Letters to the Editor - Millerton News - 4-27-17

I think of ketchup

When I think of my dad I think of ketchup. Yes, ketchup. He ate it on everything. No matter how special the meal, it was summarily drowned in ketchup. What I am seeing now is that so much of my understanding of my dad, his life, his struggles, his memories, our family history were also drowned in ketchup. 

My father submerged his pain and his shame in humor. My sister once asked our dad, a World War II vet, how he lost his leg in the war and he explained that he was riding a white stallion slashing off heads with his sword when someone rode up and lopped it off. These were the types of answers we got when we tried to learn more about his life, so my sisters and I stopped asking. 

It was only after his death that I learned that he had marched on a wooden leg for 11 miles in the Selma-Montgomery Alabama Freedom March under the banner, “Jews for Racial Equality” — an unquestionably risky act. 

And it was also after his death that I learned that our family came to the United States in the 1850s to escape religious persecution in Bavaria, Germany. For hundreds of years my family, like all Jews in Bavaria, lived under extreme restrictions and the threat of periodic genocides. If they were lucky enough to get permits to live in towns, there were strict quotas and their children would often not be permitted to remain in the towns after adulthood. It was under these conditions that my great great-great-grandfather Mayer left his home in Bavaria. 

Thankfully, the borders were open, and as if to foreshadow my father’s own journey 100 years later, upon landing in Ellis Island, Mayer Lehman boarded a boat heading south to carve out his new life Montgomery.

Brooke Lehman

Open Communities Project

Millerton  

My family escaped oppression in Syria, Ukraine

My parents were born to refugees, my mother to Ukrainian Jews who had escaped Russian pogroms and my father to Jews from Aleppo, Syria, who were escaping a worn-torn region where Jews were being conscripted. This was 100 years ago. All four of my grandparents came with nothing, to the dog-eat-dog world of the tenements of New York City. They were young, scared and did not speak English and as it turned out would never again see their homes. But they had a fighting chance. 

They came through Ellis Island with fear and with hope and once through the gates, they dreamed that their children would not know persecution or terror and would escape poverty. I am fairly certain that though they faced hardship here, they did not fear deportation. 

Those Syrian refugees had a son, my father, who enlisted to fight Hitler’s plan for world domination, based in a deeply racist ideology implemented by genocide. When he returned after the war, he and my mother worked for civil rights and confronted another dangerous, loud ideologue, Sen. Joe McCarthy, despite grave danger to themselves and their young family. How ironic that a young veteran would return to continue the fight against racism at home and be threatened by his own government with imprisonment for being “un-American.” 

Now, with the destruction of Aleppo and the escape of the last Syrian Jews from that beautiful, ancient city, alongside millions of other displaced Syrians, comes the bizarre idea from our president that Syrian refugees are a threat, that a Gold Star family that is Muslim is less American than he is, that an American judge’s ruling should be questioned because his father was born in Mexico and that a wall costing billions of dollars is a wise use of taxpayers’ money.

Closer to home, I see in the racist posters and Confederate flags in our midst,  an inability to understand our complex history, one of genocide of native peoples, of 300 years of slavery, of a nation built by the often exploited labor of immigrants, of internment camps, but also of an ongoing, evolving, grand experiment in democracy, that increasingly values those previously held down due to their skin color, gender, sexual orientation or place of origin. 

While the great majority of our friends and neighbors, of all origins, colors, document status and political persuasions are not driven by racism and hatred, a small percentage who believe and behave as racists do, drive many of us to defend  democracy by standing up to bigotry. It is heartening to witness such local activism.

Many recent immigrants, like my grandparents, have come here to escape persecution, poverty, violence and other intolerable conditions. Like my grandparents, their paths are filled with challenges, and it is often these robust souls who dare to make and survive a perilous journey, who have the most to offer us and teach us. Let us welcome them, support them, tell them our own stories of our immigrant heritage and hear theirs.

Rob Dweck, M.D.

Open Communities Project

Millerton

Presidential income tax disclosure bill deserves support

I write to express my concern about New York state Rep. John Faso’s (R-19) position against H.R. 305, a bill that would require the United States president and presidential candidates to disclose at least three years of tax returns. 

During the televised “town hall” that Rep. Faso held on April 13 (outside his district and with a limited audience present), he answered a question as to whether he would support this bill by saying it is not necessary because the people of this country elected Donald Trump even though he had refused to release his tax returns.

