To the editor:

The well-written editorial of January 9 by Richard Ross had that ever familiar “River Reporter ring” to it. But it was good to see his political views expressed on the appropriate page, as opposed to his “ hobbit” of including them in his comprehensive sports news and columns — a practice that undermines his otherwise fine work.

We anticipate a big spread on the Washington rally.

Please, just spare us quotes from the regular rabble-rousers and concentrate on those with solid facts and the needed alternative actions.

It is unfortunate, to say the least, that the Lynne Tears column will no longer appear in TRR. Lost will be an entertaining, informative and valuable source of information. The local readership and her many animal friends will miss her column and its content. We send our thanks and very best wishes to her.

John A. Lloyd
Rose E. Lloyd
Narrowsburg, NY

To the editor:

Should the United States wage war on Iraq? If Iraq produced peanuts instead of oil, we wouldn’t even be considering the question now.

But Iraq has the second largest oil reserve in the world, second only to the reserves of Saudi Arabia. In addition, the oil that Iraq produces is of a particularly high quality. It is Iraq’s oil that attracts America, not concern about Saddam Hussein’s human rights abuses, or his weapons of mass destruction program. (According to former UN Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter, Iraq’s weapons production program has been largely destroyed.)

Hussein came to power in 1979. From then until 1990, when Iraq invaded Kuwait, the United States supplied Iraq with weapons and materials used to construct chemical and biological weapons.

In the 1980s, the Iraqis used poison gas against Iran in an eight-year war, with the support of the United States. We also supplied Iraq with spy satellite information used to plan their attacks on Iran.

In 1988, when Iraq used poison gas on the Kurds in Northern Iraq, killing many, the United States knew about it, but said nothing. It only became an issue for the United States after Iraq stopped doing our bidding. Now, President Bush complains vociferously that Iraq has gassed its own people, and cites that as a reason why we should invade Iraq and impose “regime change.”

Many of my fellow citizens feel that President Bush is just putting on a show of force, and that once Saddam Hussein complies with all U. N. resolutions, President Bush will back off, and war will be averted.

I believe that nothing could be further from the truth. President Bush’s comment that he is really “trying to avoid war” is nothing but a deceptive manipulation of the public. Because war is the only way to gain control of the oil reserves, the real goal of President Bush’s Administration is war, not peace. Because our true interest is oil and not human rights and democracy for the people of Iraq, no concession that Iraq makes will be enough. In the end, some excuse will be made for the justification to invade Iraq.

The only thing that stands in the way of war with Iraq is a fledgling peace movement gaining momentum around the world. But given the shortness of time and the organized, determined campaign of the United States government to make the case for war, the chances of averting hostilities are slim.

Such a foul and selfish reason for waging war on Iraq is unworthy of our great nation. It goes against our Christian and Jewish values alike. The deaths of a great number of Iraqi civilians will be the result, making such a pre-emptive attack unwise and unjust.

In the final analysis, this war has a hidden agenda. That agenda is cheap oil.

Carl Mills
Waymart, PA

To the editor:

The lawsuit initiated by Retired Col. Bud Day seeks a refund of Medicare Part B premiums and a return to full, no-cost health care for military retirees.

There are currently over 22,000 military retirees who have joined as part of the class action initiative, battling the U.S. government, who reneged on the medical care promise to a generation of World War II and Korean-era retirees.

The lawsuit was filed in 1996 and has passed through several court hearings with Col. Day winning a decision in the Washington, D.C. Federal Court of Appeals. Backed by Supreme Court decisions, this court held in February, 2001 that the U.S. government is liable for the promise of lifetime healthcare made to military retirees over age 65, who entered active duty prior to December 7, 1956, served 20 or more years active service and enrolled/paid for Medicare Part B. A rehearing was requested by the government before the full 13-member (en blanc) court.

On November 18, 2002, just one week after Veterans Day was observed and many government officials and politicians proclaimed their steadfast love of God, country and deepest respect and admiration for our military personnel, we, the retired military veterans of World War II and the Korean War era, received word that we had been victims of one of the cruelest bait-and-switches in history.

