To the Editor:
My sincere thanks to Red Hook voters for affording me the high honor and awesome responsibility of serving as one of your town justices. I pledge to preside to the very best of my abilities. I look forward to joining with my friend and colleague, Judge-elect Jeff Martin, in providing Red Hook a court of which we can all be justly proud.
Jonah Triebwasser
Red Hook Town Justice-elect
To the Editor:
As a practicing physician in Dutchess County, I am very concerned that access to care for seniors in our community is at risk because of Medicare physician payment cuts. Over the next two years the government plans to chop Medicare physician payments by 15 percent, yet the costs of running a medical practice continue to rise sharply. In fact, medical liability premiums for New York physicians just went up 14 percent this past July, and have gone up 55-80 percent since 2002. This huge disparity between costs and payments are forcing some doctors to make tough decisions. According to one survey, 60 percent of physicians nationwide indicate they will be forced to limit the number of new Medicare patients they can treat if payment cuts go into effect Jan. 1.
In order to stop the Medicare cuts from hurting seniors, the Congress and the President need to enact legislation that will stop the cuts and increase payments to help cover practice costs, while limiting premium increases for patients. The House of Representatives took the first step by passing legislation that will prevent this cut by eliminating $54 billion in overpayments to Medicare HMOs. Now similar action needs to be taken by the Senate.
We are already beginning to see a loss of critically needed specialists in this region and across New York State. Action must be taken by our lawmakers to prevent this problem from getting worse.
Imtiaz Mallick
President, Dutchess County Medical Society
To the Editor:
I recently attended a Common Council meeting in downtown Poughkeepsie. The meeting was very interesting. Many topics were discussed. The topic with the most concerns and issues was the parking on Garfield Street.
The residents of Garfield Street believe that non-residents should have two hours to park on their street, and that’s it. They say drivers park their cars blocking their driveways, causing them to lose income and livelihood because some of the houses are used as work spaces. But the staff at Eden Park Nursing Home, which is a block away from Garfield, totally disagree. They believe this affects them greatly because they have students who come from Dutchess Community College and various BOCES programs and they need places to park. The elderly need visitors and it shouldn’t be a problem if they park on Garfield during that time.
I believe Garfield should remain a public parking area. The nursing profession is very limited and they are desperate for more nurses. The students need a place to park when they are getting their education. What’s the big deal? Secondly, the residents at Eden Park need visitors. Visitors shouldn’t be punished because they have nowhere to park.
Carlton Williams
Poughkeepsie High School
To the Editor:
I am a senior at Poughkeepsie High School, and in September, I attended a Board of Education meeting located down the street from the middle school. I thought it was very informative and fun. I like the topics that were discussed, especially the swipe cards. I like the comments that the citizens made about them because they affect me a lot.
I also like the comments that were made about the guidance counselors in school not being available. They are either not in or you have to wait about two weeks to get an appointment to see them. I learned about there being no pre-k available. I had no idea that it wasn’t offered anymore. It should be offered. In my opinion, the new generations of children need to start very early so that they can be more prepared for kindergarten. Other than that, I would say the meeting was very fun and enlightening and people should go to more so that they can keep up with what’s going on in the school system.
Ashante Gibson
Poughkeepsie High School
To the Editor:
Gov. Spitzer hit the nail on the head Nov. 14 with this statement about the hyperpartisan opposition to his effort to restore immigrant access to licenses: “political opponents equated minimum-wage, undocumented dishwashers with Osama Bin Laden; newspaper headlines equated a drivers’ license for an undocumented migrant laborers with a ‘Passport to Terror’ and a ‘License to Kill.’”
Recall – Rabbi Paul Golomb of Vassar Temple, president of the Dutchess Interfaith Council (comprising over 90 different churches and temples) at a press conference in front of our County Office Building Oct. 10 described Republican opposition to Spitzer’s move to restore immigrant access to licenses as “partisanship being pushed into demagoguery and ultimately into racism.”
Note as well – despite other misinformation spread through the media, the fact is it has been documented repeatedly that immigrants pay far more in taxes than what they receive in services – by the National Academy of Sciences, Cato Institute, Urban Institute and Social Security Administration (see “Top 10 Immigration Myths and Facts” at ImmigrationForum.org).
The current issue of “Tikkun” magazine (Tikkun is a Hebrew word meaning to mend, heal or transform) – contains an article by Glen Stassen called “Scapegoat Alert” about the current immigration debate – citing Christian ethicist Peter Zvagulis and his research measuring the intensity of hate speech that led to ethnic cleansing/genocide in Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Germany.
Zvagulis: “In all three cases the methods of propaganda manipulation resembled each other in their main characteristics and components; the Tutsi ethnic group became for the Hutu extremists what the Jews were for the Nazis: scapegoats to blame for everything and an easy cover for the increasingly authoritarian concentration of power in the hands of the leadership; even an African version of The Protocols of Zion was created.”
Have we learned nothing from history?
Joel Tyner
County Legislator (D–Clinton/Rhinebeck)