Fire at Gosman’s Montauk October 17, 2015 To the Editor, The Gosman family would like to thank all those involved in responding to the fire that occurred at our main restaurant on the night of Oct. 16. Our sincerest thanks to the Good Samaritan who placed the initial call to emergency services after discovering the fire. Our additional thanks to the dedicated members of the Montauk, Amagansett, and East Hampton Fire Departments, East Hampton Town Police Department, and the East Hampton Town fire marshal’s office for their assistance in the emergency. Due to the rapid response of the Montauk Fire Department, the fire was extinguished quickly and contained to an exterior wall and seating area. Thankfully, no one was hurt and the restaurant was already closed for the season. Due to swift action from emergency personnel, we will only have to repair a small area of the restaurant. Gosman’s Dock Restaurant first opened its doors in 1968, and our opening bell still hangs in our front bar. Gosman’s is a place of wonderful memories for thousands of customers, both local and international. We look forward to reopening our doors in the spring of 2016, as originally scheduled, for another great season in this beautiful community that supports us so well. We are grateful for the concerned response we have received from friends here and afar. With sincere gratitude, EMMETT GOSMAN For the Gosman Family Time to Raise Awareness East Hampton October 14, 2015 Dear David, Imagine this scenario: The phones are not ringing, the shelter is empty, and there are no clients for our services. If only that were so. In fact, a record 470 people called the Retreat hotline in September — 150 more calls than in any other month in 2015. The shelter is full and there is an overwhelming increase in the demand for domestic violence services. October, Domestic Violence Awareness Month, is a time to raise awareness of the prevalence of domestic and intimate partner violence. The statistics for this epidemic, which does not discriminate and has no boundaries, are staggering, and unfortunately most of us know them — one in five children, one in four women, and one in seven men. We’re proud to say that our community is engaged in this important effort. On Oct. 7, we honored those who have died as the result of domestic violence and we recognized those who have broken the cycle of violence, at Commemoration Day in Hauppauge. On Oct. 15, the Dennison Building in Hauppauge was illuminated purple, the color used to increase awareness of domestic violence. Other events this month include the Purple Purse Challenge, a campaign initiated by the Allstate Foundation to educate the community about the severity of financial abuse in relationships. The Retreat is proud to be part of this initiative (crowdrise.com/retreat). On Oct. 15, Alex and Ani hosted an event in Southampton, and on Saturday, the Sag Harbor Gym is hosting a fund-raiser from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., with proceeds split between the Retreat and the Southampton Animal Shelter. As awareness increases and as the need for services increases we are now faced with the Suffolk County proposed budget for 2016, which funds 16 percent of our core services and has proposed that our 2016 budget be cut by 2 percent. We find ourselves, at this critical juncture, speaking before the Suffolk County Legislature pleading for last year’s funds, at a time when the needs of our community have never been greater. How unfortunate it would be if a lack of funding results in our inability to provide the services so desperately needed by our community. Surely, Domestic Violence Awareness Month will be beneficial only if there are services to be accessed! We are committed to making ourselves available to those affected by domestic violence 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Anyone in need can call our bilingual hotline, 329-2200, day or night. All services, counseling, advocacy, shelter, prevention education, are free, strictly confidential, and available for all children and adults impacted by domestic violence. During Domestic Violence Awareness Month, we urge our friends and neighbors to wear purple, contact your legislator, volunteer at the Retreat, listen to a friend, keep the conversation going, and be a part of the solution. LORETTA K. DAVIS Executive Director Grateful for Assistance Montauk October 19, 2015 To the Editor, While I was driving east on Montauk Highway on Wednesday, Oct. 7, a deer ran into my Honda CRV. My vehicle was severely damaged. I would like to thank Dutch Reige of the Montauk Fire Department, who was in a car behind me and pulled over to help me. He called 911 and within minutes Officer Stavola and the Amagansett ambulance squad arrived to assist me. I am truly grateful for the assistance and professionalism everyone demonstrated that morning. Yours truly, AURELIA JURGENSEN Journeys With Deborah Orange Springs, Fla. October 16, 2015 Editor: Deborah Light and I enjoyed our partnership for 27 years. Never dull, always memorable, our relationship ran a spectacular gamut of experience and emotion. As I faced the folks who sat in front of me under the ancient apple orchard at Quail Hill Farm at Deborah’s celebration service, I sensed that many there also had satisfying, even memorable experiences with her. Your reaction to my words told me you identified with my memories, likely through your similar memories. Thank you for later sharing your memories of your journeys with Deborah. Thank you for the words you spoke to me — reminiscences of fun, learning, conflict, competition, and love. You did indeed have fascinating connections with Deborah. Thank you as well for the kind and loving attention you poured onto me through my stay in Sag Harbor and Amagansett. The amazing New York Quail Hill Farm is bookended with the amazing Crones Cradle Conserve in Florida. Please visit and see the other extraordinary farm Deborah Light enabled and supported. As did Deborah, walk lightly on Mother Earth. JERI BALDWIN Crones Cradle Conserve Foundation Happy Trails, Louise! Amagansett October 19, 2015 Dear Editor, Louise Edwards was such an inspiration! Tiny yet larger than life, tough yet elegant, a talented photographer, an amazing animal trainer, a true free spirit, and so much fun! We knew she was older, but I had no idea until reading her obituary in last week’s East Hampton Star that she was at least 30 years older than the rest of us. I was so impressed that she had converted half of her garage into a stable and kept her horse at home. Louise would appear at Teetor’s (where a group of us kept our horses three decades ago) on her magnificent palomino, Vanilla, and lead us on the most rollicking trail rides through the hidden wilds of Amagansett and Napeague. When we’d come upon a clear area, Louise would politely call out, “Shall we charge?” and take off at a gallop. A photo (taken by Maggie Kotuk some 30 years ago) is how I remember Louise; she’s the one without pants. It was a chilly autumn day along Gardiner’s Bay and Louise had spontaneously decided to take Vanilla for a swim. Happy trails, Louise! I’m glad to learn you had a long run, as I’ve often wondered what you were up to after you moved away. Thank you for the wonderful memories. A senior now galloping the trails in your hoof prints, DIANA ZADARLA I Am Going to Miss Him East Hampton October 17, 2015 Dear Editor, Richard Hahn of East Hampton and New York City died last week. I lost a friend and golfing buddy with whom I spent three hours every morning, six days a week, religiously, except for rain, for two whole summers, with never an argument or cross word between us that came from him, even though we played for dollars, $1 per hole. He was as punctual as a clock, as full of integrity as anyone I have ever met, compassionate to a fault, smart as a whip, and as competitive as anyone can be. He was intellectually interested in the world around him and just how people lived and survived in it. He cared about those who came into his life and had some of that caring left over for the world in general. He constantly asked about and sincerely explored the well-being of those he knew about. He played bridge to distraction, poker to share joy with his friends, and sports for the fun of them. Richard was a very good athlete, beyond the norm, and added to that athleticism an ability to think his way to winning, to devise a method and vehicle to do so, as he did a great deal of the time. He was a beginner golfer who avoided losing matches by using his putter when he got anywhere near the green. That little trick kept him in the match, as typical as his pinpoint lobs in tennis. All who knew him will say, “I am going to miss him.” None more than me! RICHARD P. HIGER The Team Is Rallying East Hampton October 19, 2015 Dear David, Today as this is published, Thursday, Oct. 22, the stage is set at 5 p.m. for one of the great team comebacks in the annals of Bonac High School sports. Number-one John Glenn rides into town to play girls volleyball at the high school against one of the youngest teams in Coach Kathy McGeehan’s long winning history with the program. Last year’s senior-laden playoff team was succeeded by a freshman-dominated group with more freshmen than seniors. Early on, the coach knew she had her toughest coaching assignment, and early on the freshmen learned the difficulty of high school sports. Every loss was expected and every victory was an upset. Now, instead of wilting, the team is rallying, with the few upper class members leading the way. The comeback has been remarkable, and Coaches McGeehan and Alex Choi pulled more out of the kids than the kids knew they had. Newspaper coverage of losing teams is never popular, and girls volleyball hasn’t had a game report in weeks. But today, at 5 p.m., come and cheer the remarkable comeback. A win against number-one Glenn will earn the kids a spot in the playoffs. In any case the coaches and kids deserve kudos for hanging tough. Volleyball is a team game, and as Benjamin Franklin once said, “We must hang together, or assuredly we shall hang separately.” Go Bonac! BILL FLEMING Without the Resolutions Springs October 14, 2015 To the Editor, I read with interest the article in The East Hampton Star about the facilities committee and their plan to present to the Springs School Board at the Oct. 5 meeting their recommendations for some of the space needs for the school in the immediate future. They had worked with the architectural firm BBS and its principal, Roger Smith, for a number of months, and the consensus was the school needs space now. The committee, minus Mr. Smith, presented a multistepped plan to address the immediate needs, with their willingness to work toward the greater needs, reflective of this community and its concerns for the tax levels, the environment, and the school’s unique role as the center of the Springs community. The article also went on to report that Ms. Mendelman stated that the school had worked with BBS without the required resolution, and paid them without the required resolutions. It was interesting that she chose to admit these facts when community members had been asking about these resolutions for months, and I had, in fact, FOILed the information, plus the BBS contract, on Sept. 15. As of the school board meeting, I had not gotten a single response from the school superintendent, the district clerk, or Ms. Mendelman. They, by the New York State Open Meetings law, had five business days to respond to my request of Sept. 15, and did not do so. The article also states that the reporter uncovered significant cost overruns that were not budgeted. Christine Sampson had to FOIL that information also, since it was never mentioned in any school board meetings, though that had also been asked at meetings. My concerns are many. One, the superintendent’s and school board’s inability to be honest to the community does not speak well to the community’s need to trust the people who would be asking voters to spend money for the sake of the children in this community. Two, their actions are not what this district needs, or what it has always stood for. The Springs School has been a good neighbor and a steward of the community’s money. The staff has provided the children of this community with a strong education with excellent art programs, science achievements, and exemplary experiences within the community, all at a good value. The leadership needs to be trusted if we are to deal with the concerns of an overcrowded school and continue to give the children the education they deserve. What other issues will be uncovered, if the leadership doesn’t change? MARY JANE ARCERI Deer Density Variables Montauk October 19, 2015 To the Editor: Your Oct. 15 article “Munching Deer Leave No Leaves in the Forest” fails to convey the complexity of the topic. Instead, the article is likely to fuel anti-deer hysteria. Deer density is only