A more positive outlook called for

To the editor:

In response to Sullivan West Board member’s Noel van Swol’s comment in the Friday, October 20, 2006 Times-Herald Record that, “The community wants the high school shut down and the community schools opened up …,” I believe that he does not speak for the majority of the Sullivan West community. I would encourage Mr. van Swol to attend a community/school function besides a board meeting where he may realize that we already have two community schools. We have a beautiful high school that overlooks Lake Huntington and an amazing elementary school that overlooks downtown Jeffersonville.

If Mr. van Swol would take time to ask the Sullivan West community of students, faculty, parents, senior citizens, business owners, and the plain old good people that have made this a great place to live, he might be inspired to realize that they want to move forward. He would see a community that does not want to close a high school and move back to the days of classrooms in basements without windows, to viewing concerts on bleachers and folding chairs, or to science/technology labs without advance technology. True community members foster productive, motivated and forward-thinking ideas that are genuine and have the best interest of all in their hearts. I challenge Mr. van Swol to try looking at the glass as half full and become a productive, forward-thinking member of the Sullivan West community.

A new three Rs

To the editor:

What the Sullivan West School District communities need now: three Rs:

1. Reopen Narrowsburg and Delaware Valley schools

2. Return all our students

3. Restitution

Bonacic champions health care

To the editor:

I am a registered nurse who has worked at Catskill Regional Medical Center for the past 10 years. Senator John Bonacic is the only elected official who keeps coming back to our hospital, helping us in our time of need. Senator Bonacic knows how critical health care is to our community. I will continue to support him for his outstanding dedication to our facility.

Kathleen Anderson

Bonacic is an integral part of the county

To the editor:

As a life-long Democrat and former elected official, I strongly urge all of you to vote for Senator John Bonacic on November 7.

Yes, that may mean crossing party lines. As Americans, we should consider and vote for the best-qualified person to represent us, regardless of how we feel about other members of their party.

As a registered nurse and an educator, I am constantly amazed that the senator is always visible in Sullivan County, and is an integral part of sustaining our quality of life. Most recently Senator Bonacic garnered $500,000 for Catskill Regional Medical Center to improve health care for our residents. He is continually fighting for the improvement in public education for our children and has been endorsed by New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) union.

Senator Bonacic has always been a tremendous supporter of Sullivan County United Way. He recently allocated $20,000 to the United Way for our Community Impact Projects.

As a strong supporter for volunteerism, I observed Senator Bonacic marching in our annual county fireman’s parade. If one didn’t know better, one would think that he lives in Sullivan County.

Please remember that every vote counts and make sure yours counts for the man who continually supports the residents of Sullivan County.

Bonacic a bulwark for the youth center

To the editor:

We’d like to tell you a little about Sen. John Bonacic.

Many of the improvements at the Delaware Youth Center over the last five or six years have been funded wholly or in part by grants secured by Senator Bonacic: solar pool covers, pool vacuum, commercial stove, as well as a storage room for tables and chairs, and the reconstruction of our tennis and basketball courts. The courts are high quality and are used regularly by both teenagers and adults. A pending grant will enable us to repave the skate park in the spring, another benefit for our teenagers. The most recent funding will be used to help rebuild the hall floor so we can get back in business.

Senator Bonacic comes to the center frequently for community meetings and youth center events; he always has kind words and praise for the directors and volunteers. He knows how important it is in a community to have a place for children, families and seniors to go for recreation and social gatherings. We feel he’s a hands-on senator and a “can-do” kind of guy. Before he took office we never heard from our Albany legislators. Senator Bonacic has been good to us and he’s made a big difference over the years. We want to say how much we appreciate all he’s done for our center and the community.

Out with the yes-men and in with the can-do

To the editor:

If you live in Pennsylvania—wow! What an opportunity you have to make a difference. You can get rid of two Bush yes-men, Santorum and Sherwood—two guys who have voted to dismantle Social Security, not to question the indefinite occupation of Iraq, not to question the huge and ever-growing deficit. These are two guys who apparently agree with Bush when he says that the Constitution is “just a piece of paper,” and who have voted in support of legislation that denies all of us constitutional protections against wiretapping and imprisonment; two guys who have voted for tax cuts for the richest two percent of our citizens, but have not supported any increase in the minimum wage. (I’m sure their salaries have increased significantly over the past seven years.)

What do you think is in your best interest? Think you deserve the raise and the tax cut? Think you are going to need Social Security when its time to retire? Do you feel sick every time you hear about another American dying in the service of a government that does not give them any clear idea of their mission, a government that does not support them, or any other veterans, with the benefits they deserve?

Pennsylvania voters, we need your help. Democrats, Republicans or Independents, please get out and vote for Bob Casey for U.S. Senate and Chris Carney for U.S. House. The country desperately needs a change in direction. You’ve got two good candidates who will not simply echo misguided policies that hurt ordinary people. These two guys will work for you. What a change that would be!

Susan Sullivan

The opposite of progress

To the editor:

November 7 is almost here. We can tell by the fallen prices at the gas stations, thanks to the sensitivity of Big Oil and the royal family of Saudi Arabia, and the re-weighting of gasoline reserves in the Commodities Index by Goldman Sachs.

But let’s keep an open mind and look at the recent achievements of Congress. On the domestic scene, they restricted our freedom—even what we read in the library. They gave huge tax cuts to the richest of the rich and only token reductions to the working classes. They refused to raise the minimum wage. They did nothing about health care except scream “socialized medicine” when anyone suggested a national, universal health care system such as exists in every other civilized country from Canada to Japan—a system that saves money in the long run.

In foreign affairs, the administration policies backed by the Republican members of Congress have been based on deception and outright lies. Almost 3,000 American troops have been killed, five times that number have been very seriously injured, and Iraqi deaths are in six figures. In Afghanistan, the entire country outside of Kabul is controlled by warlords, and the poppy crop is larger than ever.

The White House response to the confirmed North Korean weapons was to hope for the success of six-party negotiations. In contrast, the response to Iran, which has just two banks of small centrifuges and has achieved only two percent uranium enrichment of the 80 percent necessary for a bomb, was to threaten dire consequences including military action.

The perceptive humorist Stephen Wright had a point when he asked: “If con is the opposite of pro, what is the opposite of progress?”

On November 7, we have a chance to set a new course, not just a new spin on failed policies.

Mort Malkin