in two cups of water for 15 minutes. Drain, reserve broth. Remove bones from fish. Sauté diced pork until crisp, remove, and set aside. Sauté onions in pork fat until golden brown. Add fish, potatoes, celery, bay leaf, salt, and pepper. Pour in fish broth plus enough boiling water to make three cups of liquid.
Simmer for 30 minutes. Add milk and butter and simmer for five minutes. Serve chowder sprinkled with pork dice.
Serves six.
Mrs. John F. Kennedy
(Jacqueline Bouvier)
If you can find any of these volumes from that era you will have a treasure.
FRED KOLO
Sing the Praises
East Hampton
June 17, 2024
Dear Editor:
I am writing on behalf of all of us at the Ladies village Improvement Society — the L.V.I.S. — to sing the praises of our amazing community. The June 8 fair was a great success. Not only did Mother Nature shine upon us, but scores of people showed up to put this event together.
We are so grateful to all the village employees, the donors, the East Hampton High School Key Club and middle school kids, over 200 of our L.V.I.S. member/volunteers, the many hundreds of families (with well-behaved dogs), and our incredible staff.
As we head toward 130 years of commitment to East Hampton, the fair fund-raising keeps L.V.I.S. actively, enthusiastically continuing our mission to maintain and preserve “historical landmarks . . . ponds, greens, trees in the Village of East Hampton and vicinity, as well as for charitable and educational improvement and the advancement of the general welfare of the said Village of East Hampton and vicinity.”
With our mission in full gear, we just awarded college scholarships to 24 graduating East Hampton High School seniors.
Our thanks to everyone who supports the L.V.I.S. It is true, “it takes a village.”
All the best,
JOYCE TUTTLE
President, L.V.I.S.
Crows Remember
Shelter Island
June 14, 2024
Dear Editor,
Reading about the spurious self-described “naturalist” who kicked the osprey nest on her private dock into oblivion reminded me that crows remember human faces. They will attack people who have been cruel to them. (I immediately Googled to check and was disappointed to learn that ospreys do not carry similar grudges.)
Complete and utter destruction of wildlife for human comfort and aesthetic is nothing new here, nor is blatant entitlement and zero self-awareness (“naturalist”?). But Ms. Crain’s duplicitousness reads like the stuff of satire. She claims she was trying to protect the nest from predators. So . . . she destroyed it herself?
If you burn down your neighbor’s house to protect it from potential arsonists, you, my friend, are the arsonist.
HEIDI NEURAUTER
Common Sense
Montauk
June 15, 2024
Dear Mr. Rattray,
I am writing to encourage Democrats to vote for John Avlon in the upcoming congressional primary on Tuesday, June 25. Voters can also vote early, this week, at Windmill Village. This is a critical primary.
Anyone who’s read one of John’s books, watched him on TV, or heard him speak throughout our district knows his unwavering faith in American democracy and leadership. Like most people I’ve come to know out here, John’s a common-sense Long Islander. He knows that representing all of our district in Congress is an exercise in principled compromise, unlike so many today — on the left and on the right — who care only about their social-media profiles and fund-raising. John knows that voters are most worried about their families and neighbors — and that means a fair and reasonable tax burden, safe communities, great public schools, affordable health care, secure borders, and (I can’t believe this is even in doubt) a world that is more secure because of America’s leadership.
John is articulate, informed, and exceptionally passionate about American principles of individual rights and what makes America work best. We’re fortunate to have someone with his experience and authority who’s willing to take on the challenges (and vitriol) of political life to bring Long Island common sense to Congress. John epitomizes an enduring strain of American exceptionalism that goes back to our country’s founders. He’ll make a supremely effective representative in Congress for our district.
John’s opponent, Nancy Goroff, wants a second chance to lose to Nick LaLota in the general election. Last time she ran for Congress, Nancy lost by nearly 10 percent to our ineffectual representative. Since then, she’s failed to earn a rematch. Nevertheless, she has a lot of her own money and is willing to spend it to win this primary. Hard to believe that’s in service to our community and the district — it feels more like self-service.
