Shelter Island Letters to the Editor: July 25, 2024
Legislative overreach
To the Editor:
Abuse of power. It’s all the rage these days, and from all indications it will be on the menu for the foreseeable future. The party in power is irrelevant except for the manner of the abuse.
Locally, we have a group of people who are specialists at taking that which is not really theirs to take, based on nothing but the conviction that they know best what’s good for the rest of us.
Taking an extra 25 feet from people on the waterfront on dubious environmental grounds. Forcing all new residents to pay for the pollution of the water the old residents created. It’s all good.
I would note that the extra 25 feet was originally sold as a trigger for additional review. But most lawmakers lie, you see, which is why many citizens don’t believe them.
The lie is that “this is only so we can keep an eye on it.” Eventually, however, they almost always come for more. And more. And then still more. Then they charge you to get it back. Maybe.
Then again, as Seinfeld’s George Costanza sees it, it’s not a lie if YOU believe it. The absence of any science in support of any of it is a mere trifle when you are a true believer.
As for those pushing the septic agenda, none have seen fit to get one of these beauties themselves. Evidently their excrement is as pure as their motivations. Thank God.
What some evidently fail to see is that it is, in part, this type of incessant legislative overreach which has given MAGA Man traction and continues to do so. I can’t thank them enough…
I would encourage both parties to remember that what goes around comes around, and the shoes rarely fit as well as you thought they might.
PAUL SHEPHERD
Shelter Island
Thanks,
Joanne Sherman
To the Editor:
Joanne, I, too, am from Cleveland and have often watched the Cuyahoga burn! I, too, made my first visit to Shelter Island in the ‘60s! I snickered as I read your moves in the car to promote a speedy and safe ferry ride. I’ve done them all! Though I’ve never had to match a daily schedule or meet the judge in his courtroom, I have learned the ordeals of catching that ferry!
Yet, it’s one of the delights in my life! I love the Island! On my walls in Tennessee I have framed pictures of the South Ferry, Island maps, and life’s dearest friends.
I drive a great distance to catch ‘That darn ferry!’
Happy Crossings!
LINDA BATEMAN
Shelter Island
