Great Support East Hampton November 22, 2014 Dear Editor, Recently, we were able to secure our third Suffolk County Class A championship in the past four years, our first Long Island championship, and our first berth in the New York State Final Four in Middletown, where we played for the state championship. These achievements were part of a communitywide effort, and we are forever indebted to all of you for the great support you have provided us as we sought to achieve our goals and dreams. Thank you so much! RICH KING DON McGOVERN For the 2014 East Hampton High School boys soccer team Great Soccer Season Amagansett November 20, 2014 Editor, We would like to congratulate the East Hampton boys soccer team. They made it to the New York State finals last weekend, completing an amazing season. The boys should be extremely proud of their accomplishments, as we all are for them. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all the fans who came out to the games this season, especially to all the fans who made the trek up to Middletown, N.Y., to cheer the boys on. It was an incredible sight to see the bleachers packed with screaming fans dressed in maroon and gray. A special thank-you goes to all the coaches who were involved. Coaches Rich King and Don McGovern have brought the East Hampton soccer program to be one of the most elite on Long Island, if not New York State. More important, they have created a culture for the team of discipline, respect, and determination. These traits the boys have used on the field all season long and will use the rest of their lives! Congratulations to everyone for a great season! JAMIE and KRISTEN TULP A Gentleman East Hampton November 21, 2014 To the Editor: Sad news on your front page (Nov. 20) that Thomas Twomey had a heart attack. Your choice to include this news on the cover must have been easy; he did so much around here that we all should be grateful for. The piece was written by Helen Rattray, again very appropriate, her view is long and complete. Mr. Twomey deserved this honor. The article does a wonderful job describing him as “a phenomenal businessman, a genius, an extraordinary leader,” all true to his form. He was also a friendly neighbor, a man who made a difference in my life by simply stopping in for breakfast and showing interest in my success. He made me feel important and, I’d like to add, Tom Twomey was a gentleman. As we sit at our double desk on this sunny morning in November, Jessica and I want to recognize Mr. Twomey publicly for all he’s done to make East Hampton a better place to live. Extending deepest sympathy to all who will miss him, especially his wife, Judith Hope, and the family he loved so much. COLIN AMBROSE Led the Legal Charge Springs November 21, 2014 Dear Mr. Rattray, In the early 1980s, Three Mile Harbor was saved from commercialization. Those were pivotal years. As an eyewitness, I can tell you it was exciting. At the time, a project was proposed and almost passed to a build a motel on Duck Creek, and other projects by other developers were in the pipeline. It would start with excavating for a multiple septic system near the water’s edge. A strange law said that after the first shovel a project couldn’t be stopped, so time was very short. Neighbors and the town trustees protested to The Star with letters, and stopped the proceedings at the zoning board. Stuart Vorpahl led the trustees’ and The Star’s diligent coverage and kept the focus on the battle. Then Tom Twomey volunteered himself into the fray, and led the legal charge that stopped the imminent Duck Creek project. It was a lengthy, hard-fought, dramatic legal war. A great victory — with many adumbrations. From this single victory, there grew a greater movement, Save Three Mile Harbor, and finally a comprehensive plan for the town’s development in which Three Mile Harbor is protected as is. That was 30 years ago. It’s not hard to imagine the development that would have proliferated had it had not been for Tom Twomey. Examples surround us. A thankful Duck Creek native, NATALIE EDGAR PAVIA Thoughtful and Diligent Springs November 20, 2014 To the Editor: My name is Lucas Rodriguez, and on behalf of my family, I want to make sure The Star knows how fortunate it is to have Taylor Vecsey in its employ. Regarding my cousin Darcey’s death and the story of her two children in need, Taylor’s professionalism and sensitivity were on display during her research process. Taylor was thoughtful and diligent, and the Rodriguez family appreciates all that she has done. I noticed that someone else had written a letter to the editor two weeks ago complementing the obituary department; I am guessing that was Taylor’s work as well. LUCAS RODRIGUEZ Commissioners Election Montauk November 21, 2014 To the Editor: The paid paramedic program was conceived by the officers of the Montauk Ambulance Company and the board of fire commissioners to serve Montauk residences and the guests who visit Montauk residents. It is the model used by East Hampton and Amagansett to create their programs, and it is alive and well. The program is going forward and will be broadened to cover 24/7/365 coverage regardless of who wins the upcoming commissioners election on Dec. 9. It is a non-issue in this election. The issue