The views and opinions expressed in our letters section are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Hudson Valley One. You can submit a letter to the editor here.
On September 26, the Tivoli Fire Company hosted a dual wet down for their long-awaited new firetruck and ambulance. Neighboring fire companies Red Hook, Rhinebeck, Germantown, Rhinecliff, Milan, Clermont and Taghkanic took part in the wet down. The community turned out to for the refreshments, speeches and fun. (Photos by Phyllis McCabe)
Diaz Ambulance seeks more Town funding
Diaz Memorial Ambulance Service is a private, nonprofit Emergency Medical Service (EMS) provider in the Town of Saugerties. It may surprise your readers to know that EMS providers are not considered an “essential service” by the State of New York or the federal government. We are considered transportation and therefore only paid for transporting a patient to a medical facility. Approximately 40 percent of our calls are non-transport. We are not permitted to charge for supplies used in any call, including medications, whether the patient is transported or not. Insurance reimbursements are typically below what we charge, going as low as 20 percent of the billing rate. EMS providers here in the Hudson Valley, New York State and the entire country are struggling financially.
Over the past ten years, our call volume has increased 30 percent. As a result, there are more calls that we cannot respond to because both ambulances are in service. Local volunteer fire departments have helped to respond to these “third out calls.” They can only provide first aid or EMT service while they wait for an ambulance. Recently, the number of these “third out calls” has increased to a level that the volunteer fire departments can no longer handle. Also, the lack of an available ambulance delays getting a patient to a medical facility in a timely manner, which, in some cases, can be critical.
Diaz Ambulance currently contracts with the Town of Saugerties to provide two Advanced Life Support (ALS) ambulances 24/7. In return, the Town provides financial assistance, for which we are truly grateful. We are asking for a sizable increase in funding from the Town for 2022. We need to pay our staff a wage comparable to other EMS providers in the area if we want to retain and hire new EMTs and paramedics. Staffing for a third ambulance 12 hours/day, seven days/week to help us respond to the increase in call volume is also needed.
Diaz Ambulance is very grateful for the many years of support shown to us by the Town Board and the community in general. This assistance has helped us to be one of the best EMS providers in the area. We look forward to your continued support.
Steve Thornton
President, Diaz Ambulance
Saugerties
Help
Will someone please explain to me why we taxpayers must endure the cost of renovating the supervisor’s cottage office, rather than having the office included as part of the new addition? As I have pointed out, not only would including the office reduce the cost of the Comeau addition project, but it would also conform to standard management principles.
Howard Harris
Woodstock
Streetscape
Sesame Street is now all condos.
Sparrow
Phoenicia
A grateful town — resilient spirit continued
A heartfelt thank you goes out to all those who helped to make Volunteers’ Day: A Day of Gratitude, an enjoyable success.
When a list is put together which thanks so many people, there often are some unfortunate omissions. A heartfelt thank you goes out to: Maxanne Resnick, Diane Colello, Niki Swathout, Lavender O’Neill and Emile Rother who added their pleasant energy and community spirit to the event. Thank you for taking the time to help honor all volunteers. They make our world a better place.
Sam Magarelli
Member, Board of Directors of WAiV
Woodstock
Monster fan club
Like very thirsty dogs striking a pose ‘round a shit-stained toilet bowl, GOP Trumpism and/or MAGA zombies lap up, lap up, lap up with lapping success his continual “godawfulness,” time and time again. He has people that absolutely worship him, which totally blows my mind.
He, and nearly the entire GOP, are in lockstep with an ongoing scam and sham, which is used for discrediting and then breaking apart our constitutional underpinnings. And like Trump, an emboldened Trumplandia is spreading the “Big Lie” too. Now more than ever, the people are responsible for the character of their Congress. They’re intentionally making matters worse, as we find ourselves in a battle for the soul of our nation.
Let’s get something straight. He’s the match on fire, the lit fuse – assaulting the public good in a lake of gasoline. He uses combustible far-fetched fiction to be on the wrong side of every issue. Always ignorant, always fear-based, always aggressive, always hiding behind fantasy/role-play and lies. He wants his followers like this as well. He “loves the poorly educated” – his own words. Deep down, grifters always hold their victims in contempt, as marks to be fleeced as you gloat on their falling for you.
