Acts of Compassion
Sag Harbor
January 7, 2026
Dear Editor:
As co-founder of Run 2 The Rescue, I’ve seen how compassion can change lives, often beginning with one animal and one choice. Our Hamptons–based nonprofit rescues dogs from extreme cruelty, including the dog meat trade in China, and brings them to safe, loving homes in the United States. Many of these dogs now live as beloved family members in communities like ours.
Here in the Hamptons, most of us would never imagine eating a dog we love. Yet the truth is that the animals we eat in the U.S. — cows, pigs, chickens — are no less capable of fear, pain, affection, or joy than the dogs consumed elsewhere. The difference is not moral or emotional; it’s cultural. All are sentient beings who value their lives.
Choosing to adopt a rescue dog is a beautiful act of compassion, but that compassion doesn’t have to stop at the front door. When we choose plant-based or vegan meals, we extend the same care to animals whose suffering is easier to ignore because it’s familiar.
When we align our values with our actions, toward both the animals we cherish and those we consume, we take a meaningful step toward a kinder, most consistent world.
Sincerely,
BONNIE S. KLAPPER
Dietary Soul
East Hampton
January 8, 2026
Dear Editor,
Ever since the Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs 1977 dietary goals for Americans recommended reduced meat consumption, the meat and dairy lobbies have been battling nutritionists and other health professionals for the dietary soul of the American people. In the just-issued Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the meat and dairy lobbies won, with the misguided support of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Since the 1977 report, scores of other scientific studies, involving thousands, have clearly established a strong association between consumption of meat and dairy products and elevated incidences of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and certain types of cancer. No credible study has claimed the contrary.
Moreover, if Kennedy is concerned about processed foods, his touting of meat and dairy products is misplaced, as meat and dairy products are plant foods that have been highly processed by the digestive tracts of pigs and cows.
Fortunately, the American public is much more informed and less likely to be deceived by the meat and dairy industry than in 1977. Today, every supermarket offers a rich variety of delightful, delicious, plant-based, eco-friendly main and side dishes, as well as milks, cheeses, and ice creams. Most family restaurants and fast-food franchises do as well.
Sincerely,
EDWIN HORATH
Marsden Street
Sag Harbor
January 8, 2026
Dear Editor,
I read your editorial about the Marsden Street property in Sag Harbor with great interest.
There are several points in the piece over which we might disagree, but there is one statement made which is flatly wrong.
The Sag Harbor Board of Education never seriously proposed a basic, grass, sports field on the Marsden lots. It continuously proposed an artificial turf field with all its ramifications, including forever chemicals in the water table.
The school board also proposed stadium lights, loudspeakers, etc., in a historical district.
This is why so many of us were opposed to the field.
At the moment, the Marsden lots look appalling (and it is appalling that even now, trees are allowed to be sheared down indiscriminately), but a few years from now, there will be houses and trees will be replanted, but we will not have to live with artificial turf and loudspeakers forever.
My opinion is that $40 million dollars is too much to ask this small community to bear at this moment when so many are struggling financially, particularly when the student body is becoming smaller over time.
JANIS DONNAUD
Upside Down
Sag Harbor
January 8, 2026
Dear David,
American energy and national security priorities are totally upside down. Shortly after issuing new stop-work orders on American offshore wind projects on bogus grounds that they endanger national security, the Trump administration invaded Venezuela to capture its president and claim control of its oil. How does shutting down domestic energy production in favor of boosting foreign oil help Americans? All that does right now is hurt us, here on Long Island in particular.
Electricity from offshore wind was soon to contribute clean energy to Long Island’s grid and help stabilize Long Islanders’ electric bills.
As a fuel, wind is free. Oil is not. Venezuelan oil won’t do anything for us, except potentially enrich oil companies and refineries that sell it on the world market. And of course, extracting more oil is the opposite of what needs to be done to slow climate change. But Trump proclaims climate change a hoax and a scam.
Faced with Trump’s madness, Gov. Kathy Hochul did the rational thing by joining other governors to protest Trump’s stop-work order on offshore wind. The companies constructing Empire Wind and Sunrise Wind are justifiably suing the government. Let’s hope sanity prevails in the courts in the short term, and among the national electorate in the long term — starting with the 2026 midterms.
STEPHANIE DOBA
First-Time Homebuyers
East Hampton
January 11, 2026
Dear David,
One of the most-serious challenges facing East Hampton today is the lack of attainable work force housing for first-time homebuyers. Teachers, police officers, health care workers, municipal employees, and young families who grew up here are increasingly unable to purchase their first home in the community they love. If elected East Hampton Town supervisor, I will implement my vision for home ownership.
