Letters to the Editor: Sept. 26, 2024

Support for Millbrook Library on the ballot

I write in support of the ballot referendum to appear before Town of Washington voters this coming Election Day to increase public funding of our Millbrook Library. The Library has not requested a fund increase since funding was originally approved by taxpayers in 2015. Since that time inflation has risen 33%. We need to keep our Library’s funding current so they can meet their budget requirements. It is vitally important they have the funds to attract and retain qualified staff and this means offering competitive pay and benefits in today’s marketplace. Your Library Board, composed of our friends and neighbors watches every penny spent. There is no “fluff” in how the Library spends their dollars. Let’s all do the right thing and show our support. Vote YES on the Library Proposition this Election Day, Tuesday, November 5, 2024!

Alec Pandaleon

Town of Washington

Gratitude toward my rescuers on Lion’s Head

On July 24 I was hiking alone on the Appalachian Trail near Lion’s Head mountain. I had just passed the peak of the mountain and was headed north when I slipped down a damp rock outcropping and fractured my ankle. I knew right away that I was in trouble, and that I would need help getting off the mountain. The part of the trail where I had fallen was very steep and rocky, and was over a mile from the trailhead. Using my mobile phone I was able to reach the emergency center at the Salisbury, Connecticut Fire Department. I explained that I was badly injured and would need help getting off the mountain. I was told to sit tight and wait for help to arrive. Some 45 minutes later I called the dispatcher back to inquire as to how much longer I would have to wait for help to arrive. She told me that it was taking time to put together a rescue team at the trailhead, but that they would be arriving soon. A short time later an entire team of some 15 to 20 volunteer rescuers arrived where I had fallen: a Salisbury Fire Department EMT; a retired physician; and three separate rope teams — one from Great Barrington, Massachusetts, one from Amenia, New York, and one from Connecticut. The medical team attached a splint to my leg and ankle, and members of the three rope teams loaded me onto a specialized rescue stretcher which was balanced atop a large wheel. The teams then used ropes to pull me up and down the steepest parts of the trail, all the while team members on both sides of my stretcher steadied me while they carried me down the trail. It took the rope-teams about 45 minutes to get me to the trail head where there was an ambulance waiting to take me to the Sharon Hospital.

Recuperating at home following ankle surgery at the hospital, I have had a chance to reflect on what may well be the rarest of human virtues: gratitude. My rescue from Lion’s Head mountain has made me very aware of how blessed I am to live in a community and nation where I have so very much to be thankful for. Needless to say, I want to express my sincere appreciation to the nearly 20 men and women volunteers who carried me safely from the Appalachian Trail rock ledge where I had fallen. I was a total stranger to all the rope-team members who dropped whatever they were doing that weekday afternoon and traveled to the Bunker Hill Trailhead. There is a very good chance that I will never again encounter any of the men and women who carried me to safety. But I want them all to know that I am well aware of how richly blessed I am to live in a community and a nation where there is a long tradition of helping strangers who are in distress. I can not possibly repay them for their efforts. The common bonds of trust and caring they exhibited that day are crucial to holding American society together.

Arthur C. Fort

Millerton