A New Year Begins
Springs
September 13, 2026
To the Editor,
Sept. 11, 2026, marks the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of 2001. It is also the final day of the Jewish year 5786. As the sun sets that Friday evening, Shabbat and Rosh Hashanah begin together, ushering in 5787. The timing creates a remarkable passage: a day of national remembrance flows directly into a Jewish season of judgement, reflection, and renewal.
Sept. 11 asks us to remember. We remember nearly 3,000 lives suddenly taken, the families permanently changed, and the firefighters, police officers, and ordinary people who responded with extraordinary courage. Twenty-five years later, an event once seared into the consciousness of nearly every American is passing from lived memory into history.
Judaism gives memory a special moral significance. Zachor — remember — is not simply an instruction to preserve the past. Memory creates an obligation to the present. Rosh Hashanah therefore asks a different question: What have we done with the time given to us?
The High Holy Days call for teshuvah — return and repentance. They ask us to examine promises kept and broken, relationships cherished or neglected, injuries repaired or left untouched, and opportunities used or wasted.
Sept. 11 demonstrated with terrible clarity how suddenly ordinary life can change. Rosh Hashanah transforms that knowledge into a moral challenge. Because life is uncertain, reconciliation should not always be postponed, gratitude left unspoken, or precious time casually wasted. There is an important difference between the two observances:
Sept. 11 commemorates something done to us. Rosh Hashanah asks us to examine ourselves. As darkness falls on Sept. 11, nothing is forgotten or erased. The dead remain absent and their families continue to carry their loss. But a new year nevertheless begins. That movement — from memory toward responsibility, from mourning toward renewal, is profoundly Jewish.
Sept. 11 asks us to remember the lives that were taken.
Rosh Hashanah asks us what we will do with the lives that remain.
L’shana tovah! May you be inscribed for a good year!
DONALD SUSSIS
Deserves to Be Heard
East Hampton
September 14, 2026
Dear David,
I introduced myself at the Sept. 3 town board meeting as the daughter of Leon and Queen Parks, a member of the Hayes family, and a daughter of East Hampton.
My family has been part of this community for nearly 100 years. Our roots run deep — from family homes on Town Lane and Morris Park, to the street my grandfather named for my late mother, to the youth park named for my Uncle Lee, a Tuskegee Airman. Calvary Baptist is my hometown church, where my grandfather and uncles were founding members and generations of our family worshipped, celebrated, and mourned.
I share this history because the proposed affordable housing development at 60 Spinner Lane is about more than land use. For families like mine, land represents history, sacrifice, security, and legacy.
It is indisputable how difficult it has been for Black Americans to acquire and retain property in this country. Red-lining, discriminatory lending, eminent domain, displacement, and the destruction of prosperous Black communities such as Tulsa’s Greenwood District have repeatedly undermined Black land ownership and the familial transfer of generational wealth. That history matters when government decisions affect land long held by Black families.
I support affordable housing and recognize East Hampton’s need for thoughtful solutions. But those solutions should not come at a disproportionate cost to families and communities that have already sacrificed and had to fight to preserve their place here.
As the town considers 60 Spinner Lane, I urge the board to examine alternatives, meaningfully engage those most directly affected, and proceed with transparency, fairness, and respect for the history of this community.
For nearly a century, my family has contributed to the life and fabric of East Hampton. My family’s history is part of East Hampton’s history. As the town plans for its future, that history deserves to be heard, considered, respected, and protected.
Sincerely,
ALETA WILLIAMS
Doubly Amazed
Amagansett
September 7, 2026
Editor:
A parked car in Amagansett pulled into traffic and knocked me off my bike. The driver was on the phone.
The police and ambulance arrived promptly and calmly collected the details of the incident while I was loaded smoothly into the ambulance.
Every aspect of our emergency operations is professionally sound. How blessed we are to have them servicing our community.
In the evening, my bike came to mind, and its presence in my shed amazed me. I was double amazed when neighbors told me that the police had returned my bike. Wow!
Truly an extraordinary example of community service.
KATHLEEN McCORMACK
Story Already Over
East Hampton
September 10, 2026
Dear Editor:
Thanksgiving may still feel far away. For the turkeys destined for Thanksgiving tables, it is not.
The turkeys many plan to eat on Thanksgiving, have just been born. Long before families write shopping lists or debate who is bringing the mashed potatoes, millions of turkeys are being raised by an industry designed to turn living animals into holiday products as quickly and efficiently as possible. They are only a few weeks old, and they will be slaughtered before they’ve lived even six months.
