Aid to those who aid

Thank you so much for the two six-month subscription certificates which you donated as prizes for our May 28 penny social.

The penny social was a great success thanks to you and the others who helped us.

A day of pride and gratitude

On Memorial Day we decorate the graves of our heroes with flowers and flags, we organize military parades and programs to pay our respect to the armed forces who died in combat to promote peace, respect of human rights, justice, and to eliminate the evil in this world. They fulfilled their calling and gave the best of themselves to protect us and make the world a better place to live.

This year it was gratifying to see that our town hall was crowded with old and young people who came to pay their respect to our heroes.

After a speech by our Supervisor John LiGreci, invocation by Rev. Nancy Lee Vonderhorst of Pond Eddy Methodist Church and message from Father Mark Hirniak of St. Volodymyr’s Ukrainian Catholic Church, four patriotic songs were sung by all present in the hall, and two were sung by the Pond Eddy Methodist Choir. The song “I am Thankful to be American” was especially emotional to me because after fleeing from communism I really was thankful to find freedom and justice in America.

Outside, four scouts groups placed the flowers at four memorial monuments across the town hall. American Legion Post 1363 from Eldred, NY under the coordination of Charles Myers and Louis Pine paid tribute and gun salute. At closing Father Mark Hirniak read the benediction.

Yes, it was emotional ceremony and I was proud of our town. I would like to close this letter with a little prayer that I found in my notebook: “When some day according to my fate I must give my life, Lord, please bless and protect with your everlasting love my children, my family and my country.”

Bohdan Kandiuk
Glen Spey, NY

Fanning the flames?

It is always a sad situation when a diocese has to make a decision about some of their churches, but we were dismayed when we read your article “Historic church’s demolition feared” in the May 26 issue.

Is it not common practice any more to research an article one is writing before putting it into print? We’re sorry to say that your story bordered on sensationalism. You based your facts on pure gossip and so got even more people frustrated and upset.

Any time some decision about places of worship has to be made, tempers and gossip run high. We feel it behooves a good newspaper to calm those fears and only report the facts. (May I suggest you read the article in The Pike County Dispatch on page 22, in the May 26 issue?). We also felt you were disrespectful to a person of the cloth; whether they be priest, rabbi or imam, they deserve to be named by their proper title.

The River Reporter is known as one of the finest in this area, but an article like that will quickly bring it down a notch.

Thank you for letting us voice our opinion.

[Reporter Dave Hulse replies: The issue of a possible church demolition is indeed associated with strong emotions, and it is unfortunately difficult to treat without provoking those feelings. However, our story was based on the concerns of parishioners of the church and township officials, and it included a response to those concerns from a spokesperson for the Scranton Archdiocese. We did also request an interview with Pastor, Rev. Thomas Petro but he did not respond to our requests, either during research for the story or after its publication. Our invitation for his direct comment remains open.]

An open letter to the constituents of Highland

This letter is to keep you informed on developments in my ongoing dispute with the Town of Highland over code violations that were ignored by the code enforcement office during construction of my house.

At the council meeting on May 10, I once again took them to task on the outstanding issues at the property and what, if anything, was being done to rectify them. My questions were met with “ I can’t talk to you” (from Mr. Schadt). Neither the council’s legal representative or Supervisor Schadt had anything further to add on the matter. Meanwhile the damage done to my property has not been rectified and conditions are such in the house that my health has been adversely affected. I had pneumonia recently and this can be linked to conditions in my basement, mold etc., which permeate the property.

Mr. Ron Piefter, director of New York State code enforcement, has visited my house, and on the basis of his inspection assigned James Googas of the Secretary of State’s Office to the case. Mr. Googas in turn reviewed the documents sent him, and agreed that on the basis of what he has seen and heard so far the inspections do not appear to have been adequate. In this case, a Certificate of Occupancy should not have been issued. Surely something must be done to right this wrong.

Tax dollars are being wasted here it is plain to see, but what of the instances we do not know about? I do not want to take food out of anyone’s mouth, but I do believe that I deserve a fair hearing and that legitimate complaints should be dealt with by the people we elected to carry out this work.

It is my understanding that town records are currently being examined by Secretary of State Daniels. We shall have to wait and see what develops.

The numbers don’t add up

We have been told time after time by the Eldred school board that they only control five percent of the budget, as the remaining 95 percent is dictated by the contracts with the administration and the teachers’ union. If so, who negotiated the “excessive contracts,” if not the school board?

I have examined the present contract with the teachers’ union, and my calculations on the basis of tenure show that it calls for an average increase of under 4 percent this year. But a look at the budget numbers for teachers’ salaries shows that the board has authorized a 12 percent increase for the teachers, who currently teach an average of four classes per day. What accounts for this difference? It is costing the taxpayers an additional $432,000 per year. I do not know, but wonder, if the board legally can increase our tax burden by authorizing increases higher than those stipulated in the contracts now in effect?

