LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Ugly Face Smiling

Springs
September 19, 2005

Dear David,

I have seen the ugly face of the federal government smiling on an application to place a floating liquefied natural gas terminal on Long Island Sound (this past Wednesday evening at the Prodell Middle School in Wading River), and I am frightened.

According to Citizens Campaign for the Environment, the facility would be as big as the Queen Mary 2, on a mooring system, and the base would cover an area of 7,000 square feet.

The liquefied natural gas barge would require 25 miles of pipeline dug in the bottom of the sound to connect it with the existing Iroquois pipeline.

In addition, we would have huge tankers coming around Montauk Point to the floating facility to unload the liquid gas. The current liquid natural gas ships in service carry approximately 30 million gallons of L.N.G. and are approximately 1,000 feet long.

Several ships would arrive each week to deliver this fuel.

The Coast Guard would have to protect these ships and the gas terminal by creating an exclusion zone. At the meeting, they said they cannot say how large the zone would be, but in other places it has been two miles in front of the L.N.G. ships, one mile on each side, and anywhere between a half-mile to a mile behind. This would be a moving safety/security zone. Naturally, there will have to be a permanent exclusion zone to the floating terminal as well.

The Coast Guard is a cooperating agency to the federal government, represented by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Doesn't the Coast Guard have enough to do already without loading this on their list of responsibilities? Is this how we want to increase our already bloated federal deficit?

The meeting was well attended, over 300 people, along with many elected officials who came to place their official protest on the record. Our elected representatives in this area, both senators, our congressman, the county executive, state assembly, and all our towns are officially opposed to this unprecedented industrialization of Long Island Sound. Even the Town of Huntington sent a lawyer to insist they will fight this.

All are convinced that this liquid natural gas terminal will create severe security and environmental problems on Long Island Sound, as well as increase our vulnerability, if this project is allowed to go through. Despite that, the federal government is the lead agency and just may shove it down our throats anyway.

I am writing this letter because despite news stories being written about it, several hard-working citizens I have talked to were unaware of and shocked about this proposal. Both the Coast Guard and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission have Web sites where you can voice your concerns about the safety and environmental consequences of a project of this nature. I urge you to post your comments.

The Web address for the Coast Guard sector, Long Island Sound, is www. uscg/mil/d1/units/grumsolis/broadwater/broadwater. Please reference your letter by including the docket number, USCG-2005-21863. Please send a copy of your letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Committee, www.ferc.gov/ for-citizens/for-citizens.asp, under docket number PF05-4-000.

Sincerely,
MARY GRAVES
East Hampton Town
Democratic Committee

Historic Discontent

Springs
September 19, 2005

Dear David:

Close to 40 percent of the voters in each of the three school districts voted against the East Hampton Library's tax increase on Saturday. After an all-out campaign with the classic hallmarks of electioneering, including leaving leaflets within five feet of the polling place and gifts for children accompanying their parents, the East Hampton Library received almost 40 times the number of "no" votes than in any other tax increase vote.

There is much misinformation out there and unfortunately most of it comes from those running this venerable institution. That is one reason I became involved with the call for an elected board.

Many who voted against the tax increase were aware, among other things, that: This was a vote for a tax increase, not a budget vote - the library board already approved the budget. If there is no request for a tax increase, there is no public vote; once a tax rate increase is approved, it remains in place for subsequent years, according to New York State law, and the library had more than $4.7 million in liquid assets as of July 31. Its annual budget this year is a little over $1 million.

Everyone who voted cares about the future of this library. Management should respond to this major, historic vote of discontent by initiating the steps leading to a publicly elected board.

Yours truly,
HENRIKA CONNER

Regarding Horses

Springs
September 19, 2005

Dear David,

I was really surprised to see your cover story regarding the proposed horse plan at the Springs Nursery Park.

As a member of the Springs Citizens Advisory Committee (who doesn't get to many meetings anymore), I am adamantly for horses at the Springs park. The hard-working people of Springs deserve a place to ride, just as they deserve a place to run and walk dogs.

