Mailbag

To The Editor:
I have been saddened by the negative letters pertaining to Margaretville Central School that have appeared in the Catskill Mountain News in the last couple of weeks. The event that took place at school was serious and unfortunate; however, it is very unfair to put blame on the teachers and staff for being negligent and uncaring.

To The Editor:
Here we are between the calendar’s benchmarks of patriotism and still in the center of a continuing civil war. There is so much negative energy and personal vendetta swirling around these Catskills, we can’t separate our own bullying selfishness from the real needs of the community as a whole.

To The Editor:
In rebuttal to the recent speculation of Ms. Rubin and her associates in the Catskill Mountain News' Letters to the Editor, questioning our intentions concerning our property, on which the proposed Fleischmanns water tower is to be built, I would like to state for the record once and for all, that we are not city people wanting to ruin the landscape of the area.

To The Editor:
Brian Sweeney’s editorial about the recent incident with second-graders at MCS contained some inaccurate statements. I do not wish to dwell on it or to interfere in anyone’s political domain, however such inaccuracies could lead to bad results and should be addressed.

To The Editor:
I am writing on behalf of the proposed eminent domain issues being faced by one of our area’s businesses. Susan and Jim Kelly, of Susan’s Pleasant Pheasant Farm, have created a wonderful bed and breakfast business in the Town of Halcottsville. It’s all the things that people think of when they envision the quintessential country home. The pristine lake surrounded by rolling mountains, the waterfall, the tiny church on a hill and the small art galleries that dot the landscape of this quaint village.

By Brian Sweeney
The news last week that seven second-graders at Margaretville Central School were plotting to attack one of their classmates was difficult to digest. Unfortunately, in this day and age, the reports did not come as a total shock. There are way too many similar episodes occurring for most of us to be completely surprised by this type of story.

To The Editor:
I am responding to Julia Green’s article “Halcottsville bridge plans stir troubled waters” in the April 16 to April 22 edition. My husband and I purchased a home in Margaretville two years ago. While we were looking to settle in this area, as well as some other locations, we came here to look and stayed at Susan’s Pleasant Pheasant Inn.

To The Editor:
On Saturday we had a bike accident at the railway crossing on Route 30, and while we’re both in pain, we’re grateful to so many people in our community. The nurse practitioner who stopped to make sure David was okay, the man who ran in to call for an ambulance, the trooper who sped to the scene. And then the moment of comedy as he asked where was the car. (There was no car—the accident was caused by the rail tracks.)

To The Editor:
You thought Communism was all but dead, but it is alive and well here in Fleischmanns where the politburo (aka the village board) is pursuing some demented version of the collective good by trampling on individual rights.
Here is how the board, in its infinite wisdom, decided to reimburse sewer hookups: give more to people who spent less and give less to people who spent more, and this in view of the fact that no one had any control whatsoever over what their hook-up would cost!

To The Editor:
In the May 14 letters section we were offered a nostalgic trip by a sincere traveler down memory lane, who, as it turns out, is a stout supporter of the Belleayre Mountain Ski Center. I applaud his remembrances of things past but realize that at our age (here I assume that we are peers) memory is not always correct. The Catskills were buzzing in summer activity, when we were young, catering to the escapees from the cities’ sweltering heat. This went on until attrition took its toll on that generation.