Saturday April 20, 2024 
A poor response to a serious concern-PFOA in Poestenkill
I was somewhat surprised by Owen Goldfarb’s Editorial (The Advertiser, October 7, 2021
In his proposed “solution”, he suggested “ Until testing is completed homeowners can consider installing an under-sink PFOA certified filtration system costing about $100.”
Sure, that is an easy and relatively inexpensive “solution” to what might or might not be in our wells. But is this ad hoc answer the answer? Nope. It doesn’t address our families’ using water in the bathroom(s) as we brush our teeth. Or even exposure to PFOA infused water in our showers and baths, a risk/possibility that has not been ruled out. And how do we know if this work around is even effective? More $350.00 tests. Every quarter. So this “solution” adds up to about $1,500.00 a year. Sure Owen. Easy to say. And this is from the person that just a few weeks ago, when discussing a potential Town financial Windfall, admonished the Board to spend the money wisely. All the while suggesting we, the possible victims sponsor the solution.
Yes, some pretty good advice. But, as usual, there is a “back story”. And it has something to do with Mr. Goldfarb’s alleged whisper campaign for the town to pay for extending Cable service to his area of town. At least one Town Board member has allegedly been approached.
Now, I have no argument that he wants cable. But it is only one part of town. Perhaps such an expansion should be financed by the potential users. Just like the town did with the Water District. A specific need, a specific section of town. Collect data and costs and vote up or down on such a prospect. Or maybe it may be covered in some Federal or State spending package. Or done as a “member item” by our Senator or Assemblyman?
Or simply do as I have to do for my water. Drive to Wynantskill and buy it. For the cost of a cup of coffee, you get to use free Wi-Fi
There Owen, fixed it. And for far less than $1,500.00 per year….
Like you said, “spend the money wisely”… Good advice….
Evan Eisenhandler, Poestenkill
North Greenbush Ambulance
North Green hosted on First Responders Community Day on October 9. It was nice to learn more about our first responders, especially the North Greenbush Ambulance. We need to support our North Greenbush Ambulance more. Over the last year, North Greenbush Town Board member, Jack Rogers has diligently highlighted this issue at town meetings. North Green bush has experienced an increase in ambulance calls. In 2021, from January to Oct 14 there were 1418 calls for the ambulance. In contrast, the same period last year only had 922 calls. This is 50% more calls and stems from some of the new development in town. In the 2022 budget, the North Greenbush Ambulance does get an increase in allocations, but more is needed. We need better long-term planning and support for the North Greenbush Ambulance. Currently, North Greenbush has only one ambulance location located in Wynantskill. Another site is needed to provide better coverage of the town. Minutes matter, when my father had a stroke, he was able to recover because an ambulance was able to get him to a medical facility in a timely manner and he received the clot-busting drug. Working together, we can make North Greenbush even better.
Michael Myer, North Greenbush
Not Your Grandfather’s Democrat
The Democrat party of the past two decades has evolved, or more aptly stated, digressed into something closely resembling the National Socialist Workers Party in pre-war Germany. Their tactics of deception, division, cultural engineering, and mass propaganda have seemingly been adopted and followed to the letter by the DNC. Devoid of constructive ideas or programs palatable to mainstream America, Democrats have nothing to run on other than fabricated character assignations of their political opponents. Their true agenda for America had to remain cloaked as what freedom loving American would vote for losing their liberty and freedoms? But, recall summer 2020. Antifa and BLM were allowed to riot, burn, and commit murder in several U.S. cities while their Democrat mayors, V.P. candidate Kamala Harris, and Pelosi seemingly endorsed this anarchy. So, what does the Democrat party endorse and promote? Full term abortion – aka infanticide. Totally open borders. Any and all variations of moral depravity. Suppression of free speech of all with opposing views. Incremental and subtle elimination of the Bill of Rights. These are just a portion of their goals. Continuation of Obama’s stated goal to “fundamentally change America”. So, just as Mr. Baker is asking for Republican candidates, I believe in equal opportunity. Who are these Democrat candidates. As Democrats how do they reconcile their party’s platform? What form of Socialism are they willing to accept and impose upon our little corner of America? Do unborn lives matter?
Gary Blauvelt, Averill Park
Poestenkill Business Association Meet the Candidates
Monday night we had a successful Meet the Candidates night with all candidates showing up for the county legislature seats, county clerk, Poestenkill Town Board and Town supervisor. The real showdown, however, was between Steve McLaughlin and Gwen Right. McLaughlin is the obvious front runner for the county executive seat while Right is a newcomer challenging on the basis of transparency of government and “bringing the right jobs to Rensselaer County.” When asked to clarify what jobs she was looking to bring into the county, she responded with “I don’t have any specifics.” McLaughlin’s answer was that all jobs are valuable, even ones that start at $15-20 an hour when you are bringing in thousands of them. “You can’t cater only to people that want to make $200k a year.”
Right challenged that the county needed to be more transparent and that their covid info was hard to find. This is a jaw dropping statement as Rensselaer county had every stat plastered all over the internet along with daily informational press releases.
One member of the public asked what the county was doing to find the source of PFOA in the Town of Poestenkill. After a lengthy description of the wells that had been tested, the results that were being waited on, and the methodical approach that DOH and DEC were taking on this issue, it was pretty clear that it is being handled in the best possible fashion. All the candidates on the democratic ticket including Ms. Right were given the opportunity for rebuttal and the room was met with…total silence. It appears that even they think the current county government is doing a top notch job on this issue. All in all, this night was a clear win for republicans.
Steve Valente, Averill Park
Fact-checking Eric Wholleber
FACT No. 1 is that the political theater called a “Community Meeting” in Poestenkill on 27 September 2021, a farce now known as the “Eric and Judy Show,” or “Wholleber’s Whitewash,” was a “community meeting” only in the old Soviet Union sense of the term, where the subjects, us in the case, were herded into an auditorium, there to sit at attention and be properly subservient while the Party Leaders informed them of the Rules of the Day and what to think and not think, and who to listen to, in this case Eric Wholleber, Judy Enck, Bob Brunet and the two nice suits with nice haircuts from the State of New York, and who not to listen to, which in this case would be Paul Plante.
Such a farce might fly elsewhere, but Poestenkill is a community of veterans who fought to be a free people, not subjects, and so, it does not fly here, and thankfully, we older people in this town who do not have computer access or cell phones or FACEBOOK or TWITTER or ZOOM have the Advertiser or we would be totally shut out of the discussions on PFOA in our groundwater.
If it was a real community meeting, we would have been able to ask Eric Wholleber exactly when it was that he no longer trusted DEC (destroyer of the environment and communities), because he had absolutely no trouble whatsoever trusting them on 6 December 2017 when I sent to him a writing entitled RE: PDD/Transfer station Records; The DEC Finagle; The next Hoosick Falls.
We would have been able to ask Water Manager Bob Brunet why he was offering to sell water outside the water district as if this were North Greenbush and the water supply in Poestenkill were his private toy.
We would have been able to ask County Associate Public Health Engineer Rich Elder why he was quoted in the Times Union saying he was not looking for the source of the PFOA, while asking the nice suit and haircut from DEC if their burying $312,500 worth of environmental crimes at the Poestenkill transfer station had any affect on that decision.
Paul Plante, Poestenkill