There is no interconnection between responsibility and the staunch belief in a moral truth. How many people does Trump have to destroy before people stop associating themselves with him?
Letter-writers here have opined (and I’m paraphrasing): “Why aren’t you worried about the mess in the White House now? Trump is gone, but ‘you people’ obsess about him! Strange behavior…”
What mess are you referring to? We finally have an administration that is more interested in all the people of this country and not just one man who would like to be a dictator. Again, what mess are you talking about? Afghanistan? Immigration? COVID and its variants? These are messes left by Trump and the Republicans! They always leave this country in a mess with problems the Democrats have to solve.
Mmmm, I haven’t seen any people in the last eight months violently trying to overtake the Capitol, have you? Trump may be gone, but he has a lot to answer for. What, we all are just supposed to forget what he tried to do or is still trying to do, which was and is trying to overthrow our government to become a dictator? Uh, not strange behavior. Some of us are very concerned about our democracy; sorry you are not.
In spite of all the danger, how do we get back from this place? Remember when people had a lot more in common…like common sense, decency, courtesy and respect.
These deplorable types are incentivizing a “Big Lie” to first get power and then to keep power. We are in a “Code Red” for democracy. Who wants the end of our democratic experiment? It has happened in many other countries.
I was under the impression, particularly after seeing the Republican platform in the 2020 election, that the “operative statement” was, “We must be in power. Any action towards that goal is good. Any action other than that is bad. And if you’re not one of us, you are the enemy.”
It’s probably a universal truth that it takes a lot longer to clean up a mess than it does to make it in the first place. Sad, but true. The voting public needs constant reminders. My proactivism and pushback is benefited by “Letters to the Editor” – thank you, Hudson Valley One newspaper.
Neil Jarmel
West Hurley
Good-Cause eviction
I am writing in support of Good-Cause eviction and because I believe we all benefit from increasing housing stability in our neighborhoods, towns and cities. It does not prevent landlords from taking action against tenants who are not paying rent or who have broken the terms of their lease. It protects against unfair and predatory rent increases.
My family lives in Kingston, in a neighborhood of socioeconomic, ethnic and racial diversity and where people greet one another and lend a hand as needed. We believe that stable neighborhoods, like ours, are powerful components of healthy communities. Good Cause will ensure that pickup trucks or cars loaded with people’s belongings don’t start appearing because a real estate investor has bought up a property or two and hiked the rents; or that a landlord for some unknown, unjustifiable reason just wants those tenants out. Think how the atmosphere of your neighborhood would change if rental property became revolving doors and kids that you saw daily walking to school disappeared.
My husband and I were renters for the first ten years of marriage. We didn’t realize at the time how privileged we were. We were never at the whimsy of a new landlord taking over and making the rent unaffordable. We did not worry about being kicked out for advocating for better services. When we complained about hot water issues, broken light bulbs in the hallway or dirty stairwells, it never occurred to us that we could be risking eviction. It also never occurred to us that when our lease was up, it might not get renewed. I cannot imagine going through my daily life with that threat of landlord power hanging out there.
For the sake of stability and sanity, everyone should be assured that they are not at risk of sudden upheaval, of having to find a new place to live, maybe new school for their kids, and maybe even new jobs because of loss of the roof over their heads for no good reason.
Good-Cause eviction is good sense. It will protect our community, our neighborhoods, our families – and will help ensure that this region is affordable for the many and not just the privileged few in generations to come.
Donna Schlachman
Kingston
Ring out danger ring out warning
The 26th UN Climate Change Conference know as COP 26 takes place in Glasgow, Scotland, from October 31 to November 12. In order to highlight the importance of this event, which has been called a code red for humanity, a group of church members in the UK have proposed that on Saturday, October 30, church bells be rung throughout the country at 6 p.m., UK time, to mark the occasion.
Church bells have been used as a warning for floods, fires and even potential invasions in the UK, and would now serve as a warning about climate change.
