A call to action

A letter from publisher Laurie Stuart

Two weekends ago, I traveled to New Orleans with the New York Press Association Board of Directors. It was my last board meeting before heading off to the Starr King School for the Ministry in Berkeley, CA where I will be in residence for 10 months starting in August. I will be working toward a Masters degree in Religious Leadership for Social Change.

I went to New Orleans because press association executive director Michelle Rea was compelled by the stories of governmental mismanagement in the wake of Hurricane Katrina’s natural and man-made disaster. While high winds and Gulf of Mexico flood tides ravaged the Mississippi coast, a design flaw in the city’s levee system caused much of the New Orleans disaster. Rea wanted New York weeklies to bring this story back into the public eye.

It was ironic that the same week The River Reporter ran the story about the tragedy of New Orleans, our region faced its own disaster.

With torrential rainstorms occurring over five days, the river and its tributaries rose and valley residents lost furnishing and keepsakes, store inventories, houses and businesses. A family in Livingston Manor lost their beloved 15-year-old daughter.

Most of our regional damage might be blamed on our shortsightedness in not recognizing the complex problem of impervious surfaces, storm runoff and skewed priorities in terms of management of silt and rock-filled tributaries. Factor in the growing trend of erratic weather and this sort of experience will become commonplace.

And while there is great damage to property, there is also damage to the psyche of residents who live along those rivers and streams where flooding is becoming a yearly occurrence. Those who have now had their houses threatened and damaged several times face a crossroads of whether they are willing to live through the experience again.

It’s a crossroads that we all face.

But what is the choice? Where can we go?

Perhaps, like New Orleans, we can decide not to rebuild in flood-prone areas. We can move to higher ground. We can use our technology and install systems and pumps that allow the water to run in and out of our homes. We can build levees or design catch basins and try to stem the tide of the rising water.

But it’s more than that. We have to stem the tide of thinking that someone else will fix the many problems that face our region and our society at large. We have to shift our focus, clear our calendars somehow and become an engaged citizenry.

We live in desperate times that challenge each one of us to do something that improves the situation. Something. Calling our representatives, attending town and township meetings, writing letters to the editor, practicing patience in the face of frustration, offering cooperative solutions and moving into action, rather than silently or vocally complaining about the incompetence and bad choices that are happening all around us could be a good start. We need to step up to the plate and contribute something.

Americans have always known that there is a power in the people, for the people and by the people.

There’s no excuse for inaction. The proverbial waters have risen and we need to figure out whether each one of us is going to sink or swim.

Dr. Punnybone

The Amazing Race