is, what does a commissioner do? I am assigned vehicle maintenance and repair. I bring to the table my knowledge of heavy equipment, and I maintain the Montauk Fire Department fleet of vehicles. I have set up a proactive program for vehicle maintenance, which has minimized breakdowns, extended vehicle life, and produced reliable and safe vehicle operation. I have done this without a budget increase for 10 years. Please vote responsibly on Dec. 9 for the person who can do the job, not for a non-issue! I have been a volunteer fireman since 1983 and have been an E.M.T. EDWARD SULLIVAN Airport Regulation Wainscott November 22, 2014 Dear David: I was delighted to read the Star banner headline and lead article this week regarding proposed airport regulation. Thanks to The Star and Ken Lipper and Peter Wolf. It is gratifying to see just how strong the opposition to our out-of-control airport has become. It was inevitable, of course, as too many people are adversely affected, with absolutely no positive aspects for us. The airport has destroyed the tranquility of East End living for virtually all residents at some time or other — and for thousands and thousands and thousands incessantly. Its unregulated existence is a clear and present danger to our quality of life, our physical and emotional health, our environment, and our property values. To the airporters who cry that aircraft-plagued citizens “just want to shut it down,” I would say, “Duh.” BARRY RAEBECK Impact on Montauk Montauk November 23, 2014 Dear David, In last week’s Star you report that Ken Lipper and Peter Wolf have proposed, among other major restrictions, that helicopters be banned from the East Hampton Airport from May 1 to Oct. 3. They have engaged Cravath, Swaine & Moore, a “high profile” law firm centered in New York City, to review their proposed restrictions. One hopes that, at long last, the town board will now focus on the impact these and similar restrictions would have on the people of Montauk. Up to now helicopter traffic at the Montauk Airport has not been a major problem. There are two reasons for this. First, we have fewer fat cats out here and thus far less traffic during high season, averaging between 8 and 15 helicopter events per week. Secondly, helicopter pilots have voluntarily complied with requests that they approach and leave Montauk only over the bay and ocean waters to the east of the airport. There is, of course, the occasional idiot who wants to entertain his guests by checking to see if there are any whales in Lake Montauk and who couldn’t care less about inflicting noise pollution on the people below. But, for the most part, helicopter traffic has been bearable. All of this would change, of course, if helicopter traffic is seriously curtailed at the East Hampton Airport. Because the Montauk Airport is privately owned, the town has no control over its operations. The Montauk Airport has also received F.A.A. funding, and thus, even if the town were to acquire the airport (which is reportedly up for sale), it would be years before the F.A.A. grant assurances expired. Helicopters are an expensive form of transportation, and it would be somewhat more costly to travel an extra 20 miles to Montauk. But for the 1-percenters who travel in these awful machines, money is not the issue — it is their time that is so valuable, at least to them. As they leave New York City they will call their chauffeurs in East Hampton to estimate their time of arrival in Montauk, and for those who have not yet acquired chauffeurs there will be taxis lining East Lake Drive, which, for a set flat fee, say $250, will take passengers to their East Hampton homes. Many of us in Montauk have great sympathy for the people of East Hampton who have been so afflicted by the noise pollution imposed upon them. But dumping that noise pollution on the people of Montauk is not a viable solution. Not only would it be tantamount to dumping your garbage on your neighbor’s lawn but it also would be counterproductive. If the existing noise pollution is transferred to Montauk the people of this hamlet, outraged by the noise and the resulting decline in the values of their homes and other real estate, would overwhelmingly join the “pro-airport/no restrictions” lobby in East Hampton to replace the members of the town board who voted to impose restrictions. Even Bill Wilkinson, now a paid consultant to the pro-airport lobby, would win in a landslide. Sincerely RICHARD KAHN The Rental Registry Montauk November 20, 2014 To the Editor, I am disappointed that our town board appears to be caving in on the concept of a rental registry so easily without at least attempting to explain why such an ordinance is necessary and effective. Although too little too late, a town attorney, Michael Sendlenski, made clear at the Nov. 12 hearing that a registry, like those in other Suffolk County towns, would be a valuable tool to help code enforcement officers to more effectively enforce the law, even if a property is not registered. And despite what many registry objectors claim, we do not now have laws on the books that can be effectively enforced. Requiring law enforcement personnel to make three separate visits, obtain signatures, and then have nonresident witnesses available for court