Andrew Dalton heard about this from a contact in the UK, and brought it up at a meeting of the New Paltz Climate Action Coalition. Next, the New Paltz Interfaith Earth Action Coalition joined them in an effort to spread the word as much as possible and — voila — just like that, so began a nascent international movement!
Please think of ways you can pass this on, not only to houses of worship, but to schools, colleges, villages and town halls and other groups or institutions. There are lots of ways to make “good noise” like “good trouble” without ringing a bell…although they help. Think about a united global effort and what an impression that would make! It’s such a simple thing with such powerful symbolism!
You can share your ideas or questions with me but please plan on “making a joyful noise” on October 30.
Jim O’Dowd
New Paltz
Sign of the times.
Protect women’s right to decide
Congressman Delgado voted last week to pass the Women’s Health Protection Act. This Act, HR 3755, would codify Roe v. Wade as the law of the land. It would end all efforts to sabotage a woman’s right to decide what goes on in her body. Delgado’s ongoing support for a woman’s right to choose earns him a score of 100 percent from NARAL.
I wonder how Delgado’s opponent stands on this issue. Given that he affiliates with radical Republicans, maybe there’s little need to wonder.
Doris Chorny
Wallkill
The oppression
Thanks for asking. What does it take? Maybe my house being on fire?
The inability to live without being subject to the neighbors’ rant of racism. With the arrival of police who consigns the lies.
We can talk about racism when it’s from the top down.
Cheryl Riley
Gardiner
Support public access television
The City of Kingston, New York receives $410,000 from the cable franchise fees from the cable subscribers, and doesn’t direct any funds to the public access station. Franchise fees are paid to local governments as compensation for Spectrum (or Charter) use of the public rights-of-way and easements. Franchise agreements should include a studio, channel lineup, rates and a budget line for public access television.
Kingston Public Access (KPA) is a public education and government access channel serving the City of Kingston, the Towns of Esopus, Hurley, Kingston, Marbletown, Rosendale and Ulster. KPA’s locally produced programming is carried on Spectrum on Channel 23, currently called Esopus Community TV.
Clark Richters, Sr.
Kingston
Discrimination hotline
I was happy to see the article by Violet Snow in last week’s Hudson Valley One outlining the hotline and procedures for those observing anti-Semitic incidents, whether they are the subject of such behavior or a third-party observer who wants to help stop such a stain on our community and/or wants to assist those negatively affected by it. If you did not see the article, I recommend you check it out.
At the same time, it occurs to me that we need such a mechanism for reporting and seeking assistance for any such attacks on the person of anybody, whether about skin color, sexual orientation or simply because you are a female. While the government authorities are charged with dealing with such incidents that violate laws, those who have been the subject of such assaults to their person still need emotional and informational assistance that such a hotline could help provide.
If there are such hotlines that already exist, I think they need to be regularly “advertised” to the general public so that it is in our minds when needed. I ask Ulster Publishing to, as they have with Violet’s article, keep such assistance in the public consciousness on a regular basis.
Jac Conaway
Olivebridge
Dark Ages
In her letter, “Is a renaissance of the Medieval Ages upon us?” Joyce Benedict reveals that through her counseling service, she discovered men have sexually exploited and abused women in the past and continue to do so in the present. Moreover, Ms. Benedict writes that it is okay for women to “remove a piece of tissue” that may have resulted from such abuse until 20 weeks into a pregnancy. She does so without ever stating that the piece of tissue is an “unabusive” developing human life whose limbs may be torn, bones crushed and blood spilled during this “removal.”
Joyce then asserts after 20 weeks, “It should not be allowed.” This of course begs the questions: Since it’s okay before 20 weeks, why shouldn’t it be okay after 20 weeks? Does the “growing” piece of tissue (or “parasite,” as Anne Wandres refers to developing human life in her letter, “Women’s right to choose”) become more than a piece of tissue after 20 weeks? If so, what does it become and why should it then be protected? With this in view, I respectfully suggest that one evil – the abuse and exploitation of women by men – does not justify another evil: the killing of human life within the womb by a woman and her doctor.
