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Sheltler Island Reporter Letters to the Editor: March 18-24

School superintendent responds

To the Editor:

I would also like to clarify a few points regarding the former superintendent’s letter to the editor last week (“School budget,” March 18).

The current Assembly and Senate bill in the New York State Legislature call for an increase in the fund balance limit to 6% or 8%.  This would only take us slightly above that number.

While many districts spent more money during the pandemic, we actually saved more money by renegotiating contracts in order to save the district enough money to pay for our much-needed septic system upgrade without having to ask the community for a bond. 

The writer of the letter claims to know where to “hide monies.” Our district never “hides monies.” 

While this may have been a practice when he was a superintendent, this has never been a practice of the Shelter Island Union Free School District.  We are audited by internal and external auditors. We also are obviously audited by New York State.

The Board of Education and I are committed to putting forth a budget as prudent and fiscally responsible as possible. We are committed to staying under the tax cap. We value the taxpayers very much and would never ask them for more than is necessary. 

BRIAN DOELGER, Ed.D, Shelter Island Superintendent of Schools

Take a step back

To the Editor:

Lest someone get the wrong idea, Bert Waife stated “permits were not issued to removal of a house” on this property. Unless you call a house four walls, roof and running water about to fall down, then I guess you could call it a house.

The O’Connor family did everyone a big favor arranging for the 2% funds to purchase this land. If you look at the parcel of land adjacent on Nostrand Parkway you can’t help but notice the growth of vines severely suffocating anything that might want to grow. Nothing has been able to grow at all and it is a tangle of vines.

You may also want to look at the parcel of land located at the southwest corner, which is owned by the Silver Beach Association. It is attractive and bears the sign identifying “Silver Beach.”  If it were not for the Association maintaining, cutting and grooming it, that land would eventually look unattractive.

Why don’t we take a step back and see the results. After all, Sandy O’Connor said it looks the way she remembers it when her grandfather was alive.

JANE BABINSKI, Shelter Island

What’s all the fuss about?

To the Editor:

I remember when the lot at the end of West Neck Road and Nostrand Parkway was all clear and farmed by Leo Urban.

When I was a little kid, I used to ride my bike to his farmstand on Brander Parkway and buy packs of seeds from him for our own vegetable garden.

I applaud the town for removing the invasives and bringing the lot back to what it was, while leaving select mature trees.

As a past town highway superintendent Leo would be proud.

PETER REICH, Former councilman, Town of Shelter Island

Memories of Gordon

To the Editor:

When we moved to Shelter Island in 1998, I was delighted to discover that Janet Roach — a longtime friend and colleague from our days at CBS News — was living here. But an even greater delight was getting to know her husband, Gordon Potts. Through the years, Phyllis and I spent many joyous evenings in their company. 

When Janet emailed me with the sad news about Gordon’s death, I was engulfed in a flood of happy memories I have of that dear, gentle man, who never lost his love for his native New Zealand. Here’s just one of those recollections. 

One Saturday in May, Phyllis and I hosted a cocktails-and-hors d’oeuvres party at our home on the afternoon of the running of the Preakness Stakes, the second leg in the Triple Crown of horse racing, at the Pimlico track in Baltimore.

As the horses and jockeys moved toward their post positions, a group of us eagerly clustered around the television set in our den to watch the race. We didn’t have long to wait, for suddenly the gates opened and we heard the familiar cry, “They’re off!”      

As it happened, Gordon was standing next to me on my right, and as we intently gazed at the thoroughbreds galloping past the grandstand and toward the clubhouse turn, he turned to me and whispered, “You know, I used to ride a horse to school every day.”

That struck me as so improbable that I thought I didn’t hear him clearly.  So I whispered back, “Excuse me, Gordon, but did you just tell me that when you were a kid in New Zealand, you rode a horse to school?”

“Yes, that’s what I said. It was no big deal.” Then after a pause, he added, “A lot of us rode horses to school in those days. It was fairly common.” 

I was so entertained by his revelation that I lost interest in the Preakness and as soon as it was over, I peppered Gordon with questions about his boyhood and especially about his equine approach to education.  He happily elaborated on the subject of his long-ago school days and I was enthralled by his reminiscences.

He was quite a guy.

GARY PAUL GATES, Shelter Island