Letters to the Editor - The Millerton News - 2-25-21

Thank you, Millerton News, for your support of Willow Roots

What an adventure. We always said that Willow Roots came about so organically.  Even now, the Feb. 18 articles in The Millerton News could not have come at a better time. One came from a simple call to check in on us, an article that is reaching the entire community in ways we did not expect. 

People are looking, actively, for a place for us. We receive texts daily inquiring if a certain property would work for our food pantry. We have even had an offer to use someone’s home. All of which has come at a time when we were feeling a little beat up. 

This grievance that the Carla Terrace residents have with us has been going on since September 2020. We were, quite frankly, feeling overwhelmed and hurt by their accusations. So, when reporter Carol Kneeland called to check on us, I am sure she never expected to hear our plight. That being said, she took up the sword to help us and here we are. We are so grateful to you and to reporter Kaitlin Lyle for her news article on our application before the Pine Plains Planning Board and to The Millerton News family of supporters. 

Just the other day I was thinking, how did we get here? Really, how did we find ourselves in this position? To be honest it feels like we were on a ship. The ship began taking on water, so we plugged up the hole, then another hole was discovered and before you know it, we were using buckets to save the ship. Crew members seeing our predicament decided to help and we started to see the ship for what it truly was: our lifeline, our community, our hope and our future. We now have a steady ship that has an entire Coast Guard helping. We are feeling so blessed, grateful and humble. 

Thank you and regards,

Lisa and Nelson Zayas

Co-founders,
Willow Roots food pantry

Pine Plains

Trump was no hero

Mr. Conklin, I take exception to much of what you said in your opening paragraphs in your Feb. 18th Veteran’s Corner column. You stated that our ex-president “is that modern-day hero.”  

You are saying this just a month after the majority of the U.S. senators voted to convict him of treason, less than two months since 60 courts throughout the United States said he had no grounds for calling our presidential election corrupted and one month after trying to strong arm the governor and attorney general of Georgia to find 11,000 votes.

In all honesty and using your common sense, how do these three recent instances that I cite, show our ex-president to be a modern-day hero?

Roger Price

Millerton

We need the For the People Act passed, now

The American people now find themselves in a precarious position — Democrats, who have won a trifecta, remain powerless to enact much of their agenda. We are in this situation because our democracy was designed to give tremendous power to a small minority, and Republicans have spent decades exploiting that power to entrench their rule over the majority. Voter suppression. Gerrymandering (cheating). Buying elections (corruption). Even now, following historic voter turnout by Black and brown voters in states like Georgia, Texas and Arizona, Republican-led Legislatures are working to add additional barriers to accessing the ballot box.

I believe we have a responsibility to clean out the rot. The For the People Act addresses so many of the processes critical to our democracy: voting rights, election integrity, campaign finance transparency, honesty of information, ethics reform, strengthening oversight, banning conflicts of interest, limiting the power of lobbyists, etc. I believe it’s time to resurrect public service, to correct the gridlock of competing interest, ambition and greed. 

That’s why our first priority should be fixing our democracy and ensuring that structural reform rebalances power for the people. We urgently need Congress to pass H.R.1, the For The People Act, to get money out of politics, expand voting rights, combat corruption, secure our elections and much more — before it’s too late. These reforms to our democracy are pivotal to preventing future tyrants. The Democratic House passed H.R.1 last year, with every Democrat voting yes. It’s time for them to do the same and for the new Democratic majority in the Senate to do so as well. 

Americans took the first step to heal our nation by overwhelmingly voting Trump out of office. Now Congress must do its part to fix our badly broken democracy and pass H.R.1, the For the People Act.

Louise Pillai

Copake

Molinaro pens letter to Governor Cuomo seeking vaccination support

Dear Governor Cuomo,

As counties around New York State adapt to the ever-evolving COVID-19 vaccination process, with thousands more residents added to the eligibility groups seemingly every week with only minimal increases to the number of doses we receive, I ask the State to join Dutchess County Government in opening a joint vaccination site at one the Points of Dispensing currently operated by our Department of Behavioral & Community Health (DBCH). Such a collaboration would not only reaffirm your desire to partner with local health departments, it would ensure the widespread and equitable distribution of the vaccine, a goal for which you and I have both publicly advocated.

