Letters to the editor December 7

Posted 12/6/17

Hinchey and the Pond Eddy Bridge Re the letter to the editor “An Encounter with Hinchey” in the November 3 issue of TRR: Maurice Hinchey knew a scam when he saw one. In addition to the …

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Letters to the editor December 7

Posted

Hinchey and the Pond Eddy Bridge

Re the letter to the editor “An Encounter with Hinchey” in the November 3 issue of TRR:

Maurice Hinchey knew a scam when he saw one. In addition to the power-line towers along the Delaware proposal, there was the proposed destruction of the National Historic Landmark Pond Eddy Bridge, which as U.S. Congressman he vigorously opposed, together with the late New York State Assemblyman Jake Gunther.

Please visit the new bridge construction site to see three-quarters of the river flow impeded and increased flooding hazard to those living upstream. And consider the new bridge section in place, rated at 45 tons for the 50 cars per day that use it, connecting to the dirt track on the Pennsylvania side that makes 45 tons ridiculous. And follow the money for a project which, when the final accounting is complete, will amount to almost a million dollars per Pennsylvania-side household, with New York State politicians contributing one half. Apart from the unnecessary destruction of a landmark, Hinchey suspected a new bridge project connected to eventual fracking in the Pennsylvania Gamelands.

Indeed, we have already missed him, big time.

Richard Plunz

Pond Eddy, NY

Bullying

Your first course of action is through the administration in your school district when your child has been bullied. Get the person’s name and phone number and the position that he/she participates in with the school, and follow it up the very next day. It’s only proper to give the system the opportunity to conquer or eliminate the problem to get back to education and keeping peace and harmony with our prize cargo, our kids. 

If you believe that you are being stonewalled, use your citizens’ right of order. Call the state police and have the bully arrested. The bully will not be so big and brave when he/she is taken out of the classroom in handcuffs.

Bullying should be addressed at the very beginning of the school year, such as at an assembly with all personnel. The administrator should lay out the groundwork so that every member of the district, both employees and students, understand the consequences. 

I was a school board member in my hometown, and many years later I worked in another school district, both in Sullivan County. I was quite upset with both administrations with regard to the way they handled serious problems. “Make sure it does not get to the press” was the quote in both cases. Both would sweep it under the rug. 

You have a choice. You can use your other right. Be sure that a crime has been committed, and if so, call the state police. 

Don Rupp

Barryville, NY

Intimidation tactics

Someone needs to tell Greg Hoeper he won the election. If you attended the November Shohola Township meeting held just two days after the election, you saw Hoeper displaying all the signs of a bitter loser.

Those who were there were treated to a vivid show of the “not-so-subtle intimidation” I wrote about in my campaign letter, as Hoeper, who had called in Channel 13, went on a five-minute tirade aimed exclusively at me. Outraged, he held up a thick wad of papers and red-faced, bellowed, “Are you kidding me?!,” describing the wad as the numerous letters the township had sent to PennDOT concerning the condition of Lackawaxen Road.

I recently filed a right-to-know request for all the letters to PennDOT from the township concerning the bad condition of state roads in Shohola since Hoeper’s appointment almost seven years ago. There were only four, totaling five pages. So what was in the big wad of papers?

Running for office has allowed me to meet the residents of Shohola one on one. The thing I hear most when I meet them is a slightly bewildered, “You’re nothing like they said you were.” It takes time to reverse the damage done by false rumors, but in a democracy, change usually comes slowly and that’s not a bad thing. You just have to keep working at it.

That my running for office would so anger Mr. Hoeper is a sign that he’s aware of this, and it’s understandable that he would react in the only way he knows how—using every intimidation tactic he can muster. Lucky for me, I’ve got great big brass ones.

Shirley Masuo

Shohola, PA

Time for the real meaning of Christmas

Ooh, how much America has changed since I was born in 1968, some for the better some for the worse. But Christmas remains a wonderful time of the year. It is the only time we hear music about Jesus and the Holy Bible publically via Christmas carols as background music playing around us at work or the mall. However, I have noticed a change in that they are playing more instrumental versions of the old classics “Joy to the World,” “Silent Night” or “Hark the Herald Angels Sing,” etc. But I know those words, and they sing through my head.

For me, as Christmas Day approaches, it is a time to slow down and count my blessings and both cry and laugh and “let people off the hook” who have made my life difficult all year. It is a time for both giving and receiving. I urge you to try out my Savior Jesus personally and you will see that you will have power in times of adversity and strength to be victorious against all odds with love and forgiveness to offer to those who do wrong to you or hate you. However the best of all is being able to forgive yourself and accepting God’s forgiveness. Try it. I challenge you to turn off your TV/media, get off Facebook, stop texting for a while and sit down with some eggnog and listen to the words of the classic Christmas carols.

John “JP” Pasquale

Livingston Manor, NY

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