In the past few weeks, Nancy’s campaign has taken an aggressively negative tone, trying to link John to the MAGA movement, hoping to alienate Democratic Party primary voters. In particular, she notes that as a young man, John wrote speeches for Rudy Giuliani when Rudy was “America’s Mayor.” What Nancy doesn’t say is that John wrote the eulogies that Rudy delivered for hundreds of 9/11 victims. That’s not MAGA. It’s not even political. That’s just old-fashioned American public service, which is exactly the same motivation for John to run for Congress today. Nancy’s campaign’s dishonesty is an embarrassment and a disservice to our community and the district.
One final thought: Do you remember memorizing the preamble to the U.S. Constitution in grade school? I do, and I bet a lot of your readers do, too. It comes from a time when Americans, together, really believed that “We, the People of the United States” were forming a “more perfect union” that would provide for the “common defense” and “promote the general welfare.” And they believed they were doing it not just for themselves but for their “posterity.” As individuals and together as one nation. That’s the same optimistic common sense that John Avlon offers us every day. There are many of us — Democrats and Republicans and Independents — who share John’s common sense and principles, and we should demand it of anyone who seeks to represent us.
A vote for John Avlon is a vote for Long Island common sense and faith in America.
JONATHAN YELLEN
Grit Your Teeth
Amagansett
June 15, 2024
To the Editor:
The robotic faithful of the East Hampton Town Democratic Committee, at Voldemort’s bidding, wrote letters to The Star last week endorsing John Avlon over Nancy Goroff for the Democratic nomination in the November congressional election. Chairperson Anna Skrenta accuses Goroff of “running a dark and divisive smear campaign” advancing “misleading or totally false ‘information’ ” about Avlon: namely that he was Mayor Giuliani’s speechwriter and worked in his presidential campaign.
Hmmm, I thought, that should be easy enough to check; and it was. A 2021 article in Newsweek quotes Avlon: “ ‘I don’t think you can underestimate the respect [Giuliani] had in the legal community and the justice community, particularly at that time, when he was mayor.’ Avlon prepared Giuliani’s addresses for the State of the City from 1999 to 2001 when Giuliani was the mayor of New York City and went on to serve as the chief speechwriter and the deputy director of policy for Giuliani’s 2008 presidential campaign.” Avlon’s own former employer, CNN, quotes him in a sympathetic interview on its website in January 2023: “[W]hat he did as mayor was absolutely remarkable. George Will called it America’s most successful case of conservative governance. . . . [H]is policies ushered in an era of resurgence for urban America. In New York City, I think 20 years of Rudy and (Michael) Bloomberg together really helped turn around the city in fundamental ways.” A more recent Vanity Fair interview, in April of this year, gives his resume between Giuliani and CNN: “a columnist gig at The New York Sun and a fellowship at the Manhattan Institute” — a right wing newspaper which advocated prosecuting Iraq War protesters for treason, and a right wing think tank which opposed Obamacare and an increase in the minimum wage and supports fracking.
Anyone with their eyes open during the Giuliani years knows that Avlon’s is a false narrative: Giuliani in his glory years was already despotic and crazy. During his successful campaign against Mayor Dinkins in 1992, he gave a speech from the steps of City Hall so incendiary that his audience, N.Y.P.D. officers, happily rioted, stopping traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge, rocking cars, calling Democratic council people in the area racist names, and beating a journalist (see The New Yorker for Oct. 4, 2021).