appearances in the middle of winter is not an enforceable law. And make no mistake, both short-term and share-house rentals are ripping the soul out of this town. Mike Martinsen is precisely the kind of person who represents the foundation of our community. He has a wife and four children, and along with his partner funded the Montauk Shellfish Company. Mike courageously spoke at the Nov. 12 registry hearing in Montauk explaining how last May his landlord booted him out of his rental to take advantage of the short-term summer market. Mike, his wife, and four children had to live in tents for the summer. That example alone represents a gross failure of local government. Our crowded houses, stressed-out septic system, shortage of year-round and employee housing, home values based solely on rental-income potential, homeowner landlords with little concern for the community, noisy, disrespectful neighbors — that’s what we’ve got now, and it can’t be good for our future. Furthermore, while many people see the Springs housing catastrophe as a different problem from the Montauk situation, they are linked. Montauk’s summer-rental population explosion needs to be serviced, and a majority of the jobs are filled by people living in Springs. I recognize that there is no easy solution, but other municipalities, from Long Island to Key West, Fla., have dealt with similar situations successfully. The Town of East Hampton needs to step up to the problem, not back away. We don’t want our most valuable citizens living in tents. BILL AKIN ‘Built-In Bias’ Montauk November 22, 2014 To the Editor: The town board’s deer management advisory committee suffers from built-in bias. It includes several representatives from groups that want to kill deer for sport and deer population reduction, but it has no representative from our group, which has long called for greater respect for deer and their urge to live. The town’s committee includes representatives from the pro-hunting East Hampton Sportsmen’s Alliance, the pro-cull Long Island Farm Bureau, and public agencies that have consistently favored lethal measures. Our group, the East Hampton Group for Wildlife, has been excluded. I repeatedly tried to place a representative from our group on the committee. On Feb.16 and March 6, I wrote to Fred Overton, the town board liaison to the committee, recommending a specific member of our group. I never heard back. On March 21, I wrote Zachary Cohen, chair of the committee, asking him to help. He said he couldn’t assist me. On June 19, I went to the town board meeting to tell it in person that the committee’s membership didn’t fully represent our community’s views. I asked it to include a member from our group. The board didn’t respond. I repeated my request at the Oct. 7 town board meeting. Once again, the board ignored my request. The committee’s bias has serious consequences. At its Nov. 18 work session, the town board addressed the possible addition of weekend hunting and considerable bow hunting during the January firearms season. Supervisor Larry Cantwell said the board should follow the recommendations of the deer management advisory committee, which favors these lethal initiatives. The rest of the board seemed to accept his advice and the board has taken steps to implement these expanded hunting initiatives. If the plan for expanded January hunting goes forward, the shooting will be relentless. And because bow hunting so often wounds deer, more deer will die slow, painful deaths. In addition, hikers and other residents will be unable to enjoy the quiet of the woods. The town board has failed to address deer hunting in a democratic manner. It has established a committee that is stacked in favor of killing, and by following the committee’s lead, the board has failed to consider the full range of our community’s views. BILL CRAIN President East Hampton Group for Wildlife The Webb Property East Hampton November 24, 2014 Dear David, Community preservation is something many of us value and do worry about its disappearance. It often happens slowly and with seemingly not great harm, until we are inundated with overbuilding and McMansions and housing subdivisions where once there was beauty and open space. Ask just about anyone why they live here and they will undoubtedly reply, “I can breathe out here. No four-lane highways and malls and people on top of you. I can still walk or run or play in nature and gather myself or show my kids what matters.” Maybe not those exact words, but you get my drift. We are in grave danger of losing our open spaces and destroying the breathing room. Specifically and close to home, I implore the town board to buy the Webb property on Oakview and Middle Highways, before any subdivision comes to pass. This is a six-year-long plea from a dedicated group known as Freetown Neighborhood Advisory Committee. We are regular working-class people without a lot of clout but with a darn good amount of heart and soul. We care about our neighborhood. We care about the drinking-water wells that are located in close proximity to the 8.9 acres that Bud Webb, the landowner, is, by the way, willing to sell. We care about the trails and forest within that land, the wildlife and peace you can find on a walk nearby. We care about safety