Some facts about the Tusten Heritage Community Garden

• The Tusten Heritage Community Garden (THCG) was established in 2012 with the endorsement and support of the town board.

• It has been one of the first sub-committees since the inception of the Tusten Local Development Corporation (TLDC) in 2012.

• THCG joined the TLDC for the incentive of non-profit status and insurance coverage.

• The garden reports to the TLDC at monthly meetings and the bank statements are sent monthly to the town.

• THCG has never received any monies from the town.

• THCG has no employees or paid members. It is 100% volunteer.

• The entrance of THCG (one third of garden’s grounds) is located on town property behind town hall. The raised beds, protected by a deer fence, are located on Western Sullivan Public Library (WSPL) property.

• THCG is an official destination on the town walking and historical trail, established and in collaboration with Narrowsburg Beautification Group (NGB) in 2015.

• The THCG has collaborated with NGB in 2015 to win a $10,000 award from Sullivan Renaissance, as well as to seek recognition from America in Bloom judges in 2016.

• There are over 50 people directly involved with the garden including long-time residents, second-home owners, merchants, WSPL adult programming, Master Gardeners, farmers, an advisory board and volunteers.

• The THCG hosted six workshops in 2016, all publicized as free and open to the public.

• The Tusten Seed Library launch in 2015 is an ongoing collaboration with the WSPL.

• Members can join THCG by suggested donation or work share.

• THCG has been funded by grants and private donations.

• It does not cost the town any additional monies to insure THCG under the already existing umbrella policy.

• For enquiry or sign-up on our email list, email tusten hcg@gmail.com.

Anie Stanley THCG chair/member, Narrowsburg, NY
Juliette Hermant THCG co-chair/member, Narrowsburg, NY
[The Tusten Heritage Community Garden will be under discussion at the upcoming Town of Tusten Town Board Meeting, Wednesday, November 9 at 6:30 p.m.]

The predator

Trump announced that he was a proud predator. Across the country we felt the reverberation of his aggression, reliving experiences of violation.

Abuse leaves an unconscious legacy. The impact lurks in the cells of our bodies. Once triggered, these latent impressions send out the alert: danger.

Women are using their voices to push back, denouncing his brutishness. We need to verbalize and free ourselves from the self-doubt that predators leave. No, we do not deserve to be abused; no, we are not less deserving of respect; no, we value our womanliness.

We react to abuse in three ways. First abuse commandeers our being. We find ourselves angry, sleepless, addicted, risk-taking. We live to shut off the memories from awareness. But when a bully announces that he’s entitled to grope us, we react; we feel the tremor in our souls.

The second way we respond to abuse is to identify with the power of the abuser. We silently seek his approval by repeating the mistreatment. We want the abuser to give us his power, to allow us to bask in his glow. We understand he has needs. When we identify with the aggressor, we empower the bully.

The third response is to call the abuser out, revealing him for the uncivilized child he is. As we work through our individual responses, we contribute to the national conversation. Each self-inquiry, each shared discussion is an affirmation that predatory behavior is not acceptable.

A predator struts, immune to retribution. Our shame protects him. But shame dissolves in the light of exposure. Collectively our voices strip him of his authority. We will not hide so that a bully can strut. We know who you are and will not leave you in peace.

Deborah Chandler, PhD
South Fallsburg, NY

A proud vote for an accomplished woman

I find it distressing that Hillary Clinton is referred to with an assortment of insulting adjectives: “flawed,” “crooked,” “liar,” etc. 

I have followed Hillary closely for years, and I don’t find her to be any of those things. Which of us isn’t flawed? And which of us hasn’t “stretched the truth” at times to protect ourselves?

To me Hillary has shown great smarts and great promise from the moment she gave the valedictorian address at Wellesley College that landed in Life Magazine. She has never stopped taking on challenges and doing a remarkable job. She was a superb first lady of Arkansas, bringing healthcare and education advances to that state. 