During his two terms as mayor, he routinely defended N.Y.P.D.’s shootings of unarmed Black men, including most notoriously Amadou Diallo, killed reaching for his identification. Patrick Dorismond, an unarmed man working as a security guard who was killed by an undercover officer in 2000, had a sealed juvenile criminal record — which Giuliani publicly released, apparently arguing that Dorismund deserved to be killed because he had had a brush with the law years earlier as a teenager (cnn.com, March 19, 2000). Avlon was employed by Giuliani when Dorismond died. Giuliani also embarked on an insensate campaign to close the Brooklyn Museum after it displayed an art object he thought offended religion (see The Times, March 28, 2000). Avlon was also working for him then. Though Giuliani’s 2008 presidential campaign (tanked by the rapid cracking of the integrity narrative) had a more centrist platform than most of his adversaries’, he opposed universal health care, promised to appoint more justices like Scalia and Alito, and was a cheerleader for the Iraq invasion.
Although the anonymous postcards piling up in my post office box are in fact creepy (I agree with Anna Skrenta on something!), the facts they reveal are true. The question this poses about the East Hampton Town Democrats is, in my humble opinion, profoundly important. Avlon is clearly a Democrat in name only. Shimmering somewhere in background is a truthful explanation — “This guy, because of his right-wing credentials, has a better chance of beating MAGA Congressman Nick LaLota; please just grit your teeth and vote for him; we promise to control him later.” Note that this is a similar story to the one Voldemort could have offered for David Lys, a right-wing Republican who re-registered as a Democrat in order to be appointed, then elected, to the town board. The problem is that the Democrats do not feel they owe their voters the truth, or even any kind of consistent narrative or platform — or any respect. It takes a party without principles to endorse a candidate who apparently lacks any. (John Avlon: Did you write any speeches for Giuliani about Patrick Dorismond, the Brooklyn Museum, the Iraq war? Anna Skrenta wrote last week, “There are no Republican or MAGA skeletons in [Avlon’s] closet.” Really?
For Democracy in East Hampton,
JONATHAN WALLACE
Confuse Thieves
East Hampton
June 16, 2024
Dear Mr. Rattray,
Once again I find myself extremely upset at what appears to be the blatant “nannyism” of the assistant town attorney, Nicholas Coritsidis, and Councilwoman Cate Rogers. Don’t get me wrong, I am no advocate of allowing people to run wild and turn their properties into outer-bounds markers for J.F.K. airport, but neither do I agree with this seemingly capricious attempt to overly curb the residents to accentuate their gardens and the plantings they contain.
The first question to ask is what is the basis in fact for deciding that the maximum wattage for tree uplighting and walkway illumination should be 40 watts vs. the currently allowed 75 watts? Next, I would ask what the basis in fact is for shortening the hours of illumination? And has anyone considered that landscape illumination can confuse would-be thieves?
As presented in Christopher Gangemi’s article, both of these revised standards appear arbitrary. And, if we go down this path, how long will it be before someone says we should limit what days homeowners should be allowed to illuminate their gardens and walkways?
According to NYC Bird Alliance [formerly NYC Audubon], up to a quarter-million birds die annually from crashing into New York City’s buildings due to light pollution and reflective or clear glass. However, bird kill would not seem to be a reason for the proposed curtailing of tree lighting in East Hampton township. Nor does the right of residents to limit their neighbors’ right to quiet enjoyment by eliminating intrusive lighting, which to me would seem to be a matter for personal arbitration or the court.
Last winter, I wrote a letter to The Star to challenge East Hampton Village to (re)inject a sense of holiday spirit into its holiday decorations — including street lighting. It remains to be seen whether Mr. Rattray’s enthusiastic support for this proposal results in any changes this winter. However, I wonder whether it would be better — and better serve our community — if those so enthusiastic to preserve the bucolic nature of our town (and village) and our ability to view the stars, like Councilwoman Rogers and the head of the Public Safety and Code Enforcement Department, Kevin Cooper, focused on how to enhance the look of East Hampton township during the holidays, rather than try to impose limits on the way homeowners light their gardens.
