Help a third grader learn about New York

Dear people of the great state of New York,

Hello! I am a third-grade student in Northern Virginia. Our class is learning about the United States, and I will be teaching our school about the state of New York. In the month of May, I will create a display for our state fair that I hope will make you proud.

Although I have gathered facts about your state from books and websites, I think that I can receive the best information from the people who live there. This is why I am writing to you.

I am hoping that you would be willing to send me some items to help me learn more about the best things in your state. You might consider sending items such as postcards, pictures, souvenirs, this newspaper article or any other unique items that would be useful or show your state pride.

Here are a few questions:

• Why do you live in your state? What first brought your family there?
• How do you make money? What is your job?
• What does your state look like?
• What do people do for fun?
• What animals live there?
• What traditional food or recipes does your state have?
• What type of music is native to your state?
• Do you have a state athletic team?
• What geographic features are unique to your state?

I will need to gather all of my information by the second week of May. You can mail items to the address below. I really appreciate your help!

Sincerely,

Gabrielle Liu

Miss Campbell’s class

The Langley School

1411 Balls Hill Rd.

McLean, VA 22101

Beaver Brook neighborhood not zoned for camps

Thank you for continuing to highlight the Beaver Brook community’s concerns about the proposed yeshiva camp planned for our neighborhood. It was not mentioned in [the] story [February 23-March 1], but the number-one issue is the fact that summer camps are NOT allowed under the neighborhood’s current R2 zoning. The author of this story even referred to the project as a summer camp.

You can call something an “educational retreat” all day, but if it is a summer-only operation, children sleeping over, a brand new swimming pool, ball playing, etc., that is a summer camp, no matter how it’s spun. And again, summer camps are NOT allowed under the current zoning regulations.

I also find attorney Barshov’s comments “Whenever people are confronted with something they don’t know, they are curious about it… but one of the things that I hope will happen is that neighbors will get to know each other, and they’ll actually realize that they have far more in common than they think they do,” to be ill-informed at best, as well as extremely condescending. This has nothing to do with commonality, it has to do with an illegal summer camp, a shoddy environmental assessment, a detrimental impact to our neighborhood and way of life—something our own comprehensive plan states should never happen—increased traffic, impact on water, wells, wetlands, town services, sound, wildlife and so much more.  

The entire town of Narrowsburg and the surrounding area should be very concerned if this is the level of oversight and required assessments from the Tusten planning board for major projects now and in the future.  

Joanne Pentangelo

Narrowsburg, NY

On derailments

Thank you very much for taking on the reporting of [the train derailments] issue. Hopefully, an updated strategy will safeguard all of us from a disaster.

In my lifetime, I recall two derailments, though I know there were more. I remember the boxcars down on the bank opposite the Callicoon post office, and the one in later years below Callicoon above Benedum’s Flats. For that one, the Callicoon Fire Department (Charlie Mills) came to our door to announce the evacuation. The cars were leaking ethyl aldehyde, and we could smell it in the valley.

Jennifer Canfield

Damascus, PA