The East Hampton Vision to Reality Homeowner Program is designed specifically for first-time homebuyers. It turns long-discussed housing goals into real, attainable homeownership while protecting taxpayers and ensuring permanent affordability.
In it, the town partners with a first-time home buyer. In projects such as Cantwell Court, where the town already owns the land, one of the largest cost barriers is eliminated. Homes can be constructed for approximately $700,000 per unit.
A participating bank finances construction through a conventional construction loan. Using the community housing fund, the town will cover the required down payment for each qualified first-time buyer and pay the interest on the construction loan during the construction period. Once construction is complete, each qualified first-time homebuyer secures a standard 30-year mortgage for their portion of the home.
To ensure homes remain affordable for future first-time buyers, homeowners may earn up to 3 percent equity per year, calculated only on the amount they personally mortgaged. Resale prices are capped through deed restrictions. Homes must be sold to another qualified first-time homebuyer. This structure allows families to build modest equity while preventing speculation and preserving affordability permanently.
This program can be used for town-owned land, small or large housing projects, individual homes on any street, properties not located in affordable housing overlay zones.
The East Hampton Vision to Reality Homeowner Program delivers real results for first-time homebuyers, protects taxpayer investment, and ensures that once a home is made affordable, it stays affordable forever.
If elected East Hampton Town supervisor, this will be one of my top priorities.
Sincerely,
JERRY LARSEN
Far-Reaching Abuses
East Hampton
January 12, 2026
Dear David,
Many thanks to The Star’s staff writer Christopher Gangemi for his excellent series of articles (“Left Guessing,” Dec. 29), (“They Know When You’re Bad or Good,” Jan. 1), among others, over the last year on the Flock cameras installed in East Hampton Village.
His research and investigations are an invaluable service to help our community understand the far-reaching effects and abuses — past, present, and possibly future — of a technology that enables law enforcement authorities a means to gain even more even information about our communication and patterns of behavior.
Flock helps to create an environment and culture of increased non-transparency, more secrecy, less documentation for people to find out what’s happened and is happening to them, more mistrust of our neighbors and friends, and a sophisticated surveillance state made ripe for social control by a dictator or corrupt politicians.
Most police officers didn’t sign up to be part of some sort of a secret police network, designed to track and spy on their community and neighbors. Mayor Jerry Larsen, as a former police officer himself, should understand that better than anyone. He doesn’t.
As Mr. Gangemi reported, Mr. Larsen wasn’t even aware of Flock’s databases and the harm and havoc they are causing and could cause. As A.I. becomes more advanced, that’s something all of us should be concerned about.
Mayor Larsen wants to lead the flock — East Hampton’s flock needs new leadership and new direction.
Sincerely,
JIM VRETTOS
Perversion of Justice
East Hampton
January 8, 2026
Dear Mr. Rattray,
Lady Justice is arguably the most recognizable symbol in our legal system, represented by a statue that has stood in front of U.S. courthouses for over 200 years. She holds a scale in one hand and a sword in the other, while being blindfolded. The scale signifies that all evidence must be weighed before reaching a decision. The sword represents the authority to enforce the laws of the land. The blindfold signifies that the law must be applied fairly to everyone. Today, Lady Justice could be depicted as still holding a sword and blindfolded but no longer holding a scale.
Consider how Trump has dealt with the former presidents of Honduras and Venezuela. In March 2024, a U.S. federal jury in Manhattan found Juan Hernandez guilty of conspiring to import cocaine from Honduras into the United States, and he was sentenced to 45 years in prison. The verdict followed extensive evidence presented by prosecutors showing that he used his power in office to protect and expand cocaine trafficking operations, including the smuggling of 400 tons of cocaine into the U.S. On Nov. 28, 2025, Trump issued a full and complete pardon to Hernandez.
Contrast this with the recent news concerning former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. The U.S. Justice Department indictment accuses him of running a corrupt, illegitimate government fueled by an extensive drug-trafficking operation that flooded the U.S. with thousands of tons of cocaine. Attorney General Pam Bondi posted that Maduro will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts.
Hernandez was arrested and detained by Honduran authorities and then extradited to the U.S. In his case, the laws were followed under the Biden administration until Trump ignored them. Maduro was captured by U.S. Special Forces that invaded his home in Caracas while the city had been plunged into darkness and then whisked away to New York to stand trial. In this case, Trump ignored the laws from the start.