and speeding cars and density. We care about the fact that we need open space here too. It is time. We have no beef with Bud Webb. Never did. He is a builder and making his living. We know he wants a certain amount of money for his land. So, pay him. It is so worth it! The aquifer, the water authority. wells, the acres of nature within. Highway to heaven, we call the road leading home. Corny, but for us it has been our place to live, work, and raise our sons and bring our granddaughter. “You live in a forest, Gram. It’s magical,” says my granddaughter, 4. Yes, in many ways it has been. Please don’t make me tell her people don’t care about the forests anymore. Let the lesson instead be that her Gram lives in a town where people care about the land and the open space. And each other. We’re doomed when that is no longer the case. No one is the bad guy here. We are all locals eking out a living, and lucky to live here. I have not so far found a more beautiful place, and I have looked. This is Shangri-la in many ways. I can look out every single window in my home and see trees, birds, beauty. You don’t find that everywhere. Other than the occasional meathead with a blaring car stereo, or someone carelessly peeling out in a big truck, it’s quiet here. The woods that were home to the free slaves and Native Americans are these woods, this land. We honor that. It’s historical. Sacred. You don’t mess with that. I probably should not be living here either. Middle Highway was a dirt road back then, and woods. But no one spoke up to prevent the building. Or if they did, they were ignored. So it happened. When we know better, we do better. We won’t be ignored. We have spoken up for six years so far. We will keep on speaking up. It is worth the time and effort. It could be a win-win all around. Pay the man his price. Preserve the land now. Save the drinking water. See the forest for the trees. Come and speak yourself if you can, at the town board meeting on Dec. 4 at 6:30 p.m. at Town Hall. All are welcome. We are inviting you! NANCI LaGARENNE Shop Local Stores Great Neck November 23, 2014 Dear Editor: Why not continue participating beyond the annual national Small Business Saturday (Nov. 29)? Do the same as often as you can during the other 364 days a year. Skip the national chain stores’ annual Black Friday madness, which now starts early Thursday night at most big-box large retail stores. Only PC Richard puts aside financial greed in favor of allowing its employees to stay home with family and is closed. Stay home and enjoy your Thanksgiving meal with friends and family. Get a good night’s sleep and instead come out and support small business by shopping local. In these difficult economic times, it is especially important to patronize your neighborhood businesses. There are so many great options to choose from. Remember, these people are our neighbors. They work long hours, pay taxes, and provide local employment. If we don’t patronize our local community stores and restaurants to shop and eat, they don’t eat either. Please join me and your neighbors in continuing to support our own East Hampton Star. Patronize their advertisers; they provide the necessary revenues to help keep them in business. Let them know you saw their ad. This helps keep our neighbors employed and the local economy growing. Sincerely, LARRY PENNER Real Estate Values Amagansett November 14, 2014 Dear David, I have faced critics in the press before: “Ms. Walker was barely tolerable in the juggling sequence.” Being labeled “a feckless socialist” is a first. I am of Scots heritage, and I hang with a lot of Irish. I am familiar with the word “feck.” (“I have been a devil the feck of my life.” — R. Burns. “We’d left our topcoats at home but children are feckless.”) My “feckless socialist” moniker is a Wainscott citizen’s annoyance to my support for new affordable housing units in that hamlet (I grew up in Wainscott) — housing units for middle-income professionals who may have school-age children, which may raise real estate taxes, which are very low in Wainscott. “Any attempt to remove this tax blessing so that the so-called wealth of Wainscott can be redistributed to the poor in the form of increased real estate taxes will only serve to suppress real estate values in Wainscott.” — A. Piccolo. And it’s all about real estate values, isn’t it? All good things, DIANA WALKER Dolphin Drive Amagansett November 21, 2014 To the Editor: I have long respected Surfrider as an environmental organization — one of the good guys in the battle to preserve East End dunes and beaches. Now I’m not so sure, since Surfrider took a position in support of a recent change in parking on Dolphin Drive, which is damaging the dunes of the South Flora Nature Preserve. In a letter from the chapter president, Mike Bottini, which was read to the town board at a hearing on the parking issue some weeks ago, the issue was described as one of access to the beach. However, the mysterious change of 40-year-old “No Parking Any Time” signs accomplished overnight on Aug. 22, which blindsided the board and which they themselves have publicly described as illegal, had the predictable result that all of the parking that has occurred since then has taken place entirely on the dunes of South