Now that the bill has come due, the government has reneged on the promise and said it was not legally bound to honor the obligation. The full 13-member court on a vote of 9-4 declared that the federal government of the United States of America could legally break its promise with its World War II and Korean War retired warriors. The decision has been appealed and the fight is poised to go to the Supreme Court in mid-February 2003.

The hypocrisy of our government is never more apparent than on days dedicated to the military community. On November 11, while our elected politicians used these World War II and Korean Veterans as human props, government officials were in court, stripping them of their benefits. As officials waxed poetic over the “debt that was owed, and will never be repaid” to this greatest generation, the government was contesting legal obligations to honor its promise.

Every military veteran, every military retiree, and everyone currently on active duty will take this shameful Federal Appeals Court decision as a personal insult. Many thousands will demand, as I am doing now, that the Senate and Congressional Representatives take legislative action to right this reprehensible act in conjunction with our legal fight in the U.S. Supreme Court.

I am asking each reader to please cut out, copy, and mail this to your representative, or write your own opinion. This injustice has gone on way too long.

Verl Ringgenberg,
Master Chief USN, Retired
Hortonville, NY

To the editor:

For some months now, vigils, marches, and peaceful and informative protests have been held throughout America contesting the Bush administration’s pre-emptive attack against Iraq. Here, in our area, the surging anti-war movement has held vigils and conducted teach-ins in New York and Pennsylvania. In Wayne, Sullivan and Ulster County, Americans have been part of this clearly focused anti-war movement. Yet nothing is happening in Pike County. One does not hear or see Pike people resisting President Bush’s call for indiscriminate violence and global terror.

Why, it must be asked? Are Pike County people less patriotic than their neighbors? Are they less knowledgeable, less concerned, gulls taken in by deceit? The Bush administration has produced no shred of creditable evidence linking the Iraqi regime with Al Queda and the September 11 attack on the United States.

The drums of President Bush’s war have distracted us from greater threats and evils. The Pentagon and the Defense Department (the old and true War Department) want an extra 50 billion dollars to fight this war. Their greed should be recognized as a debased and ill-disguised ploy to divert essential support from millions of decent Americans who are homeless and jobless (9.6 million) with more and more asking for food for themselves and their families. How many affordable prescription drugs could 50 billion dollars buy for the 41 million Americans who lack health insurance? For the 32 million Americans who now live in poverty? For the 13 million children in the U.S. who live in families without an adequate supply of food?

Are the organizations committed to a peaceful resolution to the Iraqis threat suspect? Anti-American? Who are they? The Sierra Club, National Council of Churches, Physicians for Social Responsibility, the NAACP, and NOW and dozens of local chapters of the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas. They know the dangers of Saddam’s horrible vision and destructive weapons. But they, like so many of us, respect international law. We believe that the U.N. Security Council should be given time to pursue weapons inspections. We believe that, even with a quick victory a Gulf War may be costly in American soldiers’ lives and the lives of thousands innocent Iraqi civilians.

Is Iraqi oil worth the cost of international allies, of economic chaos and domestic misery? Will it make us more secure from Al Qaeda terrorism? Will continued violence keep America safe and free?

So, again, I ask, where is Pike Country? Why isn’t there anything comparable here to those honorable and courageous American voices counseling restraint and justice? Is there anything happening that could prove Pike County is in step with mainstream America in its demand that the Bush administration let the inspections work, and that we can win without war? I’d like to know.

Manuel Schonhorn
Milford, PA

To the editor:

Former Upper Delaware National Park Service Superintendent John Hutzky of Moscow, Pennsylvania raised hackles along the 73 miles of the Upper Delaware with his newspaper column in The River Reporter of January 2-8, 2003.

This newspaper column contained the intemperate statement that former Congressman Ben Gilman was, “a target of the extremists who wanted to deauthorize the Upper Delaware out of fear of governmental interference in their daily lives or simply anathema to any national interest in protecting a river valley, which they believed they were adequately doing at the time.”

Hutzky’s conveniently revisionist comment demonstrates that he still doesn’t understand the political process or respect opposing opinions. It was just this weakness on Mr. Hutzky’s part that made his tenure as Superintendent of the Upper Delaware a total fiasco.

For the record, it was the initial proposal of a predatory National Park Service that sixty thousand acres of private property, homes, farms and villages along the Upper Delaware be condemned in the “national interest” which precipitated all the opposition that Hutzky refers to.

