Letters to the Editor: Tough decision
Southold
Tough decision
I do not envy whatever department in Southold has to make a decision on the egg farm. It is clearly not a black or white decision. If I lived near there, I would be vehemently opposed to a farm with the inherent down side including smell, rodents etc. If I lived there — and I don’t — I would have purchased my house knowing it was designated agricultural. I would picture tomatoes, corn, assorted vegetables being grown there. I would not have foreseen what I considered livestock as agriculture.
On the other hand, if I was the purchaser of that land and invested time and money in planning to raise chickens, I would fight for my rights.
This is no King Solomon’s baby decision, but it is important to all involved, on both sides of the table. I hope wiser heads than mine can come up with a solution both sides can live with.
Rosellen Storm
Greenport
Now is the moment
Today, walking amid a small crowd of hardy pedestrians debarking from the North Ferry, heading toward the local “No Kings” rally at Mitchell Park, I heard one of the women remark to her friends, “This is my first protest. Ever.”
Her comment struck a chord in my heart, and my head. The woman seemed to express both pride and a sense of purpose. Perhaps even a bit of astonishment at her action.
I should have turned to her right away, thanked her for being present, for adding her voice. I did not.
Now is the moment, her comment said to me.
So, I say now, to all of us listening: If not now, when?
Suzanne Donovan
Southold
To Supervisor Krupski
I read your recent letter about water supply and aquifer protection (“Water worries,” March 26) and I agree — we need to understand where our water comes from, how it moves, and how development affects it.
That’s why I’m struggling to understand how this same standard is not being applied to the proposed use at Ackerly Pond Lane.
The Jasmine Lane community was designed and approved by the town with a defined drainage system based on assumptions about surrounding land use and runoff conditions.
Those assumptions are now being changed.
This area connects to the Peconic Estuary, a system long recognized as environmentally sensitive. Changes in runoff or nutrient loading in one location do not remain isolated, which underscores the need for site-specific analysis before intensifying adjacent land uses.
The proposal introduces a significantly more intensive use directly adjacent to that engineered drainage system, yet there does not appear to be any updated drainage analysis, groundwater review, or watershed impact study included in the public record.
The issue is not whether drainage exists — it is whether any analysis has been provided showing how this proposed increased intensity interacts with that system.
In your letter, you emphasized the need to understand water sources, infrastructure interaction and impacts to water quality. Those same standards apply here.
This is not about being for or against agriculture. It is about applying the same standard of water protection and scientific review that you have publicly supported.
The community is simply asking that those standards be applied consistently.
Leslie Herrlin
Cutchogue
Thank you
We would like to thank the wonderful Pennacchia family for an awesome special birthday celebration we had at Touch of Venice this past Saturday for my husband, Walter. Chef Brian outdid himself with the delicious menu he prepared for our guests. From the food, cocktails and special attention given to everyone, please accept our heartfelt thanks to the entire staff.
Deborah Wilm
Aquebogue
Taxpayers first
Well, here we go again: adding a fifth floor to another apartment complex in the Town of Riverhead.
I’m disappointed that the town supervisor abstained from voting for approval/disapproval of the plan to add the fifth floor. Regardless of whether the majority of the Town Board were going to approve this add-on, it would have been nice to know exactly where the supervisor stands on the issue — even if decisions were made prior to his taking office.
What’s next? I just read with interest how Riverhead residents will be taking another hit to cover a recent court decision losing a lawsuit to the Friars Head golf course: $7 million in refunds, $6 million of which is due to a shoddy tax assessment (New York Post, March 26).
John Woods
Riverhead
Move beyond uncertainty
March Madness is about execution. Coaches like Jim Calhoun made decisive calls in pressure moments. In Riverhead, that urgency feels missing.
Major initiatives follow a pattern: propose, face pushback, scale back and stall. Projects like the agritourism resort code and golf cottages remain unresolved despite their impact on land use and community character. That raises a simple question: What’s the plan? If destination development is the goal, define it. If not, move on. Indecision becomes policy.
The same uncertainty shows up in fiscal management. The town advances large projects like Town Square using BANs, yet fund balance policy remains unclear. Targets have been referenced but not formally adopted, while reserves exceed 40% of expenditures. That gap signals weak alignment between policy and practice.
Other efforts show similar disconnects. The Pattern Book lacks enforceability. Alive on 25 faces cost uncertainty. The Long Island Science Center confronts instability despite investment.