She was an even more superb first lady of the U.S.—charming, gracious, a real “lady.” Strangely, the more good she did—such as bringing healthcare to needy children—the more she was criticized and actually despised. She has fought hard for the welfare of children, women and families her entire professional life—also for education, good health and justice for men and boys, too.

She may receive big fees for speaking to big corporations, but she’s not fighting for them. At heart she’s fighting for the American people—for good causes and good values—just as she always has.

Why so much negativity towards such a bright, accomplished woman? Some people fear progress of any sort, and some people fear women who are smart and powerful. One word sums this up: misogyny, which I believe is silently rampant among many Americans. 

I am proudly voting for Hillary, an extraordinary woman whom I admire greatly. I’m very much looking forward to the moment when she raises her right hand and places her left on the Bible and becomes our first woman President.

Joan Rosenfelt
Pond Eddy, NY

Message from Faso

Local voters are being inundated with mail from my opponent, Zephyr Teachout. Unfortunately, these mailers are filled with dishonest or grossly misleading information about my character and record.

For example, Ms. Teachout and her allies continue to intentionally mislead voters about my service in the Assembly. I voted 97% of the time, and when not there I was usually at an official meeting or hearing elsewhere in the state. I don’t apologize for missing approximately 100 votes when my wife was being operated on for cancer. Fortunately, she made a full recovery. Teachout knows these facts but shamefully repeats her distortions.

Ms. Teachout also inexplicably attacks me for opposing the initial DEC-EPA plan to dredge the Hudson River. In fact, as former Gov. George Pataki has noted, there was legitimate concern at the time that clam-shell dredging would have serious short-term consequences for communities downriver. When it was clear that new technology would eliminate the risk, I supported the improved Hudson dredging.

I am proud that my neighbor and friend Chris Gibson has strongly endorsed my candidacy as his replacement in Congress. Along with my wife, Mary Frances, I’ve lived, worked and raised a family here for over 33 years. I’ve crafted budgets that cut spending and taxes and fought to lower your property taxes. I’ve worked with Democrats and Republicans to get these things done, and I know how to deliver results for you.

My hope is to serve the people of our district in Congress and advance solutions to our problems. On November 8, I humbly ask you to hire me for the job.

John Faso
Candidate, 19th Congressional District
Kinderhook, NY

Malick will work for all

Pramilla Malick is running for the New York State Senate because she saw people of the 42nd District suffering from polluting pipelines, a decimated school system, lack of affordable healthcare, unemployment and more, and she wanted to help. She is running to offer people a choice as to who will best serve their interests in Albany. Her opponent, John Bonacic, claims a record of “delivering on behalf of taxpayers,” and providing “real relief for hard working families.” But his actions in the Senate belie his claims.  

For years, John Bonacic has failed to support the NY Health Act, a program that would provide greatly expanded, affordable healthcare to all New York residents, totally eliminate the county Medicaid cost share for all New York counties (currently costing Sullivan County $21,000,000 a year), and create a savings of $45 billion in healthcare costs for New York State. We the people of the 42nd District deserve better, and Primilla Malick is giving us the chance. 

Unlike John Bonacic, Pramilla will work hard in the Senate to pass the NY Health Act, challenge corrupt politicians, and shake up a complacent system that seems to work only for special-interest groups with plenty of PAC money. If you are fed up with corruption and ineptness in Albany, if you want someone who will work for all, not just deep-pocket donors, then vote for Pramilla Malick on November 8 and let her work for us in the NYS Senate. 

Star Hesse 
Narrowsburg, NY

Retail politics at its best

On multiple occasions over the last 15 years, I have written a letter or called the offices of Senator John Bonacic with some small business issue. Every single time, I received not only a speedy reply, but, if there was anything he could do, a specific action on my behalf. That type of retail politics, both accessible and effective, is not easily replaced.

