911 address numbers are still available

To the editor:

The Narrowsburg Fire Department would like to thank you for the recent article in the paper on the importance of area residents prominently displaying their 911 address numbers on or near their properties. As a result of that article, or at least due to it in large part, we filled orders for more than 35 address signs.

This benefits the community in that proper 911 signage fulfills its intended purpose of allowing emergency responders to locate the address they have been dispatched to and as well, prominent 911 numbering may serve to remind others that they too need to participate in the program.

Thank you for your support on this issue.

Art Hawker, secretary

Changes in village meetings is an improvement

To the editor:

Rochelle Massey’s recent Letter to the Editor was so disappointing and mistaken that I feel compelled to respond.

Rochelle wrote that Monticello Village Mayor Jim Barnicle’s “regime” is “addicted to secrecy” because board minutes haven’t been archived on the Internet. Readers of this newspaper will remember how our former webmaster took down the village website after his candidate lost the mayoral race to Mr. Barnicle. Since that time, the process of rebuilding a new site was delayed as we focused on the higher priorities of rebuilding the treasurer’s office and establishing a grants office, beginning construction on our new firehouse, restoring the police department to be acceptable and habitable working quarters after the fiasco of the leaking roof, paving Jefferson Street, etc. We’ve recently hired a new webmaster and should be on line again soon. Until then, minutes are always available at board meetings and in Monticello Village Hall. They’re free and all one has to do to get a copy is call. There’s no “addiction to secrecy.”

I’ve known Rochelle for many years and notwithstanding our difference of opinion I know her to be a sweet, caring and respectful young woman. By referring to the mayor as “deaf and dumb,” I’m absolutely certain that she did not intend to reference his hearing impairment. It was an unfortunate choice of words, and I’m disappointed by her insensitivity in that she chose to use them.

She says that the mayor refuses to answer the public’s reasonable questions. What Rochelle won’t accept is that there is a difference between a public comment period and a public inquisition. The previous administration allowed the public to ask questions that evoked answers that led to debate, then argument, and as a result our village board meetings, and by extension the Village of Monticello itself, was the laughingstock of the tri-county area. Public comment is just that, an opportunity for the public to go on record. If questions need answers, staff is available daily in village hall, and every board member has a telephone. The same individuals who ask questions at every meeting have not been shy about calling. Is it necessary to ask their questions again at a public meeting? Yes, if the reason for asking the question is to instigate rather than to become informed.

Mayor Barnicle has imposed decorum into the board meetings, something sorely lacking in recent history. A board meeting is supposed to be an opportunity for board members to discuss the issues facing the village, not a free-for-all in which board members are bullied and hazed by the partisan or personal agenda of a vocal few.

Rochelle, your perception that things have changed in Monticello is correct. But it is not a stranglehold on information as you maintain, but rather a return to sanity.

Surprised by Sullivan’s presidential analysis

To the editor:

Some of the comments attributed to Sullivan County Democratic Chair Mr. Tim Hill demonstrate an attitude that helped lose this election, i.e.: “They had people voting against their own economic self-interest;” “People are willing to be thrown out of their houses as long as they could keep their guns and Bibles;” and “Man are we dumb, are we dumb, and proud of it.” I sure would appreciate learning how Mr. Hill gained such narrow-minded insight.

Mr. Hill’s one comfort in the election had been that more people voted against the president than any other incumbent in history, also shows just how misleading and disingenuous he and his ilk are. Though a true statement, he fails to also point out that more people voted for the president than for any other president in our election history and that more Americans voted against the Democratic candidate than for any other presidential challenger in American history. This in an election that had a record number of voters that the Democrats always claim is to its advantage.

I also hope that Mr. Hill realizes that his esteemed Mr. Clinton never received a majority vote from the American people.

So who’s dumb?

Working together to keep our community clean

To the editor:

Kudos to the people who live and drive along Highland Lake Road.

The Bethany Christian Fellowship of Eldred has been picking up trash along that road from Proctor Road to Delvin Road several times a year for a number of years and this fall’s collection only amounted to three trash bags. Keep up the good work community. Stay litter free.

Examining the political rhetoric

To the editor:

Ruminating on the results of the presidential election, needing a second stomach like a cow to double my digestive ability, I continue to chew over certain phrases embedded in recent political rhetoric. The following is an annotated list of phrases and concepts that bewilder me.

We must uphold moral values and its variants, including family values. The weekend before the elections, a deliveryman from a local business said he was really scared about the election because of his children. His daughter Carol, who attends a public elementary school, was sitting next to a student who sneezed in class. Carol said “God bless you,” but the teacher warned her that if Kerry won, she could no longer use that phrase. Her father continued, “Next, they’ll be taking ‘In God We Trust’ off our money.”

His concern was not about rising unemployment, outsourcing, substandard minimum wages, regressive taxes, rising health care costs, and other issues that result in most of us having fewer dollars in our hands, regardless of phrases on the currency.

We seem to forget that not everyone in America is Christian. Some of us have spiritual practices that do not include a deity. Yet “moral values” seems to be code for Christian fundamentalism, discarding Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and others, as well as non-fundamentalist Christians.

We must protect human life. I believe in the sanctity of life just as much as the next guy. Just because I respect a scientific method for determining “life” does not give me the right to force this belief on others. Nor should others have the right to force their religion-based definition on me.

Last year, I witnessed a protest outside an abortion clinic, with participants screaming “baby killers.” Watching these mostly middle-aged men vent their anger made me wonder how many abortion opponents were willing to adopt children themselves. Did they really believe it is moral to bring a child into a world where it will receive a third-rate education, find limited employment opportunities, live in substandard housing and receive dilatory health care?

We must support the troops. Frankly, I support our troops so strongly that I want them all reunited with their families, safe and sound, on American soil. The media has shielded us from reality; over 7,000 of our troops are in rehabilitative hospitals and nursing homes, yet we see no pictures, hear no interviews with the casualties of this war.

Homeland security is of utmost importance. I live part of each week one mile from Ground Zero and witnessed the collapse of the second World Trade Center tower. I do not believe any of the steps my government has taken since 9/11 have made me safer; they have served only to project an image of military might.

I do not understand the causes of fanaticism, religious or political. If a zealot is prepared to sacrifice his or her life in the name of a cause, no National Guard will stop them. No one was able to stop Reverend Jim Jones or Scott McVeigh.

We need to be strong. I believe that the strength of our nation is rooted in pluralism, diversity, respect for the Constitution and compassion for those most in need; not assault rifles, banning domestic partner benefits, privatizing hard-won entitlements such as Social Security and stopping access to generic medicines.

“Morality” and all its synonyms seem to add up to code words for fearing anyone different from oneself. For 48 percent of us, give or take votes lost to voracious computers or local shenanigans, who feel we “lost” an election—we won an opportunity to strengthen our personal beliefs and work together towards a future that will benefit all of us.