Thanks to Richard Ross

I just wanted to take another moment to thank you for the video presentation that you developed and provided at the awards presentation. Obviously, there is so much more involved than just showing up and saying “here it is.” Everyone at Sullivan West has come to recognize the amount of time that you have dedicated to the sports and athletes, not only at Sullivan West but also to the rest of the county. I just wanted you to know that your efforts do not go unnoticed and are appreciated by all. You have given our awards presentation a renewed added life.

Thank you.

“No” means “no”

For the Eldred school board to present exactly the same school budget to the voters, who had already turned it down, shows unmitigated disregard for the hard-pressed citizens in the Town of Highland. The treatment of seniors, the disabled and the over-taxed on fixed incomes by the Eldred school district agents, is incomprehensible.

To say that the will of the people was not represented by the May 17 “no” vote regarding the budget is appalling. This arrogance has prevailed much too long.

There is nothing more important than character. What message does this send to our children—to have total disregard for your neighbor? That anything goes, as long as you get your way? Parents, is this the way you want your children to go forth? I hope not.

For educators to say that a vote margin of 40 does not constitute a majority is incomprehensible. Why have a vote at all? There is no doubt, in my opinion, that the primary interest of today’s educators is what’s good for them. Salaries, pensions, benefits, you name it. The children are used as vehicles to their goals.

There are surveys showing that Eldred’s education is far from the best. And that’s not because of money. One further note, for all those people who don’t pay school tax: please have consideration for those who do.

Sauce for the goose

If, as has been reported earlier, the Eldred School Board is bringing back the same budget to the voters because the 15 percent of eligible voters who made it to the polls to defeat it was not representative of the people, then doesn’t it follow that the bond issue supporting the acquisition of new buses should also be re-voted? Wasn’t it passed by the same group of voters? Is a do-over only appropriate if it reflects what the board wants? What happened to the idea of a majority vote regardless of numbers? Whether you’re for or against the issue, once the votes are tallied the issue is settled whether it’s the presidential election or the school vote—or did they change the rules of democracy?

Addendum to “The numbers don’t add up”

Editor’s note: last week we printed a letter from Henry Waclaw arguing that the teachers’ salary increases in the budget for the Eldred School district appear to be higher than specified in their contracts, costing the taxpayers an additional $432,000 per year. We print this addendum because we omitted to print the name of the school district, Eldred, in the letter. To see the full body of the letter, please visit riverreporter.com/issues/05-06-09/letters.html.

Teach your children well

There is a lesson to he learned at Sullivan West. Let’s teach our children that it’s okay to scrap $15 million of taxpayers’ money on renovations. Let’s teach our children that’s it’s okay for our elected public officials to disregard the wishes of the majority of voters for their own personal reasons. Let’s teach our children that’s its okay not to question authority when they produce a dangerous busing situation for elementary school kids. Let’s teach our children that it’s okay not to ask for complete budgets and disclosures from our institutions when they have failed.

Let’s teach our children that a $30 million tax bill with 20 percent yearly tax increases is okay, and that it’s okay if, when asked for the details, the institutions refuse to disclose them. Let’s teach our children that it’s okay if, when members of the community ask to inspect buildings and records, they are met with obstruction. Let’s teach our children that the huge salaries of out-of-town bureaucrats are really worth it, and losing dozens of community jobs in return is a good thing. Let’s teach our children that if we do not follow our elected officials blindly when they are wrong, we are hateful. Let’s teach our children that they should give up instead of fighting for what’s right and allow themselves to be wronged.

Everybody loses

The situation resulting from the decision to fire Doreen Kraus from Peck’s Market is a sad one indeed. There are no winners here. It is a lose-lose on all counts: it has deprived a long-time, loyal, hard-working employee of her livelihood and her health insurance; it has created a loss of sense of community and changed the whole atmosphere of the store, at least for me; and it has left a mark against the Peck’s good name.

Doreen went against a new store policy by not collecting surcharges on a few newspapers. As head cashier, she felt it more important to keep customers coming to Peck’s rather than going elsewhere for the papers, she complied with customers who usually bought more than just the papers. But she was wrong to go against store policy.

Peck’s CEO had several options to deal with her, as I understand it. He could have warned her to adhere to the policy, could even have demoted her and the last resort would have been to fire her. For whatever reason, he chose the latter. And the board agreed with him.

What he didn’t count on was the community’s reaction. The demonstration in front of Peck’s Narrowsburg store may have caused some rethinking, but in the end, nothing changed. The only final results are that The River Reporter, which reported on the demonstration, is no longer sold in Peck’s stores, and many people no longer buy their groceries there.

