One That Closed Montauk December 17, 2014 To the Editor, If my husband says don’t cook, we’ll eat out. I get to really enjoy the restaurants in Montauk. There is one that closed, and we are very sorry to lose Manucci’s. We’ll miss the great specials Ray offered, the very huge and well-prepared dishes, the warm, caring staff, and the beautiful decorations put up by Eileen for every holiday. It was a fun, down-to-earth restaurant that will really be missed. We hope Ray left knowing we wished he’d be there a long, long time, but since he had to close, we wish him all the best. Thank you. ROBERTA and RAY WICKLEIN Delicious Dinners East Hampton December 15, 2014 Dear Mr. Rattray, On Sunday, Dec. 14, the Springs Fire Department made available delicious holiday dinners for delivery to clients of East Hampton Meals on Wheels and their family members and caregivers, who were unable to attend the dinner at the firehouse. In fact, they donated 39 turkey dinners and 36 ham dinners to Meals on Wheels alone. This service filled a tremendous need in our community, because the clients who receive these dinners are homebound and unable to shop or cook special holiday meals for themselves or their families. We heartily thank all the members of the Springs Fire Department, who skillfully coordinated the event with our organization and who gave so generously of their time and energy to make this holiday season pleasurable for many individuals. We are thankful to live in a community in which so many organizations and individuals are concerned for the needs of their neighbors. Very truly yours, EDWARD D. McLAUGHLIN President Native Plants East Hampton December 22, 2014 To the Editor, Please give more space to practical tips to educate us about plantings. The boring suburban landscaping that follows after the complete bulldozing of each and every construction is ruining the look of the East End. If we had a building code directing builders to leave all native plants around the periphery of each property, and permitted lawns and non-native plants around the house itself, we would preserve our unique botanical foundation. What has been occurring for years is horrible, a real eyesore that makes it unnecessarily difficult for wildlife to survive. Thank you, CHAR TAYLOR Deeply Saddened East Hampton December 19, 2014 Dear Editor, During this wonderful holiday season of joyous gatherings and festivities, I am deeply saddened that, with less than one week’s notification, yesterday marked the final meeting of the Amagansett Library’s knitting circle. Apparently the library’s director, Cynthia Young, has decided to disband the program as, according to her, the community response was not what they had all hoped for. To my knowledge, Ms. Young has never interacted with the group or asked anyone for feedback about the program, so it’s a mystery as to how she has arrived at this unilateral decision without first gathering input from individuals in the group. Therefore, Ms. Young, to better inform you here are a few of the pros and cons of the program from my perspective: Pros: The daytime meeting allows attendance for those folks who prefer not to drive at night. The group leader is a wealth of knowledge and a great problem-solver and teacher. The group is a nice blend of beginning and veteran knitters; all are accepted and made to feel welcome. The exchange of project ideas and tips is next to none. The group’s participation in the Am-o-gansett St. Patrick’s Day parade was loads of fun, and the community response was warming and positive. Cons: The space provided for the group can comfortably accommodate six individuals at the most. The lighting in the aforementioned room is extremely poor and does not easily allow for the correcting of mistakes and viewing of patterns. The overall affect of the library itself seems a bit cold in nature. Here’s wishing all a happy and healthy New Year. With much disappointment, TERRY MILLER In One Night Amagansett December 21, 2014 Dear David, The East Hampton Town Board wrapped up the year-end’s business at its Thursday night meeting, where it resolved many important issues with its usual civility, responsiveness, and efficiency. This is what the board accomplished in one night: It banned the use of plastic bags in the town; authorized the use of the community preservation fund to buy 17 parcels for protection on the fragile Lazy Point shorefront; bonded for a weather observation station at the airport; approved the start of phase three of the airport noise study; voted to start the airport taxiway-edge lighting project; amended Chapter 134, easing some regulations for farmers; licensed the farm museum on the Lester-Labrozzi property for leasing purposes; sold additional town property to the Retreat; hired two more experienced code enforcement officers, bringing the department number up to seven; authorized additional training for code enforcement inspectors, fire marshal, and building inspectors, and approved the bid for the long-awaited Amagansett comfort station. The town board will face many more important issues in 2015. I look forward to the reorganization meeting on Jan. 6 and the continuing high level of governing by this board for the