Flora on the east side of the street. The alternative is blocking a lane of our 20-foot-wide road or invading the front yards of homeowners on the west side. No parking on the South Flora dune should legally happen without a management planning process for the preserve, including hearings and public comment. At a town board meeting last night, Carl Irace, Surfrider’s attorney, reproved the board for ignoring the town code and State Environmental Quality Review Act requirements in certain dispositions regarding the Montauk waterfront. That’s all well, but when I asked Mr. Irace afterward why Surfrider is supporting the same kind of town code and SEQRA end-run on my street, I didn’t get a straight answer. A letter I wrote Mr. Bottini also went unanswered. So I would like to put the following question to Surfrider here in the letters column of The Star: Is the damage that is already occurring to the dunes of the fragile South Flora Nature Preserve really all right with you? JONATHAN WALLACE See the Sea Rise East Hampton November 22, 2014 To the Editor: Cyril Christo’s letter in last week’s Star, “Time of Purification,” perfectly lays out the issue of climate change and our current society. If his description is too prosaic one can look to Naomi Klein’s latest missive, “Capitalism vs. the Climate,” where all the details in simple, clear language are laid out for you. (Ms. Klein is rarely on TV because no one dares to debate her on the subject.) If you still don’t get it, then you are either a criminal or a cretin. There is no longer any reason to debate climate change. No need to revisit the data that virtually every scientist in the world who is not paid by the oil companies agrees with. See the sea rise, the polar icecaps melt, sea and cold-temperature animals and plant life disappear. The story it tells is scary and perilous. Implicit is that we don’t care about our kids and probably hate our grandchildren. We are not all warm and loving. Yet our deranged and dysfunctional political system, with the oil companies up their asses, continues to fabricate reasons not to deal with the problem. Invents fantasy bullshit reasons to extend the Keystone pipeline (which benefits only the oil companies). Republicans who are no longer capable of distinguishing between reality and the fantastic drivel that they spew and Democrats who are too scared to tell the truth and suck up their fears of alienating some big contributors. Klein’s book outlines a climate Marshall plan that will revitalize the economy and the middle class while dealing with the impending climactic disaster. Were we ever a better country? Did greed and stupidity always reign supreme? So many smart people telling us the same story, and we remain confused. NEIL HAUSIG The Industrial Rush Amagansett November 20, 2014 To the Editor: Ours is a precarious time, especially for the nonhuman world. Not long ago, Emmanuel Kant, the German philosopher, proclaimed that man was the ”single being upon earth that possesses understanding,” “the titular lord of nature,” “born to be its ultimate end.” In this time, when the human species is convulsing the life force, we need to re-examine this outdated idea, and fast. In Canada, the tar sands are an ecological nightmare that have wreaked havoc on the boreal forest. Ask the native peoples. They are the sacrificial lambs of the industrial Moloch. By some estimates 17 percent more greenhouse emissions would be emitted than a barrel of crude in the U.S.A. The XL pipeline cannot pass. It would not only be a boondoggle for the world and its climate, but also for our ability to turn the energy economy. If politicians think that selling oil to China will help North America in any way, they are ludicrously out of step with the realities of sustainability. In Brazil, the Belo Monte dam is forcibly displacing 40,000 native peoples from the Xingu River basin. The military regime of Brazil needs to know that its world standing does not lie just with its humiliation at the World Cup. Its soul is on the line. Its karma is being played out. Already parts of the Amazon are drying out! In the United States, what we have done to Nevada, with 800 nuclear weapons blown up inside the belly of some of the most beautiful desert in the world, shames the country of the free and the brave. It is anything but. The U.S. and Russia cannot afford a new cold war. Ask the polar bears and the Inuit what they think about drilling for oil in the Arctic. The Inuit have a prophecy there would be “people who change nature.” Thanks to the American and Chinese way of strife, we have done exactly that and lost the Arctic summer ice, and the polar bear population is plummeting! Shoshone elders think the white man has lost his mind. One, Carrie Dann, a diminutive 5-foot-tall elder, has been hounded for years by the police so she and her horses would move off her land, because of the gold investors so desperately want. Anyone who has invested in the false sheen of this metal should know that sacred peaks have been blown up to get at this insidious mineral. They should be profoundly ashamed of their so-called investment. Talk to the source. You will be humbled. Carrie held up an invisible coin to the sky and squinting, wondered what to make of the inscription “in God