Friday April 19, 2024 
CORRECTION: Poestenkill residents, your EMS system is not broken
The letter to the editor titled “Poestenkill residents, your EMS system is not broken” that appeared in our August 27, 2020 edition was signed incorrectly. It should have been signed: Liu Basle, Poestenkill – not June Butler
It’s Time To Restore Democracy To Education
Betsy DeVos, our current Secretary of Education of the United States, has been beset with unwarranted criticism from people within the education industry since the very beginning of her tenure.
She is an outsider and as such threatens the status quo of a corrupt and incestuous industry. She believes in school choice and school choice threatens the control that leftist factions have been cultivating in our country for over a century.
School Choice is necessary and inevitable. It’s ironic that Democrats are always talking about “our democracy” but are dead-set against our right to choose when it comes to education.
Democracy is a necessary component of the management of our republic but it is not an end in and of itself. It is simply the means to an end.
Our God-given rights are rights that we have to choose. We choose to vote or pray or bear arms. We are not compelled by law to do these things. We briefly lost our right to choose our health care and see the doctor of our choice during the term of Barrack Obama and the former president is now suggesting that President Trump and his Education Secretary are threats to democracy?
Democracy is having and making choices. You have no standing to claim support for democracy if you do not support choice in education.
David Crawmer
Save the current EMS system
I attended the Poestenkill town board meeting Thursday August 19th. Supervisor Hammond was on vacation and the meeting was run by councilman Wohlleber. I asked Mr. Wohlleber how much sales tax revenue the town is losing due to covid-19. His reply was that we are about 13% down on sales tax revenue. The town budgeted $200,000 income from sales tax revenue. Taking the 13% estimate, the town will only get $133,000 not the $200,000 as budgeted.
Covid-19 has cost the Federal government, State government, County government, and local towns thousands of dollars. Our town will be in a financial bind come budget time. All Town department heads were asked to cut their budget 10% from last year’s budget amount. Anyone can see that our taxes will be going up. Some of our town people are laid off from their jobs, some are on reduced work hours,. Many people are using the food pantry (bread of life) that have never used it before. Things are really tough.
With all that is going on, there are three town board members (Mr Hammond, Mr Van Slyke, Mr. Wohlleber) pushing to start a ambulance district with a price tag of $225,000. Is now really the time to do this?
The current EMS System in the town is superior to many of our neighbouring towns. The cooperation between the Poestenkill Fire Company first responders and Mohawk Ambulance is superb. This is a model of a public service agency and a private enterprise working together. This service to our residents is not costing the town one cent.
If it is not broken, don’t fix it!!
I urge you to attend the town board meeting, September 17th and tell our town leaders you are not in favor of the proposed ambulance district.
Lou Basle, Poestenkill resident
The Heat Retreat
Now that the sweltering heat of summer is left behind
There are last chance summer treasures you shall find
I water the thirsty flowers before they wilt
Taking time to enjoy all the vibrant colors
And unique scents to the hilt
The leaves on the threes dance to the summer breeze
I appreciate their beauty now because
When winter is upon us they shall all freeze
A storm ends abruptly leaving a rainbow over my home
God’s way of showing me we are never alone
My favorite bunny brings her young to the yard to eat
A delightful sight that makes my summer complete
I run barefoot through the tall grass
My skin tingles and my toes tickle
It’s a refreshing feeling And I long to make it last
Take the time to gaze upon the earth
While it is in full bloom
The joys of summer end much too soon
I will keep a picture of this in my mind
When I need to relax and unwind
Savor the attributes of each season
And remember that their here for a specific reason
God paints a beautiful sunset in the sky each night
I pray as my spirit soars to a new height
I admire the Lords each and every creation
Knowing that every day of life
Is worthy of a celebration
Donna Masters, Troy
Memoirs of an Amnesiac: A Little Off the Top
Q: What’s the difference between a bad haircut and a good one?
A: About a week.
The house where I live has been in our family since 1955, when my parents bought it from the town barber, Larry Barnum. His little shop still stands next to the house. A few other barbers worked there afterwards, but it’s been vacant since the mid-70s.
Ironically, we lived here some years before I had a haircut in the shop. Mom did the honors when I was little. The white-side-wall look was in style then; even so, Mom was a bit over-zealous with her clippers. My brother and I prevailed on her finally to let us try the professional next door. That’s when we discovered the magical smells in a barber shop. I remember sitting in there one Summer afternoon, listening to a Yankees game on the radio. A customer ahead of me was smoking some aromatic pipe tobacco which made me wish I were old enough to smoke. And there was bay rum. I can still pick up a whiff when I walk by the building.