Town of East Hampton. Sincerely, RONA KLOPMAN Convoluted and Crazy Springs December 21, 2014 To the Editor, It’s happening again. There is yet another new truck proposal, another rewrite, and a further weakening of law that would diminish the commercialization of residential neighborhoods in East Hampton. The latest proposal being discussed by the town board would do very little to eliminate commercial truck activity in the single-family residential neighborhoods of East Hampton. In fact, it would grant an “amnesty” to some of the worst offenders who do not follow current law. It is clear that some on the town board think the latest proposal should be law and they are trying to sell it as a great compromise. They obviously do not live on small lots in Springs. They seem hell-bent on legitimitizing and sanctioning law breakers who have large trucks, and many trucks parked on their property anywhere they can, rather than doing the right thing. Two wrongs do not make a right. The town should be concentrating on protecting residential neighborhoods from large trucks and commercial activity next door. This law, now in its 10th month of development, keeps changing and morphing. It’s like Whac-a-Mole. Every time they throw it out, it’s different and less protective of home and hearth. It has been written to protect the commercial interests that broke the previous law, one that could not be enforced due to ambiguity, confusion, and lack of clarity. What is now being written is so murky, convoluted, and crazy I question enforcement. It too is poorly written. Who can understand it? I had to go to an attorney to have it explained to me. The test of a good law is clear, precise language that means something and gives code enforcement a tool that can be enforced and the community a law they can understand. The latest version of the law seems to me to be preposterous and, yes, excessive. When is enough, enough? How much is too much? This administration keeps stacking the deck, moving the ball, and changing its intentions. I would like to see some real leadership on this issue, not pandering. A law should not be written for special interests. No other town on Long Island allows in residential areas what is being proposed by this board. No other! Where is the interest and understanding expressed to voters at Ashawagh Hall at campaign time about quality of life issues? Candidates certainly got an earful and heard a lot of dissatisfaction at that meeting! Before the last election I even received a flier in the mail from the East Hampton Democrats that said, “Springs Spoke. We Listened.” Two sitting members of the current board had their picture on that flier. Also on that flier it stated, “A well-run community that serves its citizens fairly and effectively enforces its laws.” Harrumph. Merry Christmas all. Sincerely, BETSY RUTH Fully Shielded Springs December 22, 2014 Dear David, Last week, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo signed, at the last minute, the light pollution bill. This law requires all state-funded facilities to employ fully shielded outdoor light fixtures. This new law will affect schools, state buildings, the State Department of Transportation, and even P.S.E.G., with limited exceptions. It took over 10 years of efforts by dark sky advocates, in partnership with energy, environmental, and civic groups across the state. It is an important law for us here, because these entities are normally exempt from local zoning codes. Thanks to all who helped enact this sensible solution to light pollution, including our own representatives in the State Assembly and the Senate, Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. and Senator Kenneth P. LaValle. Unfortunately, our new representative in Congress, State Senator Lee Zeldin, voted against this bill and gave no reason for his vote. SUSAN HARDER Dark Sky Association A.T.V. Accident Springs December 16, 2014 Dear David: The A.T.V. accident that critically injured two men in Montauk is another tragic example of the failure of the Town of East Hampton to respect, tolerate, accept, and assimilate a dedicated site for all-terrain and off-road vehicle use in our town. When will politicians provide for the health, safety, and welfare of this user group, who have been ignored for decades while others ride the railroad express to use, occupy, and enjoy our public lands and buildings? An example: The East Hampton Trails Preservation Society, which claims to serve in public interest, which was a supporter of outdoor recreation, fails for decades to support a dedicated area for off-road and A.T.V. users, while informal stewardship is granted them by the town over our back highway trails system that was in part created by these users of A.T.V. and off-road vehicles over decades of use by this user group, before East Hampton became the elitist stomping grounds. They too are to blame for this accident, in their continued failure to respect and assimilate the lifestyle choices of others, who became outlaws partly at their doing — when nobody cared where we went or how we enjoy our liberties. We just became outlawed. It’s a matter of time before someone gets hurt for lack of control of this desired