Thanks for the fireworks

A giant thanks to Ned Lang, Rick Lander and the folks at The Central House for putting together and funding Narrowsburg’s amazing July 4th fireworks display. People of every age, race and nationality lined Main Street and the Narrowsburg bridge for a clear view of the colorful, nonstop display full of booms and sparkles. Thanks for a great Fourth!

Jan London

Narrowsburg, NY

Status quo not good enough

After a great deal of soul-searching, I write this editorial concerning the Eldred Central School District (ECS).

Loss of enrollment, loss of state aid, loss of athletic and educational opportunities, coupled with the recent vote to re-elect incumbent board member Amador Laput rather than Allyson Wagner, which amounted to a vote to maintain the status quo, lead me to conclude that Eldred will not survive in its present form for much longer. Neither the board of education, the administration, nor the faculty have the ability to turn ECS around. Come to their reorganizational meeting on July 14 and listen to see if they have a plan.

As dependence on the local property tax increases and the cost of operating two buildings grows, the squeeze is on. No steps, that I can see, have been implemented to raise the academic reputation of the school. Poor decisions in the past have led the district to this point, but now we must cut our losses and reformulate a vision.

Change should have come gradually. Unfortunately, ECS operates more effectively as a political system than an educational system. Maintaining the status quo will prove to be the enemy of survival.

Paul A. Clark Jr.

Barryville, NY

Gas infrastructure & solar

Fun to watch Sullivan County Residents Against Millennium (SCRAM) try to explain why Legislator Scott Samuelson is a self-serving villain while Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther is a friend with regards to their respective positions on the natural gas compressor station in Eldred.

A new law was just proposed at the state level by an (wait for it) Ithaca assemblywoman outlawing all new natural gas facilities, pipelines and any related activities, and Gunther’s stamp of approval was nowhere on it or near it—though she claims to support SCRAM without hesitation.

But as Harry Potter hero Dumbledore said, “It takes a lot more courage to stand up to friends than it does to enemies.” That, in my opinion, is the most pronounced failure of the progressive Sullivan County crowd—all for one, even in the face of clear error or waywardness. Too much social and economic co-dependence to rock the boat.

A perfect illustration is the lack of collective muscle flexed to demand that solar installations and solar farms receive the fast-track approval. Instead, we are beginning to see it’s not just fracking people don’t want to see; it’s any type of energy production. The renewable movement is being awfully quiet about these delays and obstacles to a sustainable future.

Charles Petersheim

Eldred, NY