More than six thousand irate citizens attended protest meetings in Sullivan, Delaware, Orange, Pike and Wayne Counties during this period. Many of the anti-National Park Service leaders of that time presently hold elective or appointive offices in the towns and villages of the Upper Delaware or serve as unofficial advisors to local governments. They were never extremists, just ordinary citizens smart enough to use the democratic process to protect their homes and communities from big government bureaucrats like John Hutzky who did not respect them.

For some years now there has been a delicate political standoff between local residents and the National Park Service.

It is unfortunate that former NPS Superintendent John Hutzky still derisively referred to as “The Man From Moscow” by many people in the river valley should want to stir up the situation once again.

Hutzky’s attempt to falsely label as “extremists” the local property owners who fought so hard to protect themselves from a corrupt federal land grab is disgraceful.

Noel van Swol
Long Eddy, NY
[Editor’s note: As Noel van Swol and John Hutzky each point out, working out the details of the Upper Delaware’s becoming a National and Scenic River was an arduous and contentious task. It is now time to move ahead rather than harp on details of what happened 25 years ago. This grand collaboration between residents, municipalities, states and the federal government to protect the rural character of the river valley while enhancing its viability for its residents and visitors will be tested. Our success in protecting the pristine environment of the Upper Delaware depends creating vibrant communities with an active and positive citizenry.]

To the editor:

We very much appreciate to the coverage in your newspaper of the grand opening of the Catskill Artists Gallery in Liberty on December 7, 2002. Our opening was a smash success with wall-to-wall visitors and an impressive number of sales. Many people were involved in making our opening and our ongoing gallery a success, and we are grateful to all of them.

Amid all the publicity, however, there is one name that did not get mentioned. Carol Smith, Executive Director for of the Catskill Art Society, with the full support of the society, spent most of the day before the opening hanging our first show. She lent her extensive experience with hanging shows and her excellent eye for placement and we are most appreciative. The results of her work were evident at our opening. We received many, many compliments on how the gallery looked.

Elizabeth McAllister, Vice President
Catskill Artists Gallery
Liberty, NY

To the editor:

On behalf of the staff, board, and volunteers of Victims’ Intervention Program, I would like to express our thanks and appreciation to the many individuals, churches and businesses that so generously supported our Adopt-A-Family Program by contributing so many beautiful holiday gifts for our clients.  We wish everyone who donated could have seen the expression on our clients’ faces when they received the gifts you provided. There were many tears of joy and appreciation shed in those moments. You have helped to make Christmas a joyous occasion for individuals whose circumstances can otherwise be quite grim.

It is wonderful to know that Victims’ Intervention Program has your support as we work toward our goal of eliminating domestic violence and sexual assault in our community as well as throughout our county.  Your generosity helps us to work with clients whose lives have become part of very dark and horrifying statistics:

• More than 50 percent of all women will experience some form of violence from their spouse during marriage. More than one-third are battered repeatedly every year.

• Between 15 to 25 percent of pregnant women are battered.

• In homes where spousal abuse occurs, children are abused at a rate of 1,500 higher than the national average.

• Fifty percent of all homeless women and children in the U.S. are fleeing domestic violence.

• One in four adult women are victims of rape or attempted rape.

• One in three girls, and one in four boys, will be a victim of a sexual assault before the age of 18.

Again, thank you so much for your generous contributions. Our best wishes to all for a healthy, happy, prosperous and peaceful New Year!

The staff, volunteers and board
Victims’ Intervention Program
Honesdale, PA

To the editor:

Recently, a major NYC newspaper described people exploiting the chaos of 9/11 by making fraudulent claims. It described frauds that descended virtually to the level of grave robbing. What it did not describe, however, was the biggest scam of all; the exploitation of 9/11 by politicians, lobbyists and those whose bidding they do, to try to slip commercial gambling past the N.Y. State Constitution.

If they succeed they will have, by misleading the public, emptied the pockets of far more people than any two-bit con artist ever dreamed of. And they will, in the bargain, have been the cause of more suicides, broken homes, thefts, business failures, incarcerations, money sent overseas and public debt than they will admit. That they are currently defending their predatory position in court, at your expense and mine, is but the crowning irony.

Lee Karr
Venice, FL