outdoor recreation in a safe environment. What says Supervisor Larry Cantwell, public safety liaison? What says Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc, recreation liaison, who repeatedly fails to open a dialogue about the topic presented dozens of times by the Long Island Sports Committee? What says Councilwoman Kathy Burke-Gonzalez, airport liaison (major recreational facility)? When last visited, she didn’t have the time to talk to recreation — too busy pandering to the noise issues at the airport. Also lobbied on many occasions by the Long Island Sports Committee to respect and assimilate these constituents. What says Councilwoman Sylvia Overby, who L.I.S.C. has copied on years of work toward respect and tolerance and assimilation? She wouldn’t allow a tricycle on town property, according to Democratic supporters, who also fail to recognize kids on bicycles. Go figure. What says Councilman Fred Overton, nature preserves liaison to Zac Cohen, chairman, who has also been lobbied to respect and assimilate town citizens into our nature preserves — recreation is open space preservation — but discovered it’s for his politicos only, like the East Hampton Trails Preservation Society! Time to change leadership as it relates to who controls and influences our town resources paid for with community preservation fund money. Every time they horse-and-pony-show another purchase, of course it’s for open space and recreation. Keep up the great work! Visit the injured and tell them why you fail to respect, tolerate, accept, and assimilate them into the fabric of community. When will lifestyle choices of others be recognized as it is for the homosexuals, proud as they are, not unlike me or my friends, family, and neighbors, who demanded respect, tolerance, acceptance, and assimilation into society? Our town’s natural resources are for all to enjoy, not just the wealthy politically connected! The continued political corruption has now contributed to this tragic accident. We all knew it was a matter of time that an injury such as this would occur. Turning a blind eye and a deaf ear is the result of discrimination gone wild. You can fly your jet, fly your helicopter, shoot your guns, but we can’t ride in a safe, controlled, self-sustaining area at our major recreation facility (96.7 acres). That’s right — the Town of East Hampton gave it away to a private club with perpetual leases for $100 in public benefit, which is, our town employees — the police — can train with their weapons. A multimillion-dollar asset given away in a sweetheart deal to a private club. Makes me sick to know that political corruption and continued discrimination contributed to this accident. When will our civil rights be recognized and our liberties made whole? Remember these politicians come voting season, and let them know at the voting booths that we are not going to allow our town assets to be dominated by corrupt political leaders who were elected to represent all of us. The discrimination ends now! Prayers to the injured riders. Godspeed in your recovery. Hopefully they will live to ride again, in a safe, controlled environment currently held hostage to corruption and obtuse politicos. Who on our town board will step up and right the wrong? MARTIN WILLIAM DREW JR. Chairman Long Island Sports Committee Gliding Swiftly Patchogue December 18, 2014 Dear East Hampton Star, In the intricacy of a snowflake gliding swiftly to the land is the mystery unfathomable of air pollution’s great creative hand. FRED GASREL Small Gestures East Hampton December 21, 2014 To the Editor, The lifting of the embargo of Cuba was smart, thoughtful, and courageous on the part of Barack Obama, maybe the best thing he did in his first six years. As the longest running act of unerring stupidity in our nation’s history, the embargo was a total failure. Now, only the war on drugs remains as a reminder of our ability to do remarkably retarded, dysfunctional things with absolutely no awareness of the inherent idiocy and the damage that they cause. Bravo, Barack. At last someone in the government stands up and shows us that they haven’t been castrated (the castrati of the Republican Party exempted, of course). How far we have fallen. How pathetic are we? That lifting this ridiculous embargo is an act of substance. It’s like being proud when our children become toilet trained. The embargo was the closest thing to overthrowing Fidel Castro that we were comfortable doing. It fit the context of the Cold War, the evil of communism, more so, because Cuba was in our backyard and Castro told us to screw off. No one in the Western Hemisphere tells us to screw off and gets away with it. The objective was to bring the country to its knees and force it to become Democratic. Ten years, 30 years, 50 years passed without democracy arriving. Maybe it didn’t work, wasn’t working? Might we try a different approach? The problem with Cuba is not unlike the other banana republics of Latin America: quasi-colonies that, while having independent governments, were under the American thumb. We parceled these countries off among our corporations and used American power to provide security and stability. There was no dictator we