Shelter Island Reporter Letters to the Editor
Sign up for Team Flamingo
To the Editor:
October is here and we should all be reminded to display your pink ribbons proudly for the month to raise everyone’s awareness of breast cancer among our friends and family.
Remind others to get screened regularly and help support those who need it.
“Team Flamingo” will once again be a driving force at this year’s Shelter Island 5K, hoping to always beat last year’s time and money raised for the charities that support people right here on the East End.
If you would like to be a part of Team Flamingo, all are welcome. Simply add the team name to your 5K application. If you would like to be a sponsor of Team Flamingo, make out a check to North Fork Breast Health Coalition (NFBHC will do) and mail to me, Townsend Montant at P.O. Box 1198, Shelter Island Heights, NY 11965. Put in the note line “Team Flamingo.”
Any amount is more then welcome. We’re looking forward to seeing walkers and runners at the race.
TOWNY MONTANT
Shelter Island
Honorable, humble and talented
To the Editor:
I would like to thank John Cronin for his dedicated years of service to the town.
During my tenure serving as assessor, I had the privilege of working with John and witnessed his extensive knowledge base and impressive expertise on a daily basis.
On countless occasions and as a former assessor himself, he provided me with valuable counsel and would go to great lengths to make himself available whenever I needed the help. I am sincerely grateful for his guidance.
John is an honorable, humble and talented man who deeply cares about the well-being of Shelter Island and all its residents. His assessment of the challenges that face the town and suggested solutions should be taken extremely seriously.
They are thoughtful and prudent and our elected officials should heed his advice and value his opinion. Without question, the town government has lost a great asset.
John, thank you for the work you have done and your continued efforts to support and improve the Island.
QUINN KARPEH
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Expressions of love
To the Editor:
To my friends off and on the Island, I know it seems late, but I have to say a big “thank you” for all the support I have received since my wife’s passing last month.
Anne would never have believed all the friends that showed up at the wake, attended the church service or sent emails and cards. When you really have a problem on Shelter Island, that’s when the people show you who they really are. Even politics takes a seat on the sidelines during this time.
Anne and I enjoyed almost 59 years of marriage, but not without many arguments and disagreements. Our marriage was not perfect by any means, but with all the ups and downs, the thought of a divorce was never part of any decision.
We were totally different personalities and we always knew it. We did share the same qualities in the things that were really important.
Although I miss her terribly, the wonderful memories we had together make me thankful for so many good times. I will now go on living the best life I know how, but will never forget the kindness in so many people in their expressions of love to me and my family.
Thank you,
BOB DeSTEFANO
Shelter Island
Appreciation
To the Editor:
As Chris Lewis retires from the Town Council and from overseeing for the town the Senior Center, we should give appreciation for her (and the Town Council’s) efforts over the years to help plan many useful programs for what is a highly successful senior center.
As a retired academic professor mainly researching senior housing programs in the United States, Canada and Western Europe (with three published books on the subject), I very much say thank you to Chris Lewis for her efforts.
We should also acknowledge Gert Bourne for her work on the program development and, of course, the long-time staff at the Senior Center, Henrietta Roberts.
Elizabeth Dickerson Huttman
Shelter Island
There oughta be a law
To the Editor:
Well, the games have begun, with election signs everywhere. This Sunday, if you attend the League of Women Voters and Shelter Island Association Forum, you will be able to connect a face with a sign.
A few weeks ago I attended the Shelter Island Association’s 50th Anniversary at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church. We have been members for 50 years and had never been to a meeting since we are the unknown, middle of the Island residents. There were a few politicians there and representatives from their Home Owners Associations — Ram Island, Hay Beach, Silver Beach, The Heights and Shorewood. Tim Hogue was honored for his long service with the association. I was disappointed there were not more people there.
Now that we start October, which seems like the kickoff for the holidays, the Island is still busy, busy. We have gone from “five outfit weekends” to three. We’re still in dire need of a bicycle path or some kind of designated route. It’s perfect weather for a bike ride around our beautiful Island.
Land preservation seems to be a hot item lately — what to buy and when and who will be able to make use of it? The people who have paid into the 2 percent preservation tax? Does NYS Proposal Number three pertain to us? And of course the septic debacle — what, when and where to start, and are there any guidelines from Suffolk County Department of Health Services yet?
So many questions that cannot seem to get answered. We always hear the comment, “there oughta be a law against it,” whatever “it” may be, on any given subject. So now we have a law against short-term rentals and it stinks!
I can’t drive down Burns Road to the waterfront without a tear in my eye, and you all know why. Gone, but it will never be forgotten!
GEORGIANA KETCHAM
Shelter Island
Remember 9/11
To the Editor:
This is hard for me to express. This year’s 9/11 remembrance was troubling.
As the day approached, I looked in the August 31 and September 7 editions of the Shelter Island Reporter for information about this year’s 9/11 memorial event and wasn’t able to find any mention.
Our Lady of Isle’s parish bulletin on September 10 stated that a memorial service would be conducted at the Center Firehouse at 10 a.m. on 9/11. O.K. That seemed definitive enough. Lo and behold, on September 11 the Fire Department raised its giant, beautiful flag and firefighter’s uniform was folded beneath it, in remembrance. Lovely.
I payed my respects beside the relic of the World Trade Center and waited for others to show up. No one else came.
I was saddened, to say the least.
Let’s make sure that next year’s 9/11 memorial is better publicized and attended with our community coming together as we have in years past. I think we can all agree it is our duty to remember those we lost on that terrible day in Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C. and at the World Trade Center in the greatest city in the world, New York.
MARGARET (MARGAUX) L. KING
Shelter Island
An advance story appeared on the Reporter’s website, the event was covered in a story on our website, and there was an editorial in the September 7 issue promoting 9/11 as a national holiday. — Ed.
Fire escape plan
To the Editor:
National Fire Prevention Week is October 8 through October 14. Going back to the basics, this year’s theme is “Every second counts; plan two ways out.”
Due to home products and furnishings that produce toxic gases and smoke when burned, making it impossible to see within minutes, there is a much smaller window of time for people to escape a fire — just one or two minutes from the time the smoke alarm sounds.
Creating and praticing a Home Fire Escape Plan, with two exits from every room, a clear path to the outside and a safe meeting place, improves chances of surviving a serious fire.
Together with working smoke detectors, a Home Fire Escape Plan that you practice with the entire household at least twice a year, you have given your family the gift of life.
ANTHONY REITER
Chief, Shelter Island Fire Department