Though Dutchess County’s current 185,000-square-foot site in Poughkeepsie, inside the former JCPenney store at the Poughkeepsie Galleria, currently vaccinates fewer than 1,000 essential workers and seniors each week, due to the limited number of doses we receive from New York State, our DBCH staff has the capability and space at the site to inoculate five times that number. Countless residents have commended the site, our DBCH personnel and our Medical Reserve Corps of Dutchess County volunteers who staff it for the efficiency in providing vaccinations. Still, due to the lack of adequate supply of vaccine doses, only one in 12 Dutchess County residents has received at least their first shot, according to information provided by your office last week. A representative from your office toured the site, has seen its capacity and its potential to vaccinate thousands more residents.

I respectfully request New York State partner with Dutchess County Government to create a joint vaccination site at this current Poughkeepsie location. Due to the lack of supply given to our county, local residents must travel more than an hour to the nearest State-operated mass vaccination site, located at the Westchester County Center or SUNY Albany, and most cannot obtain an appointment in the next several months at either of those sites.

And they are the lucky ones — residents who have personal transportation and can travel at a moment’s notice, should a much-coveted appointment open up for them. Residents in our underserved communities, who rely on public transportation to take them to appointments to receive this life-saving vaccination, cannot readily travel an hour or more to the State’s sites; they can, however, travel to our Poughkeepsie site, which is easily accessible by Dutchess County Public Transit.

Dutchess County Government’s full complement of resources will be made available to assist New York State in this partnership, and we eagerly await your response and the State’s cooperation in assisting us in fulfilling our shared desire to equitably vaccinate every eligible resident in the most efficient and timely manner possible — through a joint vaccination site in Poughkeepsie.

Stay safe, healthy and well,

Marcus J. Molinaro

Dutchess County 

Executive

Red Hook

Social Justice Education for a White Community

 One thing I hope the pandemic leaves in its wake is time and space for critical thinking. About all things, but as it relates to this letter: How we would like to care for our neighbors (both the literal and metaphorical ones) moving forward.

If the pandemic has initiated a sort of cocoon state, then our imminent re-emergence as a community presents an opportunity to recalibrate.

Following New York City’s Great Coronavirus Exodus — Hello, to all new neighbors, this letter is also for you — the population in northwestern Connecticut remains about as diverse as a white-powdered donut.

 Redlining in New England, where African-American families were only sold homes in certain areas of town, is a part of my own town’s history — and the critical thinker must wonder: To what extent is the racism behind this historical practice still with us today?

 If social justice is deemed irrelevant here because we are a mostly white community, then the work of speaking up against racism is left, once again, to our neighbors of color — Black, indigenous, Asian, Mexican and South American residents that do live here.

I do not personally experience racist intimidation at the transfer station or walking on Main Street, for example, but others do, and I believe my silence as a white community member works to condone it. I no longer wish to be the kind of neighbor that buries her face in the warm sand of white privilege and asks an already disproportionate minority to put itself in danger of further trauma in order to do the work that is inherently mine.

 Resources for reeducating ourselves abound — podcasts, books, documentaries — and they are beginning to emerge locally as community members connect around this common goal. It is time to hold space for dialogue about racism and social inequity, and to learn to recognize racism in ourselves and others. I would like to invite all community members to join us in taking a foundational step toward nurturing a community of acceptance, mutual respect, nonviolent communication and love for all of its members.

“Race: The Power of an Illusion,” is a free workshop with Carol Taylor taking place on Zoom from 1 to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 27, in partnership with D.M. Hunt Memorial Library and the Falls Village Community Development Corporation. Participants are required to view the PBS documentary of the same name, available on DVD at the library, or on VIMEO for $4.99, prior to the workshop. We will share reflections and learn tips on how to facilitate dialogue. Call 860-824-7424 to register. Space is limited; a wait list will be organized.

An AntiracismNWC book and discussion group is now forming. We will read “How to Be an Antiracist,” by Ibram X. Kendi and meet outside in the spring/summer months to discuss what we are learning as we make our way through the book. 

To join, please secure a copy of the book and email antiracismNWC@gmail.com.

Maria Grusauskas 

Falls Village