Mailbag

To The Editor:
Fleischmanns Fall Festival included several events in addition to the Kids’ tent as noted under the headine “Fleischmanns Shines" in your October 15 issue. Running concurrently was “Fleischmanns First Floors Historic House and Garden Tour.” Conceived and run entirely by Fleischmanns First members and volunteers, the tour was made up of 11 buildings on Wagner Avenue and Main Street.

To The Editor:
Kirsten Gillibrand has done an outstanding job in Congress representing the regular person and fighting against special interests. I am actively supporting her re-election and urge all readers to do so also. She works hard to make sure those of us who work hard have a voice in Congress.

To The Editor:
Instead of using my 400-word limit urging folks to vote for Democrats, listing all of the wrongs of the “other guys,” I would rather like to give an insight into the hearts and minds of rural Democrats,  of which I am a proud part. We are all familiar with the stereotypes: the “liberal snob” or “flatlander,” descriptions which are more rhetoric than reality.  Rural Democrats in Delaware County are hardworking and fiscally conservative. Some are farmers, many are small business owners. We have good values,  families we take good care of; many are regular churchgoers.
Dennis Valente, Davenport Supervisor, says it best: “I am the Democrat your grandfather was.”

To The Editor:
Whatever kind of economic “bailout” Congress comes up with, the usual people are likely to pay the price for it: the middle class, in higher taxes; the young in education funding cuts; the sick will have Medicare and Medicaid funds reduced; and the elderly will be hit with reductions in their Social Security checks.

To The Editor:
On September 24th, I received a petition in my office signed by 117 people protesting the closure of our Roxbury Family Health Center on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  I feel that it is important to respond to those who signed the petition, as well as to others in the Roxbury community.

To The Editor:
Wednesday, Sept. 10: In the early afternoon e-mails begin to circulate stating that the Fall Festival at Belleayre Mountain will not proceed after 29 years. This came from word of mouth from a DEC representative who stated this was a collective decision between Albany DEC and the Belleayre administration.

To The Editor:
It’s appalling to me to see so many Americans wanting to return the same people back into Congress that have only a 10 percent or less approval rating and walk away from their job before it is finished, to go on vacation.

To The Editor:
I am starting to get phone calls from people who are trying to figure out if the German American Club of the Northern Catskills is having its annual Oktoberfest this year. Some people have heard that the club is not having its Oktoberfest due to the rumored Belleayre budget cuts. Others have said that they have heard that it will be held behind the railroad station in Arkville. Nothing could be further from the truth.

To The Editor:
There was a huge turnout with various groups including the Coalition to Save Belleayre, Catskill Heritage Alliance, representatives from the towns of Middletown and Shandaken as well as representatives from both Bonacic and Hinchey’s offices at a meeting held on September 13 at Belleayre. This meeting was an effort to get everyone to unite for the best interests of Belleayre and the business community it serves.

To The Editor:
Hey folks, let’s think seriously about this upcoming election.
We have choices. On the one hand, there are John McCain and Sarah Palin. McCain is a famous maverick, but he’s a maverick who, while once opposing Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy, is now for them, who opposed indiscriminate drilling but now smiles at the chant of “Drill, Baby, Drill!,” and who was for immigration reform and stem cell research before he was against them. Shouldn’t he be called a flip-flopper by his own party?