My Dad was never comfortable as a landlord, and our final tenant annoyed him to the breaking-point. Let’s just say there ethics issues. When Dad ordered him to clear out, the guy seemed to take it as an invitation: Within a few days, the barber chair and most other fixtures were gone! Dad was just so glad to see the back of him, he didn’t phone the police.
When I went to college, the nearest barber was a considerable walk away. And one day I discovered after my haircut that I had forgotten to bring my wallet. I hurried back to the dorm to get the barber his money; but I could never forget the initial look on his face, when he thought I was trying to stiff him. That’s when I hatched the idea of trimming my own hair. How hard could it be, after all?
I pinch my pennies so hard, Lincoln has a headache. I’ve saved beaucoup barber money over the years. And our COVID-19 pandemic never interrupted my haircut schedule. My coiffure looks just as eye-catching as ever.
Ron McKee, Averill Park
Once upon a time
It was a Sunday afternoon
when there was a knock at my door
I knew who he was
though I had never seen him before
He said he was glad he found me
I said I never knew I was lost
It was a beautiful sunny day
But I knew he could feel m frost
Can I come in he asked
You better not was my reply
I’d like to get to know you he said
After twenty-five years I asked why
I’d like to make up for those years
you know I am still your Dad
You may have fathered me I said
but you were never my Dad
Is this how you want to leave it he asked
I said this is how you left it years ago
As he turned to leave I saw a tear in his eye
but I would not let my tears show
Some say time heals all wounds
yet the scars still remain
Reminding you every day
of your heartache and pain
Now the little boy inside of me
wanted to stop him and hold him tight
But all the man inside of me could do
was watch him walk away out of sight
Walter De BELL, Troy
Imagination
Stories, books, poems and pictures
Enjoyed by the fire
In an old rocking chair,
Can make you downright homesick
For places where you’ve never lived,
Nor even ever been!
They can make you miss people
That you never knew,
Never even met!
Why, I’ve been places, done things and met folks
That others might never experience,
Without ever leaving my rocker.
You see, my old chair is a magic transporter,
That can take me anywhere
And through time in either direction.
The only fuel required for the trip,
Is my imagination…stimulated
By a story, a book, a poem or a picture!
Lloyd Barnhart, West Sand Lake
Barnes Road Area Neighborhood Association Planning Board Meeting
To the Editor:
Barnes Rd is in an A/R district. It is zoned that way for a very good reason.There is an active farm area with an active successful equine farm. There are few such active agricultural areas left. Party barns are popping up everywhere. Don’t let that happen to this neighborhood.
Respectfully submitted
Bonnie Martin, West Sand Lake
The world’s shortest sermon
A person’s rights come from God not from government
It’s not some empty sentiment
But could be stamped into wet cement
And when the slab is dry and hard,
It could be set up in your yard
And every word will ring true to people passing by
Many slabs are needed for the Constitution
Then the Bill of Rights,
Two documents written by this nation’s acolytes
The Gettysburg Address should stand among the rest
Along with the 23rd Psalm, the Lord’s Prayer and the Sermon on the Mount.
They teach us what life’s all about.
Then there’s the words of Solomon
If you ain’t read him where have you been?
Now the yard is getting good and full,
Though some decry it as an oddity.
They stop but fail to see because they’re lost
Or cannot read, or fail to learn or can’t discern
What is right or what is wrong
Or what is worse than all – don’t know human history.
God bless America!
Dean Evans, The Outhouse Poet, August 23, 2020
Yearn To Learn
Education is something we take for granted
It’s how the seeds of wisdom are planted
Everyone has the opportunity to make the world better
You need not be rich or a trend setter
Just put your mind to the test
And let your ambition and goals do the rest
Don’t worry about which school or the cost of tuition
What’s important is that your dreams come to fruition
The world should instill complete dedication
To the significance of education
It’s said that the more you learn the more you earn
Great minds took special attention
To develop each and every invention
For without a filament we would be without light
Left to wander around aimlessly into the night
If it wasn’t for the wheel their wouldn’t be a car
And mankind wouldn’t get very far
There would be no planes in the sky
If man didn’t have the courage to fly
Nothing is as impossible as it seems
Great ideas sometimes require elaborate schemes
A wise man uses his brain, for it is better
To discern, than it is to complain
Knowledge frees us from the chains of adversity
And protects us from calamity
Remember to ask for wisdom from the Lord above
And teach everyone the attributes of kindness and love
Donna Masters, Troy