By Thanksgiving, their story is already over. But ours does not have to follow the same script. Traditions evolve. We can keep everything we love about Thanksgiving — the crowded tables, family recipes, gratitude, football, pie, and second helpings — without requiring any animals to die for it.
So, let’s start thinking about Thanksgiving earlier this year. There is plenty of time to plan a feast centered on abundance, connection, and compassion. What better way is there to give thanks than by sparing a life?
EDWIN HORATH
Tall Grass
East Hampton
September 11, 2026
To the Editor:
The roundabout at Stephen Hand’s Path and Long Lane is terrific. However, they planted tall grass in the center, which has grown tall! My view of cars entering, waiting to enter, and leaving the roundabout is blocked at certain angles by the tall grass.
I am a short person and am truly put in a dangerous situation by the grass. The town should compare this roundabout to the one on 114, which has low grass. Please, please, Town of East Hampton, cut the grass or, better yet, remove it and replace it with rocks or lower vegetation that will not grow high.
JANE ADELMAN
Crossing Our Roads
Amagansett
September 12, 2026
To the Editor:
Last week, George Watson wrote The Star about road-killed reptiles and amphibians on our roads.
Box turtles are the most beautiful and shy creatures that inhabit our woodlands. I am lucky to see one or two a year, usually crossing our back roads, and sometimes Route 27. If you spot a box turtle, or any other species crossing a road, pull over safely on the shoulder, gesture to oncoming traffic if there is any, then carry the turtle across the road in the direction it is going, and place it a couple of feet in. If you take the turtle back in the direction from which it is coming, it will try to cross the road again.
I see as many road-killed boxies as I see live ones. Once, back in the woods near Montauk, I saw a Hummer full of laughing teenagers who had just deliberately run over the largest box turtle I had ever seen. I am sure this is not that rare, especially with road-killed snakes, but it is an appalling side of human nature. The universe invested a tremendous amount of sunlight, nurture, and time in that animal.
Box turtles can live 120 years. The female lays one clutch of eggs per year, which may be as few as two or three, and the hatchlings are a prize snack for raccoons, crows, and other predators. The fewer boxies there are in a landscape, the lower the odds they will find mates. It is quite likely that the turtles we see on the road are the last vestiges of a declining population that will be extinct one year soon.
It isn’t that hard to drive down a back road slowly, with an eye out for animals crossing. The people I see gunning their engines on Napeague Meadow Road, where I exercise, have other problems.
I was thinking the other day about the fact that to see live box turtles, I have to be prepared to see so many bloody, crushed ones. Memento mori.
Forgive me for appropriating a famous passage from Melville: “The moot point is, whether” the box turtle “can long endure . . . so remorseless a havoc,” and at what point “the last” box turtle, “like the last man,” will “smoke his last pipe, and then himself evaporate in the final puff.”
For democracy, and turtles, in East Hampton,
JONATHAN WALLACE
Totally Unsuited
Sag Harbor
September 14, 2026
To the Editor:
As a native of Sag Harbor, I have always appreciated The Star’s coverage of my village. I’m glad you have been doing in-depth reporting on Adam Potter’s development project here. But I must call your readers’ attention to some important errors and omissions in your Sept. 3 article on the Department of Environmental Conservation hearing about 11 Bridge Street.
I wish you had done some fact-checking before quoting Mr. Potter so uncritically about the historic status of 7 Bridge Street, which he seeks to demolish. He is completely wrong in saying 7 Bridge “is not contributing and it’s not historic, and it’s not in the historic district.” Seven Bridge is one of the older houses in the village, probably built circa 1850, and was moved to its site before 1899. It sits squarely within the Historic District Overlay on the Sag Harbor zoning map.
Furthermore, because of its historic character, it is already listed on the New York State database of historic resources. And in the village’s most recent historic survey it was deemed eligible to be added to the National Register of Historic Places, the federal listing of landmarks and contributing structures.
The New York State Historic Preservation Office has written three letters to Mr. Potter about this site since he launched his development plan. Each letter has recognized the historic status of the building and urged Mr. Potter not to demolish it because doing so would have an adverse effect on the the historic district.