one factor that affects woodland vegetation. Other variables include acid rain, global warming and its extreme weather fluctuations, disease, and real estate development. In addition, evaluations of vegetation must consider factors such as tall tree canopies that shield lower plants from sunlight, and low rainfall, as in the summer we just had. Your article relies heavily on the perspective of East Hampton Town’s planning director, Marguerite Wolffsohn, and land acquisition administrator, Andy Gaites. But Larry Penny, former director of East Hampton’s Natural Resources Department, sharply disagrees with their view. At a June 18 forum, “The Deer Controversy,” Penny presented numerous slides that indicate that deer have not seriously affected our woodland understory. Penny’s presentation was later aired on LTV. Before publishing an article with the alarming headline “Munching Deer Leave No Leaves in the Forest,” The Star should have given thorough consideration to Penny’s evidence. The town board’s deer management advisory committee, which includes Wolffsohn and Gaites, has already heard from Tom Rawinski, formerly of the U.S. Forest Service, who says deer damage is devastating. For the sake of balance, I suggest that the committee also hear from a wildlife expert like Laura Simon of the Humane Society of the United States. Over the years, human activities such as logging and real estate development destroyed most of our country’s magnificent forests. Human activities continue to take their toll. The effects of deer browsing pale in comparison. The single-minded focus on deer amounts to little more than scapegoating. BILL CRAIN East Hampton Group for Wildlife Dead Tagged Deer East Hampton October 19, 2015 Dear David, We are highly concerned about this hunting season. It has come to our attention that the surgical experiment that East Hampton Village did on the deer in our community in January of this year has consequences that the hunters have not been made aware of. Five different drugs were administered to the animals that were tagged. Two of these drugs are not approved by the Federal Food and Drug Administration for use in food animals. The ear tags that were applied to these animals have already begun to fall off, and our local hunters will not be able to distinguish these deer from deer that have not been experimented on. Making the problem worse is that both East Hampton Village and East Hampton Town have done nothing to warn hunters about this potential problem. The East Hampton deer management committee did not even have a meeting in September, a time that would have been most crucial, as it was the last chance to meet before hunting season began. Since these tagged deer have been seen as far north as Springs and the Northwest Woods and as far west as Bridgehampton, we are recommending that hunters keep a five-mile perimeter from the Village of East Hampton. This will ensure that no hunter accidentally consumes these animals. The committee should have also been warning the public that this is rutting season and the worst month of the year for automobile-versus-deer collisions. The sole voice of reason on this committee is the representative from the East Hampton Sportsmen’s Alliance. They seem to be the most concerned with the welfare of both the public and the animals. The village and the town have let these men and women down and put them at risk without any regard for their health and safety. If hunters come across any dead tagged deer in the woods, please contact Dell Cullum at 377-6555 and leave a message with tag number and location. Thank you so much, ILYSSA MEYER Seawall in Montauk Springs October 19, 2015 Dear David, I have compiled a list of probable pros and cons with respect to the proposed seawall in Montauk. First the pros: In a moderate coastal storm of short duration, the revetment might offer some protection to theeachfront hotels. In a major coastal storm, a large brackish duck pond would be created in downtown Montauk, creating a nice tourist attraction. Now the cons: In a significant coastal storm, the structure would offer little or no protection for the beachfront hotels (according to the coastal geologist Rob Young, Ph.D.). There will be no more places to lie down and sunbathe. No more places to dig with a pail and shovel. No more beach to fish from. No more beach to walk on and collect shells. No place to put a lifeguard stand. No safe place to swim or boogie board. No more access to drive trucks down to Shadmoor. No surfbreak at Terrace. More cons: At mid or high tide, with even the slightest swell, it will be very dangerous to be trapped between the ocean and the sagging plastic cliff. When the structure gets undermined and the plastic dirtbags deteriorate, the money allocated for re-covering the structure with sand will be insufficient for repairs and the unknown cost will come from taxpayers’ pockets. After the first summer of a beachless downtown, tourists will be much less likely to return to Montauk and spend money. When the structure has become unusable and dangerous, the cost of removing the mangled mess could be higher than the original cost of installation and will also come out of our pockets. But what the hell, it’s free money, so we have to do this. Right? EUGENE ALPER Defies Common Sense Amagansett October 19, 2015 Dear David, As you might expect, my allies and I are disappointed by Magistrate Judge Anne Shields’s recommendation to dismiss the preliminary injunction Defend H2O, et al., filed to prevent the downtown Montauk revetment work from commencing. There are a number of conclusions and inferences in the ruling that I take issue with. The most troublesome is Judge Shields’s acceptance of the Army Corps version of beach features and functions. Specifically, the judge believed that 14,000 sand bags, each weighing 1.7 tons and occupying 3,100 feet of beach face, is a dune. Army Corps and town officials labeling this monolith a “dune” or “nonstructural” defies common sense, regulatory definitions, and science. This assemblage of sandbags is akin to a giant seawall made of giant concrete blocks, and is in fact the functional opposite of a dune. Regretfully, the Judge Shields declined to convene a hearing on the matter that would have illuminated the facts of coastal processes and policy transgressions well beyond what written words can do. What happens now? We march on! KEVIN McALLISTER Defend H2O Rental Registry Laws Springs October 15, 2015 To the Editor; The Town of East Hampton is proposing a new set of rental registry laws. If last year’s version was the equivalent of throwing a homeowner out of a 30-story window, I am happy to report that this year’s version only requires being thrown out of a 20-story window. Gone is the need to put a sticker on your door or to hire an architect or engineer, for a fee of perhaps a thousand bucks, to report your residence is up to par. However, there is still a registration fee of $250, which I believe should be reduced to $10. Now all you have to do is come up with a certificate of occupancy, and if you cannot find it, then it’s only a misdemeanor, with a modest fine and no jail time, provided you cooperate in enforcing the law. Now there have been some serious problems in Montauk and elsewhere, but there are existing laws that enable the Building Department to cite violations. And it should be easy to find an owner of a property by going to the tax office and seeing who pays the real estate taxes on the property. These proposed regulations treat the more than 99 percent of honest homeowners who lease their property as potential criminals and complicate their lives as well as those of the people in the real estate industry. RICHARD D. LEVIN Poor Legislation East Hampton October 16, 2015 Dear Editor, The latest version of the rental registry law appears to have been drafted in a void, without knowledge or understanding of the changing vacation rental market in East Hampton. The rental registry law will create more problems and expenses for homeowners without ever solving overcrowded or obnoxious share houses. Homeowners who rent legally and get a bad tenant, through no fault of their own, will face devastating fines of up to $15,000 a day, and jail time on top of that. This is clearly spelled out in sections 199-1-9(A.1) and 199-1-9(A.4) of the proposed law. Section 199-1-9(C) of the proposed law offers homeowners an opportunity for reduced sentencing based on the goodwill of the Code Enforcement Department and the mercy of the town attorney. The only true protection for homeowners who rent legally and get a bad tenant is to hire a lawyer to defend themselves from the Town of East Hampton and the rental registry law. These homeowners will also face intense property inspections by the Building Department, including bed checks and an extensive list of possible citations and fines, some as benign as clogged gutters and missing window screens, to more costly issues such as updating surveys. These intrusive inspections are not written specifically into the rental registry law; the law opens the door for these inspections, much like a Trojan horse. If a study had been done prior to the drafting of the rental registry law, it would reveal that we are a resort community with a limited number of hotel rooms, and that residents who rent their homes are predominantly local people making ends meet. These part-time landlords are an integral part of our economy and provide customers to our local business owners. Further: Demand is high for short-term family rentals of one or two weeks. The traditional Memorial Day to Labor Day seasonal rental is not as popular as it once was. Also: A small family is the ideal vacationer. They typically have only a one or two-week summer vacation, are predominately respectful of others, travel in one car, and want to spend time with each other enjoying what East Hampton has to offer. In doing so, they support the full spectrum of our local businesses: shopping, restaurants, eco-tourism, water sports, etc. The rental registry law will dramatically reduce the availability of one-week accommodations. Vacationing families will go elsewhere. Finally, existing East Hampton Town laws permit two rooms to be rented to guests, even nightly. This is ideal for the Airbnb model. Many homeowners faced with the rental registry law and needing to make ends meet will switch from short-term vacation rentals to hosting nightly guests in their homes. Transient nightly guests typically are younger and head out looking for excitement. This shift will noticeably increase traffic and turnover in our residential neighborhoods and challenge quality-of-life issues in our public spaces. The net effect of the rental registry law will be fewer families vacationing in East Hampton and more transient weekend and nightly visitors. Isn’t this just the opposite of what is desired? East Hampton needs a study of our tourism-based economy so that good legislation can be drafted that nurtures this economy while protecting our neighborhoods. How do we get started? A good first step is to stop the rental registry law. It is poor legislation that will have unintended consequences and will do more harm than good. TOM STEELE Make a Difference East Hampton October 19, 2015 Dear Mr. Rattray: I write to support my friend Pat Mansir in her campaign for trustee. Shoreline issues are among the most important ones that our town faces. Pat has the nuts and bolts knowledge to make a difference. CARL IRACE Where I Stand Amagansett October 19, 2015 To the Editor. I’ve been writing letters here to give people who don’t already know me a better idea of who I am. So, I thought I would lay out my stances on some local issues, if you’re interested. Where I stand: Beach access: All beaches should be public. Private ownership goes against what a beach is, an ever-changing boundary of land and water belonging to nature and all living things, including people, of course. Beach driving: An important right, as long as you live here and do it responsibly. Hard structures on beaches: Damaging and futile. They unfairly protect one person’s property while damaging everyone else’s. Wave energy is deflected and undermines revetments, inevitably destroying them. Will never work for the long term. Army Corps in Montauk: Go home. Even sandbags are a hard structure in my mind and they pose the same threats: increased erosion and flooding on the sides of the project. More trouble than it’s worth. Sea level rise: Unstoppable. A retreat approach is the only long-term plan. Nourishing beaches with sand can slow erosion and is the best short-term approach. Just watch that littoral drift. Environmental conservation: Best left in local hands. As the inhabitants of our environment, we have firsthand knowledge of its needs and changes. Fishermen know our waters. Recognition of the Department of Environmental Conservation: You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. It