Letters

Letters to the Editor: November 17, 2011

MATTITUCK

In response to last week’s letter

I would like to provide a few words of clarification in response to Kathy Ryan’s letter titled “A voice of reason?” published Nov. 10.

The Ryan family runs a recreational volleyball league, as do I. Apparently our success and growth (and thus the need for more courts for public use) has given them a great deal of concern.

I ran for Mattituck Park District commissioner at the behest of leaders of various local sports organizations. My goal was to advocate for local sports and recreation, including the youth of our community, not to ruin the Ryans’ league. The need to attack my candidacy with accusations and innuendo, which also attacks our league and my integrity, is inappropriate.

Documentation exists and is available in both written and audio format addressing the concerns raised in Ms. Ryan’s letter. Anyone can contact the local municipalities that we have worked with to verify the sequence of events. We have always conducted our business with local agencies responsibly, and we continue to do so.

At this time, I would like to congratulate Mr. Goehringer on his election. I am looking forward to working with him and other local officials this coming year.

Frank Polistena

MATTITUCK

Thanks for your vote

I would like to thank the Mattituck and Laurel residents who voted for me in the recent election to the position of Mattituck Park District commissioner.

Jerry Goehringer

CENTER MORICHES

I will work for you

I want to thank the voters of the 1st Legislative District for re-electing me as their county legislator with 79 percent of the vote.

I am humbled by their support and I will work each day to represent the North Fork, Shelter Island and all of eastern Brookhaven and be a strong voice in county government for their interests.

Finally, I promise to continue to fight for what is right, to listen carefully to the concerns of all the residents, to promote a higher standard in our political discourse and to meaningfully address the hopes and aspirations of the people of this great legislative district.

Ed Romaine

EAST MARION

Wrong percentage

The figures reported that Russell defeated Meguin 4,647 to 2,462 with Russell taking “76 percent of the vote” with a “3 to 1 margin.”

Simple arithmetic shows these numbers give Russell 65 percent of the vote and less than a 2 to 1 margin.  Hopefully the tally you reported was incorrect and your math isn’t that bad.
Phillip Weaver

Editor’s note: The story incorrectly listed Mr. Meguin’s vote total. He finished with 1,462.

SOUTHOLD

Hatin’ those new voting machines

It was both a pleasure and a frustration to vote this year. The pleasure was, of course, the voting privilege open to all resident citizens. The frustration was the “new” voting procedures.
I shall save you the pain of recapping the current system, but every person in their right mind must come away from the voting process mindful that we have given up a good system for a disaster.

The old system was clear, comprehensible and satisfying. You logged in at the desk, walked into the isolated booth, closed the portable door and clicked your choices. Then you could scoot out and be done with it. Very neat.

And under our earlier system, those of us who by choice vote a straight party ticket could throw one click and the deed was done. Whether you are a Democrat or a Republican, now you are forced to check each candidate you choose. Silly.

As citizens of this great Republic, how can we return to the old system and bury the bumblers who gave us this mess?

Richard Bishop

CUTCHOGUE

It is a vineyard or a nightclub?

Where does the Boardy Barn meet the Jersey Shore? At Vineyard 48 in Cutchogue.

You have got to love those “Sundaze” parties. Unless you happen to be one of their neighbors.

Forget about the decibel levels that rock your windows all day; the musical content is not appropriate, especially for the young children that happen to live across the street from this vineyard.

It’s not that I don’t like the vineyards. There’s nothing like going for a tasting with friends and listening to the soft jazz or the oldies.

I have been living in this neighborhood for 25 years and I have never heard lyrical content such as this “club music” coming from other neighboring vineyards.

I’m sure when Vineyard 48 applied for their business license it didn’t include running a weekend nightclub. Although it was wonderful that they moved their parking off of Route 48, so now we can get into and out of our development without evading stretch limos and giant party buses.

It amazes me that these new so-called farmers don’t seem to care about the impact on their neighbors, but only the impact on their wallets.

I feel something more needs to be done to regulate the fine standards of our local vineyards so the North Fork of Long Island doesn’t transform into another “Jersey Shore.”

Denise Lademann

SOUTH JAMESPORT

Poor example set

Last week I went shopping at Waldbaum’s in Mattituck. It was raining pretty heavily at the time, but I, as well as all the other shoppers, young and old, parked legally and walked to and from the store.

As I was about to leave, an official vehicle marked Fire Chief of Cutch­ogue parked in the fire lane right in front of the store. The occupant then went shopping.
Even if he was there on official business I can’t see a reason for him to not park legally.

Great example he set: Illegal for us normal folk to park in a fire zone but if you’re a fire chief you can park in a fire zone to go shopping.

