Caroyln Haman

NEW SUFFOLK

Farewell to a ‘perfect good neighbor’

A well-known Cutchogue merchant closed his doors recently and this letter is to say “so long” to a family that served the hamlet well for over 40 years.

Bob Molchon opened his first Cutchogue Hardware back in 1983 in the King Kullen shopping center. At the time, he had the assistance of his mom and dad. We were Manhattan apartment dwellers who bought our first home on the North Fork the same year, thanks to my Aunt Pauline, who owned Four Sails Realty in Cutchogue. The house was perfect for us, small — three rooms and a garage — and cheap: $35,000, unheard of in this day and age.

We spent the next bunch of years fixing it up — with the help of Bob at Cutchogue Hardware. We did not own one single tool back then, not even a hammer! So Bob sold us our first hammer, hundreds of screws and nails, paint and brushes and everything else we needed to spruce up our weekend getaway castle.

Over the years, Bob’s was always our go-to place for any hardware needs and he always took care of us with a smile and that “perfect good neighbor” way of his. Several years later, Bob moved his business to property on Main Road (Route 25) slightly west of Depot Lane, where my aunt had her real estate office. Bob and his parents had the house picked up and moved to Alvah’s Lane so he could build a larger hardware store there.

When we moved to New Suffolk in 1996, Bob was right there for us, handling whatever hardware needs we had. The only difference was he had married and his sweet wife, Ellen, was also there to help, Later on, their two sons were behind the counter saying, “Can I help you?” And if they didn’t have what we needed, they would order it and have it for us in just a couple of days.

Now the store is empty, and we miss Bob and Ellen. Yes, there are many more hardware stores now and nice people work in them, but no one has come close to the Molchon family in taking care of our hardware needs.

Happy retirement, Bob and Ellen; you will be missed.

Lauren and Jack Grant

CUTCHOGUE

LaLota’s not good for our district

Nick LaLota may be a very nice fellow, maybe even someone you’d like to have a beer with. But like so many other politicians, he’s turned out to be a phony. Mr. LaLota’s been running a campaign ad claiming we should vote for him so he can reinstate Donald Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy, which required migrants to stay in Mexico until their asylum claims can be heard in a U.S. court, and change the tax law to restore the State And Local Tax deductions Republicans took away from us.

As reported in Wikipedia, the “Remain in Mexico” policy has been widely criticized by human rights organizations for exposing migrants to attacks while they await processing. Given that, the Biden administration ended the policy. Now Mr. LaLota wants us to vote for him so he can reinstate it.

First, he doesn’t tell us the policy he’d like to restore has led to the abuse of migrants. Second, he fails to point out that he is but one of 435 members in the House of Representatives and doesn’t have the authority to implement, end or restore the policy. But he apparently thinks voters are too uninformed to know this.

Mr. LaLota also claims he’ll reverse the legislation that put a $10,000 cap on SALT deductions. There’s virtually no chance that a Republican House will ever vote to change that law, because by limiting these deductions from federal income taxes, taxpayers in states like New York, California and Illinois pay more in taxes to support the Southern states, which take more from the federal government than they pay in. New Yorkers pay more to support those states than we get back from Washington.

The sad fact is that Nick LaLota is not good for his constituents. He’s had numerous opportunities to show that he will fight for us, but he’s nowhere to be found in the fight. Is this really someone we should be sending back to Congress? Let’s give John Avlon a chance to serve our needs. If he goes to Congress and doesn’t stand up for us, the way Nick LaLota is not standing up for us,we can throw him out too in the next election until we find someone who will truly represent New York’s 1st.

Michael Levy

SOUTHOLD

Should they have endorsed Trump?

Today, the Suffolk County PBA announced that it was endorsing Donald Trump for president. I have no problem with organizations making political endorsements, but this one strikes me as weird. In the first instance, Mr. Trump is a convicted felon. Yes, he has the right to appeal, but until and unless the conviction is overturned, he is a felon. Should the PBA be endorsing a convicted criminal? The second issue is that on Jan. 6, 2021, Mr. Trump sat at the TV while the Capitol Police were attacked by his supporters. It’s hard to see how he can claim to support police while he watched police attacked and seriously injured. I don’t believe that this letter will cause the PBA to withdraw its endorsement, but I do believe that people should be aware of this strange contradiction.

Steve Curry

MATTITUCK

Choose decency over ‘weirdness’

Whether a member of one of its founding families or a relative newcomer, everyone who lives on the North Fork is proud of its long and rich history. We have buildings still in use that date from the colonial period, and neighbors whose ancestors fought in the Revolutionary War. Our history is not, however, unblemished. As readers of this paper are aware, in the 18th and 19th centuries slave ownership was not unknown here. More recently, In the 1920s, when membership in the Ku Klux Klan reached its peak nationwide, there were more Klan members in Suffolk County than anywhere else in the country outside of Alabama.

The campaign of the former president and his chosen sidekick offers little in the way of public policy (OK; no tax on tips), but their election in November would undoubtedly excite and invigorate the reactionary impulses that abide in our community.

This is an appeal to independent voters, and to anyone who in the past could not be bothered to vote at all. The stakes in November could not be greater. At its core, this election is a contest between those who believe in democracy and those who don’t. Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are the only candidates in the race who favor democratic government — and they need your vote. Come join them. It’s time to flip this district back to the Democrats. Cast your vote for decency, and help to wipe out, or at least tamp down, what Gov. Walz aptly calls the weirdness on the other side.

Dave Warren

GREENPORT

Just an American

I, like millions of others, am an American. I believe in America and all that it was founded upon. And while those basic statements are fundamentally true for most in this country, it seems as though we have to wear our credentials and belief in those statements around our necks and on our sleeves — for fear that the “team color” that many also want to see may ostracize you and question your fundamental belief.

It is sad that we have reached this point of divided allegiance with “team colors” being more important than the simple fundamental belief and behavior that we are all Americans.

And while there may be many who do not know me well enough to understand, I think there are many who will agree and see themselves in what I am about to say.

I don’t make fun of the way people laugh. I don’t call people stupid because their belief is different from mine. I don’t disparage their family or heritage because it is foreign to me. I don’t ignore what my parents tried to teach me or disrespect the legacy of hard work that built this country.

I believe any person should entitled to earn a living in order to support their family, their community or others that are truly needy. I believe we should all be engaged and try to make our circle of the world a better place than it was yesterday. But while I believe every person should have an opinion and be free to express it, I do not believe it should be demonized because it is not one that is shared by the “team color” that may be on your arm. Because for me, having different beliefs, opinions, family heritages and even laughs is not defined by team colors but instead by what made America a great country of Americans.

I don’t wear a badge or a sign around my neck or a band on my arm that defines my team colors. I don’t have to — because I am simply an American.

Richard Vandenburgh