It was misleading for your article to say, “some residents assert [it] may be historic,” as if this were some tenuous claim put forward by a few people, and then quote Mr. Potter’s very inaccurate statement to the contrary. It’s not an assertion, but a documented fact that 7 Bridge Street is a historic building, whether or not it is anointed by the federal government. It’s Mr. Potter who is asserting a dubious and self-serving claim.
Also, contrary to what The Star reported, Mr. Potter’s proposal does not include “28 units that would be sold at market rates and 28 affordable units.” Since 2023, Mr. Potter has put forward multiple versions of his proposal, changing the number and mix of units each time, but it has never had more than 20 affordable units, and his latest filing, from July, includes 16 affordable and 32 market-rate units: twice as many market-rate as affordable ones, not a 50-50 split as your article suggests.
Mr. Potter’s public relations strategy from the beginning has been to cast critics of his project as opponents of affordable housing, as shown by his statement to you that his scheme wouldn’t face pushback if it were “high-end luxury” units. That is pure malarkey. No one I know objects to the idea of building affordable housing in Sag Harbor, even on Bridge Street, if it could be done at appropriate scale and density.
Mr. Potter’s problem is that, given what he paid for his properties, in order to make a profit, he has to shoehorn an excessively large, excessively dense development onto a site that is totally unsuited for it. He has requested a 460 percent increase in density over the allowed zoning. Believe me, the only thing that would make people in Sag disapprove of this scheme even more would be making it all upmarket condos instead of only two-thirds.
Yours,
PETER GINNA
Don’t Have Answers
East Hampton
September 13, 2026
Dear David,
As a champion of renewable energy, I support battery storage as a crucial component to back up the intermittent power generated from the sun and wind. It is also a much-needed tool to make our grid more efficient and help lower electric rates.
But I understand the fear of fires from battery storage and the associated risks of fighting those fires, such as the contamination that followed the 2023 East Hampton battery storage fire. Now we have learned that the fire-suppression system, not the batteries themselves, was the source of the PFAS contamination found in nearby groundwater.
Gov. Kathy Hochul convened a fire safety panel after the 2023 battery storage fires, and the new regulations issued effective Jan. 1 mandated the kind of battery containers that will, in theory, prevent the thermal runaway that caused the battery storage fires under earlier standards. But should a fire occur anyway, what about the fire-suppression systems? Are they still in place, with their potential for PFAS contamination?
Astonishing that three years later, we still don’t have answers. While we all wait, I want Governor Hochul to pick some low-hanging fruit on energy policy that should not even be controversial.
She should sign the Solar Up Now New York Act, which would allow so-called “balcony solar” (low-cost solar panels that homeowners can literally just plug into a household electric outlet). Eight states have already signed this into law. Learn more at climatechangeresources.org/solar.
And she should sign the Healthy Homes Right to Know Act, which would mandate that appliances sold at retail display a label warning consumers of the dangerous toxins released by gas stoves. These include particulate matter, nitrogen oxide, and carbon monoxide. Children living in homes with gas stoves have an increased risk of being diagnosed with asthma. This matters. We need to shift to induction, and consumers need to know why it matters to their lives.
Governor Hochul also needs to direct her Public Service Commission to put teeth into regulations that will enforce repeal of the 100-foot rule, which she already signed. This was the longstanding boondoggle that allowed utilities to offload costs of hooking up new gas customers onto the rest of the ratepayers.
Which brings me to another local issue. It is time we ban gas leaf blowers entirely. They are a major health hazard contaminating the air with pollutants, the ground with leaking gas that enters the aquifer that provides our drinking water, and our ears with unacceptable noise. Go to Changehampton.org to sign the petition.
There are no perfect energy systems, including the ones we have taken for granted for over 100 years. Oil and gas are flammable and explosive. Extracting them causes profound environmental degradation. Burning them has given us the creeping catastrophe of climate change. We have to transition to clean energy.
Let’s not lose sight of the long game as we collectively make decisions on energy policy and safety.
LENA TABORI
This Idyll
Montauk
September 10, 2026
To the Editor,
I have been unaccountably lucky to share time between Brooklyn and Montauk. My house here was built by a woman in 1972. My husband and I bought it almost 20 years ago and have respected her design, varying some materials and colors. We are grateful at every sunrise. I take a rock from the beach only if I bring one back. We like to walk by the ocean when the dogs are frolicking.
Do not destroy this idyll. Do not allow Este, which seems a club, not a restaurant, to build at the entrance to this town. Montauk is a respite, a contemplation. (Apologies, but the 7-Eleven is already a commercial affront.)