Sincerely,
JAMES R. WELDON
Imagine
East Hampton Village
June 16, 2024
Dear Hamptons Community,
I wanted to begin by expressing my gratitude for making June 1 a magical day. It was our third annual Pride Parade. Thank you, Hamptons Pride, Jerry Larsen, and countless wonderful volunteers from our Long Island community.
Let’s not neglect another milestone in history: Kathy Henderson. She saw an opportunity to bridge the L.G.B.T. community and empower women musicians. The Clubhouse generously hosted a Post Pride Parade Dance Party featuring three bands: the Fistys, Tracy City, and Miss Viscous. Thanks to Kathy’s leadership, on June 1, we made history. All rockers; mostly queer. Women. A performance space with women rockers owning the stage. Empowering the L.G.B.T. community. A safe space. A welcoming space.
However, my story embodies beyond gender and orientation politics. We moved to East Hampton in 1998 and discovered a community that was vastly different from Massachusetts’s. As out lesbian teachers and administrators on the East End, we received hate mail. I was undermined by parents and colleagues in our community, and we were devastated when our diversity programs and curriculum were compromised. Despite the support from N.A.A.C.P. and other human-rights organizations, in 2001, we left East Hampton and moved to New York City.
Imagine what a difference 23 years can make. Imagine what it felt like to perform onstage. A mainstream venue. Lesbian and proud, Kathy Henderson has devoted her life to fundamental civil-rights values. The co-founder of GLSEN; an out U.S. under-19 lacrosse coach; co-grand marshal for the New York City Pride parade. Her devotion to justice goes on. So modest. So unassuming. My Kathy. My wife.
Thank You,
ALEJANDRA DUBOVE
Win-Win
East Hampton
June 16, 2024
Dear Friends,
As many of you know, Surfrider (in its desire to rid the world of as much plastic pollution as possible) worked with East Hampton Village on Skip the Stuff — legislation that banned-food service establishments and third-party delivery services from providing single-use accessories (like plastic forks) unless the customer asks for it.
Now, Suffolk County is taking on similar legislation (with Ann Welker and Steven Englebright co-sponsoring) and, if passed, not only will municipalities like East Hampton be relieved of creating similar legislation on their own, but think of the waste we will not generate and think of the money businesses will save not delivering what will just end up in the trash can. It just makes no sense for businesses to purchase items that customers do not want, do not intend to use; it only ends up costing them and all of us more in waste management when they are tossed into the waste stream, to say nothing of the costs of polluting the oceans or littering our roadsides.
This seems like a win-win. But I am hearing that it might not be so easy to pass. Hmmm. Time to ask for help. It won’t take long.
Urge the Suffolk County Legislature to pass a Skip the Stuff ordinance! Call 631-853-3685 or email [email protected] or show up at 300 Center Drive in Riverhead at 12:30 p.m. on June 20, where it will be discussed in the Health Committee. If the measure makes it out of committee, the full legislature will meet on June 25 at 4 p.m.
I am guessing you agree — we want less plastic in our takeout.
With Gratitude, as Always,
LENA TABORI
Co-Founder and Publisher
climatechangeresources.org
Montauk’s Future
Montauk
June 17, 2024
Dear David,
Concerned Citizens of Montauk would like to thank the 100-plus Montauk residents who participated in our coastal-resiliency forum at the Montauk Library on June 9. Titled “Montauk’s Coastal Resiliency and the Future of Our Town,” it featured coastal experts, elected officials, and community leaders, and the presentations and discussions covered current and future plans to reduce our vulnerability and facilitate adaptation to our changing environment.
The six-member panel included: Cate Rogers, deputy supervisor of East Hampton Town; Ann Welker, Suffolk County Legislator for the Second District; Dr. Henry Bokuniewicz of Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences; Thad Pawlowski, from Columbia University’s Director Center for Resilient Cities and Landscapes; Leo Daunt, the president of the Montauk Chamber of Commerce, and Samantha Klein, East Hampton Town’s coordinator of intergovernmental relations.
Special thanks to our panelists, the Montauk Library for hosting, and LTV Studios for their facilitation of the live broadcast.
