The River Reporter Online - Letters to the Editor

[EDITOR'S NOTE: The River Reporter welcomes letters on all subjects from its readers. They must be signed and include the correspondent's phone number. The correspondent's name and town will appear at the bottom of each letter; titles and affiliations will not, unless the correspondent is writing on behalf of a group.

Letters are printed as they are received, or at the discretion of the editor, and without correction to grammar or spelling. It is requested they be limited to 500 words; correspondents may be asked to cut longer letters. Deadline is 1:00 p.m. on Monday.

I’m glad Noel Van Swol is concerned about the health of the kids at the Sullivan West Narrowsburg campus. But his recent concern (since the merger) has got me wondering.

Where was all this concern before the merger? It’s not like kids just started going to school in Narrowsburg, or people just moved into town. I graduated from NCS in 1982, and don’t ever remember Van Swol’s concern, before or after.

And don’t be fooled by the way Van Swol throws the Love Canal thing around like it means it’s the end of the world. Love Canal was more media-generated hysteria than anything else. A prime case of “follow the money.”

Something tells me this is just more sour grapes over the approval of the merger.

I wonder if the people who are spreading the malicious and unsubstantiated accusations against the Society of Saint John realize that the day will come when they will have to account for their actions to the One who really counts.

In his letter supporting casino gambling, Mr. Bruce Schor of Fosterdale unwittingly makes his own case against gambling when he criticizes the “Karrs and The Donald” for being opposed to gambling in the Catskills. And I quote, “The Donald uses his casino blood money (dollars that The Donald made off the backs of unsuspecting citizens) in order to fight the county’s effort.”

I’m sure that many readers much appreciated the effort of wit and imagination that Mr. Schorr must have expended in conflating the name of Donald Trump with my own. It might have been more rewarding, though, if he were to have explained, for example, how Sullivan County would cope with the nightmarish traffic problems. “I can imagine my family having to make a round trip . . . to Middletown and having it be an eight-hour trip,” said Jake Gunther, as well as the daily, more apparent, yet essentially unaddressed health problems and the increase in crime that would arrive with casinos, should they come.

I was particularly happy to find an area of agreement with Mr. Schorr. I refer to his comment on Mr. Trump’s use of “his casino blood money” (dollars that The Donald made off the backs of unsuspecting citizens). We clearly agree on that. “Who would have thunk it?”

I do not address what must be his main point since he has it so screwed up that it would take forever just to clear it up. But, believe me, it’s trivial. It’s just the usual effort to avoid the real issues.

The actions of Wayne/Susquehanna R.E.S.C.U.E. in their appeal of National Wind Power’s National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit on behalf of Clinton Township should be applauded.

The manner in which the Wayne Conservation District and the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) handled the potential impact of the wind turbine project as it relates to the environment (erosion and the Lackawaxen high-quality watershed) seems extremely suspicious.

In light of the way the Conservation District/DEP got burned in the Federal prison’s chocolate-river incident, why would they be so quick to approve the wind turbine project? Remember, the Federal prison’s sedimentation problems were on relatively flat land, as opposed to the mountain ridge top that the wind turbine project would sit on. The ridge top will be clear-cut along the entire length of the project (five and one-half miles) for the access road and the wind turbines. Some of these wind turbines will be built near steep inclines. Add to this, the numerous high-quality streams that run through this area, and the stage is set for another, and much larger, sedimentation disaster! Can the conservation district afford another embarrassment?

On March 6, Clinton Township held its monthly municipal meeting. National Wind Power (NWP) was present. They were asked how they planned to protect their five and one-half mile roadway from trespassers. NWP stated that they would erect a gate at their access entrance on Flat Rock Road. NWP was then asked whether a fence would be erected from the gate to encompass the project. NWP said, “no.”

Does anyone reading this think that dirt bike/ATV riders won’t take advantage of an opportunity to access this five and one-half mile dirt and gravel road?

From this road, these riders will be able to explore areas that were previously unreachable by these vehicles. These dirt bike/ATVs will create countless new trails, and with them will come countless new erosion problems. Do you think the conservation district/DEP took a scenario such as this into consideration when they issued the NPDES permit?

Never before has our local conservation district had to deal with problems that contained the complexity and careful consideration that these recent construction sights possess. I hope this is not considered on-the-job training. To be fair, the conservation District/DEP stated that an environmental impact study was not required by their offices for issuance of a NPDES permit. If that is truly the case, then all the more reason for an independent study.

At past meetings with Clinton Township, NWP said that they had encountered no major environmental problems with the site, but would gladly volunteer to do an independent environmental impact study. I’m so sure! That’s like letting the fox guard the henhouse!