didn’t support and no democracy movement that we didn’t oppose. Our steadfastness in this policy was not lost on the Castros. What was unique to Cuba was the labor unions, economic self-sufficiency, education, and the mafia. Along with United Fruit and several other agro-giants, the Mafia was a major player. We partnered with it and protected its interests. When Castro took power he threw us out along with our cronies. He insulted our democratic heritage, called us racists and imperialist pigs, a new Latin American experience for us. Who did these wetbacks think they were talking to? So, the embargo: part Cold War, part offended sensibilities, but absolutely no part about the lives of the Cuban people. We are happy for small gestures these days, even though 95 percent of Americans know nothing about Cuba and care less. Cuba has no strategic relevance to us. Lifting the embargo won’t change much at all. Its like fixing a leaky faucet whose dripping you haven’t heard in decades. Just a reminder of how far we haven’t come. NEIL HAUSIG Into the Basement East Hampton December 19, 2014 Dear Mr. Ratray, Isn’t it ironic that some people in this country actually believed that Barack Obama was weak, uninformed, and no match for the Russian strongman, Putin. They felt that Russia was led by a winning leader with potential to remake Russia into what it was when it was the Soviet Socialist Republic and reassert its strengths as a feared opponent of the United States. Putin was strong, Obama was weak. Our recent Republican candidate for president, 47-percent Romney, said as much when he stated that Russia was the prime enemy to be feared. Whew, what a jerk! And now, what are we to make of the following headline: “Secret Sharp Increase for Russian Interest Rate to 17 Percent,” which, added to sanctions and falling oil prices, drops the ruble into the basement and bodes ill for Mr. Putin’s future. The “Strong Man” was in deep trouble! Russia has a new enemy, the currency markets, in an all-out fight to preserve the value of the ruble as 100 million rubles flow into the strong American dollar in one day. “Russia Stuck in Stagflation” — high inflation, low growth. Ghost of ’98 disaster hounds the former thug Putin. And the weak guy, how is his stewardship going? “U.S. Economic Recovery Spreads to the Middle Class.” “Unemployment sinks to 5.2 percent, lowest in 6 years.” Fifty-nine months of increased job numbers. U.S. economy on a roll! Surprisingly large increases in both hourly and weekly wages, along with other economic data, has convinced experts that falling unemployment and increased hiring portends gains for workers. Yeah, right, now we have Mr. Romney, Rudy Giuliani, Sarah Palin, and their quick-to-condemn-Obama group who love this hoodlum dumbass Putin. They wouldn’t know a great president and leader when you have one. RICHARD P. HIGER Say Yes to Life Amagansett December 18, 2014 To the Editor: Dear China: This coming year, let us choose life. They say methane on Mars might mean life — some small life, probably, but verification that we are not alone in the universe. In the meantime, the persecution of some of the greatest life forms on earth continues. I would like to ask you which will count more in a generation’s time, the discovery of alien microbes 55 to 400 million kilometers away on Mars (depending on its orbit) or the continued majesty of the myriad life forms on this planet? Dear China: So much of the grandest of your mind, your intellectuals, were persecuted and destroyed 40 years ago during the Cultural Revolution. Mao said, “It’s good to kill.” What power you gained, your soul lost. Emulating the West, which has wreaked havoc on the planet, was it such a grand and eloquent scheme? Militarily you gained, but where did the culture and poetry and wisdom of the ancients go? Mind you, keep going as you are doing and soon you will be just like America, an overdeveloped industrial power that has overstrained its resources, where one in seven children goes to bed hungry and where half of our policy makers allow the ransacking of the environment for profit. The earth shakes at our fracking policies. Even Washington trembled a few years ago. We still persecute wolves and other predators with the craven venom of medieval superstition. Your track record with Tibet resembles ours with Native America. We both ought to be very proud. Today, those of you who have the money want exotic animals, foremost being the tiger’s body parts. For what? For prestige? To say you have arrived? In the meantime you are sowing the seeds of a universal wasteland, especially in Asia. You will have generations of children looking at mere pictures and photographs of the great cat that roamed the hinterland. Maybe 20 percent of your fantastic population will say, I want to see this supernal cat meandering in the secret garden of its lair. I want to behold the ineffable. I want to witness a being that is one of the greatest reasons to be alive. To witness the stalking, triumphal power of this predator moving and disappearing in the underbrush. And then someone will tell you they are no more! What will you have gained? Its grand design, which started on your homeland several