Letters to the Editor: Supervisor race

Jamesport

Supervisor race

The results are in. The voters have rejected the soon-to-be ex-supervisor. While the tally was close, it is, in fact, a resounding repudiation of the supervisor by a very weak political neophyte Democrat candidate in a Republican-leaning town. 

Mr. Hubbard’s tenure was marked by a 14% increase in taxes in just two years, fiscal irresponsibility, an arrogant total disdain for the state tax cap and ill-conceived, poorly considered, unpopular proposals. In his first budget — which he called “bare bones” in an incredible display of arrogance — he tried to give himself a raise in excess of 8%. This first “bare bones” budget also included a large salary increase for the rubber-stamp Town Board.

Good luck to the new supervisor. Unfortunately, he inherits the same arrogant tax-and-spend Town Board, but maybe they learned something from this election. If not, they themselves should be voted out in the next elections.

Scott Gillespie 

Riverhead

Time to follow the rules

In response to “ICE raids and deportation”, (Letters, Nov. 18), I offer the following:

While it is convenient in the current political environment to blame all the immigration ills on former President Biden and his administration, this would only be a small fraction of a much larger story. 

I am compelled to remind readers that in 1986, President Ronald Reagan signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA), granting amnesty to nearly 3 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States. This was passed by Congress and signed by President Reagan with various proposed justifications, but the bottom line was it gave businesses cheap labor that was welcome in many industries. 

Since the passing of this legislation 39 years ago, no president, Congress or government agency, Republican or Democrat, has followed immigration policy 100% — and that even includes the first Trump administration. There has been plenty of talk about policy, talk about reforms, talk about passing new laws, chest pounding about building walls that Mexico did not pay for, and still nothing but sound bites, blame, random raids, both proper and improper deportations, and more. Every president since Reagan has deported foreign criminals when they are known and the deportations are processed correctly, with some being more aggressive than others, but they have all done it. 

The issue with the current administration is not what they want to do, but how they are doing it. We have rules that must be followed, due process and procedures to minimize errors like some that we have recently seen. This is why previous administrations did not have large scale raids scooping everyone up, because that fixes one problem by creating another.

Glen Sherman 

Baiting Hollow

Woodcliff Park

A million short-term Airbnbs. Woodcliff Park is the villages of New York with rentals. It’s awful.

M. Kusher 

Greenport

Gratitude

Gratitude is often presented as an indulgence to be offered only when everything in life is going well, allowing us to perceive and appreciate what we have. It is hard to practice, especially when life’s circumstances and the current status of the political and social environment leave a cynical, bitter taste in one’s mouth. 

With Thanksgiving, the core ideals are gratitude and thankfulness; the latter word itself is woven into this tradition. But how to express gratitude — and why does it even matter?

Expressing and practicing gratitude does not negate the negatives in life’s path, but instead recognizes the positives that accompany it — small things, like the sandwich you ate, to large things, like having good friends. Practicing gratitude, such as journaling or listing positive things that happened that day, has psychological and health benefits, including lower stress, a stronger immune system and, obviously, less mental distress. While it is hard to do and easy to say, gratitude helps us build greater resilience in times that often feel troubling.

This Thanksgiving, I am grateful for having a great family and my dog.

Anthony Kuczynski 

Mattituck

Thank you

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who came out to support me for Mattituck Park District commissioner on Nov. 20. I really appreciate your support. I’m looking forward to continuing to work with the community. It’s an honor to be reelected.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas, happy holidays and a prosperous New Year. Thank you,

Denise Goehringer-Geis 

Southold and Orient

The benefits of buying local

Buying local unlocks the power of our shopping dollars to benefit all of us.

Thank you, Suffolk Times, for your editorial “Staying close to home.” We agree. And why not enjoy holiday shopping by choosing local boutiques, bakeries and shops? For one-of-a-kind items or special gifts, our area offers a wonderful variety of art galleries, flower shops, wineries and much more.

The future of the North Fork is in our hands; our purchase decisions have power. We have the potential to create the world we want. To a small business, every sale matters. A reminder: For $100 spent at a locally owned business, almost $70 recirculates into our community, reinvested into local jobs, schools and community programs. When we buy from farm stands and farmer’s markets, we support our neighbors and preserve the unique rural character of our region. Also, shopping close to home means fewer long-distance deliveries and less mileage on our cars!