Sincerely,
KAY TYLER
C.C.O.M.
It Could Happen
Springs
June 17, 2024
Dear Mr. Editor,
Hope all is well at The Star. Well, I see you’re up to your old and current tricks of picking on the Republicans, your editorial front page of June 6 beating up LaLota and a cartoon picturing Trump in jail are weak-minded at best. It’s a shame that The Star never “shines for all” when it comes to the Republicans, never any negative mention of where the Democrats have taken us with their majority rule.
I received a very nice letter the other day from a Deborah Montgomery concerning my Second Amendment rights. To quote part of her letter, “When the institutions of democracy break down, the government is no longer by and for the people, government becomes by and for itself, leaving scraps for its citizens to fight over.” I believe that statement pretty much puts the Biden administration’s actions in a nutshell.
As far as that cartoon goes, maybe your cartoon artist could sketch this picture: Joe and Hunter Biden working on an old-fashioned Southern chain gang, maybe a road-crew setting, with a couple of Chinese guards on horses with pump shotguns watching over them. Now, we certainly could label that “It could happen.”
On the brighter side, in the last few weeks, you have received several letters from Nancy Peppard. Her qualifications seem impeccable. I wonder if any of the folks on the 13th floor are reading those letters and paying attention. You can’t argue with her facts.
As always, best regards.
America and Americans first,
JEFFREY PLITT
Casualty Numbers
Springs
June 17, 2024
To the Editor,
During the Vietnam War, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara hit upon the idea that using body counts of enemy combatants could be a proxy for success on the battlefield. Once the measure was authorized, every officer, from first lieutenants to full bird colonels, began to report exaggerated numbers. The more bodies they counted, the better their effectiveness appeared and the more likely they were to get promoted or rotated out of country.
In the Gaza War today, Hamas’s military chief, Yahya Sinwar, has hit upon a similar strategy that is even more perverse. Sinwar likes to report large numbers of Palestinians killed in order to make Israel into a pariah. His body counts always emphasize “women and children casualties” with astounding accuracy. But they never tally male combatants — as if they don’t exist. Analysis at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School has shown the numbers (based on prewar census surveys) to be statistically impossible and fraudulent. The Council on Foreign Affairs has published expert opinions concluding “it has become increasingly clear that these numbers represent Hamas propaganda . . . they are fraudulent”(May).
Sinwar has publicly said, almost exclusively in Arabic, that he is “in no hurry to end the war . . . because it is drawing Israel into a quagmire that is making it into an international pariah.” And he has written to Arab mediators urging them to slow and retard any efforts toward peace because he has Israel where he wants it — no matter the casualties.
In case you don’t know, the Gaza Health Organization gets estimates of casualties from the Gaza Media Organization and then gives them to Hamas operatives to massage before releasing them to the United Nations and affiliated organizations. They then report them as “facts.” These numbers are rife with overcounting, repetitions based on multiple simultaneous estimates, and what Hamas consultants think will make a compelling narrative. Sinwar has set the tone by saying, “We make headlines with blood — No blood, no news!”
To more fully appreciate the purloined counting, it helps to know that it is widely accepted that between 700,000 and 750,000 people were displaced when they followed Egyptian General Abdel Nasser’s advice to evacuate in 1948 so that the combined Arab armies could more easily destroy the new Jewish state. Today, UNRWA — the billion-dollar refugee organization that is the only one still operating from the many organizations formed to aid displaced persons in the wake of World War II — reports that there are between 5.6 and 7 million Palestinian refugees who have a “right to return”! This includes, for example, the lovely Hadid sisters (both born in Los Angeles) who are fashion models. It’s certainly not genocide.
This preposterous accounting cynically exists so that if Hamas doesn’t win militarily, they can conquer and eliminate Israel by negotiating a one-state solution. Regardless of purpose, this is testimony to crooked accounting.