We are still paying for two superintendents, the former acting superintendent and the present one. With the above type of spending our school taxes are increasing at an alarming rate: in 2003-04 up 4.6 percent; in 2004-05 up 13.2 percent and in 2005-06 up 15.5 percent.

How much longer can all our younger families, proud of owning a home, struggling to meet their mortgage payments, taxes and the costs of bringing up their children, and the many retired people living on a fixed income, survive this excessive spending?

Broken promises

The never-ending lies! Over four years ago, the New York State Department of Education, local politicians and school board members promised the local-yokel marionettes and non-resident voters as high as 95 percent state financing on a new high school and the reconditioning of the old schools (thereby turning them into elementary schools, forever open), along with the best education for our children ever offered in the entire world.

All lies!!! What are they doing now? They’re closing Narrowsburg and Delaware Valley Central.

I have been told about leaking roofs and cracked and separating steel beams in the new “mistake by the lake” high school. I asked Allen Derry if a small group of people from this school district could investigate the building for the safety of the children, teachers and workers. The response was: “They must have a release from our lawyer.” What’s going on? Why can’t parents and taxpayers walk through the school without a release from a lawyer? Is something being hidden?

On and on and on it goes. Forcing young children to ride over 25 miles of dangerous backwoods town roads, outrageous taxes pushing people out of the school district just so that it looks good on paper?

The answer to it all? Join the ad hoc committee to save our schools. Let’s get the people, the working man, and parents from this merged school district together and send a Petition to De-centralize to our state representatives. This petition calls for a federal investigation into the very beginning of the merged (free pie-in-the-sky) school district. We must demand that something is done! Let’s flood them with petitions. Pick them up—send one to all the people on the list.

The petitions can be found at Holy Cross Church, Callicoon, St. Patrick’s Church; Long Eddy and many local stores or call me at 845/887-5794 and leave a message. I’ll call you back. Let’s move fast on this and get something done!!

All in the family

Scott Bonacic, son of our local state senator, just took on a gig representing a Wisconsin tribe that wants a New York casino. He informs us that he’d “like to think they approached (him) because of (his) involvement in the community.” Really? Nothing to do with his old man?

The son of Joe Bruno, state Senate Majority Leader, would probably like to think the same thing. And maybe they really do think that.

But that doesn’t mean we have to. Such shameless opportunism, (which is hardly an anomaly among politicians) even as they promise most locals unattractive, unhealthy, low-paying jobs, with high turnover rates, in a context of markedly increased crime, social problems and gridlock, is but a sample of what casinos will bring. And casino owners and those close to politicians would be the only ones taking home serious folding money.

Counting against casinos

There are several major problems with the casino proposals that Governor Pataki has been pushing at the behest of casino interests.

First, regarding the land claims question: Pataki may cynically claim that settling claims for stolen land by giving land to his pals for use by casino interests is equitable. It isn’t.

Secondly, the foregoing cannot be done under a jurisdictional fig leaf of “sovereignty” which ignores both New York State’s Constitution (which prohibits commercialized gambling), and our zoning and environmental laws, as well as our tax structure. Mitigation agreements are not a substitute for property taxes, and it’s the property owners who will ultimately be forced to pick up the tab for any casinos in Sullivan County.

Thirdly, unless and until the name of each and every person representing casino interests, and their Native American surrogates lobbying the government, is fully disclosed and reported, approval should not be contemplated.

Gambling is a tragedy on its own. Blowing out our laws from top to bottom for the Las Vegas crowd and their puppets, while cynically claiming to redress the atrocities suffered by Native-American people, is nothing less than dishonest and is very bad policy as well.

Stronger measures needed

Skip Mendler’s letter in the May 26 edition of The River Reporter, “Wanted: more political diversity” was all too docile in its proposals to bring about a more accountable U.S. government. My belief is that we have already passed the point of no return to a nation under the leadership of King George W. Bush and puppets pressured by the right-wing religious coalition, a group of religious fanatics who believe their views are the only correct beliefs for every citizen of this United States. This concept is no different than that of the Taliban barbarians deposed from power in Afghanistan. When one religious group attempts to establish its religion as the one and only, we have a tempest ready to blow, as demonstrated all over the world where religions are in collision.

The present senatorial war on judicial nominations headed by Senator Bill Frist is an example of how a democracy is stripped piece by piece to become a dictatorship. This is always the result of a preponderance of power in politics and in nature—in this case Republican power fueled by right-wing religious conservatives. This nation is headed to become a totalitarian state unless we the people and Congress wake up and grow a backbone and tell them enough is enough. Note that to allow freedom in the hands of a few is no freedom at all. Mr. Mendler is correct in wanting more diversity, to keep our United States a democracy and not let it slip into a dictatorship. Awake America, your freedom is at stake! Start being free thinkers instead of voting blindly for one party.