Letters to the Editor

What happened to our country?

Since the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States, we have had the release of the January 6 insurrectionists, withdrawal from the Paris Climate accord, signed actions eliminating DEI, the revocation of pathways for immigrants to legally enter the United States, often on humanitarian grounds. This administration is trying to overturn local and state sanctuary laws to expedite mass deportation. It won’t matter if they have a work permit, asylum or an American sponsor. Yes, we need a better immigration policy but Trump’s plan isn’t it.

Does anyone feel comfortable with Elon Musk’s Nazi-like salute? He spent $277 million supporting Trump andother Republican candidates. Musk now says he will go beyond supporting Trump to serve as his “political enforcer.” When does a president need a “political enforcer like Musk except in a dictatorship? Sounds ominous to me!

Elon Musk has a long history of boosting far-right policies. He has been pushing for deregulation of business laws and encouraging antisemitism and racism. Doesn’t it boggle your mind that Elon Musk is Trump’s “right hand man” and is well known for his bigotry? Trumps’ son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is Jewish, and his daughter, Ivanka, converted to Judaism to marry Jared. Yet King Trump has a zenophobic intolerant person as his collaborator. Trump is still a charlatan and witless, greedy, narcissistic carnival barker, but Elon Musk is clever enough to use King Trump’s Achilles heel, ego, for his own agenda.

Where is the enforcement of the ethics rules from our federal government in regard to King Trump’s selling of a line of merchandise? His brand sells Bibles, sneakers, gold medallions, watches, guitars, Christmas ornaments etc. It seems the rules do not apply to King Trump.

Now we have J. D. Vance calling for Europe to be inclusive of far-right parties. Vance recently visited Dachau in Germany, and is well aware of the Holocaust atrocities yet says we shouldn’t shun far-right parties. I can’t imagine what our allies think of the United States. Certainly the German Chancellor made it known what he thought of Vance’s speech.

America is supposed to be the beacon of light for other countries. We are supposed to stand for equality, justice, tolerance and fairness. As many times as our country has missed the mark with these issues, there was always hope and people who worked towards these goals. Now we have, barely, mediocrity, criminality, increased racism, rewriting our laws to suit the ambitions of King Trump and his minions. A good example of this is Trump’s pledge to end birthright citizenship which is guaranteed by the 14th Amendment.

Trumps’ enormously toxic reign has already damaged our nation and will continue to do so. The next four years will be full of turmoil, misrule, and unruliness.

I just hope our country survives.

Gretchen Gordon

Sharon

Concern: 150-foot cell tower for Route 22

I wonder how many people in our local area realize that there is a 150-foot cell tower proposed on the east side of Route 22 just north of the intersection with Catalano Road in Ancram.While there may be a need to improve cellphone service in our vicinity, I am concerned about the possibility of erecting a 150-foot cell tower in Ancram’s Scenic Corridor Overlay Zone along Route 22.The proposed site, at a rise in the highway, would make the cell tower a featured part of the landscape for anyone driving north or south along Route 22.And it would have a very negative impact on the broad and open expanse of the Oblong Valley for residents of Ancram, Millerton, and other neighboring towns.We must determine whether there are alternative places to site the tower.

Here is a portion of the Scenic Corridor Overlay Zone text from the Ancram zoning law: “The Town of Ancram, New York, recognizes that the New York State Route 22 corridor and that portion of the Harlem Valley lying within that corridor, including the Taconic State Park and its mountain ranges and Fox Hill, are some of the Town’s and surrounding community’s premium scenic assets.

Within this corridor there exists a confluence of valuable assets for the Town and its residents including, but not limited to, environmental, recreational and scenic resources, and these scenic resources contribute significantly to the overall rural character of the town and possess attributes which the community seeks to preserve and enhance, while accommodating growth and change.”

The zoning law that covers the Scenic Corridor Overlay Zone also notes that any telecommunication tower within the Scenic Corridor Overlay Zone must be limited to 100 foot.Homeland Towers and Verizon seek to build a very tall and obtrusive 150ft cell tower well above the reasonable limit set by the town zoning. Constructing a 150-foot cell tower at this site would be a huge intrusion upon and devaluation of the special recognized character of this area.We hope that the Ancram Zoning Board of Appeals will deny the major variance for a 150-foot cell tower.We encourage the ZBA to uphold the 100-foot cell tower limit, thus preserving the scenic value rather than damaging it.

The Oblong Valley area is home to several noteworthy and scenic hiking and recreational areas that include the Columbia Land Conservancy’s Overmountain Conservation Area, the Harlem Valley Rail Trail, the Taconic State Park Rudd Pond Area, and the Taconic Ridge Trail over Brace and South Brace Mountains.Views from these well-used and treasured recreational areas should be preserved rather than diminished.

Balloon tests at 100 feet and 150 feet for this proposed cell tower are set to take place on upcoming Saturdays when the wind is predicted to be light.So far, four Saturdays have proven to be too windy to run the tests.Please do your part to protect our scenic corridor and the Oblong Valley by finding out more about this proposal, observing balloon tests to assess the visual impact of the cell tower, and informing your neighbors of this cell tower proposal.Help to preserve this valuable scenic and recreational community resource.

Jane H. Meigs

Millerton, New York