may not be easy to work with, but it does exist. Trustees have final say in their own waters. Trustee independence: I believe in defending the trustees’ independence and powers granted by the Dongan Patent, but I feel this can be done while still being cooperative with other bodies of government. Be a good older brother, and your younger brothers will follow. Vector control: We don’t want your chemicals in our water. Deliver a strong joint message to stop salt marsh spraying from decimating our fisheries. East Hampton Airport: Keep it local. Lazy Point: Give ’em a break. Trustee procedures: Be more open to the public, have email addresses for each trustee, post the agenda online before meetings. Government: Don’t get stalled by party politics. Should be efficient, transparent, and open to new ideas. If you want to discuss anything with me, email me at [email protected]. Thanks for your time. TYLER ARMSTRONG Trustee candidate Something It Is Not Springs October 19, 2015 Dear David, There has been a good deal of talk about the Lazy Point community, with some key information being left out. Brief history: The trustees own and manage, on behalf of the public, about 100 acres of land on the bayside of Amagansett on Lazy Point. They offer land leases for $1,650 per year, which are renewed annually. While it is true that Lazy Point was the first affordable housing community in East Hampton for East Hampton residents, this moniker is no longer valid, as over half of the Lazy Point residents own numerous properties within East Hampton and elsewhere. In addition, many of the leases are mailed to out-of-town addresses, causing some to ponder if the lease fee of $1,650 per year is fair and justified. While there is nothing wrong with accumulating a variety of real property, it is wrong to call a community something it is not. Over the years, the community character of Lazy Point has changed from an affordable housing option for local families to a community that consists mostly of second, third, fourth, and so on, homeowners. These fortunate families can pass the house on to anyone, sealing in heredity rights to lease the public property, forever. For the minority of residents who actually live year round in their Lazy Point houses, the $1,650 annual fee may be correct, while for those folks who own numerous properties here and elsewhere, perhaps the fee should be increased. Keep in mind that the trustees do offer a hardship exemption for those in need, as no one wants to push people out of their homes. Is there a way to achieve this balance, while protecting the publics interest, as well as the interests of the local folks in need of affordable housing at Lazy Point? Those who live elsewhere and use their Lazy Point home as a summer and/or vacation home, and/or those who own one or more properties within East Hampton, are not in need of “affordable housing.” Maybe they are, but I doubt it. Is the current lease fee correct? Would a sliding scale, or income-based lease fee be appropriate? Should the lease fee rise as per a proposed 2-percent annual increase? This 2-percent increase is currently before the trustees and public for comment, with copies of the proposal available at the trustee office or on the trustee website, easthamptontrustees.com. This is a difficult issue, made more difficult, unfortunately, by politics. Please be sure to look carefully at the trustee meetings, as you can get to know what is going on a lot more if you watch our meetings rather than rely on ill-informed political commentary. Sincerely, DEBORAH KLUGHERS East Hampton Town Trustee Property at Lazy Point Springs October 12, 2015 Dear Mr. Rattray: I was disappointed that my letter in last week’s Star was held from the prior week when I sent it in after the town trustee meeting I attended as liaison from the Springs Citizens Advisory Committee. That said, I can see why it was held. Judging from all the nonsense and vitriol in the other letters about that Sept. 22 meeting, you were clearly looking for some balance and common sense about the trustees’ collective efforts to ensure the public a fair shake regarding their public deliberations about the leases of our, the commonalty’s, property at Lazy Point. Of course, notwithstanding the ignorant diatribes, it also continues the dialogue about affordable housing in an increasingly unaffordable town. During my unsuccessful bid for trustee in the last cycle, I tried to make clear that the trustees were, and remain, the “conscience of East Hampton.” Lazy Point is one of our citizens’ common holdings, owned by us all and managed by our elected trustees along with our beaches, bottomlands, surface waters, and our fisheries. As the eminent Captain Vorpahl pointed out at the meeting, the trustee property at Lazy Point, our property, was set aside as affordable housing for town residents down on their luck, for shacks and shanties, not a privileged enclave. Certainly not a place where the great majority of the leaseholders can repair solely for the summer, so that many of them can then more profitably rent their other, in some cases multiple, homes in East Hampton and elsewhere. Others of the tenants often summer elsewhere, renting their Lazy Point homes, paying a modest fee to the trustees. Further, a simple inspection of the tax rolls reveals that some of the lessees’ mailing addresses include tony Manhattan and other out-of-town addresses. It is in many cases another symptom of what has been described as Hamptonitis. While political party acolytes may describe an elected representative’s pointed questions about the details as “holding the meeting hostage,” I hope the volume was up so they could make out what was being said. The message was that the so-called agreement largely crafted and heartily endorsed by the two newest trustees, and based on what was self-servingly presented by the tenants, however “accurate,” does not obligate the board at large or any trustee to roll over. Tenants request, and landlords decide. Watch the meeting, and listen carefully. If you do watch and listen, you will undoubtedly note the histrionics of the chief tenant spokesman, a severely compromised trustee candidate and multiple-home owner who makes a living by exploiting the town’s beaches for free for profit. How inappropriate is this as the point person for a traditionally “affordable” housing community, no matter how beloved as a neighbor and friend to other letter writers? Further, given the unseemly behavior and rudeness of some Lazy Point attendees, the trustees should have someone acting as a sergeant at arms. Watch the meeting and listen carefully. Lazy Point’s physical location is immaterial. Despite the “drawbacks” of living on public land, as noted by an earnest though ill-informed young trustee candidate, it’s all of our taxpayers’ land, waterfront or waterview, and it is administered for us by the oldest governing body in the nation, as repeatedly upheld by the latecomers on the Supreme Court. No one is forced to live there, and those who have demonstrated real need have been consistently assisted by the trustees, hewing to the ideal of affordable housing for town residents. Would that the well-connected of Wainscott were as generous to those they would hire, but refuse to live alongside. As the owners’ representatives, the board of trustees have the fiduciary responsibility to get us a fair price in a reasonable and deliberate way, by questioning and carefully and independently evaluating every iteration of any draft agreement. Diligence is not hostage-taking, and the trustee meetings are work sessions on our behalf. Neither is paying school taxes to Amagansett or Springs the issue at all. Nor was it suggested that Lazy Point be singled out for reassessment; the whole town needs that. A realistic evaluation of the value to us all of our public holdings at Lazy Point is certainly in order. So is a fair rate of return. Given the grumbling undercurrent in the meeting room, it’s easy to mishear, but having been there, it seemed that the tenants gave grudging permission, so long as the trustees hurried it up and did what they wanted. If there’s any criticism warranted of the conduct of the meeting, it is about being polite while hearing insults. Watch the meeting and listen carefully. Trustee meeting attendance is absolutely an issue. Sad to say, the least-present trustee was elected repeatedly as a Democrat, although letters only mention those absentees on the other side of the aisle. In any case, that trustee, who served ably no matter how many meetings he missed, has respectfully chosen not to step up again. Unfortunately, that may be why we have another candidate who thinks that dumping treated pool water into their restricted-access beachfront street is okay, much to the chagrin of their neighbors, who called it in to various authorities. One has to wonder what our beefed-up enforcement personnel have done about that. As for friendships and with whom, again, immaterial. I’ve always spoken for myself, and in this case was prompted by the evident reality check necessary after Stuart Vorpahl spoke. It seemed few present in the audience heard what he said, perhaps because they were on the other side of their self-interested looking glass. Finally, a nod to Neil Hausig’s pointed letter on pandering to the few regarding affordable housing, and evidently public access as well. There’s no guessing necessary as to why it’s so: Orwell wrote that “some animals are more equal than others.” IRA BAROCAS Since the Beginning Lazy Point October 18, 2015 To the Editor, Seventy-nine years and treated like an outsider. My grandfather came to Lazy Point as a little boy in the early ’30s. His family camped on the east shores of Napeague Harbor for years. One summer the harbormaster approached his family and informed my great-grandfather, Lyle Badkin, that camping was not allowed anymore, but if he and his family would like they could go over to some property on Gardener’s Bay where they could stake a claim. An area of Lazy Point had been recently subdivided into 90 small lots. They chose their spot to build a small beach shack well, because in September of that year, 1938, a massive hurricane passed over the area and wiped away many of the low-lying homes on the shoreline. That same beach shack still sits nestled into the dunes. The roughly 300-square-foot uninsulated structure has remained essentially unchanged, and my grandfather has come out to “camp” in Lazy Point for the last 79 years. In the Sept. 23 meeting of the town trustees, Deb Klughers asked how did these people who are not East Hampton Town residents get leases in Lazy Point. The answer is, they have been here since the beginning. Since 1936, the first year the East Hampton Town Trustees enacted leases in Lazy Point, there have been families that spent their winters elsewhere. This has always been part of our community. In more recent years, income inequality and the disparity between local working-class families and new, wealthy second-home buyers and visiting renters whose influence drives up the cost of living in East Hampton to sometimes unbearable amounts has cast a shadow on any perceived out-of-towners no matter how long they have been a part of this community. I’m lucky enough to be a fourth-generation Lazy Pointer. Even though myrandfather’s beach shack sits empty in the winter, many of his children loved growing up in Lazy Point so much that they have decided to settle here. My cousin Kevin and his mother, Linda Badkin, and her brother, Robbie Badkin (whom many in Montauk know as Robbie the Welder), live in homes on Mulford Lane in Lazy Point. My mother, Janice, and her husband, Dennis Curles, along with myself, live in the Napeague Camping Club, a nonprofit mobile home park on Crassen Boulevard, whose name alludes to the roots of this summer community. The number of family members balloons from 6 to 11 in the summer when both my grandparents come out to stay along with their other daughter, Nancy, her son, Zac, and husband, Eric. All because my great-grandfather liked to take his family camping for the summer in an area known as the Promised Land. DAVID H. ELZE Eliminate the Trustees? Montauk October 18, 2015 Dear David, It seems the Democratic trustee candidates are attacking the Dongan Patent in their radio ads. The question is, why? Could it be because Democrats have such a hard time trying to win a majority on the trustees that if they can eliminate the trustees the town board would then take over their duties? The electorate has given Democrats a pass on their financial disasters and environmental shortcomings as well (Sammy’s Beach, $28 million illegally used from the community preservation fund). But so far the community doesn’t trust them with the things we all hold dearest — the beaches, harbors, and estuaries that are vital to our economic engine and beauty. They also ignore the historical significance of the Dongan Patent and the trustees, and what they represent to the East Hampton community. The Republican trustees have been reverent to these ideals and will continue to be. Thank you, JOE BLOECKER Candidate for East Hampton Town Trustee The Consequences Springs October 12, 2015 Dear David, The sitting town trustees believe that in order to retain their autonomy they must ignore the existence of most other government regulatory agencies. New York State and Suffolk County environmental agencies are especially despised. However, it is clear, to most of my running mates and myself, that in this effort to remain “independent” they have forfeited their control of trustee holdings. The state’s Department of Environmental Conservation is most hated by this sitting board. In order for the trustees to proceed with any waterways-dredging or other environmental projects, they need approval from this agency; hence, permits. It’s not difficult to find minutes from trustee meetings where the clerk declares, “We don’t recognize the D.E.C.” Yet they won’t move forward without these permits, nor do they have the confidence to challenge this agency in court. Instead they rely on the town to secure these permits for them. A letter to this paper last week warned of “unintended consequences” should permits be secured by the town trustees, thus recognizing the D.E.C. None are specifically suggested. So I will list some of the consequences of not securing permits. 