We all know money is important in a business, but there must be some heart there as well. Art and Beth Peck ran their business with hard work, foresight and heart. And they figured out a creative way of selling the business to their employees. I wonder how the employees feel about the situation.

It seems to me that poor judgment and hasty decisions contributed to this state of affairs. As I said, there are no winners here. And the saddest of all may be the undeserved mark against the Pecks good name.

By their fruits you shall know them

When the Sunday New York Times Magazine published a puff piece on Pennsylvania’s shame, Rick Santorum, I dashed off this brief protest:

Michael Sokolov’s “The Believer” is far too benign—a portrait of America’s Public Bigot. So Rick prays a lot and shows concern for the poor: this hardly excuses his zeal for denying basic civil rights to a large minority of U.S. citizens.

So his prejudices stem from personal conviction: Hitler fervently believed that Jews were inferiors, unworthy of state protection. And McCarthy found a basis in Catholic beliefs for his trampling on the rights and reputations of anyone he disagreed with.

Santorum has no place in U.S. democratic process.

The Times chose not to run it, of course. But in light of Santorum’s baleful local influence, perhaps The River Reporter will be less squeamish.

A preservation coalition

One of the great things I have discovered about this region since I bought a house and land here in 1998 is the protective love of its natural beauty and its environmental resources by both long-time and recent residents. A large number of these residents have recognized the urgency of preserving the land and the river while researching and developing environmentally sound economic initiatives. It turns out that preservation and development can be compatible and mutually beneficial if sensible, feasible and collaborative means are followed to make it so.

There is a bi-state grassroots organization that seeks to work for that preservation-development collaboration and to sound the alarm when there is a threat to that goal: the Upper Delaware Preservation Coalition. I will be at the Inn At Lackawaxen, in Lackawaxen, PA, at 1:00 p.m., on Sunday, June 19, for the first public meeting of the Upper Delaware Preservation Alliance. There are very real urgent matters affecting the future of our region and they will be announced and discussed. What we will learn will be a great Father’s Day gift, one that will lead to both preservation and progress. Please join my wife and me and let’s meet.

Endless war

The war continues in Iraq with no end in sight. Americans suffer and die. Iraqis suffer and die more often. Peace will not come to Iraq until our people leave there.

Would it not be the same if our country were invaded? We would never give up even when confronted with overwhelming power from an invader. We saw that in Vietnam and we see it now in Iraq.

One day we will and must come to see that peace is not merely a distant goal we seek, but is a means by which we arrive at that goal. We must pursue peaceful ends through peaceful means.

An essential way to bring about peace is for each of us to be and act peacefully in our daily comings and goings. An effective public way to reach out to bring about peace in our society is to support a campaign for a Department of Peace at the cabinet level.

Information on this is found at dopcampaign.org or you can call me at 845/292-2279.

Let there be peace.

The loss of Liberty

This is in memory of the U.S.S. Liberty, attacked on June 8, 1967 in the Mediterranean Sea 14 miles off the coast of the Sinai Peninsula. Of the 294 American crewmembers on board, 34 were killed and 172 were permanently disabled and/or wounded. The ship was an intelligence-gathering vessel operating in international waters and clearly flying the U.S. flag when attacked by air and torpedo boats. This attack took place during the Six-Day War between Israel and Egypt. There has been a controversy between those who survived the attack, the United States Government and those who attacked.

Internet search engines list over 130,000 articles and items on this incident. According to many of them, our military men and women were not only attacked by a foreign power, but also by our own United States government. Then President Lyndon Johnson and his Secretary of Defense should both be posthumously tried and found guilty of treason and dereliction of duty because of their actions or inaction with regard to this event. To make matters worse, the remaining live crew members were apparently warned by an admiral not to ever mention what happened to anyone or they would be court martialed, jailed or worse.

Our U.S. Congress has dishonored the veterans of that ill-fated vessel by not holding a real honest investigation of this event. A poor legacy left by those who are supposed to be honorable protectors of we who lay down our lives so they can enjoy freedom.

I have submitted this item, not to diminish our national leaders, but to motivate them to honor us, the people upon whom they call upon to defend this country. To honor our veterans, those killed in action, and those still alive. To honor the mothers and fathers, to honor the parentless children, to honor the loved ones left behind so that we, still living, can willingly lay down our lives for the honor of being free. Congress can, with your help, see to it that those of the U.S.S. Liberty did not perished or suffer in vain. Write them again and again.