Tim Keller

CUTCHOGUE

Keeping it local

Last week’s letter from Marion Wipf regarding using local retail stores and service people was right on.

In order to have a vibrant North Fork economy, we need to invest back into the community. Many of the service people are hard working, reliable and honest.

We also as a community need be vigilant about those contractors that cause distrust by doing poor, shoddy work.

So here are a few helpful hints:

1. Check with numerous service people to ascertain the reputation of the person you are thinking of using.

2. Be wary of companies that advertise they are a one-stop shop for landscaping, paving, dock building, masonry, etc. The old saying “Jack of all trades, master of none” is so true. If you need masonry work done, stick with a reputable mason or a company that has extensive experience in that specialty.

3. Get everything in writing to protect yourself in the event of legal action.

It’s a very small minority of contractors that make it bad for everyone else.

Thanks for all of the honest, hard-working people that take pride in their work and try to build long-term relationships with their clients.

Don Lindsay

GREENPORT

Thanks, Scouts

For the second year, I, along with many other veterans, received a very nice handwritten personal note from a local Girl Scout thanking me for my service to our country.

I would like to let the girls know that their letters were received with warm hearts. It is so nice to know that the young people of our community remember and acknowledge the sacrifice that so many men and women have made to keep our country safe.

I was in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War and served on a “mine sweeper,” but I never served in a war zone. I am humbled to be a fellow member of the American Legion alongside so many that did serve in war zones and took part in major battles. Several were even imprisoned in POW camps during World War II.

We should all follow the example of the Girl Scouts and write letters not only to the veterans who served in past wars, but also to the men and women who are serving and protecting our country from harm’s way today. We live in a safer world because of their sacrifice.

Jim Maino

American Legion Post 803

SOUTHOLD

Adieu, Lady Bivalve

Anne Louise Schwiebert passed away on Nov. 3 and her beautifully written obituary was in last week’s Suffolk Times.

Those of us who knew Anne have been honored to be her friends. Anne took on the title of Lady Anne de Bivalve because she loved to go clamming in the waters of Hashamomuck Pond in front of her lovely home. It goes without saying how much my wife, Kathleen, and I will miss the company of Anne.

I think we are like boats that travel through the waters of life. Some of us are like the inconsiderate boater who speeds through a crowded harbor, tossing up a wake that violently rocks and annoys the other boaters moored there. Others are like a person rowing gently along, and their wake is just a soothing soft motion as they pass by. I’m going to try and describe what I think Anne Louise Schwiebert’s wake would have been like.

It’s late in the afternoon at Horton Point and the sun is getting lower in the western sky while a fresh breeze comes in from the northwest. As we gaze out over Long Island Sound, we see a beautiful Grand Banks schooner sailing out, heading eastward to the open ocean. Her two masts are raked back and her gaff rig is under full sail. We can hear the halyards creak softly as the wind catches the sails and she heels over onto her lines.

As she picks up speed heading away from us, her wake catches the golden light from the sun and it sparkles brightly in multiple colors, almost blinding us with its beauty. We just cannot take our eyes off her as she sails out of view to a distant shore.

Farewell to you, Lady Anne de Bivalve. May you have fair winds and calm seas as you sail to that distant shore. I pray that someday we will all be together again on that shore with our dear friends and loved ones, laughing and loving again.

John D’Angelo

SOUTHOLD

A very special place

I am so proud of our community.

During the first weekend in November an international surgeon, Glenn Geelhoed, M.D., FACS, who has conducted medical relief missions for over 40 years, came to the North Fork. This visit was the result of the International Health Committee of Circle of Healing, First Presbyterian Church of Southold.

Many people contributed to the success of the weekend’s events. Opening the presentation on Friday night, Southold children sang “Give a Little Whistle,” reminding others to always let their consciences be their guides. One gracious and talented teenager, Emma Romeo, was willing to play Jiminy Cricket for the children and presented a good conscience award to the doctor.

Southold’s library director, Caroline MacArthur, volunteered her time to help set up technical equipment. The Rotisserie in Southold helped prepare a special dinner of L.I. duck legs. Pindar Vineyard’s staff members donated their time for the presentation Saturday in Pindar’s beautiful tasting room. Suffolk Times reporter Julie Lane wrote a wonderful article that certainly contributed to the amazing turnout.

Over 125 persons attended, among them representatives of the medical community, multiple faith-based congregations, farmers, educators and people who just happened to meet Jiminy Cricket at a luncheonette, post office or grocery store. Intelligent, thoughtful questions were posed and enthusiasm abounded. All local hamlets were represented.

Perhaps the most amazing consequence of the weekend is that a number of people from various walks of life asked to be able to accompany Dr. Geelhoed on future mission trips. Only slightly less amazing is that as I wandered our town as Jiminy Cricket, not one person tried to spray me with Raid.