Had Joyce known the mind of God (she wrote no one does) during her counseling sessions with abusive men, she could have reminded them, with the authority that comes from the Judeo/Christian worldview (the foundation of Western civilization), that such abuse is unacceptable because it is wrong in God’s sight. She could have supported her claim to both Christian and Jews by citing the Decalogue, summed up by “Love God and love your neighbor as yourself” or the New Testament directive for husbands, to “Love your wives as Christ loved the Church.” She could also have recalled the New Testament description of love, which includes the fact that this love “always protects” the physical, emotional and spiritual well-being of the loved one, as well as cited the Song of Solomon, which celebrates the tender romantic love between a man and a woman.
Jews or Christians (or even atheists) unwilling to be influenced by such counseling prove, by their unwillingness, that in abusing and exploiting their partners, they are simply following their own appetites or other, merely human determinations of appropriate behavior when they exploit and abuse. The only remedy for such abusers would be legal action when warranted. It should be noted: The laws of societies that have rejected Western civilization’s notion of “the mind of God” are, often, not as protective of women’s rights as Ms. Benedict or Ms. Wandres might hope.
In closing, those who exploit and abuse others are doing evil according to the mind of God as revealed in the Scriptures, which are the foundation of Western civilization’s moral sensibilities. The rejection or distortion of these sensibilities in the 20th century did not lead to a renaissance of the Medieval Ages: Rather, it led to the darkness of Mao’s Communist Cultural Revolution, Stalin’s Gulag death camps and starvation policies as well as Hitler’s ovens. Together, all of these resulted in well over 50 million murders. It also led to 62 million deliberate killings of developing human lives in the womb (many of whom were females) since 1973, because the “freedom to choose” was not restrained by the moral truth “You shall not kill.” From Mao to abortion, these killings were justified by either simply declaring the value of such lives as worthless, inferior or “unknown” or unscientifically defining such lives as pieces of tissue or mere parasites.
Unfortunately, this 20th-century darkness suggests that the consequences of rejecting the light of God’s will and accepting views of morality determined apart from any consideration of divine revelation in the 21st century will lead to an age of darkness worse than any that has preceded it. For such a present-day rejection, despite the knowledge of the 20th-century horrors wrought by such a rejection, will indicate that too many people have failed to learn history’s lessons and chosen to “love darkness more than the light.”
George Civile
Gardiner
Facts & exaggerations about COVID
Hudson Valley One has a longstanding policy of requiring authors of Letters to the Editor to sign their letters. I wonder why this policy was not applied to the September 22 letter from “The New Paltz COVID-19 Emergency Group.”
A number of very bad precedents have been set during the era of COVID hysteria, and I hope this particular exception to your sensible rule won’t be repeated. This is especially important when statements come from a seemingly official source, are of dubious accuracy and have the potential to have a negative effect on the community.
First, I note that with the possible exception of the New Paltz Rescue Squad, none of the organizational “signatories” have anything remotely approaching training in medicine or public health.
Second, the Emergency Group’s letter is riddled with exaggerated, misleading and in some cases outright false statements.
1. Claiming that the so-called Delta variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus is more contagious than the original by an order of magnitude is patently false. “Order of magnitude” generally means “by a factor of 10 times,” and no credible person has ever asserted anything even close to this level of contagiousness of the variant.
2. The likelihood of a healthy child having a catastrophic reaction to COVID-19, whether from the original or the variant, was wildly exaggerated in their letter. There are 74,200,000 people under the age of 18 in the US. Even using the CDC’s disgracefully sloppy attribution of “death by COVID,” the CDC claim as of 9/29/21 totals 571 deaths in this age group nationwide – and that’s with zero information being provided about preexisting conditions and comorbidities. That’s a death rate of 0.00076954 percent.
3. A “COVID test” only measures the presence of genetic material that might indicate the one-time presence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. A positive test result does not mean symptoms, illness or the need for medical care, much less hospitalization, so to call a positive test result a “case” or more irresponsibly an “infection” is misleading, bordering on fraud. That our entire society is being held hostage to statistically insignificant fluctuations in so-called “case” counts is a disgrace.