Care for this place, the last piece of land on the way to Ireland. It is small and quiet, and we see stars. Do not subject it to a raucous nightlife. That is not what Montauk ever was or should be. It was stolen by developers from the Montaukett tribe. Do not steal it now from us.
With deep concern,
JUDY COLLINSON
Criminal Offense
Amagansett
September 14, 2026
Dear David,
The unauthorized removal of campaign signs for Jerry Larsen’s write-in campaign from public rights of way and state property is a direct attack on our democratic process. It is deeply troubling that individuals who do not respect democratic rules are taking it upon themselves to target and tear down these political signs ahead of the Nov. 3 Election Day.
Stealing or destroying campaign signs is not a harmless political prank: It is a criminal offense. Perpetrators should be fully aware that concealed cameras are deployed throughout the town to monitor these areas. The police will investigate these acts, and violating the law can lead to arrest, criminal charges, and potential jail time.
Unfortunately, East Hampton has seen people arrested for this exact behavior in the past. It can easily happen again if individuals continue to disobey the law. Political signs are a protected form of free speech, and, regardless of which candidate you support, the law must be respected.
Let the voters decide at the ballot box, not through criminal destruction of property.
RONA KLOPMAN
—
The placement and removal of temporary signs in East Hampton Town, including those with political messages, are addressed by the following portion of the town code: “Off-premises temporary signs which do not exceed six square feet in area are permitted, provided that they are installed on private property with the permission of the property owner or upon public property, provided such signs do not interfere with the use of such property and do not cause a traffic hazard as determined by the Town Superintendent of Highways or the Town Police Department. Such signs may be erected for no more than seven days and shall be removed by the persons responsible for their installation. In the event such signs are not removed within seven days of their placement, they shall be deemed litter and may be removed by the Town, and in addition, appropriate penalties for littering may be imposed. — Ed.
The Real Thing
Sag Harbor
September 13, 2026
To the Editor,
We all know how counterfeiting works. There is Chanel, and then there is Channel. There is Rolex, and then there is “Rollex.” The spelling is just different enough. The logo looks familiar. The name produces an immediate association with something we already know and perhaps trust. And that, of course, is the entire point.
A counterfeit doesn’t begin by creating its own reputation; it borrows one. Names have value. They acquire that value through years of work, investment, creativity, credibility, and public recognition. A successful organization, event, business, or community initiative builds an identity slowly. Eventually, its name becomes shorthand for everything it has accomplished.
Then, sometimes, something new appears with a name that sounds remarkably familiar. Perhaps a word is dropped. Perhaps one is added. Perhaps the geography is rearranged. Technically, it may be a different name. But ordinary people encountering it may understandably wonder: Is this connected to the organization I already know? Is it an extension of it? Is it endorsed by it? Are the same people involved?
That confusion is not insignificant. The similarity itself has value. And this principle doesn’t apply only to handbags, watches, and perfume. It matters in the cultural and nonprofit world as well.
Our community has spent decades building respected arts organizations, cultural institutions, councils, exhibitions, and events. Behind those familiar names are real people who did the difficult work: raising money, finding artists, attracting audiences, building relationships, earning press, surviving failures, establishing credibility, and coming back year after year. Creating something new is admirable. We should welcome new ideas, new organizations, new cultural events, and new voices.
But if the idea is genuinely new, why shouldn’t the identity be new too? Why choose a name so close to something already established that people may associate the newcomer with the reputation of its predecessor or neighbor? As an example, why use Hampton singular instead of Hamptons plural?
In fashion, we understand this instinctively. Nobody buys a “Rollex” on a street corner believing that the extra “l” represents an exciting, new interpretation of Swiss watchmaking. We recognize what is happening: The imitation depends upon our familiarity with the original. And we generally understand something else as well: Similarity of name is not evidence of similarity of quality. Counterfeit goods are always inferior to the originals they imitate — made with cheaper materials, poorer workmanship, and little attention to quality or durability. They copy the appearance of excellence without possessing the substance that made the original worth copying.
Quite the contrary. The real thing earned its name. The imitation merely selected one that sounded familiar.
The East End has an extraordinary cultural history. Its reputation was built by generations of artists, patrons, institutions, volunteers, gallery owners, educators, writers, performers, and community members. That history is valuable. So are the names and identities that have grown out of it. Anyone wishing to contribute to that cultural landscape should be encouraged to do so. Bring us a new exhibition. Create a new organization. Start a new initiative. Develop a new idea. Challenge the establishment, if you like. But build your own identity. Earn your own reputation. Create something good enough that, some day, someone else might be tempted to imitate you.