Dorothy Crenshaw and Mary Morgan

Southold

Tackling cyber failures

Suffolk County’s recurring cyber failures demand stronger reporting and stronger leadership

In December 2021, cyber criminals breached Suffolk County’s networks and remained undetected for nearly nine months. They created accounts, stole files and captured officials’ passwords. Using their foothold in the county clerk’s network, they moved into other systems, including the health service. When discovered, 10,000 email accounts were locked and equipment was disabled to stop the spread. Although an urgently recommended update existed that would have prevented the attack, Suffolk’s fragmented IT landscape couldn’t apply it consistently. A report later cited lack of central leadership as a root cause. Remediation was estimated at $25 million.

Nearly four years later, last week’s paper reported that Southold’s servers were hit again, revealing a response plan still no more sophisticated than unplugging the town firewall. The Times did not quote an IT leader (perhaps because one still doesn’t exist), did not reference the 2021 breach or any progress since and relied largely on Mr. Krupski’s minimization of the outage.

I urge the Suffolk Times to cover this issue in more depth to hold our leaders accountable for modernizing security. Without this pressure, residents should expect more outages and wasted public money.

Tom Hayes

Southold

Killing stranded seafarers

Article 12 of the Second Geneva Convention of 1949 (GC II) requires that shipwrecked persons at sea be “respected and protected.” In 1987 and 2017 it was affirmed that such persons continue to have protected status unless and until they commit an act of hostility or continue to fight against the enemy.

I’m not a lawyer: but several lawyers have opined in recent days that issuing a second strike to kill the helpless people who survived the first strike was a clear violation of the above cited rules of war.

Today, I called Representative LaLota (a retired Navy veteran) and asked him to comment on this issue. No one answered so I left a voice message.

The ordered execution of the people manning these fishing boats (purportedly running drugs) may be illegal. Second strikes to kill survivors appears to be pure murder. Yet, Trump announces that he is pardoning the ex-president of Honduras, who was convicted by a jury in Manhattan in 2024 and sentenced to 45 years in prison for conspiring to import cocaine to the United States.

Today, I saw Trump claim that the Biden administration set up the ex-Honduran president. This manipulation of facts is worse than George Orwell’s “1984.”

The lawlessness of the Trump administration is breathtaking.

Contact Representative LaLota and ask him to respond directly to this issue.

Dick Sheehan 

Cutchogue

Expressing thanks

I wish to publicly thank Representative Nick LaLota for committing to vote “Yes” on the House vote to release the full Epstein files. Mr. LaLota’s staff confirmed this to me on Friday, Nov. 14, which was two days before President Trump publicly reversed his position on the Discharge Petition vote to support the release.

I wish also to thank Mr. LaLota for being the last of two Republican signatures needed for the Discharge Petition to force a House vote to repeal Trump’s Executive Order stripping union rights from federal workers.

I am proud to see Mr. LaLota standing up against some of the abhorrent policies of the Trump administration, and I urge him to continue to vote for the best interests of his constituents here on Eastern Long Island, rather than the best interests of Trump, MAGAs or Project 2025.

Barbara Farr 

Southold

More poisonous PFAS

Last month, under EPA administrator Lee Zeldin, two new “forever chemical” (PFAS) pesticides were rushed through approval. Cyclobutrifluram – for lettuce, soybeans, cotton, golf courses and lawns — was approved on Nov. 5 and Isocycloseram – for potatoes, tomatoes, broccoli, citrus, almonds, turf and home pest control — on Nov. 20.

These chemicals never break down. They contaminate groundwater, accumulate in food and are linked to cancer, immune disorders, liver damage and reproductive harm. Isocycloseram is also deadly to bees — up to 1,500 times the lethal dose. Will our local farmers spray these on the food we buy? Will golf courses and landscapers spread them where our kids play?

Lee Zeldin is overseeing the deliberate poisoning of our land and water. The only way to stop it is at the ballot box in 2026 and 2028. Vote for candidates who will ban PFAS pesticides and hold the EPA accountable before it’s too late.

Mark Ghuneim 

Greenport

Well contamination

I find it so disheartening that the owner of the contaminated well (“Forever chemicals.” Nov. 27) has opted for plastic bottles of water to be delivered weekly. Where does everyone think the plastic bottles will be going after their one time use? If you answered “our landfill” you would be 100% correct. Decomposing in our soil for the next generation to deal with.

