The Altanumt JBnterpriae — Thurtdoy, December 4,1997>
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Sbhs' votes should count
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To t h e Editor: ', ple involved. It's like' being
y.
My son, Harold/haaAmoved called a liar, J'xti saying tihiS, is
several times but never for a their home and? Dorman's party
long period of time. His ad- is saving it's n o t The election
dress "has always been ttensse- >iaw v says "winch'he, wherever
laeryille. s Wh'en' he was -in temporarily located, always inFlorida, h e t i a d a post office box tends to return.* Edward has
in towq. Before that, he rented never deft and Harold-has alKeith Gifford's home on Gifford ways returned. So, it sjeems to Hollow Road .-After he-returned , me, until they own orilive perfrom Florida^ he rented J . manently and register some.HugheVs house'at 222 Gifford. where else, 77, Millar Road,
Hollow Road, across- from the 10 Berne, NY 12023, whicilis in tl
acres of fond given to him by town of RensselaervilleVis coil
1
his mother:
_ sidered their home'. T h e y vptf s
Harold is now in the process Should be counted, wfitoev/
of buying a house in South a they're for. This is their rjphtjto
' Berne and? will without a. dbutit vote.-__
*
register there, next year, but as
As for Deputy Ronald i»fles's
of now, he is not allowed to cast report of Edward's addres^Mt is
his vote, where he is registered. wrong. There is no Lo%ie
The election law says "with in-" ' Blodgett at ,the address give!
tent to return to," which is what </Even so, the Blodgett family are
he has done.
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friends of his.
'
All I am asking is, when does ' I could not help but read in
the law take over your right to ' The Enterprise the statement atvote in a township where you ' torney Diana Hinchcliff made:
have lived all your life or most "The demographics are differof it, and where you plan to live 'ent in Rensselaerville." The
| your last days? At this point, I article also quoted her saying
really don't care which party
that in Renssel^aervill'e many
wins the town supervisor's po- residents are from New York
sition. Apparently, they are both City and have different ideas
qualified for the job. My reason
about candidates than merely
for voting for John Geurtze is voting along party lines. That
that I know him and I don't
makes the people born and
know Mrs. Dorman.
raised in these Hilltowns sound
My, problem is with the idea of like puppets, which I assure you
my sons' right to vote in a town wj3 are not. We have minds of
where they have been raised to our own. We vote for the person
.•believe they will build their we'believe in, which is our right
homes and raise their families. and which I feel is the right beThey have helped pay taxes,
ing taken away from my sons
they help with whatever needs to
—- the right to vote.
be done to maintain the land.
This opinion is mine and
This being the only town they mine alone. My sans can speak
are registered in leaves them fen LhcmaelvcR
not able to cast a vote
Bertha Welsch Zink
I feel personally insulted by
Rensselaerville
the election board and town peo-
• v
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Down on the Farm
tS*
Is there a megalopolis in your Mure?
By H a r r y Garry
Some5 demographers envision a
- ' S o m e changes we welcome;
ndt-too-distant time, wlion there
others' bring a sense "of nostalwill be little, if any, open space
gia asNwe^remember how things
between these populated areas,
used, to be/This is not only true
particularly along the already
of time", but ofthe space in which
highly-populated east coast.
we live. There seems'to be an
Many other once rural areas of
innate longing that thing^t, stay your country ihje also now expeas they are, at least for a little'
riencing this transition. Some
while. Eventually, we learn to
say this is inevitable. Others
accept the fact that our universe
even call it progress, but is it?
has been constantly changing
' since its inception billions of
years ago. Because we are an
integral part of it, our lives and
sureoundings~must~als,'o constantly change. /
This thought surfaced when I
was asked to testify 'at one of
three hearings conducted by a
United States Department of
Agriculture
commission
charged with studying the rea-'
son for the alarming passing of
family farm^ from the national
scene. I was encouraged to
learn that some attention was at
For now, at least, most of us
last being given to this change
have the pleasant option of startso evident in our times.
