Mailbag

To The Editor:
Save the Mountain claims to favor development in the villages and hamlets, but when coupled with their extreme negativity toward development of the recreation and tourism component of our community, the “unintended consequence” is the most severely depressed economy seen in the entire region during the 40 years that we’ve enjoyed the northern Catskills.

To The Editor:
In last week’s mailbag Ed Kirstein took exception to my use of the adjective fanatic to characterize those who promote global warming as an unchallenged scientific fact. I stated I thought, quite plainly, that I make no judgment of their thesis as to whether it was right or wrong.

To The Editor:
I picked up my first tennis racket at about the age of 14. Living in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan, I hit the ball against my schoolyard wall, then got a permit to use the decaying city courts under the George Washington Bridge. Hot or cold, sunny or drizzly, I played.

To The Editor:
I’m writing about health care. I don’t want the angry mobs to steal this debate. We moved here from the UK, a country where I had fabulous care, even had two house calls from two different doctors, during our seven years there. (Can anyone remember their last house call? Perhaps here it’s more recent than most but in most parts of the U.S. that service was over in the 50s.)

To The Editor:
In a careless letter to the editor last week, John and Janet Fishkind of Big Indian erroneously implied that Save the Mountain would welcome the demise of the Galli-Curci Theatre renovation project on Main Street in Margaretville. Nothing could be farther from the truth as the Fishkinds would know if they read the information at Savethe Mountain.net or wrote or called to ask our positions.

To The Editor:
This letter is in answer to Stuart Buswell’s Mailbag letter.
Since I agree with most of what Mr. Buswell brought up in his “We cannot fool Mother Nature” letter, I can’t understand why he refers to those worried about global warming as “Fanatics.” It does not seem fanatical to worry about the future of civilization on this planet when most respected scientists agree that the planet is warming and the evidence proves it.

To The Editor:
The more I have observed over the decades, and especially now in the controversies about health care, climate change, air pollution, etc., the stronger my belief becomes that it doesn’t matter much who is in the White House or Congress. The corporations run America.

To The Editor:
All right, now I am smokin’ mad! Why on earth is Paterson doling out $175 million in federal stimulus and other funds to welfare and food stamp recipients to meet their children’s “back to school” needs? He is giving every one of their children between 3-17 (whether they attend school or not) $200. What about the people who contribute to society?

To The Editor:
Having succeeded in derailing a much needed project that would produce economic, artistic and entertainment benefits for the community, David Budin, neighbor to the Galli-Curci Theatre building, will be a sure thing to be named Man of the Year by the Save the Mountain crowd, empty store specialists.

To The Editor:
The global warming fanatics may or may not be right about their dire predictions but humanity has a greater problem than that. The rise in population, with its enormous consumption, will soon exceed the planet’s ability to support this massive human population. We are outgrowing our natural resources from deforestation to collapsing fisheries, desertification, the global spread of chemical toxins, ocean dead zones, and the death of coral reefs.