Lady Justice still holds a sword, not to enforce the laws of the land but to carry out the wishes of one man. She still also wears a blindfold, but it now signifies that she no longer wants to see the perversion of justice that is taking place. Sadly, today we live in a country, not under the guidance of Lady Justice, but rather under the whims of Lord Narcissist.
SALVATORE TOCCI
Runaway Train
North Haven
January 12, 2026
Dear David:
Now that we see federal agents provoking and murdering with apparent immunity our American residents, including legal U.S. citizens in their hometowns across the nation, we must ask if there is any hope left that the public and its cowardly representatives in Congress will do something honest and meaningful about it.
Please study the Minnesota videos carefully, all of them, from all angles — including the one filmed by Jonathan Ross — who shot Renee Good in the head three times! Now, please remember those immediate media statements by the president, the vice president, Marco Rubio, and the cosplaying cowgirl Kristi Noem posing as United States Secretary of Homeland Security. These liars, along with many other officials, immediately broadcast boldface lies about what actually happened.
They deliberately gaslight us with claims the victim was a violent terrorist. They expect total immunity for themselves, and for their criminal federal agents. Today, Noem is sending many more ICE agents to Minneapolis!
In addition to numerous domestic ICE murders, the military invasion of Venezuela to kidnap the criminal leader Nicolas Maduro sets a shocking new precedent, showing zero respect for existing international laws as well. Trump just claimed his authoritarian fantasy of global privilege during an interview with The New York Times. This seems to be Trump’s revisionist idea of the century-old Monroe Doctrine.
The New York Times: quote, “Asked in a wide-ranging interview with The New York Times if there were any limits on his global powers, Mr. Trump said: ‘Yeah, there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me. I don’t need international law,’ ” he added, end quote.
Folks, please wake up. The wheels have come off this runaway train of official destruction. We are all in jeopardy now. The Supreme Court gave this wannabe tyrant all the keys to our country with their blanket immunity. Congress still refuses to do its job. Masked armed thugs are marauding our neighborhoods terrorizing, killing, and maiming innocent people.
I know we have some locals here who have the chutzpah to continue claiming in their letters that the president and his obsequious crew can do no wrong. The facts show otherwise.
This toxic situation is no longer a matter of some differing political opinions. This administration has assumed illegitimate authority, and gone far beyond human decency and actual truth. It is so over the top with scurrilous claims and heinous criminal activities we must ask our community to come to its senses and realize what is being done to all of us. Real fascism is underway and must be stopped. Please look up the definition of that term before you reject this statement.
For everyone’s peace, prosperity, and survival, we must stop allowing these trolls to divide us with their obvious lies and bullying tribalism. Our entire community will fail and continue to be unsafe unless we join together to end the massive destruction of our democracy, and our once respected country.
Fear of threatened retribution must not stop us now. Stay strong.
Good luck,
ANTHONY CORON
Predictable Death
East Hampton
January 10, 2026
Dear David:
Renee Good is dead. An ICE agent executed her two days ago on a Minneapolis street. She is dead because a federal law enforcement agency that has been allowed to operate without accountability, without restraint, and without moral or legal limits continues to terrorize American communities with impunity.
Let’s be clear: this was not an “incident.” It was not a “tragic mistake.” Ms. Good’s death was the predictable result of the creation of a modern-day terror force. Its purpose is becoming plainer with each passing day — with each increasingly tragic encounter between it and Americans behaving lawfully. Rather than protecting Americans, ICE and its companion agencies operatives are behaving like the Ku Klux Klan did in another era: masked, unaccountable, violent, and protected by political cowardice. Their uniforms are different. But their tactics are the same. Intimidation. Dehumanization. State-sanctioned violence. Death.
Federal officials are already lying to the public—claiming self-defense, smearing the victim and rushing to justify the unjustifiable. We have seen this script before. When institutions are rotten, they always protect themselves first and tell the truth last. If ever.
In covering for the administration Lindsey Graham implied that Ms. Good deserved her execution. He said that Ms. Good “tried to run the agent over,” telling the country that Ms. Good got what she deserved.
For their part Mr. Vance (and Mr. Trump) accused Ms. Good of actually running the officer over after aiming her car at him. And, in any event, Mr. Vance claimed (incorrectly) that the officer enjoys absolute immunity from accountability. We’ve all seen the many videos of the tragedy, and it is plain that the G.O.P. leadership is lying to America.
