To the editor:

When I graduated from Monticello High School in 1993, all I wanted was to get out of Sullivan County.

At best, I had faced my time here with apathy. At worst, total disdain and contempt.

Once that glorious graduation came, I found myself in Rochester, NY, going to college at RIT. I spent five years with a large group of active people who shared many of my own views and interests. For the first time, I felt like I was part of something.

Then came another graduation day. In 1998, I had earned my degree and was again donning a cap and gown.

About a week before the ceremony, three things occurred to me: 1) I had no plans regarding what to do next, 2) I had no money to live off of until I figured out what to do next and 3) I had nowhere to stay while I tried to sort out 1 or 2.

And so I found myself grudgingly making the four and a half hour drive back to my parents.

After being away for so long it was a little difficult to readjust to living at home. I had gotten used to a certain lifestyle which nothing in Sullivan County could duplicate. Even worse, it wasn’t long before I started to feel like I was in high school again—without the educational benefits.

Lucky for me, when the time came to get a job and pay my bills, I ended up in the office of The River Reporter.

Even though I had grown up in the county, I was far from what anyone could consider a “local.” I didn’t know the roads by heart, I wasn’t versed in the family names that had always been in the area, I had only the slightest grasp of the history of the area, let alone where it could possibly be headed in the future. In a nutshell, I was only slightly better off than an out-of-towner on his first day in the area.

My first few weeks working for TRR changed all that. Through my work with the paper, I learned what road would get me where quickest. I actually got to talk to the descendents of many of the first families of the area. Most importantly, I saw where all the history and community could lead and what kind of people can make that future a reality.

In any community, the greatest amount of change often comes from an outsider, someone with a completely different mindset, who can see situation in a different light from the locals and is unburdened by the constraints of local tradition. That’s not to say that locals don’t change things in big ways… in fact, they play important parts in making the community survive and thrive, during and after change.

When the agent of change understands the community, the real magic begins. When he embraces the community, change spreads and enriches the lives of all. Without that understanding, it’s only a matter of time before the interloper is run out of town and the community returns to its own ways.

After going and returning, I can see and appreciate that process. I can also see that I have been (as part of TRR) one of those agents for positive change.

Now, five years older and at least ten years wiser, I find myself leaving again.

I go back out into the world now, not to run away from things that make me unhappy but to gain the additional knowledge and experience to become an even better agent for positive change.

I have everyone I’ve dealt with over the past five years to thank for that idea. Without the communities and people I have interacted with, I would have learned nothing.

More importantly, I wouldn’t be able to say with certainty that this time when I leave, I will be back.

I leave so that I can return an outsider with the heart of a local.

Chris Conroy

www.durosia.com

Smallwood, NY

To the Editor;

Yes, so many of us are disappointed, and maybe a bit angry at the cancellation of Ben & Jerry’s One World One Heart Festival at the Woodstock site in Bethel. And yes, all of us who are involved are experiencing losses. But I look at it this way.

As a vendor, after examining my present losses, I think that had I arrived in Bethel after having purchased many perishables, having had a full staff here all week cooking for 6,000 servings of food, organized and hired staff to be at the festival, and then had a small turnout, I would have been more than devastated. And I was one of 10 or so vendors. Think of the losses we might have experienced as a whole. Some might not agree, but I think under the circumstances, cancelling the event was the best decision.

Since this cancellation, I have been on the phone with many people, and have heard of concerts and festivals all over the nation that have been cancelled this year. A three-day festival in Vermont (not associated with Ben & Jerry’s) was turned into an evening concert.

We have this incredible historic site here in Sullivan County, and sometimes I feel it’s been jinxed. But I am hopeful. I hope that maybe next year this will get off the ground. I’m sure there were many variables that brought on the decision to cancel, and maybe by next year the logistics will have been worked out.

Jill Padua

Narrowsburg, NY

To the editor,

I am writing to you in regards to the constant complaints about Ascalona Campground on Route 97 that are published in your paper. In every article it names Ascalona Campground but fails to mention to the public that Ascalona is adjoined by another campground as well.

This kind of singling out has to stop unless otherwise proven by local authorities or a certified noise consultancy expert that the source of noise is in fact Ascalona and Ascalona alone. We here at Ascalona Campground strictly abide by local noise laws and enforce it here at our campground. We work with our local authorities to ensure peace is kept on our campground over the five-month camping season. We happen to come highly recommended by the National Park Service and recently received a four star rating by I Love New York magazine.

