Taking the easy way out

To the editor:

I just read the letter from Mr. Magilton regarding his questionable correlation between backyard burning and higher taxes. Wow!

First of all, grass and leaves compost. And make very good compost at that. Branches take a while, but they, too, decompose and compost.

The fact that the recycling bins are full is meaningless, except for the fact that recycling is being done. Ask for more bins (in fact, insist on them!). To say that [full containers] means that no one is burning their recyclables is ridiculous. I have a neighbor who continually gets burning permits for his leaves and every time, there go his plastic garbage bags, right into the fire. Even though he has been warned by the town, he keeps right on doing it. It would be foolish to think he is the only one.

People will always take the easy way out. It’s the nature of the beast. Our air quality right now is fragile and getting worse. Stop all backyard burning before it’s too late. Research the alternatives! Laziness is not the right, or only, way.

Cathy Farris
Mountaindale, NY

A big thank you

To the editor:

On behalf of the Klein & Sons Logging ladies softball team, I would like to say “thank you” and compliment Richard Ross for the coverage of games this summer. Richard’s reports are very informative, entertaining and well worded. The ladies always appreciate the reports and pictures. In my opinion, they really deserve the recognition.

Paul Hubert, coach of Klein & Sons Logging ladies softball team
Youngsville, NY

The worst is yet to come from the motor club

On August 1, The Times Herald Record quoted county manager David Fanslau as saying that Sullivan County’s sales tax could fall short $800,000 this year. But the $50 million Monticello Motor Club, with its fleet of exotic cars, received both a mortgage tax and a sales-tax abatement from the Sullivan County Industrial Development Agency.

Go to the club’s website ( monticellomotorclub.com ) and you’ll see they say they’ll create 100 temporary construction jobs and 25 permanent jobs. But how much will they pay? Will they be year-round jobs, given that the track will presumably only operate in the warmer weather? And where in Sullivan County will members of this track with a net worth of $5 million plus (per the online application form) shop? They are in the process of building a luxurious lodge with massages and a restaurant on the premises. Why would members of this track leave to eat or sleep?

This motor track is over an aquifer for the Village of Monticello’s water. Hundreds of trees were cut down and a large wildlife area destroyed. This was done without an environmental impact study. It hosts a 4.1-mile-plus blacktop track and service roads for stormwater to run off and pollute. There is runoff from any heavy rains into the streams, as proven by the rain of July 23.

Yes, we need developments that entice families to live here, attend our schools and support our hospitals. We need reliable year-round jobs for our residents. The motor club doesn’t qualify.

Be aware, the worst is yet to come on the additional 400 acres. Look at the “amenities that are important to you” section on the online application to get an idea: maybe a karting facility, an off-road course, a motorcycle track, auto-cross course and trackside condominiums. These projects would harm the surrounding private homes, Lake Joseph, trees, fresh air, wildlife, water and quiet rural living.

Look at the history of Sullivan County. Do all visitors come for entertainment or our precious county fresh air and blue skies? You can replace entertainment but not the fresh air, clear water and blue skies.

June Somers and Ann A. Culligan
Monticello, NY

Standing up to Big Oil

To the editor:

Recently, I read a letter to the editor designed to create fear, attacking Congressman Hinchey and intimating that his policies would result in our fate being left to Middle East oil suppliers and threatening severe oil shortages. This was an unworthy and disingenuous attempt to discredit a man who has had the courage to stand up to Big Oil and Big Brother consistently over the years.

Congressman Hinchey has insisted that oil companies begin drilling on the millions of acres they have already leased before trying to grab more lands in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. This policy makes him beholden to no one. It holds Big Oil’s toes to the fire. Studies have shown that if they were to start producing on all of the 68 million acres they already control, they could almost double their domestic oil production.

Congressman Hinchey’s plan is to make them pay a fee for land they intentionally let lay fallow. This holds them responsible for any unnecessary shortage to which they contribute through their own inaction.

They sit on their hands and collect huge profits because of the shortage they help create by not drilling. At the same time, they have the audacity to complain that the government won’t let them lease more land. They are incredible. They reap the benefits of bloated oil prices while they gladly point the finger of blame elsewhere. Their tactics are self-serving, hypocritical and hurtful to the American public.

Congressman Hinchey’s plan is to take the fees raised by Big Oil’s refusal to use the resources under its control and to dedicate them to solar and other renewable energy resources; in other words, to break free of dependence on oil, both foreign and domestic, and to return our fate to our own hands.

Ron Hiatt, Sullivan County Legislator for District 8
Monticello, NY