I am used to our residents reaching out to local neighbors, but to see the enthusiasm they also demonstrated for the poor of the world was truly moving. We are indeed a very special community comprising very special people.

Way to go, North Fork.

Marguerite Schondebare

ORIENT

How liberals think

Troy Gustavson’s op ed about Herman Cain nicely illustrated how liberals think.

The snarky dismissal of Mr. Cain as a serious candidate is the same kind of backhanded trivialization of conservatism in general, an unthought knee-jerk rejection of conservative principles.

Liberal thinking comes from a superior viewpoint, that liberals know best what’s good for people, and that a government, by extension, when liberally founded, will do what’s best for the population. This top-down thinking gives us ObamaCare, higher taxes by necessity and, coincidentally, makes for record-breaking unemployment.

Mr. Obama is the poster boy for the failures of liberalism. Conservatism comes from the opposite direction. The individual is the empowered being, not the liberal overlord.

Mr. Cain has a following because he’s pretty good at articulating conservative ideas. Mr. Gustavson openly admits he can’t comprehend how Mr. Cain is being taken seriously. If I owned and ran a newspaper and wanted my readers to think I was pretty well informed, I don’t think I’d have put that in print.

Don Rose

EAST MARION

Liberal media turns blind eye to Obama

As the left demonizes each frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, have you noticed that nothing from Obama’s past has ever been revealed?

Not one of Obama’s grade school pals, or ex-girlfriends or college roommates, have ever admitted they ever knew him.

How odd that is.

Did he ever attend a dance? Play on a team? Perform in a play? Belong to a social club?

Why does Obama have no recorded past?

Why hasn’t anyone that he grew up with come forward to claim him as an old pal?

Why did he take so long to produce a facsimile birth certificate, and why was his Social Security registration recorded in Ct., a state he never lived in?

What is the truth behind Obama?

Who is this person named Barrack Hussein Obama?

All Obama has accomplished for this country is financial chaos, increased national debt, increased unemployment, and he has created an agenda of class warfare in his efforts to divide our citizens.

So far Bachmann, Palin, Perry, Romney and Gingrich (all Republicans) have come under fire by the leftist press and media and their National Enquire journalism.

As each one of these potential candidates start climbing in popularity, the left frantically searches to find some dirt in that person’s past.

Now, Herman Cain is the target of the left, because he is rising in the polls.

Cain is feared by the left, because if he beats Obama in the election, then they won’t be able to play the race card with any veracity.

The tea party, according to the left, is a racist organization. So why have they come out in support of Herman Cain?

Cain arises as a breath of fresh air in the dirty climate created by the political left and the media they control.

Barrack Hussein Obama will be defeated, but how much destruction will he leave in his pathetic socialist path?

God help America.

God bless America.

John Copertino

CUTCHOGUE

One way to deal with the tax cap

Now that the elections are over and the results are in, our elected officials must deal with the reality of the 2 percent cap imposed by New York State earlier this year.

After analyzing different aspects of municipal budgets, it has become clear to me that large concessions from labor are the only way to keep tax increases at 2 percent. In order to accomplish this, I have come up with some suggestions that the state, county and town can implement to make these concessions possible. All of these suggestions are completely legal and are currently being implemented in states like Florida, Idaho, Wisconsin and Ohio.

First, the state and county must extend sentencing guidelines for all crimes and reduce early release, followed by the sale of all prisons to private companies like Wackenhut and GEO group. This would eliminate the Correctional Officer Union. (The former correctional officers could, of course, reapply for their old job with minimal benefits and a salary just above minimum wage.) Local municipalities would then have an endless supply of cheap labor. Just think: a 24-hour employee that does not need any vacation time or retirement and always makes minimum wage. The highway department, the clerical staff and the police dispatchers could all be replaced. The prison company would garnish 40 percent of the prisoner’s wages to offset room and board as well as increase shareholder dividends.

It probably would not be a good idea to let criminals police the town, so a private security firm could replace our local police department — again the new security force would be minimally paid, similar to the correctional officers at the private prison. Once the CSEA, Correctional Officers Association and the PBA are eliminated, school reform can be enacted and the teachers union squashed. All local public schools can be dissolved and replaced with for-profit charter schools, where students take most of their classes online. With students taking online classes, the number of teaching positions needed would be greatly reduced and the uncertified teachers who were employed by the for-profit charter school would be minimally paid.

These are free market solutions to the tax cap dilemma, because I think that my tax dollars should be funneled to private corporations and the Wall Street profit machine instead of building a strong, vibrant and economically viable community.

Besides, some of the public employees might get their old jobs back as they turn to a life of crime to feed their families.

Gregory Wallace