Until then, when something sounds almost exactly like something we already know, perhaps the old consumer advice remains useful: Check the label carefully.
NADIA ERNESTUS
Far Too Lax
Springs
September 14, 2026
Dear David,
Chapter 255 (Zoning), Section 255-1-41(E), of the East Hampton Town Code states that before a tier-three tower, like the tower Elite Towers erected at the Springs Fire Department, the applicant must prove that tier-one micro-antennas mounted on utility poles cannot deliver adequate service. But several weeks ago, the Town of East Hampton signed a license agreement with Verizon to install 97 tier-one, small-cell antennas on utility poles throughout East Hampton, including in the few areas in Springs where cell service is inadequate.
As folks who live in Springs know, cell service in Springs greatly improved over the past couple of years as a result of the activation of the both the 180-foot macro tower at Camp Blue Bay from which the Police Department provides emergency communications, and of the 70-foot tower in the steeple of St. Peter’s Chapel on Old Stone Highway.
The town code puts the onus of proving that tier-one antennas cannot plug the service gap on the applicant (Elite) and not on the town or the general public. Verizon knows that its tier-one micro-antennas will plug the gap or it would not have agreed to install these antennas. Therefore, until such time as Elite demonstrates that these micro-antennas cannot plug the gap, it would be a flagrant violation of town code to approve Elite Tower’s application to activate the Elite tower.
The Elite tower should not be approved for many reasons including: The Camp Blue Bay and St. Peter’s towers cured the poor cell service in Springs. The dead zones within 200 to 500 feet of the Police Department’s Camp Blue Bay tower prove that tier-three macro-towers cannot close the remaining coverage gaps, which are caused by clusters of pine needles and the fact that a 150-foot elevation change across Springs eliminates a preponderance of radio frequency signals broadcast by existing tier-three towers.
Phone calls along Fort Pond Boulevard presently bounce between competing tier-three macro-towers, which causes them to drop. Activating the Elite tower at the Springs Fire Department will exacerbate this problem and make cell service worse, not better.
It is common knowledge that several years ago the fall zone setback in East Hampton was cut from twice-to-once the height of the tower. This changed for several reasons, which included shoehorning the Elite tower into the three-acre Springs Fire Department property. Without cutting the fall zone in half, Elite would have had to obtain a variance from the planning board and engage an unbiased third party to prepare a comprehensive environmental review. In effect, truncating the fall zone acts as a de facto exemption from the code.
Ironically, in 2015 when the East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals ruled against Elite Towers (and the State Supreme Court upheld the Z.B.A. when Elite took it to court), the Z.B.A. argued exactly the opposite; they ruled that Fire Departments are not exempt from code and undertake all of the steps that any party seeking approval for a cell tower must take.
C-Squared (Elite’s consultant) and Richard Slovenko (a consultant retained by SRAET (Springs Residents Against Elite Towers) both performed drive tests throughout Springs to measure the strength of cell reception. They both showed their results maps which are substantially the same.
Thus, while C-Squared argued that SRAETS’ contention that cell service is strong throughout Springs is untrue (because it is based on the false assumption that the Federal Communications Commission broadband map shows strong cell reception throughout Springs). Ironically, its own maps confirm that Richard Slovenko’s reports are correct. And Mr. Slovenko used Verizon’s benchmark for strong reception to reach his conclusion that cell reception in Springs is now good. So ironically, the C-Squared report confirms that SRAET’s arguments are sound.
The planning board members were extremely concerned that cutting the fall zone in half would jeopardize the safety of the 14 families who will live just a few feet outside the truncated fall zone. The repeatedly quizzed Greg Alvarez (Elite’s attorney) as to whether Elite’s tower was state of the art and could never topple over in a northeaster or hurricane because it would telescope (slide) into itself under high winds. These exchanges between Mr. Alvarez and the board occurred at the board meetings on July 23, 2023, April 2, 2025, and Nov. 19. On all three occasions Mr. Alvarez assured the board that the Elite tower was state of the art and that it would telescope under high winds, as opposed to fall over.