1. This entire past summer, Fresh Pond in Amagansett has been closed from the bay by sand. No clean salt water has been able to flush the pond, and we are now seeing very negative water test results. The permit is in place, yet not acted on. Perhaps the trustees were unaware the permit is secured? 2. The culvert at Accabonac Harbor has been completely buried for the past three years. Nearly $1 million spent on this project, and it lies wasting away due to the lack of a permit to clear the sand from it. Last week an additional 20 acres of bottomland in Accabonac Harbor was designated “year-round uncertified” by the state. 3. The east channel into Napeague Harbor continues to merely trickle from year to year, restricting flow of clean water to and from this important shellfish nursery. This is another disaster waiting to happen. There are other examples like this throughout East Hampton. I fail to see control of trustee assets when they continue to waste away. I fail to see an “autonomous” board when they must rely on others to take responsibility for the trustee assets. The Democratic trustee candidates propose to secure all the necessary permits for trustee holdings. For the first time, these permits will be in the town trustee name, allowing the board to create a long-range plan to maintain these precious assets. The problems we face today cannot be addressed by traditional means. Responsible stewardship is expected when we elect town trustees, something that has been lacking for too long. Vote for the trustee candidates on Row A and you can depend on that responsible stewardship. FRANCIS J. BOCK Democratic candidate for Town Trustee Cooperation Is the Key Amagansett October 18, 2015 Dear David, Diane McNally’s letter last week stated that she wanted “to make everyone aware there could be unintended negative consequences . . . if the current trustees relinquish their autonomy to any town, county, state, or federal agency.” The Democratic candidates for trustee have no intention of relinquishing any of the rights and autonomy of the trustees set by the Dongan Patent. They just want to cooperate with other agencies to make this community a better place to live. Cooperation is a key element in addressing water quality, waterways, beaches, and our natural resources. Sincerely, RONA KLOPMAN Pat Has Been a Giver Amagansett October 19, 2015 Dear David, There are takers and there are givers. Pat Mansir has been a giver for as long as I have known her. She served East Hampton well in several capacities. Pat taught Red Cross first aid and American Heart Association cardiopulmonary resuscitation to hundreds of us. She served on the planning board for 10 years and was our councilwoman for 10 years as well. Her previous accomplishments are significant. It is clear that Pat loves East Hampton. She is concerned for the residents and the environment and is committed to a town government that is open and accessible. Pat Mansir has been a giver and she will continue to be if elected. Vote for Pat Mansir for town trustee on Nov. 3. You will be doing a good thing for this town. Sincerely, SUSAN PARSONS KNOBEL Time to Shake Things Up Springs October 19, 2015 Dear David, There is a group of us running for trustee on the Democratic line because we think it’s time for a change. Time to shake things up and get going. Time for the trustees to move in a new direction, ahead. Beach driving regulations are not a current problem. All the driving and access issues were settled 25 years ago and are only kept alive by Republican office-seekers trying to divert your attention from the mess they left the town in in 2013. Bill Wilkinson’s Republican administration didn’t lift a finger to protect Napeague, and I got the impression he was on the side of the few wealthy homeowners trying to claim the beach. Ownership of Napeague is the real beach-access issue this year, and our group strongly supports the town board condemning the property. Water quality is the key to our environment, and our environment is key to our economy. We are blessed to live in such a beautiful place and to be surrounded by clean waters, safe for fishing and recreational activities. We live in a town with world-class fishing and seafood, famed surf breaks, and the top bathing beaches in the world. This water quality is showing signs of stress and we must start doing everything we can do to protect it. Our freshwater ponds are filling with blue-green algae, dangerous to swimmers, fatal to pets. Shellfish grounds are being closed while the trustees sit around fighting over their powers with other boards. Now is the time to move forward with a plan, like the town did with underground fuel tanks, to help and encourage waterfront and watershed property owners with upgrading their septic systems, and to work with the town, village, and county to remove excess phosphorus and nitrogen from our water. Our group of Democratic and Independence Party candidates is knowledgeable and experienced. We ask you to vote for us on Row A on Election Day. BILL TAYLOR Sovereign Authority Amagansett October 12, 2015 Dear David, A few days ago, I received the Democratic trustee candidates’ campaign mailing. I am astonished as to how nine supposedly intelligent people can be so very wrong concerning the independent, sovereign body-politic status of the very office they are running for — the Trustees of the Freeholders and Commonalty of the Town of East Hampton. It is my view that the Democratic candidates’ statement that “the Republican majority of the East Hampton Town Trustees . . . claim their jurisdiction from patents from King James II, although we won the Revolutionary War” is very telling, in that we have nine Democratic candidates running for the position of East Hampton Town trustee who do not have a clue as to what the East Hampton Town Trustees for centuries represent. America’s winning of the Revolutionary War had no effect upon the political status of the town trustees, for several reasons, which are as valid today as when written in colonial times (all pre-revolution). Our Nicholls Patents (1686) were written as one long paragraph to make them lawyer-proof. They declare forever the trustee holdings and governmental authorities “without let or hindrance” from any person or persons whatsoever. The patents are binding forever on all heirs or successors to the King of England. The patents were, from the time they were written, to be as law against the King of England. The first session of the Colony of New York’s Colonial Legislature, on 6 May 1691, passed just such a law confirming our patents and charters against His Majesty’s government. The precise writing is, to wit: “ . . . are and shall forever be deemed, esteemed and reputed good and effectual charters, patents and grants authentick in the law against the majesties, their heirs and successors forever. . . .” New York State and the federal government became the successor to the king at the conclusion of the Revolutionary War, and both constitutions reflected this 1691 act by the Colonial Legislature. This act is valid today by virtue of Article I, Section 14, Common Law and Acts by the Colonial Legislature and State Legislature. With the New York State Constitution in 1776, Article 36 fully recognized the validity of our patents and charters with the wording “but nothing contained in this Constitution shall affect any grants of land within this State made by the authority of the said King or his predecessors, or shall annul any charters to bodies politic and corporate by him or them before that day . . .” (Oct.14, 1775). The Federal Constitution of 1787 states in Section 10-1 that “No State shall . . . pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto law, or laws impairing the obligation of contracts.” Our contracts were the patents of which the Dongan Patent cost the townspeople 200 pounds plus an annual quit rent. Article 36 in New York’s Constitution remained as originally written until 1938, when it was shortened by the removal of the legislative appoints provision, which never occurred over a period of 161 years, as the town trustee boards always elected their own set of officers. It was renumbered to Article 1, Section 15 (the Bill of Rights) and it now read “certain grants of lands and of charters made by the King of Great Britain and this State, obligations and contracts not to be impaired.” The contracts for East Hampton were the Nicholls and Dongan Patents, yet all was ignored in November 1962 when this Article I, Section 15 was fraudulently removed by the New York State Legislature. Both Assembly and Senate falsified Amendment No. 2 on the November 1962 ballot. The voters, in reading this amendment, thought it pertained to “Indian Lands.” These illegal shenanigans by the 1962 State Legislature were and are prohibited acts by both the Federal Constitution and by several U.S. Supreme Court decisions, which uphold and confirm the validity of our patents and charters. United States Supreme Court decisions are the law of the land, binding on all parties nationwide, yet New York State seems to conveniently forget or ignore this very basic legal framework of our judicial system when it comes to recognizing the sovereign authority of the town trustees. For an example, New York State had no legal right whatsoever to grant East Hampton Village jurisdiction over lands and waters owned by the town trustees. Ditto for Suffolk County, East Hampton, or Southampton’s town and village boards. They all are duty bound by the U.S. Constitution to fully obey any and all decisions by the Supreme Court. With the Jessups Bridge case (1899), the New York State Court of Appeals, among other rulings, stated that the Southampton Town Trustees were literally a state within the state. The Democratic town trustee flier is most humorous in stating that the present board refuses to cooperate with the town board or with other state, county, or even local agencies. Foremost, this is a stretch of the truth, but it is very difficult to cooperate with any of these governmental groups when their idea of cooperation is to ignore the political status of our town trustees, which preceded all other types and forms of governments in New York State. The East Hampton Town Trustees were our governing body at least 120 years before the existence of the state and federal governments. This Democratic statement begs the question of where was the cooperation when the East Hampton Town Board passed a law banning booze at the town trustee beach at Indian Wells? The town board never even called the town trustees before they enacted this law. No consultation at all. Where was the cooperation with the various governmental groups who were involved with the dredging of the west channel at Napeague last fall? This project involved town trustee bottomland and the sand placed on a town trustee-owned beach, but the town trustees were ignored 100 percent. Not even the courtesy of a “cc” on any papers related to this dredging project. The town trustees are not legally bound by any provisions of New York State municipal law. Yet they are hammered constantly on this matter. Several yeas ago, a Supreme Court justice cited time after time about the Southampton Town Trustees violating provisions of state municipal law, and he declared that the Southampton Town Trustees were an agency of the Southampton Town Board. I haven’t figured out yet what this judge was smoking. Finally, I make a request that all nine