Preserving local history

[The following is extracted from a letter to Fran Mainella from the Friends of Pond Eddy Bridge.]

The Friends of the Pond Eddy Bridge express our appreciation to you for your July 23 to 25 visit to the Upper Delaware. We were very interested to read your thoughtful observations on our extraordinary river. In this regard, we wish to point out that the beauty of the Upper Delaware lies not only in its natural landscape, but also in its extraordinary legacy of cultural history. The remnants of the Delaware and Hudson Canal, including the Roebling Bridge that you visited, are obvious evidence of this patrimony.

At Pond Eddy, there are other extraordinary pieces of this history. You will have passed through our tiny hamlet on your way to the Mongaup area and Port Jervis, and you probably noticed the landmark Pond Eddy Bridge, which lies at the center of an extraordinary collection of historic sites including the hamlet itself; the remains of an important Native American site just downriver, a canal dry dock and an extraordinary landscape of former blue stone quarries. The bridge itself is one of the most elegant remaining examples of the pin-connected Petit truss type and is therefore listed on the National Register of Historic Places as well as both the Pennsylvania and New York State Registers. Since its completion in 1904, the bridge has been a potent local symbol. Today the potential exists to “create ourselves again,” and to demonstrate the importance of local history as an economic resource.

Today there are forces that are lobbying for the destruction of the bridge. Shortsighted economic calculations are involved, along with overblown projections of traffic needs. Bridge replacement will be extremely destructive to the natural environment on the Pennsylvania side river frontage. Unfortunately, at the local level, the National Park Service seems committed to this ill-advised approach. We ask that you monitor the Section 106 review process that is slated to begin in the near future. We ask that you support a truly objective evaluation of the bridge replacement proposal.

Again, we send our sincere appreciation for your recent visit.

Dorothy Amey, secretary
Friends of Pond Eddy Bridge

A village of winners

The Village of Monticello has been blessed by the Sullivan Renaissance for the beautification program of Sullivan County. The 2005 grant recipients, of whom there were 37, included four from Monticello, who collected their awards at the recent ceremony hosted by Alan and Sandra Gerry at Bethel Woods.

The Town & Country Resort, located on Forestburgh Road, won a Seasonal Community Award for its plantings in and around the grounds of their property.

In Category A, The Monticello Sullivan First volunteer group won second prize for their projects at Exit 104 from Route 17 and the Jefferson Street corridor.

The Recovery Center project also won a second prize for the plantings, benches and architectural drawings in the parking lot on Broadway at the Benmoche Center, which were completed by the staff and residents at the center.

Also, in Category A, The Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs of Sullivan County won first place for its planting project at DeHoyos Park, as well as the Environmental Award for the stocking of the pond and hosting a fishing contest for children.

We in the Village of Monticello should be very grateful for all the volunteers who’ve beautified our community, past and present, most of whom do not live in our village. Take the time, ride by and see all the work that has improved our community. Let’s be part of our resurgence: volunteer, pick up litter, say hello to your neighbor and shop our stores.

I’d like to thank all of the people who took the time and effort to make our village a better place. Even if you hadn’t won an award, your projects were beautiful.

Join improving Monticello.

Jim Barnicle,
Mayor of Monticello

A restaurateur speaks up for the mushroom plant

For the last three years I have used Maitake and Eryngii mushrooms in recipes for my menu at the Depuy Canal House, a fine dining restaurant in High Falls, New York. The last few years I’ve been purchasing Maitake mushrooms brought into this country by Yukiguni Company from Japan. I was very excited to hear that the company that produces these mushrooms in Japan, the Yukiguni Maitake Mushroom Company, is interested in locating in the United States in the town of Mamakating. Every day we hear of American companies outsourcing production; why not have things work the other way?

Besides the mushroom tasting great, it has been proven to have medicinal qualities, according to studies by Nagaoka University of Technology in Japan. A study at the University at Albany Institute for Health and the Environment also concluded that the spent sawdust left over from the production of mushrooms has potential remediation benefits for PCB-contaminated soils and water. Future studies for American and Japanese medical scholars are another incentive for welcoming Yukiguni Company.

It appears that most opposition to the plant is based on the supposed 400,000 gallons per day of peak water use. This volume, from what I understand, is miniscule in comparison to what a casino hotel would use in the same amount of time.

The plant is located less than 500 feet away from Kohl’s very large warehouse, which takes up about three times the amount of space the Yukiguni Company plant would occupy. Since this warehouse is already there, I see no reason not to allow Yukiguni Company the same privilege.

As the original founder and first president of the Delaware & Hudson Canal Historical Society, I find that the location of this plant does not infringe on the nearby towpath and lineal park. There is a major buffer line of trees dividing the towpath from Kohl’s and it extends past the proposed new Yukiguni plant. I have also concluded that the visibility of the plant from both the mountaintop and Route 209 would be minimal.

The height of the building is the second biggest concern other than water and that too is not obstructive. The building will be no taller than most malls we see today scattered all over the countryside. This plant will employ from 30 to 210 people over a period and would require much less for parking than the parking Kohl’s warehouse already has.

John N. Novi
High Falls, NY

Freedom for all or none

The United States is engaged in a conflict in Iraq under cover of a multitude of excuses with which we convince ourselves to justify the death and destruction of our family members and of the Iraqi people. The U.S. President is using “Iraqi Freedom” as a call to arms to rally the troops and to get the citizenry to back him.

It is all well and good to have unity of nation and military. But why are the men and women of these United States spilling their blood to install a façade of freedom in a country that has inherently un-free doctrines that are in practice even as the bullets kill and maim today? It is common in the Middle East for males to beat their women, sell their daughters and denounce any who want to remove this male domination of women from their culture. A new Iraqi Constitution is in the making, and one of the biggest hurdles is that it again makes women slaves to the Iraqi men with no recourse but to submit. Those honored military who die for freedom should not die in vain, and that is what every one of the almost 1,900 dead would have done if the women of Iraq are returned to slavery with their new constitution. The 14,000 wounded will be more disillusioned, for they will have to see for the rest of their lives that their efforts for freedom for the Iraqi people were in vain. President G. W. Bush must either exit Iraq and admit to the American people this exercise in Iraq was a dismal failure, and he and the Republican party must take the consequences, or he must tell the Iraqi constitution committee, no compromise: freedom means freedom, and that means freedom for both men and women even if more must die to accomplish it.

Raymond Lockier
Beach Lake, PA