million years ago, is an evolutionary miracle. You will have made the decimation of this species possible. Will you be proud of your achievement if we were to lose it within 5 to 10 years? Yes, I understand that India’s corruption is great, but you are fueling an arms race of fantastic greed toward extinction for the greatest cat on earth. You see, we went to behold majesty, armed to the teeth with our cameras. When our son saw his first tigers at 31/2, he was spellbound and transfixed beyond mortal words. The tiger, in its ghost-like gait, its supreme landscape of moving color, holds the secret of incomparable beauty. It also reminds us of our mortality, like a sentinel and a monarch. Before it our place is humbled, as it should be. To continue to want desiccated pieces of its body is a coward’s and cripple’s stance. You are better than that. Once observed by a tiger, you have been bestowed the gift of life. Your soul will dance with undreamed-of countenance. You will be born anew! If you destroy it, you will have mutilated your conscience. Ask the sages, they know. Indians in their cars came up to us and jumped onto our car and were mesmerized. It is a deity you behold, one that holds the coherence of the forests of Asia together ecologically and spiritually. I understand not all of you want a piece of the tiger. It would not be fair. There are over 14 hundred million of you and only about 3,000 tigers. But those of you who desire these baubles must desire something nobler, grander, more worthy of the Middle Kingdom. Lao Tze, the grandest of your visionaries, had it right when he said we need to manifest “deep love, frugality and to reduce selfishness.” Above all, he warned that “there is no greater calamity than lavish desires.” See, within yourself, if you truly want this being lost for your children. Your children’s curses will follow you everywhere, if you are not careful. Jackie Chan abhors violence. Trust him, he is a true master, and self-mastery will go a long way in reclaiming what is just and what remains of the exotic beings of this planet. Because secretly, you long to witness them. You will long not for their skin lying limply like a forlorn rag mired in immobility, but to be touched by the experience of a near-god. There is no greater virtue and meaning on this earth. If the tigers should vanish, where will your desired potency come from? It must come from within. Ask Jackie. When I asked a priest in India what will happen to humanity if it were to lose the tiger, he responded that it would not matter, because there will be no humanity anymore. Nothing less is at stake. Dear China, the same holds true for another incomparable species, the elephant. The mastodons, whose tusks are much more spectacular, would want their cousins to continue roaming the world. Truly, they know who they are like few species on earth, and their conscience now shudders before our sight. Children, your children in the future will want to know that they roam the world, for truly, as the great French writer Romain Gary once wrote, “Where there are elephants, there is freedom.” Humans have been through two world wars. Now the third is upon us, to stop the infamy against the innocent and what remains of nature. We do not want to inhabit a penal colony. That is what awaits us if we do not salvage what remains of nature and foremost among its terrestrial citizens, the elephants. If we were to lose them, we would go mad with the stupefaction of having betrayed ourselves and the life force. Is it worth it? For baubles? For the inert, the lifeless? Blood will drip from humanity’s conscience forever. Let us beware, for the karmic boomerang is long. It has been said that the word for elephant in Hebrew, pil, is the root of the verb to wonder. We cannot afford to lose wonder. Next year, everyone must say no to ivory and say yes to life, finally and forever. Our own lives and sanity depend on it. The children are watching. Happy New Year! CYRIL CHRISTO Is No Darling Springs December 21, 2014 To the Editor, The bashing of Sony’s hacking: Hold it! Not so fast. Freedom of speech is one of our cherished gifts, one of our crown jewels, and also carries responsibilities. Hollywood is no stranger to periodic but consistent frivolity — out-of-control gone viral. Much too much human blood is oozing from too many of its movies, graphic violence reducing the value of lives. This is an industry that reaches everyone, especially the impressionable young ones. Maybe this movie breached some of the abovementioned responsibilities. Obviously North Korea is no darling of anyone. The new, young dictator is not a pope but nevertheless this is major country, a state, a nuclear power that we are trying to negotiate with and maybe tame. (I just can imagine President Obama’s expression when this episode broke loose.) And further, how about “know your enemy”? Not one is open-minded liberal like us (paraphrasing the late Vice President Spiro Agnew, may he rest in peace). You guys better watch it. Learn to control yourselves, because, if not, someone, some day, will do it for you. EDWARD A. WAGSCHAL
Published 4 years ago
Last updated 4 years ago
Letters to the Editor: 12.25.14
December 23, 2014