ing the car and driving out into
Although only a few days
the country, God's Country, as it
elapsed between the nolice
is sometimes called, to escape
given by t h e Department of
the pressures associated with
Agriculture and the date of the ' living in cities and suburbs. As
heading, the attendance was
suburbs become more crowded
'high. My testimony was schedand crime-infested, many peouled as number 30 Twenty-one
ple are now moving out into this
more followed.
open country. Paradoxically,
It was indeed a learning exthis tends to destroy its open
perience to hear this group of
quality, for people bring with
farmers, bankers, veterinarithem many of the attributes they
ans,
a
n
d
r
e
p
r
e
s
e
n
t
a
t
i
v
e
s
of
are escaping.
were six to 12 times the usual
To the Editor:
j
|
agri-business
tell
the
panel
why
The landscape soon experiI
I am writing this letter in, level; and
all
was
not
well
"down
on
the
ences
a startling change. Open
•— Respective media "brown- "
memory of Duke Johnston, 17,'
farm."
Apparently,
it
h
a
s
n
'
t
fields
replete
with barns, silos,
who died of a heart attack in the ouls," as publishing the alarms
been
well
for
a
long
time.
How
farm
machinery,
and animals
of medical officers might have
small central New York comare replaced by houses, houses,
resulted in evacuation and loss much 'of an impact this broad
munity of Oneonta on Nov. 12,
range
of
testimony
has
on
poland more houses, interspersed
and David Burlisson, 16, who of readership.
icy-makers
in
t
h
e
nation's
with
shopping malls. We have
died of a heart attack in neighReactions from environmenCapitol
remains
to
be
seen.
The
long,
since
passed the time when
boring Norwich on the same tal organizations resulted in
important
fact
is
that
the
plight
we
would
jdrive quite a few
day.
their respective governments to
of the farmer in today's econmiles for our supplies and serSo breathlessly beautiful, so coerce industry sources of the
omy
is
finally,
being
recogvices.
This is the now generadelightfully innocent, is,j the pollutants to build super-tall
n
i
z
e
d
by
federal
officials
tion.
We
want' these things
delicate crystalline structure of smokestacks so that these toxic,
charged
w
i
t
h
administering
close
by
so
that/we have more
* the simple snowflake. Who acid-forming emissions would •farm programs. One can only .leisure time to enjoy m a n y
would think that the ocean of be carried far from their midspeculate as to what steps will be
pastimes and the ever-present
snowflakes, b l a n k e t i n g our< west sources to our own backtaken to alleviate the existing
entertainment being transmitcountryside, contains a toxic j yards, changing the nature of
t
h
r
e
a
t
to
the
survival
of
the
ted by wire or through the air
cargo of dilute sulfuric battery i the problem from easily-proved
family
farm.
into our homes.
<
manifestations to more insidiacid t h a t insidiously etches
Some
startling
facts
will
be
America
ceased
being
the
ous and chronic circumstances
away at the very fabric of life itbrought
back
to
Washington.
agrarian society it once was
— fertile ground for the ensuself?
There
is
an
old
axiom
which
many
.years ago. What foling media and political "snow
Central New York has the
states
that
"coming
events
cast
lowed
was
a pleasing blend of
distinction of having the high- jobs" we have been getting ever
their
shadows
before."
Although
farms,
villages,
small towns,
since.
est concentrations of sulfur
no one mentioned the' world
and occasional cities. Farms
In the spring of 1988, New
dioxide. A SUNY Oneonta
megalopolis during the hear- provided open space allowing
York State's Attorney General's
study showed a direct correlaing, the possibility of demogramany species of wildlife >o
Officii along with several other
tion between concentrations of
phers' predictions that our na- flourish. Most of Us want these
sulfur dioxide and the acidity of eastern states, brought a classtion is presently heading in the wild friends to be here with us.
action suit against the U.S.
atmospheric deposition. As an
direction of a series of large U n f o r t u n a t e l y , w h e n
the
government to enforce laws that
experienced urban forester and
groups of highly-populated farmer leaves, the wildlife soon
would reduce the emissions that
environmentalist, I can, qualicenters with many clusters of follows ,'suit. Housing developcause acid rain,. The suits were
fiedly say that the damage has
less populated areas -ringing m e n t s
and
malls
that
thrown out because of insuffibeen manifesting itself not
them was evident. Where once inevitably follow do not provide
only in the remote Adirondacks cient data and evidence! .
we. considered a large city con- suitable habitat.
butXalso iri central New "York.