4. Mask-wearing as a way to prevent disease has long been discredited. First, before COVID hysteria, masks were known to: a) increase the chances of respiratory infection and b) be ineffective in blocking the particles that carry viruses (https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/5/4/e006577). Second, in the well-established world of occupational safety, extended periods of mask-wearing have long been viewed as a potential occupational health risk. As one example of hundreds, unions that represent painters and allied trades used to require a medical exam and doctor’s approval before a member could accept an assignment that required all-day on-the-job mask protection.
The anonymous “Emergency Group” letter is a local example of a nationwide pattern of exaggeration and misinformation that has needlessly terrorized millions. It serves no one, and the people who promulgate this kind of thing should be held publicly accountable – something not possible when their letters are published without personal attribution.
Ken McCarthy
Tivoli
Vote Row A in Hurley
Will Hurley move forward with this election, or fossilize?
Our current supervisor successfully tabled the Stretch Energy Code, forfeiting state dollars our Town could have used and in the long term also costing individual citizens of our Town, who will end up using more energy ($$$) and adding more pollution and carbon to the atmosphere. His preferred successor is the heir to a fossil fuel business, so perhaps he didn’t want to offend his candidate in any way. Said Republican candidate for supervisor likes to portray himself as an independent, yet is on record as having donated to the Republican National Committee and former Republican congressman John Faso.
In contrast, the Democratic candidate for supervisor, Melinda McKnight, is a strong proponent of renewable energy and owns a company which helps people to use less energy and save themselves a significant amount of money while keeping pollution and carbon out of the air. She helped to establish Hurley’s Climate Smart Committee and is a true climate champion.
To ensure our Town moves forward, vote Row A and support the entire Democratic ticket so Hurley can join the 21st century rather than stagnate in the past.
Peter McKnight
Hurley
Biden’s trillions
Alexander Tyler, a British lord, once said, “A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury.” The two so-called infrastructure bills – I don’t see free community college for illegal aliens to be infrastructure, but that’s included in the bills. One for $1.5 trillion and the other for $3.5 trillion are an attempt to make so many voters beholden to the government that the Democrats will be the only party in the US. This will turn us from a democracy to an oligarchy with one-party rule. The ruling class and their friends and the rest of us will be equally poor; see Venezuela went from the richest country in South America where things are free, but unavailable.
John Habersberger
New Paltz
Be more respectful of your community
I know they try, but they’re not very good at running things other than election campaigns. Top to bottom, Red or Blue. Election counts are botched. Stopping sexual predators is botched. Nixon got ‘The Clean Water Act’ passed, but so what? It was a law that was not supposed to exempt towns and cities, but the Hudson is still sent raw sewage by every government with a stream that flows into it. Why? We do not elect engineers, we elect politicians. And if you think like I do, politicians have but one goal: re-election.
New Paltz college put up huge new dorms, each equipped with toilets. But they were, apparently like the Magic Grits in My Cousin Vinny, and they simply flush into thin air. “How do you like your poop?” “Uh, regular, I guess”!
Recent letters to Hudson Valley One have expressed decades of informed fear that our sewage treatment plant, situated right on the Wallkill River, was overloaded. The Hudson should be a precious recreational prize. We should be more respectful!
How is your community doing?
Paul Nathe
New Paltz
Abortion should be rare and a tragedy
A recent headline caught my attention: “Area Dems Laud Eviction Moratorium” with an accompanying picture of a sign reading ‘Everybody’s Got a Right to Live”. (Of course it refers to rental aid distribution.) I thought immediately of The Right To Life Movement and abortion being the ultimate eviction.
Long ago, we “progressed” from the women’s “Me Too” movement to everyones’ “It’s All About Me.” In pregnancy and abortion there’s one person involved — Me (the woman). This is emphasized in a recent letter to the editor supporting abortion — referring to the unborn baby as an “unwanted parasite” and “creature.” She called “Laws that forbid abortion a” tactic” and used the words “coerced,””torture” (of the woman, not the baby), “heinous,”“cruel” “and grow in her body a creature that should not be born.”