Democratic candidates for the office of East Hampton Town Trustee should immediately read pages 57 and 58 of the Southampton attorney David H. Gilmartin’s book “Wetlands at What Cost?” David leaves no doubt as to what the town trustees on Long Island are about. Cheers, STUART B. VORPAHL New Blood on the Board Amagansett October 19, 2015 Dear David, Often when it comes to voting for trustees people either ignore it altogether or they mindlessly vote a party line or for names they recognize. The trustees matter. East Hampton deserves the best, we think it’s obvious we need some new blood on the board. We need trustees who are forward-thinking, rather than backward-looking. We need trustees who are fair and open-minded and don’t act out of personal agendas, prejudices, and pettiness. Traditional trustee jurisdiction is very important, but it should not be the be-all and end-all of trustee thinking and actions. We need trustees willing to compromise and cooperate with other government agencies. We need trustees who will work hard, attend meetings, and not function as merely rubber-stamp votes. We need trustees who are not afraid to set precedents. There are good candidates running. There are some who are not so good. Please try to find out which are which. Be an informed voter, not a robotic one. Think about splitting your vote. You are not required to vote for nine candidates; vote only for the ones you think are best. Let’s elect trustees whose mindsets will allow fresh air to blow through the board and bring with it a willingness to change the status quo when it’s the right thing to do. This will serve to make East Hampton better, now and in the future. VINCENT and JOAN PRIORE Vote for Access East Hampton October 19, 2015 Dear David, As a recreational fisherman, a member of four access-related associations, an avid swimmer, and beach walker, I have followed the evolution of our town’s beach access-related policies for 20 years. This year there are many candidates with a variety of positions in regard to beach-access issues. I’d like to share some of what I’ve heard at various meetings. Larry Cantwell, who constantly ignores trustee recommendations, was criticized for failing to fight for parking at Dolphin Drive and for favoring hard revetments on Montauk beaches. Peter Van Scoyoc and Sylvia Overby were painted as peas in a pod, with poor track records on sticking up for public access. Overby has avoided the South Flora issue altogether, yet she claims to be for beach access. Van Scoyoc once threw in with the same anti-access crowd, referring to beach driving at Maidstone as “beach parking.” Regarding Dolphin Drive, at a recent candidates’ debate he suggested that parking would draw the same type of unruly crowds as seen in Montauk. This is an anti-tourist position, and it’s the same lame and contrived excuse that the mostly Democratic town board will use to try to deny public parking at Dolphin. The town spent $8 million of community preservation funds to purchase South Flora preserve! There are six preserves in town that do offer public parking on roads near beaches. None have ever attracted unruly crowds. Margaret Turner returned a questionnaire about beach issues acknowledging the importance of the trustees, supporting public beach access, beach driving, and public parking at Dolphin. TomKnobel made Dolphin Drive a key issue in his platform and scored the highest marks on access issues, as well as for supporting our trustees. Lisa Mulhern-Larsen was heralded for favoring traditions including beach driving. Regarding trustee choices, the consensus was that much research has to still be done about new candidates. There was concern that some of the new Democratic candidates might want to restructure the trustees to be more apt to take their marching orders from the town board. This of course would be horrible, flying in the face of an institution founded as an independently functioning watchdog system of local government! Comments made of note: Zach Cohen: Great. He’ll fight for the trustees and improve the overall dynamic of this incredibly important governing body. Diane McNally: Absolutely essential to keeping our public beaches open. She’s extremely knowledgeable, hardworking, and no wallflower. Deb Klughers: Smart, dedicated, and fair. She knows how to balance the public’s need for certain traditions like beach driving with common-sense conservation. Joe Bloecker: He gets it. He’s experienced and favors access at every level. Rona Klopman: She took hits for proposing that people could ride bicycles to access Dolphin Drive instead of being able to park their cars there. Elderly voters wondered how they could pedal from the Springs to South Flora without having heart attacks. Couples with young children didn’t like her stance either. Stakeholders commented about recent letters in the media that launched an ugly, politically motivated campaign push against our trustees. We don’t need subservient trustees whose first loyalty is to play ball with the town board. Trustees are expected to follow their mandate of protecting public beach access first and foremost, while acting autonomously. Our sitting trustees have done an exceptional job, especially with the less-than-wholehearted support that they received from this town board. Only those with an agenda to restrict the powers of our trustee form of government would think differently. The trustees are a watchdog organization, and must always be independent from the town board in their decision-making processes. Cooperation with the town board may be required, but not at the cost of jeopardizing their sacred mandate to serve and protect the public’s right to access our beaches. I encourage everyone to please vote for access candidates, even if it means not voting a strictly one-party ticket. JAY BLATT Blanketing the Town East Hampton October 18, 2015 To the Editor: According to the New York State Board of Elections website, the East Hampton Leadership Council just received another $30,000 contribution from a helicopter company to spend on the East Hampton Republican campaign. They now have received a total of $60,000 in the last 10 days. This is money that we believe they are spending in coordination (in violation of campaign finance laws prohibiting such coordination) with the Republican campaign. They have paid workers going door to door, and may be the guys blanketing the town with Republican lawn signs. This is in addition to the $50,000 given directly to the East Hampton Republican Committee from the helicopter interests for them to spend on their own. CHRISTOPHER KELLEY Keep the Issue Out Front New York City October 16, 2015 To the Editor: The concerted and well-financed effort by narrowly focused commercial interests based primarily out of town to take control of East Hampton is a serious fact likely not recognized by too many voters. So I hope you will continue to keep the issue out front through the election. Your front page and editorials are our community’s best hope. PETER M. WOLF A Critical Resource New York City October 12, 2015 To the Editor: It is my great pleasure to write a recommendation letter for Lisa MulhernLarsen. Lisa is an outstanding individual whom I have known for over two years as my broker for Brown Harris Stevens. Throughout this time she has been a critical resource to me in my relocation process to the East End. During our interactions she has been the most professional in this arena, outshining by far individuals in similar roles and companies with whom I have worked. Additionally, she has become a dear friend, due to her warm personality and unique qualities that set her apart from others. She is a pleasure to be with, always coming from the perspective of the glass being half full. She has an intrinsic happiness that shines through, and people want to be around her. Her sterling personality and ethical transparency have made my exchanges with her not only professionally valuable but also pleasant at a personal level. It is clear that I think very highly of Lisa and support her candidacy for town council without reservation and with the highest level of enthusiasm. She will be an asset to any organization, by dint of her work ethic, intellectual capabilities, selflessness, and style. Respectfully, SUSAN A. JACKSON Local Airport East Hampton October 16, 2015 Dear David, The East Hampton Town Board election has now focused squarely on our local airport, as reported on the front page of The East Hampton Star on Oct. 15. The significant sum of funds donated by HeliFlite Shares, a helicopter company in Newark, and other out-of-state aviation interests serves to warp the campaign process of our town election. The sum of $58,200 also serves to manipulate the Republican Party and its candidates. This donation should be seen for what it is: a sellout by the Republican Party of East Hampton. It is a corruption of the democratic political process. On a far smaller scale, the donation from outside aviation interests illustrates the need to overturn the Citizens United amendment. Recently the G.O.P. engaged in a nefarious campaign with HeliFlite to trash the Democratic candidates by distributing hotel-style door hangers at residences. Initially the G.O.P. tried to deny the affiliation until one of your reporters did an excellent job of uncovering the truth. As your reporter noted this week, members of a group who call themselves the East Hampton Leadership Council, with a New York City address, paid workers to hang the door tags. At a recent public forum to meet the candidates, Tom Knobel, the Republican Party committee chairman and candidate for supervisor, blatantly lied when he said the Democrats wish to close the airport. To say the current town board is “not acting in good faith” is a projection of his intentions. Lying is never “acting in good faith.” This is fear-mongering at work by Mr. Knobel. Fear-mongering is what the aviation community has been relying on to sway the public, and it is deceptive and dishonest. The fact is this: Neither the Democrats nor the people who are burdened by the noise pollution want to close the airport. Mr. Knobel and his party know this is 100-percent true, as evidenced by the various repairs and installment of a new weather-detection system. What the noise-impacted community and our current Democratic town board are working for is respect for our environment and for citizens of the East End who are burdened by incessant noise pollution. The much maligned curfew by the G.O.P. candidates and aviation lobbyists affords the hours of operation commencing at 7 a.m. and closing at 11 p.m. While aviation interests and G.O.P. candidates say this is too restrictive, I wonder what would be reasonable? Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week? Sleep is a necessity for humans and wildlife alike. Even pilots require sleep. The curfew is a necessity. What the Republican candidates seek is unreasonable. They don’t want a curfew or any other rules. They want to hand over our town-owned airport to the Federal Aviation Administration again. That means bigger aviation businesses will descend on us and our skies will become jam-packed with noise pollution. What tourist, buyer, or renter wants that? None. In general, the Republican Party continually states that bigger government is bad government. The G.O.P. believes that local governments should prevail as those elected know what is best for the residents. If that’s so, remember that the F.A.A. is “big government.” East Hampton Town residents and our neighbors spent quite a long time under the rules and regulations that stole the East End’s tranquillity because there was no legal option for the town to disengage until the four grant assurances expired last December. If we cherish our peace, we can’t afford to go back to being chained to the F.A.A. What the members and candidates of the Republican Party are proving is simple: They are willing to sell out to the muscle of companies that do not have any vested interest in our communities except that which affords them tremendous profits. At risk is our future as a small-town government, something the Republican Party grandstands they believe in. At risk is the ability to decide for our town what is right for the people who live and work on the East End. At risk is the peace and quiet we all deserve and are entitled to enjoy. Together, we the people, and our current town board Democratic members, will continue the good works already in progress. The future of our ability to maintain and keep safe our town-owned airport is at stake. Let’s not vote to sell out to big aviation businesses. Vote on Nov. 3 for proven leadership and experience. Vote for our Democratic candidates! SUSAN McGRAW KEBER Out-of-State Money Sagaponack October 19, 2015 To the Editor: After years of complaints from residents of the East End of Long Island and East Hampton Town, the town board of East Hampton initiated