Letters 10/20/16

Posted 10/19/16

In support of the Tusten garden I write this in support of the Tusten Heritage Community Garden. The people involved with maintaining this garden are some of the same volunteer members within the …

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Letters 10/20/16

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In support of the Tusten garden
I write this in support of the Tusten Heritage Community Garden. The people involved with maintaining this garden are some of the same volunteer members within the Narrowsburg Beautification Group. So I can speak from personal experience that these are extremely dedicated people who work hard in their spare time to enhance the beautiful environment that we all live in. It would be a tragic loss to this community if our governing body withdraws support of such a positive volunteer effort. 
I think groups like the Tusten Heritage Community Garden should be encouraged as the cost to benefit to the community is very low. It would be nice if our administration could encourage, and support all the people that volunteer. If lack of understanding or information is the issue, then perhaps we should focus on upgrading the systems by which we as individuals and as a town stay informed about volunteer groups and all our town governments. Many of our residents can’t attend the scheduled meetings and they would like to contribute and stay informed.
Wanda Gangel
Narrowsburg, NY


Teachout’s innovative solution
Do politicians watch weather reports? Unusually severe droughts, floods, and storms fill the nightly news, but greenhouse gas emissions, one probable cause of many of these disturbances, receive scant mention from the people who compete to lead us.
One person who does not share the overall faintheartedness is Zephyr Teachout, who has publically supported the idea of a carbon fee and dividend as a way to combat climate change and at the same time to bolster the economy. 
“The fee and dividend model looks at the point source [of carbon] and then the fee turns into checks that go back to people’s houses, which then supports economic development,” the Albany Times Union quotes Teachout saying.
Regional Economic Models, Inc., a highly-regarded, non-partisan research firm, agrees that this plan would help the economy as well as the planet. In 20 years, the report states, it could reduce carbon emissions to 50% of 1990 levels and “generate more than $1.3 trillion in added overall economic activity.”


Yet Teachout’s opponent, John Faso, over-simplifies her comments, claiming that she is advocating a  “national energy tax.”


A fee, by definition, is voluntary. If energy companies decide to find ways to produce energy without using carbon, they will not pay a fee and we all benefit. 
A “tax” is not voluntary; it goes to the government.; we must take it on faith that we benefit from it.


Rather than raising alarms about taxes, I hope Mr. Faso will join Ms. Teachout in her search for innovative solutions—such as carbon fee and dividend—that will lessen the quantity of greenhouse gases contributing to climate change.


Elizabeth Poreba
New Lebanon, NY 


Trump the anarchist
When there is so much distrust of many of our national institutions, I am astounded that Donald Trump and his allies are now deliberately undermining our democracy and sowing seeds of anarchy and division: attempting to delegitimize President Obama by saying he was not a citizen; warning that the upcoming elections will be invalid if Trump loses; accusing all Muslims of being a danger to our society and even emphasizing President Obama’s middle name as evidence not only that he is a secret Muslim, but also that it is a reason to declare him un-American; siding with those who say that the federal government is a threat to their liberty and that it plans to take all guns away as a prelude to dictatorship; accusing Mexican undocumented as threats to our personal safety that must all be deported; charging that the media is corrupt; and, astonishingly, attacking our military leaders as lacking the competence to defend the country.  
Could it be that Trump has a secret plan to induce enough chaos so that he would be able to personally step in and “save” the country? Or maybe he has no plan at all except to create a new TV show after he loses.   
Bruce Taylor
Greentown, PA
 

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