Mailbag

To The Editor:
America’s welfare culture is in danger of creating a different species of human beings. The nuclear family was the norm until about 50 years ago, when we invented Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC). Although festooned with good intentions (it was originally intended for “widows and orphans”), welfare, as we know it today has managed to create something completely unprecedented in human history – an entire culture built around mother-only families.

To The Editor:
Anita Rubin’s excellent letter regarding restoration of the Fleischmanns Bridge Street bridge brings back a 40-year-old memory.

While wintering on the banks of Fleischmanns’ Lake Switzerland in the early ’70s, fantasizing about building a gondola from the lake to the top of Belleayre Mountain, I read a fascinating book authored by Cornelius Ryan entitled A Bridge Too Far. It is a World War II history later made into a major Hollywood film that recounts Allied efforts to take the Remagen Bridge crossing the Rhine River held by the German Wehrmacht.

To The Editor:
Return with me now to those days of yesteryear. From out of the past come the happy sounds of laughter and giggles, splishing and splashing! It was one of the crown jewels within the Village of Fleischmanns. It was Lake Switzerland with its wondrous and sometimes powerful waterfall!

Many times this past summer I happened to pass the beautiful lake in Pine Hill, located along Route 28 and it reminded me of what we had in Fleischmanns so many years ago when I was just a young whippersnapper.

To The Editor:
My name is Eleanor Aulino. I am better known as “Ellie.” I am president of the Margaretville Hospital and Mountainside Residential Care Center Auxiliary.

This is a brief history of my wonderful years in the Catskills. My late husband, Ralph, and I were born and raised in northern New Jersey. In 1961, upon an invitation from Dr. Louis and Eleanor Serafini, we spend a delightful weekend at their second homestead on 94 acres in the Dry Brook Valley.

To The Editor:
Attention all politicians and seniors over 70 skies.

With the Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA) in position to take over the Belleayre Ski Area in Highmount, from the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, us seniors over 70 will lose our free skiing privileges, as we have at Whiteface and Gore Mountain areas. This takeaway was done after ORDA took over the operations from the DEC at Whiteface and Gore mountains.

How bad can the NYS budget be, to remove such a privilege from the over 70 senior community?

To The Editor:
One year ago Hurricane Irene ravaged our community. One year later in Fleischmanns, we are still without the restoration of a valuable infrastructure: the bridge on Bridge Street.

I want to be counted among the over 600 individuals who have signed a petition asking that the bridge on Bridge Street be restored to it pre-flood condition as a vehicular bridge.

To The Editor:
One of the beauties of living in a small town is that people are willing to help their neighbors.  Last week, the Fairview Public Library got help from one neighbor, Fred Miller, who brought his wet-vac to the library to help cleanup a water spill.  Thank you, Fred, for taking the time, on your day off, to help the library!

Susan Carver,
Interim Director
Fairview Public Library

To The Editor:
I read with interest, and much alarm, Mr. Jeffers letter to the editor of August 22 questioning the need to rebuild the Swart Street bridge.

As the person who lives right next to the bridge and has been negotiating Jersey barriers since Memorial Day weekend to get in and out of my driveway, I’ve tried to separate my personal response from one of more community concern.

To The Editor:
On Saturday morning, August 25 I dropped my daughter off at Margaretville Central School.  The incoming freshman class decided to paint the snack shack.  Such good kids!  Anyway, an older gentleman pulls into the parking lot and he and his dog get out.  He proceeds to walk his dog all over the baseball fields.  He does not clean up after his pet.  Are you kidding me? 

I am a pet owner myself and know that owning a pet is a responsibility.   

To The Editor:
Your special section last week on the events and recovery from the flood on August 28, 2011 was I’m sure appreciated by the community. It is good to reminisce and to honor all those who pitched in to help our communities reach a “new normal.” It took the efforts of governmental personnel, charities, businesses, organizations and houses of worship to bring us to where we are today.

However, I noticed a big gap in your reporting. No mention is made of the efforts of the religious community in the recovery effort. It’s as if God was on vacation when the flood hit.