Riverhead doesn’t need more delay. It needs execution.
Bryan Carroll
Riverhead
School subverting freedom?
We expect our high schools to foster America’s Constitutional values of freedom of expression and protest.
So it was disturbing to see how Riverhead’s educational authorities reacted to potential use of school parking spaces by “No Kings” protesters. They closed down lots normally open to the public on the weekend, shutting gates and parking security vehicles in driveways.
Students who led an anti-ICE walkout from the school in January planned to echo their message by marching from there to Town Hall in support of OLA legislation to protect people in Riverhead from mass deportation raids.
I wrote to Riverhead principal Sean O’Hara to be sure that parking by adults who wanted to march with the students would not conflict with other school needs for space on a Saturday afternoon. He never replied. Instead, the director of security for the school system, Terry Culhane, called to inform me it would not be possible for any protester to use the parking lots. He said [the reason was] the space was needed for a matinee theater performance and because of insurance, expressing concern about counter-protests.
The former reason turned out to be false; the matinee was on Sunday. The latter justification was odd. Insurance concerns are hardly a justification for inhibition of the exercise of protected freedoms that a high school should be encouraging, or at least not be hostile to. Insurance issues could be an all-purpose bureaucratic justification for repression.
I was personally disappointed that two men who shared my Irish ancestry showed no awareness of the parallels between the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant sentiments and behavior and the treatment of Irish who fled to America in the 19th century. More recently, they might recall how essential protest was to bringing about the end of discrimination and a peace settlement in Northern Ireland.
John McAuliff
Southold
Tough decision
I do not envy whatever department in Southold has to make a decision on the egg farm. It is clearly not a black or white decision. If I lived near there, I would be vehemently opposed to a farm with the inherent down side including smell, rodents etc. If I lived there — and I don’t — I would have purchased my house knowing it was designated agricultural. I would picture tomatoes, corn, assorted vegetables being grown there. I would not have foreseen what I considered livestock as agriculture.
On the other hand, if I was the purchaser of that land and invested time and money in planning to raise chickens, I would fight for my rights.
This is no King Solomon’s baby decision, but it is important to all involved, on both sides of the table. I hope wiser heads than mine can come up with a solution both sides can live with.
Rosellen Storm
Greenport
Now is the moment
Today, walking amid a small crowd of hardy pedestrians debarking from the North Ferry, heading toward the local “No Kings” rally at Mitchell Park, I heard one of the women remark to her friends, “This is my first protest. Ever.”
Her comment struck a chord in my heart, and my head. The woman seemed to express both pride and a sense of purpose. Perhaps even a bit of astonishment at her action.
I should have turned to her right away, thanked her for being present, for adding her voice. I did not.
Now is the moment, her comment said to me.
So, I say now, to all of us listening: If not now, when?
Suzanne Donovan
Southold
To Supervisor Krupski
I read your recent letter about water supply and aquifer protection (“Water worries,” March 26) and I agree — we need to understand where our water comes from, how it moves, and how development affects it.
That’s why I’m struggling to understand how this same standard is not being applied to the proposed use at Ackerly Pond Lane.
The Jasmine Lane community was designed and approved by the town with a defined drainage system based on assumptions about surrounding land use and runoff conditions.
Those assumptions are now being changed.
This area connects to the Peconic Estuary, a system long recognized as environmentally sensitive. Changes in runoff or nutrient loading in one location do not remain isolated, which underscores the need for site-specific analysis before intensifying adjacent land uses.
The proposal introduces a significantly more intensive use directly adjacent to that engineered drainage system, yet there does not appear to be any updated drainage analysis, groundwater review, or watershed impact study included in the public record.
The issue is not whether drainage exists — it is whether any analysis has been provided showing how this proposed increased intensity interacts with that system.
In your letter, you emphasized the need to understand water sources, infrastructure interaction and impacts to water quality. Those same standards apply here.
This is not about being for or against agriculture. It is about applying the same standard of water protection and scientific review that you have publicly supported.
The community is simply asking that those standards be applied consistently.
Leslie Herrlin
Cutchogue
Thank you
We would like to thank the wonderful Pennacchia family for an awesome special birthday celebration we had at Touch of Venice this past Saturday for my husband, Walter. Chef Brian outdid himself with the delicious menu he prepared for our guests. From the food, cocktails and special attention given to everyone, please accept our heartfelt thanks to the entire staff.
Deborah Wilm
