Letters to the Editor: Setting the record straight
SOUTHOLD
Setting the record straight
I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude for the recognition I received in an editorial recently (“Thank you for the nominations,” Dec. 12 2024) However, I must clarify that the information shared is not entirely accurate. It’s important to acknowledge the true heroes behind the efforts mentioned.
Rafael Morais, family liaison for the Mattituck-Cutchogue School District, deserves our utmost admiration and recognition. He went above and beyond to support families affected by the recent fire, including Edy Herrera’s family. His immediate and compassionate response, along with the efforts of many members of our Southold Town community, exemplifies beautifully what it means to come together in times of crisis. If anyone deserves to be honored, it is Rafael. We can all take pride in how our community unites to help those in need.
Similarly, the success of the Festival de Culturas was due to the dedication and collaboration of community leaders such as Margarito Gonzalez, Edward Moran and the St. Agnes Spanish Council. Together with countless families who contributed food and support, they created an incredible celebration of our community’s diversity and unity.
Our beloved community is built by so many quiet, steadfast contributors who work tirelessly behind the scenes. These unsung heroes deserve recognition and gratitude for their invaluable contributions. I am thrilled to give a resounding shoutout to Rafael, Margarito, Edward, and the many families who continuously strengthen our community.
Thank you for being the heart of what makes our community truly special.
Sonia Spar
Southold Town communications coordinator
SOUTH JAMESPORT
Drone sightings
Just an observation on the drones being sighted by Gabreski airport and other areas. One evening a number of weeks age I saw one of these drones southeast of my [full-time] home in Glen Ridge N.J. — a small town within a halfhour of Newark airport. I checked the object with my binoculars and could clearly see it had flashing green and red lights, with a normal plane blinking frequency. Curious, I used the “Plane Finder” app and located the “plane” (drone) in the same location as seen visibly from my backyard. The interesting thing, however, is that other than “BAE” being listed as the owner of the plane and it’s altitude, all other information normally provided was blank! Later that night I went online to see if there was any info on “BAE” and, lo and behold, BAE is one of our country’s biggest defense contractors. I also found they had recently been awarded a $100 million-plus contract for “work” for the U.S. Navy’s Naval Airwarfare section and that the majority of this work would be done out of a Maryland site.
My belief is that this is basically a secret project and that, as the “work site” is close to Chesapeake Bay/Atlantic Ocean, the drones are in a testing phase and being flown out over ocean waters and then coming in to reach all the previous sighting locations. Now this is only my analysis but I also found that when I saw another drone a few nights later and tried to check it out on Plane Finder, the object no longer was visible on the app even though I could clearly see it in the sky. An improvement in additional detection capabilities? Anyway, just some observation info for consideration.
Christopher Nehrbauer
MATTITUCK
Civic engagement has power
Your recent profile of local civic associations (“Civic associations provide collective voice,” Dec. 19) and many of the responses to it underscore the increasing importance and impact of grassroots movements on the North Fork. In the last year alone, the community has made its voice heard on development projects from Riverhead to Greenport. Throughout, the unifying theme has been one of finding a balance between preservation and growth, a balance that maintains our community’s essential character.
For the past four years, we have been part of one of those movements, Save Mattituck Inlet, whose members are bound by shared concerns about the irreversible negative impact of the proposed Strong’s Marine yacht warehouse on the inlet. While that project continues to work its way through more revisions and reviews, SMI will remain vigilant and vocal.
Our experience with SMI has put us in good company with so many other active organizations and individuals who care deeply about our community and are willing to join the debate.
The forces driving overdevelopment count on an unengaged community and weak government oversight. The last several years have shown them that the North Fork has neither. And while we may not always be able to compete with developers’ deep pockets, we have skin in the game – we live here and we care — which is proving to be a powerful force.
It is a privilege to be part of a community that is willing to fight to preserve what we love.
Jeff Pundyk and Anne Sherwood Pundyk
CUTCHOGUE
Taxes to force change never work
Gov. Kathy Hochul just signed into law a 75B corporate tax on fossil fuel companies — in her words “to fight climate change.” This is nothing more then legalized theft based on perception and power.
Is this the best you can do? Why not reduce taxes on natural gas, the cleanest fossil fuel, why not look to increase nuclear power within the state? Why not look to increase mass transportation in the form of logistically placed monorails? Why not think outside of the box instead of in it?
Attempting to control the consumer through taxation is nothing less then authoritarian government. So-called good intentions often have unintended consequences.
We may agree that the climate is changing, we may even agree on what may be causing the change, however, this tax will do little other then cost New Yorkers in their pockets. It is ill thought and unwarranted.
Revoke this tax immediately and seek to reduce government spending in failed areas and work to make our state more efficient.
Bob Bittner
GREENPORT
Thanks
Thank you to all who have helped me after my November house fire. Special thanks to Southold Town Police and the Greenport, East Marion, Southold, Cutchogue and Shelter Island fire departments. Thank you to friends, family, organizations and strangers who have supported me through this difficult time.
Mary (Missy) McCabe
CUTCHOGUE
Disgraceful
One of Donald Trump’s favorite words is “disgrace.” Whenever something occurs with which he disagrees, “It’s a disgrace.” If someone runs afoul of him, “He’s a disgrace” or “She’s a disgrace.”
Years ago, I was not a fan of Jimmy Carter. Stagflation and the Iran hostage crisis made it easy to find fault with his presidency, notwithstanding these were beyond his control. So, President Carter was replaced by Ronald Reagan who was involved in the Iran-Contra affair, in which his cohorts violated U.S. law and policy by unlawfully selling arms to Iran and transferring money to leftists in Nicaragua trying to topple its government.
Jimmy Carter never received appropriate credit for the good things he did as president, such as the Camp David Accords or so many other good deeds. And Ronald Reagan never received appropriate condemnation for dealing with enemies of America.
President Carter’s well-lived decades following his term in office are already legendary as the most productive, humanitarian and decent post-presidential term in our nation’s history.
And so, it’s more than appropriate that flags in this country should be flown at half staff for 30 days in remembrance and celebration of a man who never had a hint of scandal in his entire 100-year lifespan.
But it’s more than inappropriate that our current president-elect, a man who’s family-business history includes denying Black people a place to live, being impeached twice, indicted four times, convicted by a jury of his peers of 34 felony counts, and found liable of cheating in business to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars and liable for defamation related to a claim of improper sexual conduct, is now bellyaching that flags flown at half-staff in memory of Jimmy Carter are going to ruin his inauguration on Jan. 20.
Mr. Trump has declared, “The Democrats are all ‘giddy’ about our magnificent American flag potentially being at ‘half-mast’ during my Inauguration.” He claims the Democrats “think it’s so great … because, in actuality, they don’t love our country, they only think about themselves.”
Characterizing his conduct of complaining about a flag flown at half-staff in commemoration of Jimmy Carter’s life cries out to describe Trump in his own words: He’s a disgrace.
Michael Levy
