The morning after we published a photo of Lurch Campfield’s house sporting both a Trump banner and a Harris banner, the Harris banner was gone.

“They took my daughter’s banner,” Campfield said, sitting in his truck outside of the newspaper office that Friday morning. “When I find out who did it, and I will, I’m going to ....’ In his Lurch way, which could be just rhetoric or could be a promise, he threatened bodily harm, followed up with pressing charges for stealing private property and for trespass.

On Saturday afternoon, in a different incident, New York State Police were called to remove a white sheet that hung on the Narrowsburg bridge. While the troopers have still not confirmed what was written, bystanders on the bridge referenced the “KKK” and “lynchings.” The troopers are treating the incident as a hate crime.

In an informal assessment, I have come across no person, on either side of the aisle, who thinks that this behavior is acceptable. It’s shocking, unnecessary and harms us all.

We’re fortunate here, in this rural landscape, to understand balance. For as much as our economy is reliant on the tourism industry, and the necessity to attract visitors with more means than the average longtime resident, we are also well aware of the need and the importance of our service industry and the long-time tradition of master craftsmen, builders and knowledgeable service providers that populate our valley.

We are fortunate that Sullivan County has a strong technical school that graduates hundreds of students who are eager to join those vibrant industries, most on the cutting edge of emerging technologies. The service industry is the backbone of our communities. Working in these fields offers a solid valued lifestyle.

Add into the mix the work that county governments have done on both sides of the river in establishing collaborations between its workforce development agencies and its technical schools. Both Penn State and Cornell Cooperative Extension have programs that support the third industry—agriculture—to ensure that new farmers and well-established ones have access to funding and training that will make those family farms more resilient in the face of large corporate factory farms.

From our county community foundations to collaborative initiatives such as Wayne Tomorrow!, Sullivan Allies Leading Together, Sullivan 180, chambers of commerce, and other social organizations, there is a focus on mission, not on political views.

And it is from this foundation—a foundation of decades of working for the good of the community—that we are all challenged to be our best selves and to concentrate on our actions in our local community.

We collectively face a multitude of challenges—lack of affordable housing, development pressure, the shrinking of our health care systems, climate change, the availability of technology and its effect on ourselves and our children, among others. Together we need to continue to address local issues, head on, with our neighbors. Civily. Thoughtfully. Constructively.

Cochecton supervisor Gary Maas once told me that there is no politics in caring for town roads. Roads need to be maintained and taken care of. Period. “It doesn’t matter if you’re a Democrat or a Republican,” I remember him saying.

I agree. 

While no one knows exactly what is going to happen on a national level, the landscape of democracy has shifted.

And together, we need to make sure, all of us, that those national changes do not disrupt the good works and emerging possibilities that we could achieve working together in our local communities.