His opponent raises good issues, but the truth of the matter is she has never once voted in this district, has a one-issue anti-domestic gas agenda, and knows as much about effective political problem solving as I do about baking cakes.

For all the valid complaints about the stench of Albany, such odors do not diminish my support for a gentleman who has always picked up the phone when I called. While I’ve only met him once, he seems like he’s a friend of mine. 

Charles Petersheim
Eldred, NY

In the matter of the national election

No matter who wins in November, our country will have a damaged president entering office in January. That’s sad, but if we get it wrong, it could be a lot worse.

If nothing else is learned from this year’s presidential campaign, it will be that electronic media and the 24-hour news cycle have made the survival of our republic more fragile, more tenuous than it’s been since the Civil War. As soon as word goes out, we all have immediate access to it, whether it’s true or not. Later corrections are often lost in the flood of newer news and posts.

Our ballot this year presents two candidates. Democrat Hillary Clinton’s qualifications are based on decades of public service. However, she lacks the charismatic spoken delivery that the public has come to expect, and is dogged by a trail of old controversies and email revelations which polls say has left her as untrustworthy for a majority of voters.

Her opponent, Donald Trump has no experience in government. Some say that’s an advantage, but the presidency is not an entry-level position. He has employed his TV celebrity and long experience in sales and marketing, this time selling a demagogic crusade. Riding legitimate public discontent about employment and the economy and lacking specific remedies, he’s used name calling, ambiguity and outright lies, and pandered to elements of racism and intolerance.

A video review of his history before and during the campaign shouts overwhelming evidence of his lack of character, moral and professional adequacy to serve. Look at it and ask yourself, would you invite this guy into your home?

Clinton is not the answer to a maiden’s prayer, but Donald Trump with nuclear button… really?

Watch the videos and judge for yourself. Trump would turn Ronald Reagan’s “shining city on a hill” into a walled fortress, showing only spotlights over razor wire. Trump does not want to be president; he wants to be Fuhrer, and we don’t have a job opening for him.

Dave Hulse
Barryville, NY
[Dave Hulse writes as a reporter for The River Reporter.]

Vote other

What do you do if you not only don’t like the major-party candidates, but you’re also disgusted by the whole bleeping system that has brought us to this point? 

“Stay home. Don’t vote,” say the cynics, “it only encourages them.” 

It’s a tempting option, no question about it. You may think, “Yeah, I’ll just stay home—that’ll show them!” But unfortunately, the people behind the system don’t give a darn if you don’t vote. In fact, they kinda prefer it that way. It’s easy for them to interpret your “boycott” as mere apathy, and as license to continue business-as-usual. 

So what to do? Why not take that vote, that one you were going to waste anyway by staying home, and use it to make a powerful statement? Why not vote other? It’s easy enough: wherever possible, just vote for a third-party or independent candidate—or if those aren’t an option, use the power of the write-in. Write in someone who in your opinion would be a better office-holder, or if nothing else, vote for yourself. 

Simple enough, right? But if enough non-voters were to follow this strategy, we could send an unmistakable message to the power brokers behind the scenes. We could tell them that we’ve had enough of their BS. We could tell them that we expect—and deserve—more from our elected officials. 

So don’t settle for bad choices. Impeach the System. Vote Other. 

Skip Mendler 
Honesdale, PA 
[Skip Mendler writes the Peace and Justice Files column for The River Reporter.]

Do floods flow in two directions?

No! They only flow in one direction on this Earth. They flow in the direction of least resistance. This would also be evident from Hilary Clinton’s policy of open borders. Could you see a flood of Americans flooding into countries of Central or South America? I don’t think so. I do think we could see millions of people from around the world flooding into our country without adequate examination as to what their beliefs are. Do they believe in the ideas of our most sacred document, The Constitution of the United States of America, as well as the Bill of Rights? I don’t want to hear they believe in some other book.

