CUTCHOGUE

Grateful 

This Thanksgiving, for those of the so-called Boomer generation, I’d like you to think about our fathers and those who never got the chance to become fathers. If not for them, where would we be?

Then I’d like you to think of the names on the Wall. Some 58,000-plus of our generation — yet not there are those who came home from Vietnam and died homeless, of PTSD, suicide and are still living with Agent Orange maladies.

Then again, our children and grandchildren who went off to Iraq and Afghanistan. Many who came home disabled, and again suffering PTSD.

I am grateful to these men and women for their service, integrity, fortitude, and courage. I pray, in their names, that Our Creator will bring upon the Earth a time of peace for all the nations, and that that peace may last for generations to come.

Bob Bittner

MATTITUCK

Why I’m running for reelection 

My name is Kevin Byrne and I am running for reelection to the position of commissioner of the Mattituck-Laurel Parks District. The MPD board consists of three commissioners, each of whom serves a three-year term.

I am extremely honored to have been elected to this position three years ago and proud of the many accomplishments we have achieved. The thing of which I am most proud is the team that we have assembled to run and manage our parks. And I believe every member of this team would like me to return. We have an organization of employees and volunteers who are all working toward a common goal: to protect and preserve the park properties belonging to the residents of the Mattituck Park District.

Please vote on Thursday, Nov 21. Voting takes place at the Veterans Beach Park Community Room and polls are open from 3 to 8 p.m.

Kevin Byrne

Mattituck Parks District commissioner

ORIENT

Election integrity 

In 2020 the Democrats won the presidency and the Senate, and nearly split the House of Representatives. Many losing Republican candidates claimed there was massive voter fraud for the ensuing four years.

This time, the Republicans took all three. Shockingly, there were no claims of any massive voter fraud. Or moderate fraud. Or itsy-bitsy, teenyweeny fraud. Nope. Nothing to see here folks; keep moving along.

Because there never was anything to see.

Ched Baker

CALVERTON

You can’t believe in democracy only when you win 

How come under Donald Trump we only have a peaceful transfer of power when the election goes his way? Four years ago when Joe Biden clearly won, the Capitol was stormed at Trump’s direction and 140 cops were bloodied and beaten. Unlike this year, Joe Biden wasn’t invited to the White House nor did Trump symbolically attend President Biden’s inauguration to show the world that Americans share common values that transcend politics. This year, Trump said in advance of the election that if he lost it would be “bloody” and his party filed over 100 preemptive lawsuits claiming potential election irregularities that have now mysteriously gone away. If democracy is to survive, you can’t believe in it only when you win.

Jerry Silverstein

CUTCHOGUE

Kudos to CFD 

We would like to compliment the many members of the Cutchogue Fire Department who worked for hours to save our house on Nov. 3. We are grateful for your time and expertise on our behalf.

Thank you!

Bill and Sue Graf

CUTCHOGUE

Zeldin: A bad joke for EPA 

You might as well take the P out of EPA if Lee Zeldin is confirmed to head the Environmental Protection Agency. He’s a climate denier and loyal advocate for his patron, the petroleum industry. Now he’s planning on deregulating them and other major polluters.

Zeldin would rather stay in power than protect his neighbors’ health or property — and don’t be fooled by his preservation of a remote undeveloped island. That’s an easy lift compared to refusing vast campaign contributions or a plum cabinet appointment.

The Suffolk Times article is written like a celebration of a local boy, when it should have been a eulogy for the environmentally sensitive East End communities. Shame on you.

Richard Parlini

AQUEBOGUE

Hubbard’s budget disaster 

I was denied my First Amendment right to express my concerns about reckless spending by Tim Hubbard and his all-Republican Town Board last week. Although I’m a little bruised today, it’s important for me to alert our friends and fellow taxpayers of the damage Mr. Hubbard and his predecessors have already done and what may lie ahead for our already overtaxed town.

Millions of dollars have been spent on a Town Square that is going nowhere because there was no “eligible and qualified” hearing for the master developer, who is a major donor to Riverhead’s GOP. The project is not defined and taxpayers are paying town officials to create a private hotel project for a GOP donor.

Millions more have been spent on a hockey rink that Riverhead Local reported only a handful of people from Riverhead have used. The town is not properly tracking the costs on this money pit; for instance, electric charges for the rink are listed as for Town Hall and costs like repairs and bathrooms are not segregated.

The town spent millions more for the Town Hall than what it could have been bought for a few years ago, even though the prices for office buildings have declined dramatically. It’s way too expensive to run; utility costs are about $1 million a year — not to mention multiple cops staffing the place at the cost of several hundred thousand dollars a year.

While Mr. Hubbard falsely claimed IDA benefits have nothing to do with the budget when he cut me off from speaking at the Nov. 7 meeting, millions in tax revenues are lost because of foolish giveaways by the IDA, appointed by and serving at the pleasure of the Town Board.

It’s no surprise that Mr. Hubbard needed to censor me from airing his years of mismanagement. He’s been on the Town Board for almost a decade and signed on to all these dumb decisions that are bankrupting our town. It’s time for a change.

Ron Hariri