Letters to the editor: Highland compressor station, war on the system of law

Posted 6/12/19

Highland compressor station killed the dream I can trace my family roots as far back as the 1700s to the Eldred, Highland Lake and Barryville area. My great-great-grandparents are buried behind what …

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Letters to the editor: Highland compressor station, war on the system of law

Posted

Highland compressor station killed the dream

I can trace my family roots as far back as the 1700s to the Eldred, Highland Lake and Barryville area. My great-great-grandparents are buried behind what was the Congregational Church in Barryville. My great-grandparents and grandparents are in a family plot in the old cemetery in Eldred. Across from them lie my Aunt Helen, Uncle George and Cousin Mary, among others. As a child, I loved those summer visits to family. Now in our golden years, my husband and I are about to retire. We thought strongly about moving to the area. Pennsylvania was out of the question because the state allows fracking. So we started looking at houses and investigating the area: where are the closest medical facilities, shopping centers, etc?

I read about a compressor station at the old Eldred Preserve but didn’t understand the full impact. After an internet search, I was horrified by what I learned. A place I have loved my entire life will be irrevocably changed, and not for the better. The Eldred Central School District may have received an unexpected windfall in tax revenues but at what cost down the line? If I were a parent with children attending that school district, I would be worried sick about the impact to their health. Sad as it is, that compressor station killed the dream. We will not be moving to the area.

Veronica Clouse Rivera

Cold Spring, NY


The war on our system of law

This country was founded on the conviction that humans are flawed, more emotional than rational. To save us from ourselves, the founders set up a system of law, which, if followed, would allow us to disagree without coming to blows. It’s worked pretty well, except for slave owners’ resistance to anything that legally restricted their “peculiar” institution.

Robert Mueller’s assumption about his investigation of President Trump’s behavior was that the rule-of-law itself is at stake, and he would not allow anything to compromise that; whatever recourse we have is to be done by the book.

It should be obvious that Donald Trump does not share the respect the rule-of-law requires. He is a would-be dictator and his actions imitate successful dictators. So far, our threatened institutions have held up against his attempts to subvert them.

The actions that Mueller’s report describes are actions that Trump and his team performed, for the most part, in public. We weren’t shocked by the report because we had seen it all as it transpired. For many liberals, the rule-of-law requires Trump be impeached now. But because the Senate is in Republican hands, and we have become inured to the crimes uncovered by Mueller, impeaching Trump now would probably play into Trump’s hands; he’d be found innocent by the Republican Senate and would be a martyr to his base.

It’s better to continue to uncover what Trump has done which remains hidden. I believe that Trump’s business dealings may hold economic crimes, money laundering, etc., and that these should be brought to light.

I am politically motivated. I think Trump’s policies are disastrous for the U.S., and, worst of all, his contempt for what has sustained us. The rule-of-law requires that his presidency ends, either by finding crimes that would successfully impeach and convict him with Republican support, or trounce him in the 2020 election.

Roy Tedoff

Fremont, NY

letters to the editor, opinion, town of highland, compressor station, robert mueller

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