restrictions on noisy aircraft using East Hampton Airport after the Federal Aviation Administration agreed to abandon critical “grant assurances” at the end of 2014. Out-of-state, so-called “friends of the airport” sued East Hampton Town in its efforts to protect the East End’s quiet enjoyment of house and home. They won a temporary injunction against one of the important restrictions. And now, out-of-state, commercial aviation interests’ money is bankrolling Republican candidates for this fall’s election ($90,000 to date, as reported). The Republican candidates have indicated their intent to reverse airport decisions made by the present board and accept F.A.A. funds, which would once again bind East Hampton to 20 more years of absolute minimal chances of local control of aircraft noise. The final outcome of the lawsuit is yet to be decided, but it seems that the “friends” would not attempt to buy the election unless they feared losing in court. A Republican victory would expose East Hampton again to harsh criticism from surrounding localities and probable lawsuits. Would these out-of-state “friends” of East Hampton Airport fund the legal defense of a lawsuit initiated by the neighboring communities, outraged by the continued and increased aircraft noise caused by the elimination of the present board’s effort to bring peace to our community? Threats of lawsuits were heard at various other town forums before the East Hampton Town Board took action. Southampton has already re-established its airport noise advisory committee. The aviation industry people have voted with their wallets against the wider interests of the residents of eastern Long Island. They have warped the election process into a one-issue race, denying residents wider choices critical in a democracy. Most of them do not live on Long Island, especially not in East Hampton. Yet they are trying to buy the East Hampton vote. The position of the East Hampton Republicans vis-a-vis the airport is hard to understand. Perhaps there are people here who are not bothered by the noise. But there are many who are, and it should not be a partisan issue. And they are not just in East Hampton. To do nothing about aircraft activity here will only allow the situation to get worse. And it will get worse. There is no limit on growth — none! East Hampton is the center of aircraft noise, and East Hampton will be the focus of anger for the whole East End. It is not an enviable position. So, the Republicans have made a choice. The electorate of East Hampton now has to decide. Democrats can vote to retain the present board. Republicans who disagree can vote to retain the present board — or choose not to vote, at least for this year. The other residents of the East End have their strong preference to retain the present board but are not endowed with a vote. STEPHEN LEVINE Fell From Helicopters Amagansett October 19, 2015 Dear David, What a surprise! It turns out that $55,000, the bulk of the money for the campaigns of the Republicans Tom Knobel, Lisa Mulhern-Larsen, and Margaret Turner, is being provided by the very same aviation interests that are currently suing the town to void the town board’s hard-won local control of the airport, to return that control to the Federal Aviation Administration in Washington, and to overturn the airport noise restrictions adopted by our town board last spring. Plus, a PAC registered to a board member of New Jersey-based HeliFlite Inc., one of the helicopter companies suing the town, is spending another $60,000 to produce Republican campaign literature being distributed by workers hired from UpIsland. (Even their political campaign doesn’t produce any local jobs!) The $60,000 was contributed by a single limited liability company, possibly in violation of the contribution limits of New York’s campaign finance laws, a matter that will have to be addressed after the election. The $115,000 flowing into the Republican campaign from aviation interests, almost all of that from out-of-state helicopter operators and people associated with them, is about 75 percent of all the funds the Republicans and the aviation PAC that supports them have reported receiving to date. If you look at their campaign filings, you see that the Republicans have very little local support. The numerous signs you see around town look as if they fell from the helicopters that paid for them. The Republican candidates are almost entirely dependent on the outside aviation interests that are clearly trying to buy East Hampton’s election. What a stench! JAMES MacMILLAN Aviation Interests East Hampton October 19, 2015 Dear David, Between $55,000 that went directly to the Republican campaign committee from New Jersey-based helicopter operators and other aviation interests and another $60,000 to a PAC organized by a board member of HeliFlite, Inc., $115,000, about 75 percent of Republican campaign funds, have come from aviation interests, the people who are now suing both to overturn the town’s recently adopted airport noise regulations and to force the return of control of our airport from our town board to the Federal Aviation Administration in Washington. When asked about the aviation money on TV, the Republican town board candidate Margaret Turner simply denied completely that her campaign has any funding whatsoever from the New Jersey helicopter interests. “Zero,” according to her. That’s a creative approach. The Republican supervisor candidate Tom Knobel admits what Turner denies and attempts instead to obscure that he is the darling of our out-of-state tormentors by saying, “Our opponents have basically tried to shut down the airport, and I guess that they [the helicopter and commercial aircraft interests] are looking to support people who are trying to find alternatives to that.” Whether knowingly or not (you can decide for yourself), Mr. Knobel repeats the same bald-faced, “plot-to-close-the-airport” lie that aviation interests have trotted out for years in their opposition to any and all noise controls at East Hampton Airport. I have worked for 18 years to obtain relief for local residents afflicted by the scourge of airport noise. Never has closing the airport been so much as discussed by anyone in my presence. Mr. Knobel’s claim is a complete fabrication. Here’s the truth. For most of 2014 and the first three months of 2015, I served as chairman of the town board’s airport planning committee’s noise subcommittee. All of the committee members were chosen because of their public advocacy of controlling noise caused by East Hampton Airport. We, along with the parallel committee of airport users, were charged with offering to the board a comprehensive proposal for airport operations, safety, noise, and finances, as they are all necessarily related. The very first thing my committee did was identify the critical safety needs of the airport, to be addressed with the highest priority. We recommended repair of taxiway lighting, upgrade of the automated weather station, taxiway pavement repair, clearing of obstructions from the instrument approaches, and the completion of the existing deer fence in order fully to enclose the airport. Obviously, my committee did not make these recommendations with the view to closing the airport. Rather, we did so to assure that the airport is safe and efficient. In our certain expectation that the airport will remain in use for the indefinite future, we also made recommendations as to its long-term financial needs and, of course, for the reduction of noise impacts on residents both in East Hampton and neighboring towns. Happily, all of our safety recommendations have been acted upon, or are in the process of being acted upon, by the current town board. The town board also adopted the first-ever noise restrictions at the airport and is now defending those restrictions in court against the legal attack by Mr. Knobel’s helicopter patrons. Supervisor Cantwell and the town board members Sylvia Overby and Peter Van Scoyoc, all running for re-election, are clearly committed for the long term to a safe and efficient airport, but one that is also a good neighbor. The Republican candidates, Knobel, Mulhern-Larsen, and Turner, are not. They have not the slightest concern for the adverse impact of the airport on residents of East Hampton. Indeed, they openly object to the town’s adopted airport noise restrictions and they are all willing to take more money from the F.A.A. so that we would again lose local control over our own airport. In other words, they are eager to give the New Jersey-based helicopter operators everything they want, at our expense. Try as they might, Knobel, MulhernLarsen, and Turner cannot cover up with fairy tales the reality that they are working for the interests of the New Jersey helicopter operators who fund most of their campaign, not for the people of East Hampton. DAVID GRUBER From His Sofa East Hampton October 19, 2015 Dear David, After six or eight months as the Republican candidate for supervisor, Tom Knobel has finally started to campaign, two weeks before Election Day. And what does he say in his ad campaign that he will do if elected: “Show up for work every day.” That’s it. He has yet to tell East Hampton anything whatsoever that he proposes to do if he had the job of supervisor other than show up. Not one single word about how Tom Knobel would address any of the issues that face East Hampton, from water quality to airport noise to beach erosion to code enforcement. Nada. It is sometimes said that showing up is half the job. Seems like that’s what Tom thinks the supervisor’s seat is: half a job. If his listless campaign from his sofa, devoid of a single idea, is any indication of what Tom Knobel would do in office, the best thing he can do for East Hampton is stay home, every day. Sincerely, ARLINE GIDION Integrity and Principles East Hampton October 15, 2015 Dear Editor: Jane Austen said that integrity, truth, and principles were necessary qualities. These are Margaret Turner’s qualities. Margaret Turner is running for town board. I trust Margaret to help take the Town of East Hampton to a new and better level. I am voting for the future. I am voting for Margaret Turner. MAYDA IDONE Knew Her Business Well East Hampton October 13, 2015 Dear Editor I fully support the candidacy of Margaret Turner for town board. I have known Ms. Turner since she managed that wonderful store Mark, Fore & Strike. Margaret always had a smile and was warm and inviting to every customer that came through the shop’s doors. Moreover, Margaret knew her business well, remembered her clients’ preferences, and always tried to accommodate and please her customers. Mark, Fore & Strike may be sorely missed by longtime East Hampton residents, but we are very lucky still to have Margaret Turner involved in the town, and we are all even more lucky to have her running for East Hampton Town Board. I urge all of my fellow East Hampton residents to vote for Margaret Turner on Nov. 3, 2015, for town board. My best, ELENA S. IRACANE Words from Constituents Amagansett October 19, 2015 Dear David, It seems that some East Hampton Town legislators have been bullied into throwing cold water on an affordable housing opportunity in Wainscott. Some words from their constituents, in my view, bear repeating: “Clearly, the interests of the Wainscott School takes precedent over the needs of the town. Despite all of the evidence to the contrary, the town board has come down on the side of Wainscott. Wainscott is simply too wealthy, too white, and has too many lawyers.” (Neil Hausig, letter to The Star.) “The issue of the school is a false issue. The real issue is the resistance of people to new residents of the community and a potential change in its demographics. (Tinka Topping, East Hampton Town Board testimony.) “When I first returned from college I found a community that had become unlivable for its own residents.” (Tyler Armstrong, letter to The Star.) “The most we can possibly do is what we should be doing.” (Peter Van Scoyoc, town councilman.) The most we can possibly do is what we should be doing! Amen. All good things, DIANA WALKER No Solutions Springs October 19, 2015 To the Editor: It’s the silly season, thus a lot of silly talk and several silly letters last week in The Star. Civil, I like. Courteousness I like. Willingness to take on the issues, I like. Knowledge of the issues, I like. Accessibility I like. At least with the current town board there is an ongoing dialogue with the public who elected them. We all remember the previous administration — the poison, the bile, the acid reflux and the name-calling, the intractability, and the psychodrama of a town board meeting. The unwillingness to take on issues that residents felt important. The willingness to promote any business, any private development, and sell any town asset. The only good thing from that administration was getting the town back on track financially, and for that we