The article brings up some really important issues concerning the power or lack thereof, of the Citizens Advisory Committees. The Springs C.A.C. is so small (sometimes fewer than six people; I have been there with four) that it hasn't issued minutes since last May. (This newspaper used to cover these meetings in the days when the committee was more vital.)

Your article doesn't state how many people actually voted on the issue or what the specific issues were regarding horses. I suspect it was a vote of less than eight people. Does that really merit the press coverage you gave it?

The members I have spoken to who voted against horses at the park did so for the moment, until safety issues are worked into the park plan. That is a far cry from "The S.C.A.C. has always been adamantly against horses in Springs Park."

The S.C.A.C. has done some amazing work for the community over the years, but there must be some ground rules and at least minutes from each meeting that give a clear record of what actually occurred and who was present. Many, if not most, of the people of Springs do not know there is a Citizens Advisory Committee of which they can be members, or what it is that they can or cannot accomplish there. It would be wonderful to have a broader base on the S.C.A.C., with more members, especially young parents.

Thank you,
EILEEN ROAMAN-CATALANO

Need Support

East Hampton
September 12, 2005

Dear Editor:

The devastation of Hurricane Katrina has overwhelmed and disrupted the lives of many people. Relief efforts are under way across the nation, but many more donations are needed.

My son, Joseph Kennedy Smith, a graduate of East Hampton High School, now resides in Atlanta, Ga., with his wife and two daughters. Kennedy has spent every spare minute since the hurricane hit working to help sort and distribute clothing items, toiletries, and food to more than 20,000 evacuees now residing in the metro Atlanta area. On Sept. 7 over 800 evacuees came to his church, Total Grace Christian Center, in Decatur, Ga., to receive gas cards, phone cards, food, clothing, a hot meal, and comfort.

The flow of people looking for help is continuous. Due to the high number of families living in hotels, cars, and shelters, the church is now placing families in apartments, furnishing the units, and paying the rent and utilities or the first three months. Church members have also opened their homes to families with no place to go. The church needs financial support to place more families in homes.

Kennedy and his family have shared the stories of these families with me and my heart aches. Most of the people they are assisting were employed, owned homes, and evacuated before the storm, taking only a few days' worth of clothing. They expected to return home in a few days, as they had done many times before. Now these people have no jobs, no homes, and no resources. Many of the families have displaced children and other family members they are attempting to locate.

Kennedy has expressed the church's need for community support in the form of gift cards from Wal-Mart, Target, Amoco, Chevron, and Shell, as well as phone cards. The need for baby items is great - infant Tylenol, A & D Ointment, baby wipes, socks - and toiletries like toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant, and all size and gender undergarments. Financial donations are most welcome.

I am appealing to our community to make contributions to Total Grace Christian Center in Decatur, Ga. You can be assured that your donation will go directly to those in need and will make a great difference to these families who have lost everything. The contact information is Total Grace Christian Center, attention Bishop Johnathan Alvarado, 4000 Covington Highway, Decatur, Ga. 30032, 404-289-2229, www.totalgrace.org. If sending checks, please write "Katrina relief" in the memo section of the check.

Sincerely,
REV. CONNIE JONES
Pastor's Assistant
Triune Baptist Church

Public and Plural

New York City
September 16, 2005

To the Editor,

Our confessional liturgy for the holy days suggests an appropriate way for our president to deal with the question of moral responsibility for the suffering of the victims of Katrina because of what was done and not done by the federal government. It is not a "blame game." Moral responsibility for death and suffering is too profound an issue to be regarded as a mere game, and the review of our errors in order to save lives in the future is a grim necessity.

A Jewish confession is public and plural and runs the gamut of sins from a to z. This is to teach us that all of us are implicitly responsible for the sins and failures of our society, which we empower and whose benefits we share.

This admission of responsibility requires us to do what we can to remedy the harm done, and to atone for what we have done. We must not be so stubborn and stiff-necked to say we are not so wholly righteous as to say we have not sinned, but, rather, to say we have sinned, so forgive us, pardon us, and grant us atonement.

There is a further moral benefit, which is to control the temptation to blame the victims, or to seek scapegoats to divert blame, or dilute responsibility.

Faithfully,
DAVID GREENBERG
Rabbi Emeritus
The Jewish Center of the Hamptons