The assumption that the Elite tower would telescope was the bedrock upon which the planning board based its decision to approve the Elite tower at the Nov. 19 meeting. The paramount importance of the tower telescoping can be seen in the video of the Nov. 14 meeting, where immediately after Mr. Alvarez assured the board that the tower would telescope, they voted unanimously to rescind the positive declaration that had been issued for the tower, paving the way to issue final approval subject only to holding the obligatory public hearing.
However, on Dec. 16, 2025, the owner of Elite Towers (Tanya Negron) was videotaped at a Springs citizens advisory committee meeting admitting that the Elite tower could not telescope because it was jam-packed with antennas, cabling, and equipment so that there was no room for it to collapse. It is important to note that Councilman Ian Calder-Piedmonte (who is in charge of all matters concerning telecommunications towers in East Hampton) as well as David Buda and Krae Van Sickle, who are Springs citizens advisory committee members, were all in attendance at the Dec. 16 meeting and that all of them are on videotape concurring that the Elite tower could not telescope. The key question is now that the board is aware that their approval was based on false information, on what basis can they justify approving this tower?
Not only can’t the tower telescope, but the letter included in Elite’s application by its structural engineer (Vector Structural Engineering based in Draper, Utah) dated Dec. 20, 2023, instead of vouching for the structural integrity of the Elite tower, does precisely the opposite. In the letter, Vector expressly disavows any liability or responsibility they might have for the structural integrity of the tower, saying that they never visited the site and therefore cannot confirm that the tower as built conforms to the specifications shown on the construction drawings (prepared by a different firm) that are included in Elite’s application and that the concrete footing (the sole structural element holding the tower up since this tower does not have the stays that many towers have that reinforce their stability) shown on the construction drawings does not meet town code at the location to which Elite must relocate the tower in order to be squeezed into the truncated fall zone.
Again, since Elite’s structural engineer expressly disclaimed any responsibility for the Elite tower, on what basis is the planning board approving the tower, especially given the paramount importance of the tower’s structural integrity, given the slicing of the fall zone setback in two?
While federal law prohibits the planning board from raising any questions about the risks that cell towers pose for causing cancer and neurological disorders, etc., that law does not prohibit us from alerting the community that the Elite tower poses serious health issues. SRAET has a portal where 900 scientific studies are posted about the health risks caused by cell towers. Take note that the Elite tower will broadcast 5G signals, which are 35 times more powerful than the 4G signals.
The Elite application, including all the required exhibits, is some 500 pages long so it is understandable that the Planning Department might have overlooked an issue here or there. But a patient and knowledgeable reader who plows through this application cannot help but see that the very process by which the Planning Department and the board have conducted the review of the Elite application has been far too lax. The above examples of taking Elite’s word for things where they themselves should have sought independent advice are just a few of many. Thus the planning board is remiss in not having kicked the tires harder on this project.
Lord knows that Article 78 challenges are not about the facts but the process. It’s time for the planning board to stop bending over backward to accommodate a tower, which, among all other things, is unnecessary and which threatens the safety and well-being of the Springs community.
Finally, we must remind readers that merely by reviewing the Elite application, the town planning board is derelict in its duty because town code expressly forbids approving any application for a telecommunications tower where the applicant is in default on the town’s statutes. Again, the Elite tower is at present unlicensed and located inside the truncated fall zone. By rights, the tower needs to be dismantled before it can be relocated. That should not be too hard given that for the tower to be made legal, it needs to be relocated even to comply with the current truncated fall zone.
Yours truly,
JONATHAN D. COVEN
Common Good
East Hampton
September 10, 2026
Dear Mr. Rattray,
On Nov. 19, 1863, Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address, which included the words “government of the people, by the people, for the people.” “Of the people” refers to the principle that the government gets its power and right to rule from the citizens, not from a king or dictator. “By the people” means that the citizens establish their government through voting, participating in politics, and choosing leaders to represent them. “For the people” signifies that the main job of the government is to protect people’s rights, provide public services, and work for the common good of everyone.
Lincoln concluded his address with the words that such a government “shall not perish from the earth.” Sadly, Mr. Lincoln, our government has perished from the earth. Trump acts as a king, issuing executive orders and disregarding the law. Trump seeks to suppress voting rights by using the Postal Service to prevent mail-in ballots. Trump disregards the common good, instead seeking to enrich himself. In effect, Trump believes in a government against the people.