Tellingly, Faso’s response is the same response as that given by presidential counsel Kellyanne Conway, a person not known for her straightforwardness or adherence to logic.

The fact that Donald Trump was elected (by less than 50 percent of the voters) does not signify the electorate’s approval of his refusal to release his tax returns any more than the election results mean that the people who voted for him approved of his groping women.

A conscientious representative would want information about the president’s financial dealings before voting on legislation (such as any tax plan that the president will propose) that could very well impact the president’s finances. Only Trump’s tax returns can provide this information with relative completeness.

Faso’s performance at the April 13 televised event demonstrates that he is intelligent and articulate. Surely, he understands the logical flaw in his answer concerning Donald Trump’s tax returns. Faso has demonstrated his disingenuousness and devotion to the party line regardless of the interests of his constituents. Sad!

Amy Rothstein

Pine Plains

Thanks to all who helped

We want to thank the community for their support of our spring 2017 Basket of Cheer Raffle benefiting the Millbrook Memorial VFW Auxiliary — with special thanks to all of the businesses that donated gifts and congratulations to the  winner, Gerry Sargent!  

Due to your generosity, we raised over $500 to  give back to our local veterans, active-duty military and their families right here in our own backyard.

While VFW Post 9008 has called Millbrook home for over 50 years, the community has never had an Auxiliary.  

Last year that changed when several  interested and dedicated people came together and put in the countless hours of hard work needed to initiate an Auxiliary. Now, in less than a year, we concluded our first fundraiser and by all measures it was an outstanding success.

Community outreach and engagement served as a very important goal of this particular fundraiser. Due to the numerous unique and thoughtful donations from local businesses, the public was more than happy to support the VFW Auxiliary. With each ticket sold and gift pledged, the VFW Auxiliary’s  presence and mission is becoming more visible in the community. For this, we are eternally grateful. 

Stay tuned for future events and ways to help our veterans and their families!

Peter Doro

on behalf of the members of  VFW Auxiliary 9008

Millbrook

Big group came to breakfast

On Sunday, April 23, the Amenia Fire Company held its monthly pancake breakfast. 

We were pleased to have a crowd of 192 people in attendance to enjoy a hearty meal. We rely on the breakfast to raise much-needed money for general operations and we always appreciate the support of the community. 

We thank everyone who attends our meals throughout the year and we hope to see you again when we return in the fall.

Andy Murphy

on behalf of the Breakfast Committee, 

Amenia Fire Company and Auxiliary

Amenia

Don’t move the town garage

Moving the town garage to the site that’s apparently under consideration on Sharon Road is an absolutely terrible idea! We are not in the immediate vicinity, but that’s not the point. The fact is, putting the garage there would really be terrible for us all. Sharon Road heading down to Indian Lake and into Sharon is one of the loveliest and most pastoral roads in the area and it surprises me that the Town Board is considering this location at all. 

Attempting to locate a garage — and possibly eventually a transfer station — on Sharon Road would obviously be a disaster for the neighbors in the immediate area, and if the Town Board proceeds, it sounds as if it will have a protracted fight on its hands. Why not just look elsewhere? The last thing we need is increased noise and heavy traffic from the equipment and trucks in this very peaceful farm and residential section of town. There is also light pollution to consider. The highway garage belongs in a location where it will be compatible with the zoning. 

The town government has an obligation to make decisions based on taking a broad view of what’s best for the town.  Locating the garage on Sharon Road would be a bad deal no matter how good a deal the owner who is trying to sell the parcel in question may be willing to offer. Choosing this location will be more costly in the long run, in every way.  

I hope the Town Board will state for the record, as soon as possible, that they are not considering this property for our new highway garage. 

Ellen Adler

Millerton 

Many helped with egg hunt

The April 15 Easter Egg Hunt and Hayride event put on by the Millerton American Legion Post 178, the Millerton Gun Club, the Millerton Fire Company and Paraco Gas was a huge success.

Thanks to all who helped to make this a success and to the Eisermanns, who donated 500 stuffed plastic eggs.

The results of the golden egg prize winners are, birth to age 2, Westley Slater and Madeleine Pearson; age 3 to 4, Issac Johnson and Holden Slater; age 5 to 6, Christopher Piscitello and River Blu; age 7 to 8, Abby McEnroe and Damien Craver; age 9 and older, Loren Germond and Max Blumenthal.

Al Andrews

Chairman

Millerton