we trust.” Is that God? That little coin? she asked. It’s strange how you can destroy your environment, all in the name of money. Just as insidious are the pesticides that are wreaking havoc on the bees and butterflies. Pesticides should be banned, as many have been in France. Bees, humble and discreet, are giants for food production. The petrochemical industries’ leaders ought to look into their children’s eyes at breakfast in the morning and search there for their souls. The wolf-shooting frenzy in Montana and Idaho is also the mark of a wayward species of gun-toting murderers. Another bloodlust has just killed over 1,000 rhinos in South Africa for worthless keratin with no medicinal value. Climate change is being aided by hundreds of millions of methane-producing cows — not wolves or rhinos. In Africa, there is a rage to dig for oil, from Turkanaland in Kenya to Sudan to West Africa. The proposed dam in Ethiopia would displace hundreds of thousands of tribal people. They too are pawns in the industrial rush to modernize an entire continent. At risk is the greatest profusion of wildlife on earth. What next? Will they start looking for oil in the Okavango Delta? Already the Bushmen, who have been on the ground for 60,000 years, are treated like derelict vagabonds, calamities of a country that seeks to benefit from its diamonds. Bushmen elders like Roy Sesana once proclaimed, “We are the diamonds of the desert.” Watch out where you have gotten your diamonds! The sparkle may fade. In Australia, the selling out of the back of the beyond for coal and uranium to China is running roughshod over Aboriginal ground. The conservative government is not conserving anything there, but the status quo and the Great Barrier Reef continues to suffer. The Indonesian government must make over its policy toward its last rain forests and its ransacking of tribal people in Irian Jaya. The Chinese continue to desecrate unique species like the elephant, blindly believing they lose their teeth. The continued massacre of the elephant, the true lord of the earth, for tasteless kitsch ivory baubles should plunge a stake of remorse in the conscience of the world! If we were ever to lose the elephant, humanity won’t have a leg to stand on. China’s land is an environmental toxic soup. Will the Japanese please re-examine their behavior toward cetaceans? We are not the only conscious species on the planet. They are more coherent with their world than we can ever hope to be. Fukushima should be a wake-up call like a tremor in the conscience of an entire people, not an excuse for restarting a deadly form of energy. When will America’s Fukushima happen? The world’s oceans are heating up. The economy could well collapse again, and this time with much greater magnitude on the Richter scale of folly. It will happen. We have to re-examine who we are on this planet while we still have ground under our feet. We are certainly not the lords of nature. And we are only one species and far from sapient. For wisdom to occur, it may take thousands of years. We are an adolescent species by any measure of evolution. The next five years of the decade are critical to where we are going. As Baudelaire, the prophetic poet, once wrote, “Nomad peoples, shepherds, hunters, farmers and even cannibals, all, by virtue of energy and personal dignity, may be the superiors of our races of the West. These perhaps will be destroyed.” We have to be careful lest we reach the melting point of the human soul! CYRIL CHRISTO Sausage-Making East Hampton November 22, 2014 Dear Editor, To Mr. Richard Higer who claims that I only seem to like facts of my own design, in this case the Affordable Care Act, a k a Obamacare. Let me first thank him for his thorough elucidation of facts from his point of view. I agree with much of what he says, as I have long been an advocate of health care reform, which is a primary reason why I voted for Obama the first time around. This is also why I wrote, “It would be a marvelous thing if our new Congress could actually work together on workable solutions to this seriously flawed piece of legislation, but I am not hopeful. The spirit of the law was and still is noble, it is the details” that are flawed. I was not and am not and never have taken issue with the spirit of the law, it is the manner that it was thrust down the public’s throat; a piece of legislation that was passed before it had even been read by the lawmakers, so, as Nancy Pelosi famously said, “we could see what is in it.” If that isn’t a red flag I don’t know what is. The law was predicated on lies from the very beginning and sold through deception and guile. In my letter that he takes issue with I never said that Obamacare should be abandoned, but rather that it needs to be fixed, and though I am skeptical, I hoped that the G.O.P. would “offer constructive alternatives.” The law is a masterpiece of sausage-making, and this becomes only more evident by Jonathan Gruber’s comments, which came to the public’s attention, ironically, only two days after my letter to The Star. Mr. Gruber, who is an M.I.T. economics professor, was a major player in the formulation of Obamacare, and readily admits that the law was intentionally made obscure and inscrutable or at the very least “written in