Trapping: a skill that controls animal populations

To the editor:

Recently, when I came home from college in Syracuse where I am studying at SUNY ESF (Environmental Science and Forestry), I heard of an article in The River Reporter that had caused some conflict, about a young man who had trapped a beautiful bobcat. Being an avid hunter, trapper and fisherman, I was surprised, angry and mostly upset to hear that this young man was catching heat from certain people for being a trapper.

Trapping, which is extremely difficult, is often done to obtain predators that are extremely hard to hunt in the northeast like bobcat, coyotes and fox. Nature is full of predator and prey relationships in which predators kill their prey in any way needed, but I do not see people telling the local population of bobcats that it is wrong to kill rabbits.

Animals such as coyotes, bobcat and fox are not prey to any other species besides humans. In today’s society, in which overpopulation has become an issue for many species, including our own, trapping and hunting has become a method in which populations can be controlled. By controlling these populations, we can control diseases such as CWD, which recently become a problem in New York State. Joe Clark, a wildlife biologist for the Arkansas game and fish commission, says, “In most cases trapping compensates for natural causes of death such as disease, starvation or predation.”

Many predator species are reaching large populations, which are causing small prey animal populations to decrease, forcing the predator to look elsewhere for food. Maybe people who are so against trapping would not feel the same way if every cat and dog they owned were attacked by a coyote or fox while exploring in their backyard. Just last year, I myself had to save my husky from being attacked by a coyote while he was playing in my backyard. Without trapping and hunting, events like this could become more frequent.

Male dominance

To the editor:

An anti-abortion law has just been passed and signed into law by Governor Mike Rounds of South Dakota. This law in effect reduces females to slaves of men to satisfy men’s carnal and sadistic sexual lusts while labeling females as potential baby factories.

I am a pro-choice advocate whether you like it or not. Most men haven’t yet evolved from their desire to dominate women. This aspect of man’s dominance over women is evident in all non-democratic religions and nations. Rapes and brutality are inflicted on females by every occupying force, including our own.

To enact laws in this United States that control or harass one sex without addressing the other sex is discriminatory and violates our civil and constitutional rights. Then, to label as felons violated females, who choose an abortion instead of enduring the mandatory pregnancy and delivery, is victimizing the female a second time. This is a form of cruel and inhuman punishment and a double jeopardy for innocent victims of rape and incest or of fear to resist, which is more often than not called consensual sex. Where is the morality and reason of South Dakota’s legislators?

The anti-abortion stance boils down to one thing, and that is, “Women are second-class citizens to be controlled by men.” This may be the last dictatorial control in a democracy.

This United States is a democracy. A democracy is when the people are equal and are free of governmental control of their ideologies, their bodies, their religions, and their medical needs. No one demands pro-lifers must change to pro-choice in this democracy, even though the population of this country has almost tripled in my lifetime. But these pro-lifers are demanding that the pro-choicers change and obey the pro-lifer’s religion or religious views. If this comes to pass, then democracy is nonexistent, and if democracy becomes nonexistent, we become a dictatorship or an autocratic nation. Is that what you pro-lifers want? Not for me, I love and want democracy for all.

Peace, starting with me

To the editor:

Have you come to the conclusion yet that we will only come to a state of peace in this nation and the world by coming to a deep state of peace within ourselves? Outer work, political and social, is important and I do plenty of this myself. Please continue whatever you are doing to bring about peace in the public sector as we are in a steep and agonizing descent into a very dangerous world. But there is also the inner work that is essential to bring about a just and peaceful society.

Are you having difficulty finding and holding that precious inner peace that every one of us cherishes? I know myself that it really takes constant effort to maintain a peaceful state because my mind seems to have to bring up a certain number of negative thoughts that I would like to blame on others. If I believe that stuff, then I want to punish someone who my mind says is doing me wrong. One very effective way I have discovered to gain a peaceful demeanor and keep it intact is the study and use of “nonviolent communication” as formulated by Marshall Rosenberg. This really helps.

You can get an understanding of this precious process either by going on line to “Center for Nonviolent Communication” or give me a call at 845/292-2279.

Let there be peace and let it begin with me, ‘cause it ain’t gonna happen no other way.

Future of lake not the real issue

The article “Is the individual greater than the hole?” (The River Reporter, February 16-22, 2006) redirects the issue of my property access to “the future of Luxton Lake,” when in fact one has nothing to do with the other. Michael Silvestri’s letter “Keep the lake’s future open,” published in the following issue, builds on this error.

In the first place, the proposed driveway would not cross the lakebed as Silvestri describes. It would be located along the old shoreline where, I assure you, the waters of any theoretically reconstructed Luxton Lake would not rise.

Beyond that, however, the article implies that I am putting my personal needs ahead the common good of property owners around Luxton Lake. On the contrary, I doubt that anyone in the Luxton Lake area has greater respect and concern for the community or a longer history in the community than I do.

My parents, Elmore and Estelle Hill, were the first African Americans to purchase property at “Lucky Lake” as it was then called, when the development opened in 1953. They ran the lodge from 1954 until the late 1960s. I was a summer resident from the age of nine until I was in college. I was the first African American child to attend the Narrowsburg Central Rural School in the historic year of 1954, when I was in the fourth grade, and 1955, when I was in the fifth grade.

I remember the lake as the largest, most beautiful one in the area, with fish in abundance. I learned to fish in Luxton Lake. I learned to swim in Luxton Lake. I learned to row a boat on Luxton Lake. In 1981, when the Lake Ridge Estates subdivision opened, I was among the first to purchase lakefront property and the first to establish a home.

From 1982, when the dam was breached, until about four years ago, the Jackman home was the only dwelling on the far side of the new bridge that eventually replaced the dam. Most of the Lake Ridge Estates property was just held for investment purposes and speculation. All the while, my family and I have enjoyed and appreciated the natural beauty of the valley and surrounding area.

I worked for years on behalf of the Luxton Lake Property Owners Association to find a way to get the lake restored. My conclusion, based on research and interviews on the current policy and practice in the environmental regulation community, was that a new dam of comparable size would never be approved or the price would be prohibitive due to the size of the watershed.

A few “concerned citizens” have a problem with the fact that I own the lakebed property. Bob Matthews, whom I would not describe as a “neighbor,” owns the adjoining vacant property to mine. His property is for sale and has been for sale by various owners since 1981. He has described himself to me as a “developer” and threatened to make sure that I will never get anything done about a new driveway or anything else. I have made efforts to work with the new Luxton Lake Association (which Bob Mathews just recently joined) to no avail. The new board has chosen to ignore my communications and to undermine and misrepresent my objectives to newcomers such as Michael Silvestri. In all the years I have been at Luxton Lake, I have never had a problem or disagreement with anyone until now. I believe that conflict is being created and my driveway approval is a casualty,

I would hope that the focus would return to that of a retired schoolteacher from New York City who needs a viable year-round driveway.

And to the property owners around Feagle’s Lake and other locations where dams are in need of repair: repair them at all cost. Once they are gone, it is very difficult to get them back again. That was the fate of the Luxton Lake dam. There has been talk of rebuilding it for more than 20 years.