Thanks to the community for school donations

To the editor:

Throughout the month of August, the St. Francis Xavier Outreach Program collected back-to-school items for families in the area. I would like to thank everyone in the community who donated school supplies and gave monetary donations to help us buy clothing, book bags and other needed supplies for the children. You allowed area kids to go to school with new clothing and materials to help them start off the school year on the right track.

I would also like to thank you for your ongoing and anonymous support of the St. Francis Xavier Outreach Program; you have helped so many local families who are in need of assistance and it does not go unrecognized.

With sincerest thanks,

The St. Francis Xavier Outreach

Bad judgment

To the editor:

So many are disappointed in McCain’s choice for vice president. He put his hope to be president ahead of the best interests of the United States. Sarah Palin will be a heartbeat away from leading the free world. Her executive experience consists of supervising 50 employees and a $12 million budget. She has no experience at all with foreign affairs. How many times has she been outside the United States? Once? Twice? What kind of commander-in-chief is this?

Are you kidding, McCain? Palin’s comments on global warming include a denial that the polar bear is endangered and that drilling in protected, environmentally sensitive areas is the way to go.

Are you kidding—Palin a reformer? She hired a lawyer to defend herself against charges that she misused the power of her office. She should try reforming her own actions and those of her own family. What a hypocrite. She believes that teaching religion in public schools is a good idea. Has she studied the Constitution?

Is this the best the Republicans could do? McCain’s judgment is obviously seriously faulty. Unbelievably, he thinks that women will support this uniquely unqualified woman simply because she is female. How demeaning to women. He must think we have no sense or judgment. He is so wrong.

Carole Orleman

Lackawaxen, PA

To the editor:

Vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin was quoted as saying that she’s a hockey mom, and that the only difference between hockey moms and pit bulls is that the former wear lipstick.

And the crowd supposedly cheered.

I ask the reader: Do you truly want such an attitude in your vice president? A pit bull mentality is what got us into this protracted Iraq war. It surely isn’t going to get us out.

Pit bulls might hold their own in a fight with polar bears, but let’s keep pit bull politicians away from positions of responsible leadership—Republican or Democratic.

About that water feature...

To the editor:

I’ve been a faithful reader of TRR for years, now, and have always applauded your innovations. But I think you’ve surpassed yourself by publishing the most demented local letter in the history of your publication.

In your August 28 edition, there’s a wild rant by someone identifying herself as Mildred Hitone of Bethel, who informs us her “religion forbids her to commit to paper what needs to be said,” so she’s enlisted the Services of Rusty MacKechnie of Highland Lake to compose what has to be the first example of collaborative paranoia you’ve ever published. Seems they’re both convinced that your columnist, Cass Collins, is a wicked witch who was using an innocent report on her efforts to install a garden fountain to invade and pollute their collective unconscious with disguised obscenities.

Are these two running around their respective communities unmonitored? Please keep us updated on their astounding delusions. Perhaps Collins can devise a fiendishly clever column that will coerce them into seeking the help they so obviously require. Or was this all (hopefully) an elaborate joke?

(Editor’s note: yes, it was intended as a joke by MacKechnie, but Lees was not the only one who thought it was real; indeed, some of us in the office had to read it twice to be sure. We thank all who came to Collins’ defense, both orally and in writing.)

Before it’s too late

To the editor:

There once was a land with valleys and hills

That smelled like pine and flowers and leaves.

This place was a home to millions of lives

That loved their lives just as they were.

To make landholders rich by just drilling the ground.

“It’s completely safe, don’t worry at all.”

As he gave him a wink and pressed ink with a ball.

“It’s gov-ment approved; there’s no risk involved.

All of those nasty things, it’s bad press... and they’re solved.”

And then the trucks came with their thunderous loads.

They shook our houses and they crushed our roads.

They unloaded their loads and they went to work,

Knocking down nature, trees down with one jerk.

Until it was down to just clay, rock and sand.

They put up buildings and mighty machines.

The puncturing began; you could hear the earth scream.

The noise didn’t stop (just louder at times).

It drove life away, no more did life chime.

The air became tainted, not quite what it was

And doctors got busier, but bees did not buzz.

Because richness is judged by what you hold dear.

Some folks pursue power, some folks mound up money,

Some work the soil, but now it smells funny.

We used to be famous for hotels and clear air,

For clean Catskill water, but now it’s not there.

We used to be blessed with the bounty of nature,

But now it’s all gone and big bucks are no cure.

If only they’d told us, if only we knew.

If only we thought that we’d had a clue.

If we only knew that gold could make you sick?

Hope for the future, act now and don’t wait.

Can something be done before it’s too late?