In the use of fraudulent numbers to win the propaganda war, an important question is too often ignored. Why haven’t Islamic states effectively helped Palestinians and taken them out of the line of fire? Poland, by contrast, has taken in more than a million Ukrainian refugees.
The Arab states have closed their borders to the Palestinians despite condemning the reported casualties. If Egypt alone had opened its side of the Rafah gate, almost 50 percent of all Gazans would have been sheltered out of harm’s way! Much the same can be said of the Kingdom of Jordon, in which 60 percent of the population has Palestinian ancestry.
Politico magazine (Feb. 21) addressed the issue by publishing an in-depth interview with Ryan Crocker, who served four decades in the Middle East as U.S. ambassador to Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Kuwait, as well as to Afghanistan and Pakistan. He’s often referred to as “America’s Lawrence of Arabia” because of his pro-Arab approach. Ambassador Crocker put it this way:
“The so-called Arab Street” — a term for public opinion in the Arab world — “was behind the Palestinian cause, but it never really affected policy on the part of any of the Arab governments. As you go around the region almost all [Arab governments] were united on one point, which was that the Palestinians were a threat, a foreign population that should be weakened if not exterminated. That is why Egypt exploded when [U.S. Secretary of State] Tony Blinken suggested they give sanctuary to Gazans.” There are no Palestinians in Egypt.
The history of violence by numerous factions in Gaza and the West Bank (especially Hamas’s link to the Muslim Brotherhood) has actually made them a pariah in the countries that surround them! The Palestinian cause has been useful to many Arab leaders because it follows Machiavelli’s advice that the best way to stay in power is to maintain an external enemy so that the internal population will think they are dependent on you to protect them. Of course, in the case of Iran, there is a theological motivation behind their abject hatred. It is to create an Islamic caliphate throughout the Middle East.
Tom Holland, the eminent historian of the Roman Empire, wrote in his book “PAX” that “estimating the percent of the world’s population ruled by Rome is possible, but certainty is impossible.” The same kind of humility should apply to those who quote casualty numbers generated by Hamas and repeated by the U.N. or liberal media organizations.
Moreover, robotic signaling by those who are unaware or ignorant of the causes, nature, and purpose of conflict should consider holding back on what David Brooks in The New York Times calls grandstanding for virtuous attention. “The need to prove, to yourself and others, that you’re on the side of the oppressed” should be abandoned (June 6).
Osama Hamdan, the Hamas leader, just told The Guardian (June 14) that “No one has any idea how many Israeli hostages are alive.” If Hamas can’t keep track of 102 hostages, how can so many educated people repeat the exact numbers of casualties announced by the same terrorist group?
DONALD SUSSIS
Atomic Dangers
Springs
June 17, 2024
To the Editor,
In 1905, Albert Einstein came up with the world’s most famous equation, E=mc2, meaning matter and energy are one and the same and can transform from one to the other if conditions are met. Through it, scientists have discovered many secrets of the universe, including how to make an atom bomb. Einstein, a peace-loving man, was devastated when he found out his equation could be used for war.
On July 16, 1945, the United States detonated the world’s first nuclear device near Los Alamos, N.M. The test proved successful. Three weeks later, President Truman ordered his general to drop two atom bombs on Japan, causing unparalleled devastation, killing over 200,000 civilians, and ending World War II. No nuclear weapon has ever been used in war again, although we have had a few close calls, such as in 1962 when the Russians were setting up nuclear missiles in Cuba. President Kennedy made a firm stand: remove them or pay the consequences.
Since then, eight other countries have acquired nuclear weapons. More countries will develop such weapons as time progresses, making Earth a very dangerous place to live. Some scientists, such as the late great Carl Sagan, have speculated that throughout the universe, if and when a species becomes technically advanced like us and unlocks the atom, it may be an unavoidable fate to trigger a worldwide nuclear war, causing mass extinction of such a species, due to what is known as nuclear winter, throwing so much dust and radiation into the atmosphere, blocking out the sun for years, creating a mini ice age similar to the asteroid collision event that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs.