Cathy Haft 

Orient

Just a matter of time

To reiterate, the flashing yellow light and the left turning lane going into Greenport on the North Road (CR 48/Sound Avenue) worked just fine for many years! But some moron in our state government decided that we needed a circle there. It’s just a matter of time before there is a serious accident. So far I’ve seen back-ups going east and west as people yield to cars going in all directions. The pile-ups have caused people to honk and get enraged. 

I saw a truck the other day that stopped to let the cars pass and got harassed by the cars behind him. Another day a large truck couldn’t make the turn and had to go up on the curb. Wait until a 16-wheeler tries to navigate that circle.  And it’ll be total chaos next summer, when ferry traffic explodes. Good luck!

Barbra LaCorte Latham 

Peconic

A different vision

There always has been talk about immigration into this country. There are places that deal with that issue in a positive manner. We have had Castle Clinton in lower Manhattan, which was built on an old fortress now called Battery Park, where some 8 million immigrants passed through. We have had Ellis Island, which was also built where a fort once stood and where 12 million immigrants passed through. In both places there was help for immigrants who were like so many of our own grandparents And in New York Harbor, there is statue where upon it is written: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore, Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Then there is the 16th president, Abraham Lincoln, who on a 12-day journey from Springfield, Ill., to Washington, D.C., stopped in dozens of towns and cities, giving speeches. On Feb.12, 1861, in Cincinnati, Ohio, Lincoln’s remarks echoed that he believed there should be no hindrances to those looking to improve themselves by coming to America. He said: “If there are any abroad who desire to make this the land of their adoption, it is not in my heart to throw aught in their way, to prevent them from coming to the United States.” Lincoln believed in the promise of America, and he viewed it as a promise that all could partake in, regardless of national origin.

That speech inspired the Encourage Immigration Act (Pub. L. 38–246, H.R. 411, 13 Stat. 385, enacted July 4, 1864), a federal law passed by the 38th U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln. It was the first major American law to encourage immigration.

Why can’t the present administration see what the 16th president saw?

Joel Reitman 

Southold

Gambling fears

More casinos approved for New York City. We have lottos of every description, and you can bet on almost anything from the comfort of your home. Am I alone in thinking we are on a slippery slope by a) relying on gambling income in our school and government budgets and b) really concerned about the wellbeing of people who think winning at games of chance will solve their financial woes? 

I don’t assume to have the answer. We have learned from history that prohibition of most things does not work. I consider myself lucky, I’ve bought lottery tickets and been to casinos in Las Vegas and on cruises and have not been tempted to bet more than I can afford. I don’t know why except maybe I dislike losing, but I have a real concern for the government counting on income from casinos and other gambling activities to run our states.

Rosellen Storm

Cutchogue

Say goodbye to Pete

Donald Trump is not known for admitting responsibility for screw-ups. Enter Pete Hegseth, the country’s hapless Secretary of War (as he calls himself — it used to be Secretary of Defense when sanity still prevailed).

Commentators with the requisite military, political and legal backgrounds have gone public and concluded that from all appearances, Hapless Pete ordered the murder of two civilians on the high seas without justification. His so-called “War Fighters” attacked a civilian boat which, from a video of the craft, appears to have had only people on board. Hapless Pete ordered the U.S. military to blow up the boat with everyone on it and to “kill them all.” However, after the explosion and the destruction of the boat, there were still two of the 11 people on board alive and hanging on to the wreckage. So, Pete ordered what’s called a “double tap” – a second strike that would kill the survivors.

By every reported standard, Pete’s order was unlawful and amounts to either a war crime or murder or both. And that’s who’s now in charge of our American military.

The heat has been turned up on the Trump administration. Donald first claimed to know nothing about what happened. Then he said he has 100% confidence in Hapless Pete. But the issue is not cooling off. It’s getting hotter. There’s a good chance by the time this letter is printed, Trump will claim his Secretary of War lied to him and he’s fired.

So, say goodbye to Pete. And good riddance. In a perfect world, he’ll be indicted by the International Criminal Court and never be allowed to leave the country for fear of getting arrested for these deaths.

Michael Levy