No other nation on this earth has been more open armed to the peoples of our neighboring countries and those of the East or West. No other country has provided more humanitarian aid then we have. No nation other than the U.S. has spent more money than we have to support democracy throughout the world. 

When a child from a Middle-Eeastern country needed an operation which could only be performed in the U.S. we welcomed that child. We also permitted the parents to come and did not require endless paper work. Our humanitarian policy over- rode normal immigration procedures.

However, under Hillary’s policy of open borders and immigration, we Americans could easily be flooded with entire families, perhaps three generation at a time, in the millions. Does anyone see even one generation of Americans migrating to a Central or South American country? Keep in mind, even our own immigration department says it can’t handle this kind of volume. What are we left with? Hillary and the Democratic Party will have millions and millions of new voters to support the same policies that have ruined this country for the past eight years.

You can prevent our future from being dragged down further by voting for Donald Trump on November 8, 2016.  

Robert E. Moore
Barryville, NY

Vote for Malick

For the last 18 years Sen. John Bonacic has failed families within the 42nd district by making bad deals through tax abatement programs and political influence that favors big business to the detriment of local communities. Bonacic has doubled down recently on intentions to undermine New York State environmental regulations designed to protect our health and environment. Bonacic's record shows a consistent history of compromising local communities, their health and environmental concerns, in order to deliver astronomical profits to mulitnational business interests and extractive fossil-fuel industries.

Case in point: the Millennium Pipeline Company, L.L.C, to which Bonacic has close, known connections, has for the last 10 years received tax abatements through the Sullivan County IDA to the tune of 10 million dollars. Millennium’s proposed Eastern System Upgrade which would site toxic compressor stations and related industrial uses in place of wild, intact Catskill forests, will result in 66 million dollars in Millennium-exclusive profits over another 10 years. These are corporate give-aways that significantly undermine our tax base, our communities, our families.  Further, they create little, if any, long-term sustainable jobs.

The Catskills cannot continue to tolerate these tax giveaways and increasingly cozy fossil-fuel relationships that are undermining local communities, our very health and safety. Pramilla Malick has a demonstrated record of service and advocacy in Sullivan and Orange Counties. She is not beholden to corporate interests, and will represent the communities of the 42nd district with honesty and foresight. We have a choice this election and now is the time to vote for change. We must defend the unique landscape and beauty of the Catskills, not let big business destroy it for the sake of industrial profit and special deals for corporate interests.

Stephen Metts
Smallwood, NY

The obvious choices

Time to vote. I will be voting for what to me are the obvious choices: Hillary Clinton for president and Zephyr Teachout for Congress. But some of my neighbors have other obvious choices and I wonder what their thinking is. Research indicates that liberals and conservatives have different brain structure, that conservatives are more threat averse and liberals are more open to change and new ideas (see wikipedia: “biology and political orientation”).

I have identified as progressive liberal my entire life so I see Clinton as mostly compatible with my policy leanings. In the primary I voted for Bernie Sanders, mainly because I thought he would pull Hillary Clinton in my direction, which he did. I am psyched to finally have a woman as president. It seems crazy to exclude half the population from leadership roles and we must have missed out on excellent leaders as a result of societal sexism. It seems crazy to want to exclude people of multiple skin color, ethnicity and heritage from citizenship. I have been around the world and have found that people are the same all over. The notion that one skin color or gender should lord it over the others seems idiotic to me. What a waste of talent and inventiveness we have suffered. 

I understand that some of my neighbors see the world differently. But why would they support candidates against their self interests? Cutting taxes on the wealthy has never grown the economy and the revenue base. It only grows the deficit and the tax burden on the middle class. Instituting tariffs on foreign goods will not bring back high paying jobs, it will only make everything more expensive and force down wages for American workers, raising their dependence on taxpayer funded social programs. Repealing health care advances would throw millions of Americans back into emergency rooms and raise insurance premiums even more than they are currently rising under Obamacare. That’s why we needed the Affordable Care Act. Costs were going through the roof and sick people couldn’t get coverage. 