A society that does not respect, cherish and protect its most vulnerable is headed for destruction. Life becomes cheaper and cheaper and people more and more disposable. When a woman can kill even a normal healthy baby on the delivery table, why is it a surprise when a teenager kills a fellow student in a school shooting? That is much less personal.
To me, abortion should be rare and a tragedy. This is illustrated by another more recent letter to the editor. A 13-year-old girl was raped by her grandfather. That experience and the life-long effects are a tragedy, becoming pregnant is a tragedy and the experience of an abortion is a tragedy. Hopefully, experiences like that are also rare. Unfortunately, the pendulum swings to the extremes before it settles.
I lost a baby at six weeks. The baby had come and gone before I knew. That baby is still my lost child; my consolation was I was pregnant again before my due date and I would not have had my daughter. When my children were teenagers, it appeared I might be pregnant. It was in the days the test was administered by a doctor and took several days. The office closed early for the week end so I could not get my results until Monday. I remarked about having to wait the extra time. The receptionist said that “It wasn’t a big deal. We could have just done an abortion.”
A new baby would certainly have changed our lives, but the idea of an abortion would not have crossed our minds. Needless to say, what was aborted was my relationship with that doctor whose oath was to preserve life, not take it.
Some of us are shocked when we see Monday morning headlines or TV reporting about violence and death over the weekend. I don’t believe things will change until we start at the beginning, where life begins, cherishing the unborn.
Martha Pearson
Kingston
A clear choice in Hurley
Hurley has a clear choice in this year’s local election…choose a climate champion — Melinda McKnight as Supervisor — or pick someone who’s professional life is spent pushing fossil fuel heating oil. Faced with increasing disruption from the mounting climate crisis, Hurley needs an energetic climate champion, who works every day to help homeowners and businesses reduce their greenhouse gas output and to lower their use of expensive, climate damaging fossil fuels. Melinda’s company is a leader in helping residents reduce energy costs while lowering fossil fuel carbon emissions from their buildings.
Hurley needs to quickly move beyond the kind of failed leadership that has brought our water resources to a crisis point and leaves residents along the lower Esopus with turbidity and flooding while Old Hurley, Glenford and West Hurley are faced with diminished water resources for daily living.
Melinda McKnight’s thoughtful leadership has brought Hurley the Climate Smart Task Force and the Zoning Code Task Force, which are tackling two of Hurley’s most urgent needs. Support Melinda for Hurley Town Supervisor and secure a Democratic Town Board majority committed to protecting Hurley.
We can move forward together. Vote Row A all the way! Early voting begins October 23. Election Day is November 2.
Tobe Carey
Glenford
Winston Farm development
Like many residents of Saugerties, I was surprised to learn of the proposed development of Winston and Snyder Farms, a whopping 815-acre project abutting the northwest section of our Town. Winston Farms, as they call it, would be a seven-year, $800-million project containing two “tech centers,” an amphitheater, indoor waterpark and at least 2,000 new households. As an aid to visualizing this project’s scale, note that a one-mile by one-mile square of land is 640 acres.
A review of the Long Environmental Assessment Form by the developer, Saugerties Farms LLC, shows that the plan includes destruction of 274 acres of forest and will result in an estimated demand of 374,000 gallons of water per day. We must remind ourselves that we are in a climate crisis. The Town Board has passed a resolution declaring this, and it should be used to inform their decisions about how our community grows. One acre of trees captures 2.5 tons of carbon from the atmosphere per year. What offset is there in this project to obviate this impact? Although the project claims it will create its own wells to provide water, it ultimately comes from the same source as our town’s. One may reasonably wonder if the water park is a good use of this valuable resource. Additionally, absent from the proposal is any mention of energy use. We would like to see use of fossil fuel avoided and installation of sustainable energy sources where possible.
There are a few undetermined items in the applicant’s form that may raise eyebrows. It lists the impact on traffic as “TBD” (to be determined). Residents driving on Ulster Avenue (Route 212) and Route 32 may have noticed that Saugerties is now developing rush hours, as traffic backs up on these roads on a daily basis. Cars from 2,000 households in this area, shopping at Price Chopper, going to work in other areas, will have a very negative impact. Who will pay for the resultant widening of these roads? The application also notes that endangered or threatened species will be impacted, but offers no remedial measures that will be taken. We have noted just recently that the US has declared the permanent loss of 21 species and we do not need to add to the list.