are grateful. Very grateful. Things are not perfect. I agree on that point. Several of the issues the previous board dismissed and/or refused to discuss are now being discussed. After all, it is not 1979, and a whole lot has happened in the interim. The current Republican candidates unfortunately rail about the problems but offer no solutions, except to criticize the current board and the approach they are taking. I for one am very happy to see the town board take a stand on a rental registry. They have carefully crafted a procedure which prohibits no one from renting as they always have. Everyone can continue to rent; however, if they don’t follow the law already written, then there will be some consequences. In my hamlet we have major overcrowding, because single-family homes are being rented to multiple families, for about $900 a bedroom. We have major overcrowding, water and septic issues, and big, big school problems, not to mention a high property-tax rate. Montauk has rental problems, but they are different. They tend be seasonal and short-term. Either way, our quality of life has been greatly affected in the two hamlets by illegal renting. The current town board has found the courage to listen and to deal. Whether we are speaking of short-term or long-term renting, as long as the laws of New York State and East Hampton are followed the chances of our having a problem because of a rental registry are negligible. I haven’t heard any of the challengers take a positive stand on any major issue affecting my hamlet. Usually with that group if they take a stand, it is to oppose and regress, or maintain status quo because it benefits them. No matter how they couch it, if it does not benefit them or their friends with the deep pockets, they are against it — period, full stop. How many times have you heard the mantra “just enforce the laws already on the books.” Well, if we had laws on the books to deal with the illegal rental problems, life would be perfect and we would not be having this conversation. That’s just a cop-out, a meaningless and overused statement. That’s code speak for do nothing. It is a false argument. The hypocrisy is apparent, but then it is the silly season, and all the usual suspects are out and playing their roles. I’m shocked! I’m shocked! BETSY RUTH Plague of Locusts Springs October 16, 2015 Dear David, You would have to be blind not to know what Republicans are running in the upcoming November election because they have smeared the town with a plethora of their signs. These signs are like a plague of locusts descending on our beautiful town. Gotta be in the hundreds! We have always expected that at this time of the year we would be faced with signs for political candidates. I, myself, have put out about 20 signs for the Democrats. Unfortunately, the signs by the entrance to the airport (Daniel’s Hole Road) were removed twice, so subtract those. How gracious of the airport supporters to stoop to such behavior. The other signs I have set up in three other places in Springs. First, it was Amos Goodman’s signs that appeared among my Democratic candidates’ signs. Was he trying to pretend to be a Democrat? Then in the two other places where I put up Democratic signs, they were soon surrounded by the Republican signs, sometimes with duplicate signs and even three of the same sign. The techniques of a typical bully. I suppose the $50,000 given to the Republicans by airport interests buys enough signs to blanket East Hampton and maybe even surrounding towns. Over $10,000 went to Margaret Turner by the same brand of contributors, those with airport interests, though she has denied it. This is the same Ms. Turner who said at the Springs debate that there is no affordable housing in Amagansett. So what is St. Michael’s? So what are they trying to get us to vote for? Lisa Mulhern-Larsen who missed two public forums, one in Amagansett on environmental issues and the other the League of Women Voters’ debate. Will she miss board meetings like the Republican trustees? Or Tom Knobel, who doesn’t live in East Hampton? Or Amos Goodman, who came to his grandmother’s Springs house from his California residence each summer? This crew may have plenty of signs, but what they don’t have is knowledge, experience and, let’s face it, class. Sincerely, PHYLLIS ITALIANO Who You’ll Vote For East Hampton October 16, 2015 To the Editor, Want a bigger airport? Think Republican! Want a runway enlarged illegally? Thank Republicans! Want the federal government to take control of your taxes and airport? Vote Republican! Want a cute pilot to come to your door and tell you how to vote? Ask Republicans! Want to have the out-of-state helicopter and jet plane companies and businesses at the airport pour many thousands of dollars into the town election? Check out donations on the New York State financial disclosure report for the Republicans! Aren’t those Republicans great! If you value quality of life, home property values, and local control of your airport, give thought to who you’ll vote for on Nov. 3. I don’t even have to tell you. NAOMI SALZ Now We Know Amagansett October 18, 2015 Dear David: Crime wave solved! Now we know how the Republicans spent the fortune they received from the Airport and Helicopter Noise Is Good for You lobby: They’ve hired thugs to steal signs endorsing Democratic candidates (four of which were in front of my house). GUS ANTELL A Clear Message East Hampton October 18, 2015 Dear David: The recent disclosure that the Republican campaign has received large donations from the helicopter industry highlights a fundamental value difference between the two parties. The current Democratic administration has demonstrated its commitment to improving the community’s quality of life in several ways, not the least of which is by the imposition of limits on noisy aircraft. By accepting financial support from the noisiest violators, the G.O.P. sends a clear message about its alliances. How could we trust these politicians to protect the public interest when those who disturb the peace helped put them in office? These are the same folks who are suing the town for its efforts to provide relief to the community. Another quality-of-life issue addressed by this administration relates to its commitment to code enforcement. According to a report in The East Hampton Press, the town spent more than $55,000 this past summer in overtime costs for additional police and code enforcers in order to control the Montauk party crowd. We should not forget that the problems in Montauk started during the Wilkinson administration that gave free rein to nightclubs (some in residential areas) that played loud music and attracted huge out-of-town crowds that often misbehaved in public. The initiation of the process of creating a rental registry is another way the town is responding to longstanding problems such as illegal rentals and overcrowding in Springs. This process includes getting input from property owners and others impacted by the new legislation before finalizing the details of the registry. Come November, the re-election of Supervisor Larry Cantwell and the town board members Sylvia Overby and Peter Van Scoyoc will ensure that the good work that been started will be continued. SUE AVEDON Committed, Caring Amagansett October 16, 2015 To the Editor, Why we support Margaret Turner for East Hampton Town Board: We first met Margaret Turner when she cared for our two golden retrievers many years ago. As a dog lover, she treated our dogs as her own. She’s caring and compassionate and incredibly responsible. As the years went by we became friends and we learned about her passion for doing good and making a difference in our community. She truly cares about our town, the people, and doing what’s right. Margaret’s roots in politics span over a decade. She has served as the executive director of the East Hampton Business Alliance for 10 years. She understands the complex interface between a strong business community, the need for jobs and housing and she has fought for environmental protection and sustainable energy for us! If you want a dedicated, smart, committed and caring person to lead us forward, I urge you to vote for Margaret Turner for town council. There’s no one better to represent us, our issues, our concerns. Margaret has no personal agenda and owes no favors. She only wants to do what’s right and do it well, for you and me. SUSAN KARLIN LINDA CAPPELLO Solar Farm Projects Wainscott October 16, 2015 Dear Editor, Our town has set the ambitious goal of being carbon-neutral by 2030 as put forth by the energy sustainability committee. We cannot reach that goal without investment and innovative thinking. Yet, we have to be mindful of the costs to taxpayers to reach our goals. There is no better way to work toward our goal than to take the money we will receive from the new solar farms and reinvest it in town projects that produce cleaner, low-cost energy. The proposals by Sun Edison to install solar farms at the landfill and the former Accabonac brush dump are making their way through the planning board. Another proposal, for the Bull Path brush dump, may soon follow. These projects will provide new revenue to the town for 20 years. I recommend that we use this revenue to fund more clean-energy projects, and specifically projects that will directly benefit the town taxpayers by substantially lowering the town’s energy costs. Some possible projects would be solar panels for town buildings or an electricity-producing wind turbine in the vicinity of the recycling center and the Highway Department. The new revenue from the leased solar farms could offset the cost of a bond to construct these energy-saving and cost-saving improvements. Doing reinvestment in this manner could have a net-zero effect on property taxes. Didn’t we all learn from Investment 101 that it is smarter to reinvest our earnings than to simply pocket the money? Reinvesting in more clean energy will pay dividends in the long term. It must be part of the solution for East Hampton to meet its ambitious and praiseworthy goals. Thank you. MARGARET TURNER Member, Energy Sustainability Committee Candidate for Town Board Really, Really East Hampton October 20, 2015 Dear David, The Republican supervisor candidate Tom Knobel has finally given us his best reason why we should vote for him for supervisor. He distributed a mailer that says, in a nutshell, “Larry Cantwell doesn’t want to be supervisor, but I really, really want to be supervisor and will come to work every day.” Leaving aside that Mr. Cantwell surely wouldn’t be running for re-election if he didn’t want to serve, really, really wanting the job is not a qualification for public office. Apart from that, one has to laugh at the complete inversion of reality. Tom Knobel works for the SuffolkCounty Republican Committee at the Suffolk County Board of Elections (where the Democrats and Republicans each have their own appointees by law). He is also the chairman of the East Hampton Town Republican Committee. The only reason he is running for supervisor is that the Republicans had no candidate and the county Republicans told him it would be too embarrassing for the East Hampton Republicans not to have a supervisor candidate for a second election in a row. Perhaps that’s why Tom feels the need to impress upon us how much he really, really wants the job. But, even if I believed him, in the absence of anything to say about what he would do if elected, he is clearly not qualified to be supervisor. I assume that he really, really wants his job working for the Suffolk County Republicans in Yaphank, which is why he agreed to run in the first place. Sincerely, ARLENE COULTER Record Is Exemplary Sag Harbor October 15, 2015 Dear Editor, I attended a debate hosted by East Hampton Group for Good Government where the moderator posed questions to candidates running for the town board. It quickly became obvious that incumbent candidates (Democrats) had a comprehensive grasp of all issues and the knowledge and experience to deal with them. Equally obvious was the hesitant and lackluster responses by the other three candidates (Republican), who lacked knowledge and experience on important issues — even basic understanding of rules governing the board. Most unsettling was when Lisa Mulhern-Larsen exposed her ignorance of basic funding regulations. In response to a question on affordable housing, Mulhern-Larsen suggested that the town could solve that issue by diverting funds from community preservation! As Sylvia Overby quickly explained, diverting money from a dedicated fund to other purposes is at best misuse of funds, and is in fact forbidden; to allow the town to change those rules would require an amendment to the authorizing law by the State Legislature. The town has traveled that road before; repeating such earlier errors with the misuse of funds would certainly reverse the scandal-free forward momentum achieved