Under Trump, our government may have perished, but only in the sense that it has been ruined like food that turns rotten. Like food long past its perishable date, Trump’s government is rotten. However, let’s not allow our government to perish in the sense that it has disappeared. On Nov. 3 you can vote to begin a movement to restore our government based on the principles expressed in Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.
Vote for Chris Gallant, who is running for Congress in New York’s First District to help establish both a Democratic and democratic majority in the House. Once in control of the House, Democrats will begin to restore the system of checks and balances that preserve a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. As Lincoln also said in his address, “It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.”
SALVATORE TOCCI
Shame We Own
North Haven
September 14, 2026
Dear David:
The Houthis have just gained effective control of Red Sea shipping, and Trump babbles on in Texas about himself and his personal grievances, while spouting unhinged rants and filthy lies, claiming there is no war going on and the Iran conflict is soon resolved.
This man is completely unraveling in public, mentally and ethically, while taking our country apart for his own benefit and amusement. His insanity has become our own insanity, if we continue to fail doing something meaningful about his criminal mismanagement and theft of our nation’s wealth and the misuse of our precious military personnel. The loss of respect for ourselves here, and by others worldwide, is the shame we now own.
Midterm elections are very soon and they may well be our last opportunity to avert a total disaster. We all need to wake up to the shocking truth and stop listening to the flood of lies paid for by wealthy, unscrupulous opportunists.
We must get off our backsides — and encourage every registered voter to do the same — and exercise the valuable franchise that many others have fought for during the long history of our country.
Now is not the time to be depressed or feel powerless. Our votes do actually count far more than the dollars spent on attack ads.
An authoritarian’s rule only wins if we do nothing meaningful to challenge it.
Please keep the faith and vote for a better bunch of candidates.
ANTHONY CORON
Tyrant Trump
Springs
September 11, 2026
Editor,
Some context: After leaving the Marine Corps, I went to law school with the assistance of the G.I. Bill. In 1974, I was admitted to the State of New York Bar and remain a member in good standing. Though I am a retired criminal defense attorney I continue to do pro bono defense.
There are many officeholders that have absolute immunity. These include: the president, all judges, and all prosecutors. Law enforcement officers have qualified immunity. These immunities cover acts within the scope of their official positions. Crimes committed by them are not protected by absolute immunity, and qualified immunity — misconduct not rising to a crime — is covered. There are no statutes that grant immunity. Our judges created these concepts. Criminal justice systems are rigged to protect the chosen.
There are unwritten rules that apply to all of us. No man is above the law, and we must act in accordance with the rule of law. These rules are illegally ignored by Tyrant Trump and his cult of Maggot followers.
Donald Trump was indicted for crimes he committed while in office. On Jan. 6, 2021, he attempted to change the outcome of the election he lost. He did this by inciting a horde of maggots to storm the Capitol. The Department of Justice stopped its case after Trump was re-elected, because it has a policy not to prosecute sitting presidents. The case should be reopened after he leaves office. Absolute immunity does not protect anyone who commits a crime. Same for qualified immunity.
Trump is a convicted felon and a criminal at large for crimes he perpetrated on Jan. 6. Not to mention his theft of classified and secret documents, half placed in a Mar-A-Lago bathroom.
On July 4, 1776, we declared our independence from the British Empire ruled by the Tyrant King George III. We then fought, against all odds, the Revolutionary War to protect our independence and fledgling democracy.
Today, 250 years later, we are being ruled by the Tyrant Trump. Day by day he lies and makes decisions based on his gut reactions. The worst? Joining Israel in an illegal war against Iran.
Only Congress can declare war. World War II was the last time Congress did so. The United States has not won a war since. Our chosen leaders reveal, time and again, they learned nothing from the American war in Vietnam. It is shameful that a Nam veteran will never be elected as president of the United States. It reveals something bad about Americans.
In March 1966, we enlisted in the U.S.M.C. by taking an oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic. Beyond any doubt, Tyrant Trump is destroying our America. He has cowed Congress from doing oversight for crimes he is committing. He has weaponized the D.O.J. and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to prosecute his perceived enemies. He has corrupted the Supreme Court. He has unlawfully used the pardon power to release convicted criminals. He has illegally sent armed, masked goons to illegally harass, intimidate, arrest, and kill us. He is desperately attempting to rig the midterm elections. Because Tyrant Trump knows his rule is going to implode.