For a mere 79 years, we have, so far, barely avoided the onslaught of such an event, but as more and more countries develop such weapons, the projection of such an event multiplies. With such irreconcilable differences among 195 countries worldwide, and the aggressive nature of homo sapiens as a species, there doesn’t seem to be any foolproof method of evading such an onslaught. In essence, Einstein’s equation let the genie out of the bottle and there’s no way to put him back in. Entities such as NATO and the United Nations are a step in the right direction, although it may be impossible to get all countries on board and on the same page. Even so, as time goes by, you never know if some deranged, power-hungry, narcissistic, pathological liar/dictator whose reign is about to fall will take the whole world down with him, just to make himself feel better.
Looking from a universal perspective, our civilization is nothing more than a pinprick of existence in this universe. What happens on Earth, despite what humans think, doesn’t really matter. The universe will continue to exist without us. Earth will eventually recover. The cycle will continue, and a new species will emerge dominant.
What a wonderful world.
JEFF HINES
Personal Matters
Amagansett
June 16, 2024
To the Editor,
The Amagansett School Board meeting will follow its own policies and procedures moving forward. Film at 11 for all.
This must be because I sent a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request for the nonexistent video from the March 26 meeting. Upon sitting down for this week’s cinematic adventure — what utter favoritism for one board member’s family and what intimate knowledge our interim superintendent magically now has. Must be all those mornings chasing that individual board member down when the school bell already chimed.
The smattering of hands up by some board members, flashing fingers to make the number 10: 10 minutes, 10 days, 10 weeks, 10 months? Maybe you meant July 10; I believe that may be a date of significance. What subliminal messaging for the masses?
The interesting thing is that when you check the archives, the one quoted often in capital letters, indicating yelling, is the one who got just enough of a stipend to pay for something like a Tesla charger. They are also the same individual who was concerned the school wouldn’t do “in house” interviews and would hire an outside firm to do it all in December. Always goes back to December. Christmas bells are ringing as we intently await next year’s placements. We’ll soon know who has favor, as we’ve just seen some pay raises given out already. That “conservative” budget is on the rise already.
One year ago in the archives, Rick Slater had a good quote with an interesting twist: “Respect is not guaranteed, it is earned.” I normally give respect and see if you can keep it. Either way, any respect the board may have had is too far gone to be regained, in my opinion. But thank you for setting the precedent and reading my public comment for the community.
I do believe more will be on the way for the social-club-back-to-country-club, soon to show its desire to rival the other named prep board in town. (If you know, you know.) The board might need to explain why you’d go to executive session for “personal matters.” What a closing statement. So much for personnel.
Still here,
JOE KARPINSKI
Work to Be Done
Montauk
June 13, 2024
Dear David,
Just imagine, over 2,000 migrants in New York City have been connected with a job under Mayor Adams’s plans. About half of the 9,000 migrants contacted by New York’s work-force program since last October have responded and made the effort to link them with employers. Roughly 5,500 migrants reached by agents failed to get a job, as only 2,000 wound up getting any kind of work. Those figures barely make a dent in the 65,000 migrants under New York City’s care, with 27,000 of them of working age ignoring calls from council members for action. Obviously, many don’t want to work, as everything is free to them right now. The fact that we have approximately 65,000 asylum seekers under our care shows a lot of work needs to be done.
In God and country,
BEA DERRICO
Greed-Based Hell
East Hampton
June 17, 2024
To the Editor:
In the cabal of Trump, Johnson, Cruz, etc. — these troubled white men — a virus of nihilism has taken over the dialogue. Based on sexual violence and immigration, they have plumbed the depths of civil discourse to arrive at a point of nearly perfect subhumanity, a greed-based hell on Earth.
Heaven is a place where nothing really happens. Truth may be hard, but without it we are garbage.
NEIL HAUSIG