Shelter Island Reporter Letters to the Editor
A lifeline
To the Editor:
The recent article regarding Winthrop discontinuing Dr. Kelt’s contract is disturbing (“Supe: We’ll sue for better med services,” March 21). Charlie and I have had many primary care doctors throughout our lives and have found Dr. Kelt to be the best of them all. Cancelling his contract is like cutting off our lifeline to good health.
Many of the people out here, both summer and year-round residents, are senior citizens and find that having Dr. Kelt and his excellent health care alliance here on the Island is a definite benefit to our medical care. I hope that Supervisor Gerth and our Town Board members follow up on their promise to do everything they can to support him and its continuance.
In addition, Winthrop may be forgetting that many of the summer residents that increase our population exponentially have their primary home in New York City and plan to retire here and have Doctor Kelt as their primary care doctor. If not, they access him and his group when here on the Island.
There are still health insurance policies that allow us to choose our own doctor, instead of having a large corporation do so for us.
That being the case, for us, Dr. Kelt trumps Winthrop any day.
LINDA PULS
Shelter Island
Face to face
To the Editor:
My husband and I would like to clarify our questions for the Town Board, and subsequently the Fire Commissioners, in regard to the new antenna that was installed at the Center Firehouse.
Two weeks ago, an article in the Reporter stated that we went to “complain” to the town about the glare from the tower and the fire siren. Our concerns were quite a bit more nuanced than that, particularly in regard to zoning and adhering to the town codes for cell towers, neighboring properties, camouflage and vegetative buffers, as well as clarification about the nature of the tower and possible current and future health risks to our family and neighbors.
After meeting with the town and being directed to speak with the Fire Commissioners, we did just that. We engaged in an in-depth discussion of our concerns and the Fire Department’s needs and procedures, and in the end, we are working toward a resolution that meets the needs of all parties involved.
We wholeheartedly appreciate the Fire Department and its volunteers who work hard to protect the safety of Shelter Island residents. Shelter Island is a small place and it is just this type of situation that should be able to be resolved through face-to-face discussion and problem solving. If you can’t be neighborly on Shelter Island, then where can you be?
JULIE and JOE DENNY
Shelter Island
Delivery system
To the Editor:
A healthcare “whale” silently swam under Shelter Island and pushed our local delivery system into a precarious position. The giant was fueled by technology, demand and insurance — forces that require scale. That scale feeds on systems and uniformity. These forces cannot be ignored when they comprise 20 percent of the U.S. economy.
Those of us conditioned to parking at 5 a.m. to position our appointment — anxiously waiting for Peter and Jean to arrive — or who benefited from Edgar’s wisdom, were privileged.
Today we still enjoy access to local medical services provided by those who share the same ethic as 20 years ago. I believe they are as critical of the “whale” as we are frustrated by it. It is unfair and counterproductive to blame those also riding precariously on its top.
RICHARD DENNING
Shelter Island
Class all the way
To the Editor:
The Shelter Island School’s 8th grade class has returned safely from its trip to Florida.
The students have worked hard for the last three years, participating in multiple fundraisers to raise the money needed to fly to Florida; attend a physics seminar in the parks; learn about different cultures outside the confines of our classroom walls; learn about themselves both individually and as a class; and, of course, enjoy a few rides, too!
They would like to thank the community that has supported their fundraising efforts. Thank you for coming to our car washes and yard sales, buying raffle tickets and donating prizes for our raffle, buying candles and wrapping paper, and letting us serve you at both the 10K pasta dinner and the Lions Club scallop dinner.
Your generosity helped each student raise the necessary funds to be able to attend this unique experience. Each student came away from this trip with memories that will last a lifetime. (Plus, how many kids get to say that they rode in the Tower of Terror with their school’s superintendent?)
Thanks to community members Patty Quigley, Paul Rylott, Gene Shepherd, Bobby Teodoru, Mike Johnson and the Shelter Island Fire Department for sponsoring matching T-shirts for the kids and chaperones for each day of our trip.
Thanks to Bert Waife for working with us to create the T-shirts.
Thank you to Saint Mary’s Episcopal Church, Our Lady of the Isle and the Adipietro family for making sure each child had enough funds to attend this trip. It truly does take a village!
JENNIFER GULLUSCIO
Shelter Island School 8th grade class adviser