As a sole family-run business we take pride in our campground and the Delaware River. On behalf of all the campgrounds in the valley we provide a valuable seasonal income to our local businesses from gas stations, restaurants, grocery stores etc. Ascalona has been established since 1985 and prior to that it was Pelican House Campground, so for years there has been a recreational campground located here where music, campfires and ghost stories echo our valley. We however cannot be responsible for the people’s real estate purchases. If silence was the kind of peace and quiet that a buyer was looking for, then common sense would tell them not to buy a home across from a school in the summer. Come fall kids are screaming at recess and those loud weekend football games. Or how about amusement parks in the winter months, dead silence, but come spring laughter music and noise is all that is heard. So why would an educated buyer with silence as a priority buy property where there are numerous noise factors such as a public river and a established campground and even worse, an active railroad where trains blare their horns and steel wheels that rock the valley 365 days a year If any one has an answer to the above question please publish it!

The Krehul Family

Ascalona Campground

To the editor,

In the aftermath of last Thursday’s blackout, I want to thank and congratulate our dedicated staff at Catskill Regional Medical Center for their prompt, professional response to this emergency.

When the electricity failed, hospital facilities immediately switched to generator power, so there was no interruption in vital lifesaving and other medical services for the nearly 150 patients and skilled nursing residents who were in the building at the time.

Our entire staff quickly and efficiently rose to the challenge of keeping CRMC running smoothly while they continued to comfort and serve our patients during this trying time.

Ongoing emergency preparedness training truly paid off as our employees calmly, compassionately and diligently went above and beyond the call of duty to respond to the situation.

This blackout affected millions of people throughout the country. The superb performance by Catskill Regional Medical Center’s staff is a reminder of the many caring people in our own community who work so well together when it comes to helping others.

Arthur L. Brien, president and CEO

Catskill Regional Medical Center

Harris, NY

To the editor:

BBQ chicken fundraisers and other poultry product usage might be less popular if people were aware of the hideous cruelty to which pre-slaughter poultry is subjected. Captured at factory “farms”, the birds are crammed into cramped, filthy, latticed crates, 9” high, less than 24” long, with 4 or 5 birds to a crate. The animals can’t stand or move about without crawling over each other. Crates are then stacked 10 high, 4 across and 15-20 long on flatbed trucks. There is no food, water, or protection from freezing or scalding hot weather. Fecal matter drizzles down on all but the top layer of animals. In the event of an accident, the animals are not checked or treated for injuries, simply hauled off the disabled vehicle to continue the journey. From the time they are crated, transported and warehoused at the slaughter facility, poultry can be held in excess of 8 hours in terrible suffering.

Last January, with temperatures consistently in the single digits and wind chill factors below zero, chickens were held in South Fallsburg under such conditions. Trussed up in the stacked crates, these chickens appeared to be in severe distress, freezing to death. Appeals for help to Fallsburg Police and Sullivan District Attorney’s office were summarily dismissed by both agencies. Apparently pre-slaughter poultry may be subjected to needless cruelty with impunity. Similar horrible treatment continues unrelieved to date.

One way to encourage the poultry industry to provide ethical treatment for animals is to boycott poultry products until improvements are made. The slaughter of food animals is rarely a humane process. But the particularly nasty, needless suffering to which poultry is subjected, is a compelling incentive to choose something else for dinner.

Star D. Hesse

Narrowsburg, NY

To the editor,

Besides all of us coming over virtually in a boat at one time or another, we’re all in this together. President Bush knows this. We are all the same regardless of our nationalities and religions. That’s what makes America the greatest country on this earth. Every country in one form or another in the world is right here in United States of America. My father was in the 82nd Airborne in WWII. He was a paratrooper in the Battle of the Budge with a bazooka. My mother used to bother my father about seeing the rest of the world. My father would immediately turn to my mother and say he had seen a lot of other countries and said, “There is no place better then the USA.”

I’m proud of President Bush and proud to be American.

Anthony Creta

Centereach NY

To the editor,

I can’t believe that I’m the only person outraged by the current gasoline prices. I’m shocked that Americans aren’t demanding an explanation! Where are our leaders? Bottom line, what deal has been made where?