I recognize that growth of our town may be inevitable, and we all want to see a vibrant, economically sound community. This will require careful consideration by our Town’s leaders. It is helpful that the State Environmental Quality Review process will be followed in this project’s approval, allowing ample opportunity for community input. I strongly encourage citizens of Saugerties to actively engage in this process.
William Barr
Saugerties
Uncensored Info
Some things need to be made clear as the corporate controlled Big Pharma-run Main Street media is censoring anything that is alternative to the official narrative no matter that it is fully supported by the current science.
First, PCR test inventor Dr. Karry Mullis, before his untimely death stated “the PCR tests should never be used to diagnose disease”(https://www.brighteon.com/e089dc94-b424-487e-bafe-22a59b17b7b9), [7-14 seconds, 3:42-3:48 min].
Second, “mask mandates and use are not associated with lower SARS-CoV-2 spread among US states” reports a new study done by Louisville University (https://townhall.com/tipsheet/spencerbrown/2021/05/26/new-study-refutes-fauci-efficacy-of-mask-mandates-n2589990).
Third, CDC director Rochelle Walensky has previously admitted that the COVID vaccine does not prevent against transmission or infection of Sars-Cov-2 virus, but only lessens “symptoms and hospitalizations,” (https://www.brighteon.com/4176151d-f46e-4705-abc1-5683d66a64f3), [1:15 to 1:55 min]. A vaccinated person can still spread the virus just like the unvaccinated person.
Fourth, Israel and Australia are the most vaccinated countries in the world, yet 95% of people in their hospitals for COVID are fully vaccinated (https://www.visiontimes.com/2021/08/08/israel-hospital-vaccinated.html).
Fifth, A whistleblower has provided government data (CMS) documenting 48,465 deaths within 14 days of COVID-19 vaccination among Medicare patients alone, according to medical freedom rights attorney Thomas Renz (https://renz-law.com/covid-pfizer-whistleblower-data/).
Sixth, Less than 1% of adverse events that happened after the vaccine injection get reported meaning that the VAERS reporting system is vastly under reporting the harm from the vaccines (https://digital.ahrq.gov/sites/default/files/docs/publication/r18hs017045-lazarus-final-report-2011.pdf).
Seventh, Uttar Pradesh, the most heavily populated state in India with 200 million has mostly eradicated the COVID virus by giving it residents Ivermectin to use prophylactically. As of August 16, 2021, only 419 people have COVID. Deli, India with a population of 30 million, has done the same thing using Ivermectin (https://www.thedesertreview.com/opinion/columnists/indias-ivermectin-blackout—-part-iii-the-lesson-of-kerala/article_ccecb97e-044e-11ec-9112-2b31ae87887a.html).
Mexico City with a population of 22 million dramatically dropped its COVID infections with Ivermectin. 24 states in Peru did the same thing (https://www.citizensjournal.us/covid-deaths-plunge-after-major-world-city-introduces-ivermectin/).
Eighth, 70,000 nurses in NYC have refused to take the vaccine and are willing to be fired than get vaccinated (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/sep/26/new-york-national-guard-unvaccinated-health-workers-governor-kathy-hochul).
What do these nurses know from seeing who is being admitted in the hospitals that would make them refuse the vaccines and lose their hard-earned jobs?
There is much more that could be written but one thing is clear: everyone needs to do their own research. A decision should be based on science and not on projected outcomes of the largest experiment in human history by those who have been made immune from all liability, while raking in billions of dollars (https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-08-pharmaceutical-firms-rake-billions-covid.html).
Steve Romine
Woodstock
Save Kingston’s Midtown bluestone!
