Awful or awesome? You decide.

“This place is awful.”

These words were supposed to have been uttered by Richard II as he stood on the floor of the newly opened Westminster Abbey. But how the meanings of words have changed. “Awful” then meant awe inspiring, full of awe, deeply reverential. The magnificence of the building inspired him and all who saw it. “Awful” now has come to mean the opposite. It now means extremely disagreeable or objectionable.

The first meaning of the word fit the reaction of many area residents last Saturday, on hand to witness the groundbreaking for the new Sullivan West High School on the old Green Acres Hotel site in Lake Huntington. Walking up the hill, looking out at beautiful Lake Huntington, many could imagine just what the new school would be like.

“This is awesome,” a man said to his wife.

The air was full of excitement on the side of the hill as the combined band of the three former central schools played for the first time in public. Dignitaries and officials, with clicking cameras all around, donned hard hats and wielded golden shovels to break ground.

But there were a few dissenting voices, for whom the word “awful” is used in the modern sense. To them, the new school site is awful, contaminated, polluted, defiled and sullied.

At some undetermined time in the past, they say—don’t pin them down as to where or when—someone dumped 55-gallon barrels of toxic waste into the ground when the old hotel burned down in the early 1980’s.

The dissenters do not have proof that the site is despoiled or polluted. By their own admission, there is not now any evidence, records or witnesses. But, they say, later on, names and dates will be revealed so that everyone will be convinced.

Conversely, what’s the evidence that the site is sound?

There is a preliminary land development plan developed by the Hillier Group, a Princeton-based, nationally known architectural firm. There is a detailed, 40-page Draft Environmental Impact Statement conducted by O’Brien and Gere of Syracuse, NY. The firm has followed the DEC and State Education Department (SED)’s guidelines and regulations, including the State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR) mandated by SED.

So what is it that these dissenting voices want?

They want the construction work to be stopped and a new location searched out, new studies, applications to be sent to Albany, a new sewer system to be built and a new Draft Environmental Impact Statement. This would result in the loss of the extra 10 percent in state aid afforded by coming in under the under the June 1 deadline, and would cause the district to run the risk of a lesser state aid formula. In other word, such delays would cause the taxpayers of the district an enormous jump in property taxes to make up for the loss.

Readers, ask yourselves: what do the opponents of the new school site really want? Is it truly to protect our kids, to find a “safe” location, or is it to throw a monkey wrench in the whole works, causing delay after costly delay and dissension among the ranks?

“Evidence” presented by opponents that the site is contaminated, based on excerpts from official documents and letters, can be refuted by a clear reading of the documents in full. These documents present possible contaminated situations that must be addressed if they exist—which, in point of fact, there is no evidence that they do.

These are scare tactics—albeit couched in scientific language. Such scare tactics have been used by opponents throughout the merger process. What we need now is for people to stop their power trips and get behind the new school and make it work. It is best for the students—and ourselves.

If you want to make up your own mind, call the district office and ask to read the DEIS and tour the site. Breathe the air, look at the view—and rejoice.

Tom Kane, Staff Reporter