Unacceptable

To the editor:

In the Town of Highland, an assessor has taken it upon herself to set fair market value assessments at a value only the most optimistic person could ever hope to achieve with the sale of their home. Make no mistake, an assessor—like a traffic cop, a building inspector, or an IRS agent—has tremendous flexibility when it comes to setting the assessment on a piece of real property, regardless of claims to the contrary.

That a community member would purposely cause such financial pain and damage to an entire community is beyond sane explanation. That this same person requires each and every property owner to come pay homage at her feet each grievance day in order to be fairly taxed is really all that needs to be said about the situation. It is unacceptable to me as a member of the community.

Some questions from a taxpayer

To the editor:

The overwhelming evidence given at public lectures, seminars, forums and websites is that unregulated gas drilling is catastrophically bad for the land, hazardous to one’s health, the water you drink, the air you breathe, etc., not only for those on whose land drilling takes place, but for the land and aquifer of those unfortunate enough to be close by.

From the gas drilling side in response to these issues comes, well, a great silence. There are no forums disputing these claims as farfetched, no websites proclaiming advanced cleanup techniques, no talk of a compensation package for the people unlucky enough to be close to but not a part of the drilling cash bonanza.

And as for the bonanza, I have heard that: a) farmers are getting talked into leasing their land below the real market value; b) the royalty stream for most is a trickle, not a flood; c) the word “lease” is misleading, as the land will likely be ruined for long after the lease expires; d) the companies drilling the land would be impossible to sue if they default on terms or royalty payment—no matter how strong the contract, they can outspend the landowner and tie the matter up in the courts for years.

Why are we not hearing from the gas drilling companies on these many alarming facts? Why won’t they name the chemicals they use and leave in the soil? Are we just supposed to pay taxes and let Sullivan County get despoiled for the benefit of the few that ignore the facts, and a major industry that clearly doesn’t care?

I hope that our elected officials at local and state levels are going to protect us and take the necessary steps to safeguard the future. I think it’s time for representatives at all levels to become proactive in researching the issue and to enforce regulatory measures before they are too late to be effective, and the damage is done.

The devil is at the door

To the editor:

Smiling stranger knocks, paper in hand, fistful of cash, promising wealth and happiness in exchange for your eternal soul. Not sure you have one, you sign. Later, the clause is enforced. Deal soured, you lose all, including your soul, while he cackles gleefully.

What’s in the small print? Gas drilling will come to our region—proximity to the Millennium Pipeline. Strangers will promise no harm, yet the land will be pierced, punctured, raped and scarred. The quality of life we enjoy will be compromised, and we will be sacrificed to Mammon. Air will be polluted by trucks and noisy drilling. Water will be poisoned by chemicals the strangers deny using. Some will get rich but won’t be able to occupy their homes without severe risk to their health. Others won’t be paid but will find themselves embroiled in endless lawsuits with gas companies, their neighbors, the government and lawyers, who did not protect them after all. Some will escape. Others will be trapped by diminished property values. Generations will be sickened. Some will die from exposure to pollutants.

Disaster can be averted. Drillers need large leased units to drill.

Without enough signers, they may go away. People say, “Everyone has their price.” I ask, don’t they still love this unspoiled paradise? Would they sell their lovers for the right price? Would they sell their children? For a million bucks, would they permit their grandkids to be poisoned? Would they stand by, for the right price, while their neighbors were being choked? We in opposition are too weak to stop this—too much money involved. Politicians won’t stop it—conflicting loyalties. Legions of dueling lawyers won’t stop it—self-interest. There is only one powerful enough and in position to save us. That’s you, pen in hand, contract on the table.

License to murder

To the editor:

Blackwater is a privately owned mercenary army of Erik Prince. This army is reported for the killing of innocent Iraqi citizens for no other reason except for being in the path of travel of the Blackwater operatives. Military justice and FBI investigations have shown that this Blackwater mercenary army is guaranteed they cannot be prosecuted for any criminal infraction of any Iraqi law by the Iraqi people or so-called government. This agreement is a license to loot, rape and kill without prosecution, an agreement reached between the former State Department’s Paul Bremmer and the so-called Iraqi government. Therefore, this license to kill is backed by our most honorable U.S. President Bush.

When government creates a law or an agreement with a built-in prosecution immunity clause, it is a law designed to violate civil law that governs you and me. Watch out. We have seen our freedoms eroded away, if not completely erased, as has happened to the murdered in Iraq.

Final note. Here in this United States, when one sues a person for, as an example, a sexual harassment case, not only is the person who actually did the sexual harassing sued, so is the supervisor, the boss and the company (a real stupid judicial system). But, with all the atrocities that have been done by the Blackwater operatives, not one person or entity has been charged yet with a crime, nor has one person in our vast government come forth to name this State Department agreement, which protects Blackwater with our executive branch, for what it really is: a license to murder. Who is the terrorist?

The Golden Rule

To the editor:

We all have free will, not just regarding our eternal destination but also regarding what is right and wrong, moral and ethical. Moment by moment, day by day, each individual person has the right to choose what they do. However, laws are set up to prevent anarchy and crimes against other people, because some people will choose to do harm to others and consider it right in their own eyes.

The National Day of Silence is a day in our public schools that is organized by homosexuals to encourage classmates to address the problem of anti-LGBT behavior. I feel a need to remind everyone that Christians are persecuted as well, yes, even here in upstate New York, but even worse in other countries. Please check out Voice of the Martyrs or Gospel for Asia, and you will see that many people of faith who have families and loved ones are beaten up, robbed and even killed because they are Christians. We must all learn to obey the Golden Rule, which was said by Jesus Christ: “Do to others whatever you would have them do to you. This is the law and the prophets.”