| VOLUME XXXV No. 44 | Narrowsburg, NY | October 29 - Nov. 4, 2009 |
| Business carbon impact worksheet Household carbon impact worksheet |
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Vote A number of years ago this newspaper ran in its editorial space the week before Election Day just one word: “Vote.” We considered doing the same thing this year. After all, that one word expresses the essence of what we have to say. But this year, there is a particular circumstance that adds to the urgency of that exhortation: the advent of natural gas drilling in our area. While there are many issues of pressing interest to individual municipalities in our area, from Highland’s tax assessment woes to Pike County’s financially deteriorating library services—any one of which is worth taking the time to stop by your polling place—none of them represents the possibility of such momentous, sweeping and permanent change as the incursion of the natural gas industry. This is a change that poses a challenge to virtually every one of what heretofore have been this area’s greatest assets: natural beauty, clean water, clean air and rural ambiance, even while opening up economic opportunities. Our local governments can play a crucial role in determining how all this plays out. For instance, local towns including Tusten and Callicoon have sent resolutions to Albany requesting legislation that would strengthen home rule control over drilling activity, and a Multi Municipal Gas Drilling Task Force has been formed by six towns in Sullivan County to find ways to control land use and protect and maintain infrastructure like roads and bridges in the face of heavy industrial usage. In the face of this change and the importance of pro-active local officials, your participation in this election is likely to have profound consequences for years to come. Get out and vote on November 3.
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Dr. Punnybone  The Leaving Tower of Pisa |
Letters to the Editor
Part-time residents have a right to vote To the editor: I am one of the new registered voters in the Town of Bethel, and was appalled by your editorial of October 8 titled “A house is not a home.” You write, “we think it is dangerous and unfair to enable the first group to vote.” What a shameful un-American statement. It is obvious that you did not review the election laws. It is clear that the law requires a 30-day residency to be eligible to vote. Isn’t it clear that part-time residents have a right to vote? There are thousands if not millions of Americans who vote at their summer/winter places of residence, and have been doing so for years. All is fine until the hated Hasidim dare to exercise their right to vote in Bethel. The fact is that I pay property taxes, phone bills and electric charges, all year round. We pay school taxes for a school that we don’t use. That is all fine until we dare register to vote. |
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