These lies aren’t accidental. They are calculated — designed to provide political cover for the Trump administration and to normalize a dangerous idea: that due process no longer applies in America.
When a United States senator (and a vice-president) excuses murder at the hands of government power, we are no longer debating policy — we are confronting cruelty; cruelty designed to curate such terror in Americans that they are afraid to criticize the administration’s actions.
There is no law and order in a system where armed agents can kill an innocent woman in the street and expect immunity. That is not safety. That is authoritarianism.
What these G.O.P. leaders are espousing is not leadership — it exposes the administration’s utter moral bankruptcy.
This moment does not call for “measured language.” It calls for moral clarity. ICE, as it exists today, must be dismantled and rebuilt. There must be independent investigations, prosecutions where warranted, and an end to the blank check Congress keeps writing for its continued abuse against the American people.
Let us not give our congressman, Nick LaLota, the opportunity to dissemble as he tries to provide cover for the administration. His fealty to Mr. Trump makes him as culpable as the officer who shot Ms. Good. He should be fired this November.
Sincerely,
BRUCE COLBATH
What Fascism Is
East Hampton
January 12, 2026
Dear David,
In an otherwise reasonable letter to The Star, Jeffrey Plitt, after calling himself an independent conservative, offers this parting shot, “The pinheads are the constant Trump bashers. Don’t these people have a life? Kids, grandkids, local issues.”
To answer Mr. Plitt’s question: Trump-bashing is rampant precisely because folks are concerned about kids, grandkids, and local issues.
Trump has eliminated health care for millions of kids and grandkids. He has chosen tax breaks for billionaires over food for hungry children. Trump is issuing autocratic threats to curtail federal programs for entire blue states, which would have dire effects on the local issues of any state that angers him, New York in the cross hairs. He has said members of the press who criticize him are traitors and should be jailed or executed.
Among the most sacrosanct issues for conservatives is the independence of the Federal Reserve, as to cede control of the money supply to any politician is to court inflation and debasement of the money supply. Trump has initiated a bogus Justice Department attack on the current chairman, Jerome Powell, to force him to lower interest rates.
I’m sure Mr. Plitt would be outraged if I were to call him a fascist; I hasten to add, I’m not calling him that. Don’t know him. But I would point out what fascism is, according to a document written by the U.S. War Department in World War II, “Fascism is government by the few and for the few. Fascists make their own rules and change them when they choose. They maintain themselves in power by use of force combined with propaganda based on primitive ideas of blood and race, by skillful manipulation of fear and hate and by false promises of security. The propaganda glorifies war and insists it is smart and realistic to be pitiless and violent.”
Many Americans, both liberal and conservative, cannot read that description of fascism without thinking of Trump. Just last week, Trump said, “I don’t need international law. The only limit on my behavior is my own morality.” His morality led him to cheat on all of his wives. His morality led him to refuse honest payment to subcontractors in his building career. His morality led him to claim, against the evidence of 63 losses in court, that the 2020 election was stolen.
See Joseph Goebbels’s line, “If you tell a lie often enough, it becomes true.” Hence, Jan. 6, dead cops, and feces on the walls of Congress.
Governors and mayors across the country are saying they don’t need the untrained, masked ICE agents bullying through their cities while brandishing machine guns. Trump now has 22,000 of them, and he is still recruiting more. What intentions does he harbor that lead him to anticipate the need for such a fearsome force? Deporting housekeepers, farm hands, landscapers, dishwashers, and carpenters building houses in the Hamptons?
Those of us who write week after week about Trump are not addressing ourselves to each other. It is precisely conservatives and Republicans whom we hope to reach. We hope they will ask themselves why top Republicans from Mitt Romney to Chris Christie to Mike Pence have repudiated him.
Almost all of Trump’s cabinet from his first administration opposed him in 2024. Fifty Republican national security leaders signed a letter to say Trump “lacks the character to be president. He lacks basic knowledge and belief in the U.S. Constitution, U.S. laws and institutions, including religious tolerance, freedom of the press, and an independent judiciary.”
These are not pinheads, lefties, or liberals. These are Americans who know a fascist when they see one and they have the courage to say so in public. Lutheran minister Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil.” The Germans hanged Bonhoeffer in 1945. Too many Germans were silent. That, Mr. Plitt, is why we bash Trump. We want you and your children to live in a democracy, protected by the rule of law from the whims of a dictator.
DON MATHESON