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Shelter Island Reporter Letters to the Editor: September 11th, 2001. Never forget.

JO ANN KIRKLAND PHOTO
JO ANN KIRKLAND PHOTO

September 11, 2001
To the Editor:
We should never forget the tens of thousands of troops who went to war, those who lost their lives, and those who were wounded and forever scarred.

We should never forget that they did so to defend our democracy.

We should never forget our politicians who so often flagrantly disregard that very democracy for their own agendas and gain.

We should never forget the thousands who have been slaughtered and maimed by terrorists and religious extremists.

We should never forget the thousands of innocent civilians who have been killed and injured as collateral damage in our wars and ongoing conflicts.

We should never forget our troops and first responders who risk their lives to protect us today, as they do every day.

September 11th, 2001. Never forget.
VINCENT NOVAK
Shelter Island

Fight far from over
To the Editor:
There was a rally September 3 in front of East Hampton Town Hall with about 20 people supporting efforts to abate helicopter noise. Present at the rally were at least seven members of the Silver Beach Association as well as at a board meeting following.

About 20 spoke at the meeting about issues surrounding East Hampton Airport and noise abatement. A sizable portion of people attending was from outside East Hampton.

Everyone was appreciative of the efforts of the board, urging it to continue the fight against the helicopter companies.

But there were expressions of frustration and anger that the problem of aircraft noise has not lessened and seaplanes and jets have added to the problem.

Many speakers asked why there were continuing violations of the adopted curfews — helicopters taking off and landing prior to 7 a.m. and after 11 p.m. Some speakers provided the board with specific suggestions on moving forward with this battle.

I spoke on behalf of the Silver Beach community and Shelter Island, urging the board to put more pressure on our U.S. senators and Congressman Zeldin, letting them know in the strongest terms that voters will remember their positions at the polls.

I told the board to be more proactive in keeping East End residents informed about plans combating aircraft noise and the issues still being contested. One key provision the board wanted to achieve — limiting the noisiest of helicopters to one trip weekly, is still to be decided in a federal courtroom.

One speaker asked the board if it would consider closing the airport to all commercial traffic. Supervisor Cantwell responded it was not a possibility until 2021 because of FAA contractual issues.

He stated there would be additional information sometime in the fall addressing the curfew violators and penalties and fines. He said the fight is far from over.

Supervisor Jim Doughtery is working closely with other East End town supervisors in support of the East Hampton Town Board’s ongoing fight.
JAMES COLLIGAN
President, Silver Beach Association

Sunset Beach must pay
To the Editor:
On Monday morning, September 7, we were greeted by photographs on Facebook that showed a disgusting mess left on Crescent Beach in the area surrounding Sunset Beach, primarily deposited by last night’s guests of that establishment.

As local residents and friends of Shelter Island, we are fed up with the continued lack of respect for our town beach by this resort that profits from the use of our property.

The beach, sidewalk and street in front of the resort is littered with bar glasses, beer bottles, cigarette butts, overflowing garbage cans, dirty diapers, food waste, etc. It is unsafe to walk the beach without shoes on in the immediate area. Additional trash from the establishment’s guests is peppered down the entire length of our public beach. The restaurant dumpster smells like rotting garbage for many feet beyond the boundaries of their property.

The excessive cleanup required by this resort should not be the responsibility of taxpayers by town employees. We request that the resort take responsibility for their patrons’ mess in full. They should provide their own trash cans and recycling containers on the beach in their immediate area, to be emptied by their employees and put away every night as part of their closing cleanup.

Their tents should be unchained from the public railing, and removed to storage at the end of every day. The dumpster should be relocated or sanitized to reduce the offensive smell. The entire beach needs to be thoroughly cleaned by employees of Sunset Beach daily before town employees arrive for regular maintenance.

It is only fair that this establishment treats our public property as well or better than their patrons would expect their hotel rooms to be: clean, sanitary, beautiful. If the resort is unable to provide employees to take care of the surrounding area, they need to pay the town for two full-time employees — day and night, for both safety/traffic control and cleanup — for the entire time that they are open, to protect this incredible gem of a beach from further degradation.

Anything else is unacceptable.
CARRIE WOOD
Shelter Island