To the editor:

The hotel pictured in the “Did you know?” article, (May 22 issue of The River Reporter) is not the Erie Hotel. Instead, it is the Cochecton House owned in 1872 by DeWitt Knapp. It was a very popular stop for the rafters on the river. When the rafting business declined, so did the hotel business.

It remained vacant for many years when it was made into apartments with a barbershop run by Bill Bear.

It was in 1948 that fire destroyed the back portion and upper stories. The remaining part was renovated and again made into apartments and is now the location of Cochecton Apartment. I was living a few houses from it when it burned.

The Erie Hotel was built in 1897 and was owned by Bill Heuser. At the time of the 1934 flood, it was owned by Ruben & Bass. It was completely destroyed by fire including all the barns as well as the old town hall which housed a barbershop in 1968 and was owned by George Lipay.

Lavina Powell
Cochecton, NY

To the editor:

Superior Lake State Park, as the name implies, is a New York State Park. However, unlike other state parks, it does not adhere to the courtesy commonly accorded senior citizens. That courtesy is free admission during weekdays.

It appears that an exception is allowed because of Sullivan County administering the park’s operation. It would also appear that Sullivan County does not value its senior population to the same extent as the remainder of New York State.

I invite our county legislators to take note and act responsibly.

Andrew Valenti
Eldred, NY

To the editor:

With Bush, the adopted figurehead for the administrative regime entrenched in Washington D.C. who self-importantly stand now as a single central authority on world affairs, who does not entrust the United Nations inspectors to be given the sole latitude to prove once and for all that the past Iraq struggle was not sold to us under false pretenses.

But ranking above all in importance is a defense against the weapons of destruction and not a sales pitch with a catchy quality to draw a sizable majority that Iraq was linked to the acts on destroying the Twin Towers and part of the Pentagon.

Without any real sound reason the unexpected attack on Pearl Harbor was utilized as the primary material for Bush’s regime propaganda... leaving Iraq no other means to save itself from the pre-eminent political invasion.

Concisely it may be said. No peace will ever come about in the Middle East with the unending searing treatment of the invaded on Palestinians with Israel still strategically avoiding the United Nations policies of restraint by still allowing the unceasing expansion of their existing settlements on the Palestinian lands. With Sharon letting the settlers to do it for him.

And, when/if taken under some consideration on returning some of the lands and the formerly uprooted Palestinian refugees will always remain a condition detested by the Israelis and their now neo-conservative supporters.

It is beyond the imagination of so many people to say about America’s choice of the odd international union with Israel since 1948. To guide and determine future decisions for the always opportunistic politicos.

Chas J. Sidlowski
Beach Lake, PA

To the editor:

You set a record for the township when 307 registered voters came through the doors of our polling place on Oak Street—an outstanding 52 percent of those registered! Your voices, muted over the past three years by the forces of procedure and the law have been heard, loud and clear!

There is much weeping and gnashing of teeth from those who ignored your pleas. You have sent a message by exercising your franchise. You have excised one pillar of the triumvirate that has been hell-bent on destroying the quality of life that existed in our township. Too little—too late? Possibly, but you chose to use procedure and the law for, and not against, you. You found that there is meaning to the exercise of your franchise. It is not something to be trifled with, nor to be treated casually. To quote Teddy, “Bully for you!”

Unfortunately for the weepers and the gnashers, they underestimated your determination to seek full and proper representation. You gave them a lesson in civics they do not comprehend. Certainly, these pariahs, willfully and consciously, exposed us to interlopers who will despoil our township, environmentally and ecologically, for decades. Their non-conformance to the will of the people, demonstrated time and time again, has led to their undoing.

A skirmish has been had; the dust and the smoke have cleared, but the road ahead is pocked with a minefield full of uncertainty. We must continue to make procedure and the law our ally. We must maintain our vigilance.

The battle, in November, is still to be joined. Getting on that ballot was a step toward ridding our township of an inertia that defies belief. Through the dog days ahead, we must maintain the momentum gained and be ready to make our voices heard in unison. You’ve already made the incredible, credible.

For the nonce, there is no prize, no trophy, no accolade, only a hill still to climb, i.e., Oak Street. Certainly, it’s steep, but it’s achievable!! If you will—let’s climb it together. C-H-A-R-G-E! (Thanks again, Teddy.)

Edward J. Kennedy
Hawley, PA

To the editor:

The United States senator representing Connecticut along with Senator Christopher Dodd, a Democrat, is Joseph Lieberman. Mr. Lieberman is also a Democrat. Senator Lieberman is running for the Democratic nomination for POTUS—President of the United States.

Mr. Lieberman is a lawyer. He is pro-abortion. Senator Lieberman morally accepts and legislatively facilitates every form of abortion, including the barbaric partial birth abortion procedure, which is infanticide. The Democratic registered voters of New York and Pennsylvania will have the opportunity to vote for Mr. Lieberman in the presidential primary.

Democratic Roman Catholic voters need to understand that they are absolutely prohibited from voting the amoral, pro-abortion politician Joseph Leiberman. Senator Leiberman condones the deliberate assassination of the unborn, soul-filled child made in the sacred image of God (Genesis 1:26). Democratic Catholics are morally obligated to absolutely not support Senator Lieberman because he desecrates the most holy, sacred and infallible Fifth Commandment: “You shall not kill.” Although Mr. Lieberman projects the image of a faithful Hebrew, his overt actions betray his true intentions. Orthodox Hebrews reject Mr. Lieberman’s pro-abortion value system stating that an aborted male child could be the Hebrew messiah.

My home parish is St. Anthony of Padua in Yulan. It is a Franciscan parish of the Archdiocese of New York. I would hope that the pastor, Friar Anthony Moore, O.F.M. has been teaching the members of the humble parish the moral law pertaining to the Roman Catholics who support individuals whose amoral agenda is the desecration of the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments. In no way should Catholics vote for Joseph Lieberman, Hillary Clinton and the other politicians of death.

May the Catholics and Christians of the Delaware River pray the 15 decades of the Rosary daily to abolish abortion. The prayer of the Rosary will destroy the evil of abortion.

Joseph Edward Vallely
Washington Green, CT