a tortured way.” Mr. Gruber also states, on video footage, “Lack of transparency is a huge political advantage, and basically, call it the stupidity of the American voter or whatever, but basically that was really critical to getting the thing passed.” Obama claims Gruber was “some adviser who never worked on our staff,” but Politifact states this statement is mostly false; Nancy Pelosi blatantly lied and stated she doesn’t know who he is, while Politifact states that is completely false. So much for the transparency claims of this administration, which lied to the public from the very beginning about the A.C.A. My objection with almost everything in this administration is, it is founded on falsehoods and deception. I no longer trust the president or his minions and their duplicity. Almost from the very beginning the president was aware that policyholders would never be able to keep their existing health care policies because they wouldn’t be compliant with the new rules under the A.C.A., yet Politifact has the president stating — 31 times — that “if you like your plan, you can keep it your plan.” The president claimed that the “typical” family would save up to $2,500 in health insurance under the new government plan. You don’t need a Ph.D. in math to figure out that you can’t bring on 30 million newly insured and expect the policy premiums to decrease. Who’s paying for these subsidies? On the issue of deductibles, for someone with a Bronze plan deductible of $6,600, even though the premiums may be subsidized, the deductible is not, and can very well be far more than the person can possibly afford, so it is as good as unattainable. A front-page column in the Nov. 17 issue of the Investor’s Business Daily points out a 15 percent average increase in premiums in 2015 for a 40-year-old single person making 250 percent of poverty level ($29,175), while this morning’s I.B.D. shows the cheapest catastrophic plan is set to increase 18 percent on average in 2015 in state exchanges using Healthcare.gov for a second year. This is the sticker shock that I warned of two weeks ago before these premium prices were posted; they were delayed to come out after the midterm elections even though the available plans were already listed on the site sans cost. I first engaged in comment to Mr. Higer’s views because of his frequent letters of support, and, in my opinion, infatuation with President Obama. I do not share his views and have offered another side to this administration’s antics. However, this discourse has shown that two people can be ideological opposites and still agree on the fundamental concept of a piece of legislation. At its core, Obamacare is about whether or not Americans have a basic right to health care. I think everyone can agree about that. What I am challenging is its method of execution and the means employed in bringing it about. The legislation should not have relied on lies and obfuscations in order to pass into law; it should have passed on its own merits. JOHN PORTA The ISIS Crisis Sag Harbor November 20, 2014 David, ISIS crisis. If it wasn’t, it is now. War used to be considered a last resort. No longer true. Now we approve war with bombs, air strikes, push-buttons, and fire drones. Innocent children, especially civilians and refugees who flee to foreign lands, be aware! According to the Nobel Peace Prize-winner Bishop Desmond Tutu, “The history of the world has never been this destabilized.” A wake-up call. It’s been there while so many still sleep. The evidence: The Iraq Army we trained for seven years and failed. Billions of our dollars spent. Now the wish list is to train Syrians. Gen. Ray Odierno, the Army chief of staff and former top commander in Iraq, said the ISIS war could last for years, for a total of 17 years in Iraq. In he interim we might ask, was it worth it? Three thousand American soldiers we’re getting ready for combat. Turkey has refused American requests for more weapons, recognizing the spread of a larger war. Recently in The New York Times, a caption read, “Militant group in Egypt vows loyalty to ISIS.” The head of the coalition forces said this is not the kind of war to just drop bombs and it will go away. Exactly what we’re doing. The C.I.A. already said it won’t work. We know not what we do. Finally, Chuck Hagel, secretary of defense, seems to have a good understanding of war. “In every war we have to learn from our mistakes so we don’t repeat them.” The ISIS crisis. In peace, LARRY DARCEY A Tennis Bubble Southold November 17, 2014 Dear Editor, I just got out for the first time after my hip replacement, but I still need a cane. By summer I feel I won’t need one and will try to get back to tennis. I was wondering if Alan Alda still plays in tournaments at the Maidstone for a fee of $40. I could play in a tournament for more, but only want to play on clay courts. If you ever go to a tennis bubble this winter, remember muscles contract in the cooler weather, casing the greatest player to swing stiffly and pull his arm into the body. Even the slightest breeze can hurt the most experienced at play. I will try to visit the Star office with another letter to the editor. ANITA FAGAN
Published 4 years ago
Last updated 4 years ago
Letters to the Editor: 11.27.14
November 25, 2014