Peggy Emanuel

Milford, PA

To the editor:

We have been part time residents of Shohola since 1977. We own acreage on the Delaware River below the Barryville Bridge and have built a home there near the river edge. As we love the natural beauty of the area, we were careful not to destroy it. Our house does have a river view, but we carefully selected trees and branches to remove, and for the people who travel on the river the natural beauty has not been spoiled.

We are now most distressed to see the destruction that has occurred on one of the most beautiful sections along this stretch of the Delaware. In an area below Shohola Creek, which has steep ledges, hemlock trees and thick rhododendron, a wide swath has been cut from the top of the very steep hillside to the river’s edge. All of the trees have been indiscriminately cut, and there is now an entire area with fallen trees and brush lying in a cascade down the slope to the river. Against this backdrop hangs a Reber Realty sign.

If this kind of destruction is allowed to continue, we will no longer have the natural beauty for which this area is known.

The Upper Delaware River and its corridor is a treasure and it should be treated as such. It belongs to all of us. We think that local realtors must assume greater responsibility for guarding our treasure. We recognize that a person has the right to do with his or her property as he or she wishes. However, when land is purchased within a sensitive area, we think that it should be the responsibility of the realtor to educate new buyers and to make them aware that they can either preserve or destroy the character of the river corridor.

Many historical towns, buildings and lands have been preserved for future generations by ordinances that place restrictions on the residents of these areas. We have no restrictions at this time. Short of mandatory restrictions, we can take it upon ourselves to behave responsibly. Together, we the residents, the realtors, and the visitors to our river can mutually benefit by doing all that we can now, to preserve the natural beauty of this area.

Judy and Lloyd Johnson

Shohola, PA

To the editor,

On July 22, 2003, Governor Pataki signed into law Senate Bill 5621, sponsored by Senator Lavalle. The new law allows for day care providers to administer medications to children in day care. While some may think of such medication as being for a child who requires Tylenol (e.g., while teething) or antibiotics (which may be required for 10 days, long after fever and malaise have subsided), it also may include medications which treat sometimes life-threatening conditions like diabetes and asthma.

I understand that the law addresses our changing society and provides for an urgent and serious need, but as a parent, medical-legal consultant and registered professional nurse, I am concerned about our children in New York State. Before being allowed to administer medication, doctors and nurses must study chemistry, biology, anatomy and physiology, and learn extensive information about pharmacology. Health care professionals also must be fluent in specialized technical language so that they can look up information on a medication (such as drug action, interaction, side effects, and how to know if the medication is working).

Will day care providers have adequate background and training to take on the responsibilities of such a task?

Will children have adequate assessment before and evaluation after being given medications?

Will day care providers have regulations which will guide them to acquire, store, administer, and dispose of medications safely?

Will the public have information about the number of medication errors in each center and the consequences of such errors?

With appropriate regulations in place (like those in hospitals and clinics), medications can be given safely in day care centers.

It is imperative that day care centers have clearly stated regulations to guide them to acquire, store, administer and dispose of medications safely; that they have procedures on how to assess and evaluate children; that providers have thorough training; and that centers have a close working relationship with a health care professional.

The public comment period is until September 13, 2003. 1 urge you to send your comments and concerns. The regulations proposed by the New York State Office of Children and Family Services can be viewed in their entirety at www.ocfs.state .ny-us.

Those wishing to make a comment may send it in writing via e-mail to cfspio@dfa.state. ny.us or to the following address: Office of Children and Family Services Public Information Office, Room 305 South 52 Washington Street, Rensselaer, New York 12144-2796

Anne Marie Haber

Troy, NY

To the editor,

Picnics, barbecues and parties are a Labor Day Holiday tradition. Whether the host or a guest of a Labor Day celebration, everyone can help make sure the party is fun and memorable for all.

As president of Dana Distributors, I urge hosts to practice responsible serving techniques such as serving non-alcohol beverages to guests who do not drink and others who are designated drivers and serving guests one drink at a time, practices that will make parties safer and more enjoyable for everyone. Likewise, guests who choose to drink in moderation and designate a driver contribute to the success of a party.

Fortunately, there are significant signs of improvement when it comes to preventing drunk driving during the Labor Day holiday. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, Labor Day holiday drunk-driving fatalities are down 45 percent since 1982.

By exercising personal responsibility and designating a driver, we can continue to make the Labor Day holiday safe for everyone.

James F. English

Goshen, NY