by the current board. Given the number of urgent issues confronting the town, this is no time to elect political greenhorns who will spend the first two years as councilpersons attempting to understand not only the many issues but the job itself, and also struggle to understand the rules that govern any action by the board. Time is of the essence; the town must elect knowledgeable and experienced people able to immediately govern, in order to continue to work on these urgent issues: overdevelopment, overcrowding, illegal housing, lack of affordable housing, out-of-control crowds in Montauk, water quality, etc. The incumbent board members Larry Cantwell, Sylvia Overby, and Peter Van Scoyoc have demonstrated that they are committed to solving problems, that they can work across party lines and together tackle thorny issues. They cannot solve all major problems at once, but their track record to date is exemplary. Voters should take note and re-elect the incumbents so they can finish together what they have so ably begun. PATRICIA CURRIE Larsen for Town Board East Hampton October 19, 2015 To the Editor: Please join me in voting for Lisa Mulhern-Larsen for town board. Lisa is running on the Independence and Republican ticket. She is fair-minded and is not beholden to any super PACs, nor to any party line. Lisa is always available to hear the community’s needs and willing to work across party lines to come up with viable solutions that benefit the majority. She has specifically stated she would not take Federal Aviation Administration funding unless there would be safety issues due to lack of airport funds. Lisa is very concerned about the lack of affordable housing, as well as overcrowding issues that are affecting the area, and will work diligently to address these problems. Please vote for Lisa Mulhern-Larsen for town board on Nov. 3. JACKIE DUNPHY For Margaret Turner Montauk October 15, 2015 Editor, I would like to take this opportunity to voice my support for Margaret Turner, who is running for the East Hampton Town Board. I have known and worked with Margaret for many years. Margaret headed the East Hampton Business Alliance for 10 years. During that time, one of her activities was to provide minutes of the town board meetings to both her alliance members and others in the community. It was certainly my way of knowing what was happening in our town. Margaret, in addition to supporting local businesses, is an active member in our community and a staunch supporter of affordable housing, which we so desperately need in all parts of our town. I urge you to vote for Margaret at the upcoming Nov. 3 elections. PAT GILCHREST Caithness II Power Plant Middle Island October 16, 2015 To the Editor, “The Pine Barrens Society doesn’t do energy,” tweeted Richard Amper of the Long Island Pine Barrens Society in an attempt to explain why he has not taken a clear position on the Caithness II power plant proposal. The tweet was provoked by an open letter published in the Oct. 8 edition of The East Hampton Star, in which the energy activist Peter Maniscalco questions Amper’s relationship with Caithness Energy, whose president, Ross Ain, has again co-chaired the Pine Barrens Society Gala (Oct. 21), a position Ain has held for the past few years. In this letter, Maniscalco urges Alec Baldwin, the event’s honorary chair, to “enlighten Dick Amper in the destructiveness of Caithness II,” as Long Island is in a unique position to choose a path toward renewable energy or toward another 20 years of fossil fuel. But Amper’s response is terrifically problematic. For one, he hypocritically highlights that the commission has taken a stance on the Port Jefferson and Northport power plants. He has indeed, at different times, called for both their shutting down as well as their repowering. In fact, over the past decade, Amper has built quite an extensive résumé against local fossil fuel projects, evidently showing he actually does “do energy.” In 2006, Amper led the Anti-Broadwater Coalition against the proposal to build a liquefied natural gas terminal in the middle of Long Island Sound, commenting that he “wanted to send a message to the people of Long Island that this has the magnitude of the threat Shoreham had” (Newsday 2006). He even ran a contest titled “What Is Dumber Than Broadwater?” In 2007, he spoke at the public hearings regarding the merger between National Grid and KeySpan, asserting that “energy delivery did not have to be accomplished at the expense of drinking water protection and habitat preservation” (Public Service Commission Case #06-M-0878). In 2009, Amper made a motion to urge the Pine Barrens Commission to express its concerns regarding the proposed clearing of approximately 150 acres of Pine Barrens at the Brookhaven National Lab property. Later, he expressed concerns that “bulldozing woods for the sake of clean energy undercuts the project’s environmental aims.” “Are we going to transform our forests into solar arrays?” Amper said. “It’s either two steps forward and one back at best” (Newsday 2009). And even more recently, Amper took a stance against the proposed Shoreham solar arrays, expressing concerns about locating the project on a former sod farm. He has urged the local government to take charge and build solar arrays in “places where they belong” (Keoglar, Earth Island Journal, January). To date, it seems that the Caithness II project is the only local energy project with which Amper has not taken issue. And the problem with this is multifold. Amper is well aware that a new natural gas transmission line is required for Caithness II to operate at full capacity; current pipelines are not capable of transporting the amount of fuel needed to generate the 1.1gw that Caithness I and Caithness II would, in combination, produce once a second power plant is constructed. Amper is also well aware that the primary route proposal is the ELI pipeline, a pipeline that would travel over our sole-source aquifer, through core Pine Barrens from Shoreham to Yaphank. It will also travel through the headwaters of the Peconic River and through the Carmans River. While Amper has taken a stance on previous proposals for similarly routed pipelines in the past, he has taken no stance on this one. Instead, he invites the president of Caithness Long Island, Ross Ain, to co-chair the Pine Barrens Society’s premier event and serve as one of their biggest sponsors. So why shouldn’t Peter Maniscalco question the relationship between these two entities? If the plant is constructed but it is not until afterward that the pipeline is successfully challenged, Long Islanders would be stuck in a situation much like Shoreham, where ratepayers have spent an exorbitant amount money on a power plant that will remain unused. If the plant is constructed and the pipeline is approved, miles of Pine Barrens will be permanently cleared, our aquifer will be threatened, wildlife habitat will be lost, and our rivers will be at risk, losses that could have been avoided had we worked harder to make the switch to renewable energy instead. After all, it’s already been three years since the Rausch Foundation helped commission the Clean Energy Vision, a study that proves Long Island residents could actually be running on 100 percent renewable energy by 2020 if we so chose to do so. That said, why doesn’t Amper take his stance now, so that the entire issue can play itself out in an honest and timely fashion, before billions of dollars are thrown down the drain, before the environment suffers further — albeit unnecessary — damage? Alec Baldwin, I agree with Peter; maybe you can help show Amper the way. ANDREA M. BARRACCA Self-Destruction Sag Harbor October 19, 2015 David, On the MSNBC breaking news show you never know what to expect. After the Hillary Clinton versus Senator Bernie Sanders debate, Dick Van Dyke appeared as a guest. When asked who would he vote for, his quick reply was, of course Senator Bernie Sanders. Unfortunately, he said, Sanders “came a hundred years too late.” Sanders continues to draw huge crowds as his name recognition grows and grows. Certainly time is on his side. He is the message most people want to hear. So many are disgusted with super PACs and the influence of money. With both Hillary and Jeb Bush, they represent more of the same. Change has to come from the outside in a system of corruption and bribery and crime. The strong desire of Senators Sanders and Elizabeth Warren to break up the control of big banks seems to be getting support from the same banks. In the Business Day section of The New York Times on Oct. 15, Walmart’s profit is down 29.7 percent. True of other big banks such as J.P. Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and Black Rock. Maybe greed is losing some of its power? I find a bit of humor here making Sanders’s role easier. Corporate powers appear to be on a path of self-destruction. These are exciting times; everything appears to be possible. Page one in The New York Times: “Clinton Turns Up Heat on Sanders” in a sharp debate. He is not strong enough on guns; fear served Hillary well. Here I find Hillary’s weakness “even in Sanders’s grasp of how essential capitalism is to American identity.” A few personal memories: When Hillary invested $10,000 and got back $100,000 the next day. That’s how capitalism works. It’s the norm usually. Many years ago I met Hillary in Sag Harbor. I asked, how can you say we are leaders of the free world when we both know we are making weapons in almost every state? No reply. Again, in a bookstore in East Hampton, Hillary appeared for a book-signing event. You had to buy the book and pay a small fee after leaving. She refused to talk to anyone. She did something similar when she began her campaign. She responded only when she felt comfortable with the answers, changing her mind many times before she felt safe. Jeb Bush also backtracked on a number of issues. Even his mother asked him not to run, then changed her mind. I find some humor here, making Sanders’s role easier. Are corporate powers on the path of self-destruction? Over 60 years ago the Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung said if we continue to project our evil on others we are headed toward self-destruction. A true prophet? How do you feel? Despite Hillary’s attack on Sanders, many thought Sanders did well. My last comment to Hillary: Our country was basically a democracy until capitalism was born. That tension was always there ever since. You are either rich or poor. A big gap needs to be addressed now. In peace, LARRY DARCEY Endless Litany of Wars East Hampton October 18, 2015 To the Editor: Looking at Afghanistan, in hindsight it is evident that the Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld troika were substantially overmatched in their contest with Osama bin Laden. Fourteen years later the toll of 9/11 seems piddling when we look at the Afghan and Iraq wars and our current involvement in the Middle East. Fourteen years and we still haven’t defeated the Taliban, trained Afghani soldiers to protect their country, or set up a program for the democratization of the country. Enumerating Bush’s shortcomings could help to avoid the same degree of blitheringly stupid mistakes if only studying history was a mandatory requirement for all aspiring politicians. Imagine having to pass a history test and present your certificate of passage before permission to run for Congress is granted. Yet, as light and disinterested as Bush appeared to be, Obama seemed to be the opposite. Involved, meticulous, thoughtful, and analytical. Not a revenge-seeking buffoon in a flak jacket talking about how the greatest country on earth will make the bad guys pay. And still, he has been unable to resist the American chromosomal imbalance that involves us in an endless litany of wars. Even wars everyone knows we can’t win, that leave our soldiers at risk and drain our treasury. How did our generals convince Obama to give them another year to — do what?? The Taliban will come back in Afghanistan until they are thrown out again or a coalition government is established. Afghanis have to figure it out for themselves. We obviously can’t do it for them. We can’t even get our own government to function. We will spend another year trying to keep the Taliban at bay, protect our air bases and the U.S. Embassy, and then prepare to leave. The situation will be exactly what it is today or perhaps a little worse. The logic, or lack of logic, is that we are incapable of learning from past events. We incessantly repeat the same behavior, like repealing Obamacare 53 times, because we have no idea what else to do. Like mice in a maze who find the door with the cheese. Only the door we repeatedly enter has no cheese, just an electric shock that we’ve gotten used to. A bit too S and M to lead the world. NEIL HAUSIG
Published 4 years ago
Last updated 4 years ago
Letters to the Editor: 10.22.15
October 22, 2015