In the near future, Midtown Kingston, long neglected, faces the prospect of another loss. The Henry Street Sidewalk Project plans to erase an important feature that contributes to the neighborhood’s character — its historic bluestone sidewalks. For a City that wants to be seen as one historic place, its bluestone sidewalks and curbstones ought to be recognized and valued as the one common and prominent physical feature that ties Uptown, Midtown and Downtown Rondout together. If these sidewalks are preserved in the other two parts of town, why not in 19th-century Midtown? Let’s remember that the bluestone industry was a significant part of Kingston’s industrial past and the wagons of bluestone passed through all three parts of the city on their way to the rest of the nation.
Like any historic fabric, bluestone may sometimes need repair (although much of it still lies perfectly in place); yet the proposed concrete also has a limited life. To the extent that preserving the bluestone has a higher cost, it ought to be considered an investment in civic self-respect and the city’s status as a historic place. Midtown and its residents deserve it and once gone, it will never be replaced.
Lowell Thing
Kingston
Low New Paltz vaccination rates
As members of Ulster Activists (U-ACT), New Paltz’s largest political action organization, we are writing to express our concern about the low vaccination rate in the 12561 zip code area. According to the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH), the fully vaccinated rate in New Paltz (12561) is 57.7%, disturbingly low compared to other areas of Ulster County, including those of our nearest neighbors: Modena (12548) 72.8%; Rosendale (12472) 74.7%; Gardiner (2525) 77.6%.
Reinstating a County vaccination site in New Paltz would be a positive step, but more importantly, we urge the County to send a mobile vaccination van to New Paltz on a regular basis so that people who are home-bound or lack access to transportation will have a safe and convenient way to receive their shots. Perhaps the DMV mobile van could be used for that purpose. The vaccination schedule should be well publicized and the van should visit area farms so that our transient agricultural workers have access to this important public health safeguard.
Our members are willing to assist in whatever ways necessary — helping with scheduling, signage, publicity, etc. Enlist us as citizen-partners in this important initiative. As variants of COVID-19 spread and the winter season approaches, we trust the County will respond without delay.
Jane Schanberg
on behalf of Ulster Activists
Fair weather at the fair
Actually, the weather was not fair — it was beautiful! And the Library fair was marvelous! Well, it always is, but it was especially so this year, after a COVID-caused one-year hiatus.
Inflation may be going through the roof, but our books are still 25 cents-$2, except a few specially priced volumes. The tent had wider aisles so that people did not have to be packed together while browsing, masked. Yet as every year, there were many categories of books, from antiques to murder mysteries, to thousands of childrens’ books. Not to mention an extraordinary selection of DVDs, unlike ever before.
Every year I work as a cashier/bagger: I enjoy seeing what people are buying, talk to them about the books, get their opinions. It’s always delightful to see a shy little one come to the table, clutching a new book and 25 cents to pay for it!
There were quite a few out-of-town visitors/buyers, and they were awed not just by the books they found, but the very idea of a library fair. Will some of them carry that impression with them home?
There was much more than selecting and buying books: there was music, and raffle and food…But I was really busy the four hours collecting money. My favorite was a high-school girl paying for two books with a $50 bill. “Wow, how did you get that?” She thought for a while “must have been baby-sitting…”
Elting Memorial Library is alive and well, but as always: every penny counts. So, remember to vote “YES” on Proposition 1 next month!
Misha Harnick
New Paltz
Election Signs
Every day, for the past several months, I have passed signs on people’s lawns for Zach Horton, a current candidate running on the Republican ticket for the Saugerties Town Board in the upcoming November 2 election.
No other individual running for local office from any party has had their signs up since the caucuses or primary’s several months ago, so it is strange that this individual who was not even in a primary, has had signs up for months.
While there is no standardized NY law regulating either when and for how long campaign signs can be displayed, local candidates running for election this November have not had their campaign signs up till now, except for one.
What do I gather from that behavior? While it is perfectly legal for signs to be on any person’s property, it is indeed unethical for this individual running for a Town Board seat to not have asked his supporters to remove his signs from their lawns back in the late spring, as is traditional in our local elections. By not doing so, he takes unfair advantage of our customs, thereby eroding public trust in his candidacy.
If he is elected, I will constantly question the integrity of his actions as a Town Board member.
Susan Puretz
Saugerties