Our Declaration of Independence clearly states, in paragraph two, we have the right and duty to remove the Tyrant King George III — and Tyrant Trump. Also we are declaring our independence against “the Establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these states. . . . “ The more things change, the more they remain the same. We have the right to democracy. Even so, we must always fight to preserve it. We are in an existential war to determine the survival of our devolving democracy against the ascending tyranny over America.
Recently I have been discussing Trump starting an illegal war with several well-known attorneys. One being Victor Yannacone Jr., who started the Agent Orange class-action lawsuit, and Jim Henry, a famous investigative journalist specializing in international and national financial frauds.
It’s evident that when Trump illegally started the Iran war he violated our Constitution and he committed a war crime. He is now a war criminal at large. His ongoing war of choice is not covered by absolute immunity. We all agree that he can be held accountable by any member of Congress bringing a lawsuit against him for violating our Constitution, and he can be sued for wrongful death of any service member killed in the Iran war. We are going to follow through on this. How come no one has thought about doing this? How come the mainstream media isn’t talking about him being a war criminal?
In the normal scheme of things the D.O.J. would go after him. Not now, because we have a Department of Injustice.
Semper Fi,
JOSEPH GIANNINI
Under the Circumstances
Sagaponack
September 10, 2026
To the Editor,
The following is from just one of the letters to this paper using words such as genocide and racial cleansing referring to the only country not ever engaging in words very few seem to understand or have learned:
“I was thinking of ‘The Leftovers’ when I was a witness to the social action that occurred at Lulu in Sag Harbor on July 5. The activists, including East End for Peace and Justice, are a group of people saying, ‘Wake up! Wake up: More than 72,000 Palestinians have been killed since Oct. 2023, with the United Nations verifying that more than 21,000 of those killed were children, with many more Palestinians missing, injured, or maimed.”
Of course no mention or explanation that probably 50,000 Hamas terrorist murderers of Israelis were killed in fighting the Israeli response to the Hamas attack and slaughter. And the rest were killed while being used as shields for the terrorists in hospitals, schools, and homes, etc.
Then, with 10 seconds of research, I found the following of what we did after the 9/11 attack, not to mention what we did with the only two atomic weapons ever used, and all fully acceptable under the circumstances.
Research from the costs of war project at Brown University estimates the human toll of post-9/11 military actions in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, and Yemen. Total deaths: about 940,000 people died from direct combat and war violence between 2001 and 2023. Civilian deaths: More than 432,000 of those killed were innocent civilians. Indirect deaths: Millions more people died later from destroyed health systems, lack of clean water, hunger, and ruined economies. And what about the 30,000 Iranians killed by their own government and the true genocides being attempted in many African wars, and then the dozens of countries where Sunnis and Shiites are warring?
Can’t wait to see comments from your long-running, unpaid opinion columnist.
LOUIS MEISEL
This Stranglehold
Montauk
September 12, 2026
To the Editor:
I applaud Ginny St. John for having the courage to acknowledge the genocide in Gaza in her letter last week. There are two additional facts I’d like to add.
First is the 17-year blockade of Gaza by air, sea, and land that likely gave rise to the Oct. 7 attack. This stranglehold prevented just about everything from getting in or out of this small territory, often characterized by human rights organizations as the world’s largest outdoor prison. Palestinians were deprived of adequate electricity, gas, health care, food, and other essentials, while new Israeli settlements were rising in number and frequency. No one in the world was watching or listening to the cries of Palestinians as their country was being clandestinely consumed.
The blockade of Gaza was eerily similar to the Jews being held in the Warsaw Ghetto by the Nazis during World War II, though there is one striking difference. The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising occurred one year after its creation, while the Palestinians waited 17 years. The former is considered heroic by Western media and politicians, while the latter is considered cowardly. Why?
Last week it was reported that Benjamin Netanyahu was likely alerted that an attack was imminent, but ignored the warning. Was this sacrifice of human life seen as a political or strategic opportunity?
This disregard for human life leads me to the second fact not mentioned in Ginny’s letter, which is the Hannibal Directive, which was in effect on Oct. 7. This Israeli Defense Forces directive requires the killing of any Israeli who is about to be taken captive. So how many Israelis killed that terrible day were killed by their own people? We may never know since Western journalists and investigators continue to be barred from the area of the attack. Why?
These two major facts are never mentioned by Israel and rarely mentioned by western mainstream media and politicians because they bring into question their whole narrative. History did not begin on Oct. 7, and major omissions such as these need to be addressed if we are to learn from history.
JEFF GEWERT