Favoring fossil fuel development for “energy independence” is a formula for climate catastrophe. And “building a wall” to keep out people who actually stopped coming here years ago is only scapegoating a less fortunate minority to focus anger away from the oligarchs who are the real cause of lost status for American workers. We don’t need a revolution. Slow change works better. Revolutions are messy and violent with unknowable outcomes. Look at the Arab Spring for reference. This election is about sensible policy choices for a better future, not division. Politics is not a team sport and an election is not a reality TV show. We should vote for a shared community, rich in diversity, cooperation and imagination. That is my American Dream. 

Allan Rubin
Cochecton, NY

Why I am voting for Hillary, Zephyr and Pramilla

Why am I voting for Hillary, Zephyr and Pramilla? Because they are best trio to come along since Emmy Lou, Dolly and Linda. Hillary because she knows what she's doing; yes she works in increments but that's usually the way things have a chance to get done; some of the things Donald points out as problems are correct, but his fixes are not correct. Donald isn’t for anything except Donald. Besides, shouldn't you be a grownup to be president?  

Zephyr who has fought against big money in elections. Faso’s campaign is that “she's not one of us”; we know who he’s one of: he's a lobbyist for fat cats, they’ve poured millions into his campaign.  

Pramilla because she's as feisty and smart as the other two and against what Bonacic is for, giving the fossil-fuel companies what they want even at the risk to local folk’s health; besides, enough is enough. 

Roy Tedoff
Roscoe, NY

A Republican for Malick

I am a lifelong Republican, but I am voting for Pramilla Malick for State Senate.   

As a mother of a young child, I was very disturbed to hear Senator John Bonacic claim that he did not know what was happening in Minisink in the debate at the THR. I live in Goshen and read about Minisink over the years in the paper. Doesn’t our State Senator read the local paper? It’s the job of our representative to know what’s going on in our communities especially when it concerns matters of health and safety. It was also not credible because the Minisink story even made national news.  

I was also not happy to hear Bonacic’s defense of his son’s work for CPV and Millennium. I find this a serious conflict of interest and typical of the corruption that plagues Albany. It’s no surprise he thought there is no problem in Albany and no need for ethics reform. Seems like he wants to continue benefitting from these loopholes.  

Even Goshen now is being threatened by outside companies that want to take our precious water resources. Orange County is in the middle of a drought right now. As a resident of Goshen, especially at this critical moment, I want someone in Albany who will put our interests first. Bonacic surrogates claim Pramilla Malick is a radical. If fighting to protect children’s health is radical then consider most moms, including myself in that category. Pramilla Malick will fight for us because she is one of us.  

Vanessa Kolk   
Goshen, NY

My mom is running for Senate, please vote for her

I was 9 when my mother received a letter from Millennium Pipeline informing her that they would put a gas compressor in our community in Minisink.  

Since that day, I lost my mother to the community and the cause. At first it was fun. We marched in the streets of Minisink with our neighbors. We had trips to Washington. But as time went on it started taking more and more of her time. My mother, who never missed a PTA meeting or class trip before, who always had time to help me with homework, became less available as this battle grew more intense. She had meetings in Albany that kept her away all day. It was no longer fun and I started to feel her absence. She said she was doing this for the children in the community, but as a 10-year-old I didn’t understand that. 

It wasn’t until the following year that I began to experience the seriousness of what was happening. I started having periodic gushing nosebleeds in Minisink. Sometimes I would wake-up with terrible headaches from a noxious odor in the air. I’m 14 now and many people still don’t know what our family has sacrificed for this cause. I lost not only violin lessons, but precious moments with her those 5 years. Last year I studied the Living Environment and now understand why my mom fought so hard. Although it came at a heavy personal price, I respect that she put health and community first.  

Malika Malick,
Minisink, NY