That is why I have lobbied
t a i n i n g many- people
a
As sad as is "the loss of
Trae>6jhadow of the specter that
over the years for state £overn r
metropolis, we are now think- wildlife, the loss of the family
^ wafted through the streets of
ments to provide the data by iming itr terms of regions>aconsist- farm is ^even sadder. It's imLondon in t h e 1952 "Killer
plementing an accurute and
ing of several .metropolises. possible,to describe the pathos
Smog" brings a quietly spreadstandardized acid rain moniOpen space between will become and sense „of loss experienced
ing d e a t h to these "sleepy"
toring program°(that should" . a rarity, not the norm. ' /
by a farmer when he sees his
communities. The beautiful
have-been done 40 years ago), so'
Apparently, we have • now sheep, chickens^ and cowssnowflake is no longer innothat we would compile the necreached the point in our' think- loaded onto a truck "and his
c e n t , as its toxic components
essary evidence of "hot spots,"
ing where \ve are beginning to fame becomes' a* statistic, No
leave t h e old and y o u n g
trends, and mortalities,
recognize we cannot stand idly/ amount of social progress can
b r e a t h l e s s with * cardio-pulAfter all the cards are in their
by as farm after farm is lost to equal tyhat„he has just lost — a
omonary inflammations and
boxes and the boys are put to bed,
this encroaching megajppsis. way of life that has\ been an inallergic reactions, mercilessly
The snow muffles the sandXtr
taking the heart.
man's footsteps.
' Little is said about the thouLike love it covers our mis, sands of documented h u m a n
takes, and softens the winds of
''Me, mv husband, and son got into a rowboat and Helped
fatalities t h a t occurred around
change.
*
people get out who haameeH trapped by the water.''
t h e middle of this century in
But one lonely wind...it
Donora, Penn., New York City, sighs.
^
— J'osie Geisel, recalling a flood, one of the t "
and London, England, due to: t
And my heart...it cries. *
events that- have marked.thfc 60-year history of the
*— The toxic component of
a d d rain where samples of sul, , Westmere Fire Department Ladies Auxi(iary
Joatph Morales
fur dioxide in t h e killer smogs,
As sad as is the
loss of wildlife,
the loss of the
family farm is
even sadder.
Acid rain going unchecked
Quote of the Week:
Ramsey, N.J.
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,
,
i
I
,
tegral p a r t of the American
scene sirice our nation w^as
founded.
.
- Listening^to the hearing tes4t
timony r was an« emotion-packed <r
experience. .Farmers, bankers,
veterinarians, and tradesmen
gave] different versions- of the
K*r
same story r The small farmer
is in deep trouble. How long 'can
he survive? There are no sure
answers, but listening [was a*long-overdue step in the right
direction.
We hav^ to first recognize a
problem bdfore we can hope to
solve it and solve it we must if
America is to_keep its present
position of world leadership.
But there is hope for the future.
We have a history of rising to
the occasion and responding to
the situation, however difficult,
and history has a way of repeating itself
Surely,' our collective intelligence, if properly applied, can
figure out a way to encourage
the farmer to stay on the farm.
There must be a way to assure
him a reasonable return for his
huge investment of ability, labor, and capital, remove some
of the discouraging regulations
and restrictions with which he
must constantly cope, and eliminate the confiscatory taxation
driving him off the farm.
Mushrooming magalopolises
can never replace him. We will
always need to eat the food he
provides if we are to continue
living on this earth. Notwithstanding our marvelous telescopes, satellites, and' space
ships, we have not yet discovered another habitable planet in
our galaxy. Many astronomers
and cosmologists believe the
possibility of making such a
discovery is very remotej.
Although we are exploring the
skies above, we are still very
much earth creatures. Let us not
forget this basic reality of.llfe_
in our present obsession with
bigness.
Smallness is also important
r - in Agriculture as it is in
many phases of our lives.
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Lung Association pays
us income for life."
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benefit from a life
income gift of cash, stocks
orjnutual funds to your
local Lung Association.
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with a Gift Annuity (rates,
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