A letter writer’s use of Ramapo Town Supervisor Christopher St. Lawrence’s tax payments to tackle the proposed Rabbinical College of Tartikov, that could be built in Pomona, has some forum posters furious.
This letter, and some of the underlying ideas about taxes and religious institutions, are hardly unique in some areas of Ramapo. The letter in question touched on issues that have come up time and time again. Was it fair and balanced? Absolutely not. Does it reflect opinions at this newspaper? Absolutely not. The litmus test isn’t whether we agree with them.
Does it have value? It surely demonstrates an attitude in Ramapo that must be acknowledged. And, the story chat in the Opinion forum has brought up key comments — such as the suggestion that the reader replace the word “yeshiva� with “church� and see how it reads. That comment alone contributes to the purpose of publishing such letters: They make people think. Such letters show how opinions can be seen different ways, and how comments that make generalizations about “groups� need to be viewed carefully, through a prism of skepticism, cynicism and sensitivity. After all, “groups� are made up of “individuals.� To never publish letters that include such commentary would be to gloss over issues that cause the tensions now pulling at Ramapo.
Find this letter’s assertions offensive? Join the discussion on LoHud.com/forums. Write a letter back. E-mail it to letters@lohud.com.

A story about counterfeit extension cords has stirred a lot of interest among safety types. (Let’s hope consumers pay attention as well and skip discount-priced electrical extension cords.)

Today, I talked to Westchester Consumer Protection director Gary Brown, to find out if his people have discovered any of these knockoff cords. His office has done some amazing work, including discovering scores of children’s jewelry tainted with lead. This morning, he said he had seen The Journal News article, and had planned to visit dollar stores, the usual places such dangerous discounts are found. He just called back this afternoon to say his staff had visited four stores in Westchester, and discovered suspect extension cords in a Port Chester dollar store. He says there was no UL tag on the cord, and the symbol on the package wasn’t the hologram style that the regulatory agency uses. That’s great to hear. Rockland consumer protection workers were out today, too, and found questionable cords in two dollar stores.

As well, the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission plans to send two investigators to Rockland next week to work with the county’s Office of Consumer Protection, according to Fire Safety Coordinator Gordon Wren. He says the feds are interested in tracking down the suppliers, distributors and manufacturers. They aren ‘t looking at the little guy. They want to stop the millions of dangerous counterfeit extension cord from reading U.S. store shelves.

What does this all mean? That Harry Oster, the Spring Valley fire inspector who first spotted the knockoff cords on Rockland store shelves, gets a big shoutout. Thanks, Harry.

If you caught my print column for Christmas Day, you may remember I was lamenting how difficult it’s gotten for a parent to buy music or technology for a family member.
Hit that one on the head.
My son got a video game, but it was for the wrong system.
My daughter got a new cell phone, but it wasn’t quite the model she expected and then she found that she can’t move her contacts from phone to phone because of different carriers.
She also got a laptop and fortunately her older brother speaks tech-ese or the rest of us would still be trying to figure out how to pop up the screen.
You get the picture.
In the end, it all sorted out, but I have to say my gift card distribution met with no stress at all—for them or for me.

There are people crying foul over today’s article about the overdue property taxes owed by Ramapo Supervisor Christopher St. Lawrence and his wife on rental property they own in Montebello.

It’s not news, they say, that the town’s top official has been put on a monthly installment plan by the county to pay off unpaid town, school, village and county taxes for 2006 and 2007, to the tune of $27,066.

Not news? Please! No, Mr. Supervisor, it wasn’t a slow news day, as his quote implies in the article.

The question shouldn’t be, is it news? It can be, though, what does it mean? Well, St. Lawrence says he’s tried to sell the home to no avail. He also points to the bills a family of college students must juggle. The situation can provide interesting commentary on our economy, the housing market and even the cost of higher education.

But not news, Supervisor St. Lawrence? I beg to differ. As one LoHud forum participant commented, “Yes! It’s the first report of a politician taxing HIMSELF to death!”

There’s quite a chat in the Westchester forum about people who don’t clear the ice off their cars. This Sunday, as the wonderful snow-to-ice-to-snow-to-ice-to-rain-to-ice storm swept through, my car sat in the driveway (yes, we have no garage). And sat. And sat. Monday morning, I went out to clear the windshield, windows, headlights, roof and the hood of ice. (And yes, it was encased, and yes, I warmed up the car for more than 3 minutes, figuring the county’s idling law was flexible enough to allow idling to avoid breaking another law, not cleaning ice and snow off your vehicle.) I scraped, banged, scraped, hit, chipped, for quite some time. I got as much off from the roof (well, as much as I could see … I don’t have an SUV, but I don’t have much height, either.)

Of course, as I drove to work, I saw lots of “snow roadkill,” with flat sheets of icy snow strewn along the roadway.

So, Rocklanders, take a peek at that forum, or this LoHud query if you have any ice-removal tips.

That’s George O. Darden, not a supreme being… no…try that again…not the all-powerful…no…we’ll have to try that again.
OK. We’re taking about the mayor of Spring Valley.

Let’s take these thoughts in chronological order.

So, a police officer finds a village mayor using emergency lights to make his way through mall traffic. Not bad if you can get away with it, I guess.

The officer hears Darden, who says he couldn’t read a sign because he had forgotten his glasses.
So the officer gives the mayor a pass on the emergency lights.
But if he couldn’t read a sign because he didn’t have his glasses, shouldn’t he have been ticketed for driving without corrective lenses?

Jump ahead a couple of days.

You don’t like Darden. He’s not your cup of tea. You didn’t vote for him, but he wins anyway.
He’s got a mind of his own. He’ll stand by a decision to a fault. You may even call him arrogant.

It’s not the the first time he’ll hear that or even read it.

But that’s no excuse—no excuse—to vandalize cars outside his home.

Things sometime have a crazy way of escalating. It shouldn’t happen to anyone and it shouldn’t happen to Darden.

Criticize all you like. Shout into the microphones or shout from the rooftops if you have a reason to find fault.

But don’t get stupid, stupid.

Put away the paintball gun before something tragic happens, albeit by accident or because of an act of stupidity.

I give up. I shoveled out yesterday, cleaning the sidewalk, driveway and apron. This morning, I go out and, sure enough, I’m plowed back in.

I’ve tried everything to avoid this problem. I have made the pile of snow to the left, to the right, either way, it’s sent right back in front of my driveway when the plow comes. I’ve tried scooping enough as I can onto the parkway grass. Still, the driveway’s blocked by mounds of dirty, icy (heavy) snow.

I am sure there is some secret formula for digging out and staying dug out. Snow plow operators, and homeowners who have discovered the key to keeping a clear driveway, Help! There’s another storm coming tomorrow …

I just found a new word, “Buff,” that was being tossed about by some first-responder-types discussing the recent Mayor Darden article. Darden apparently used emergency lights on his vehicle when he got into a traffic pickle while shopping over the weekend at the Palisades Center. A few people kept talking about “a buff” and wondering how “buffed” his car was. Huh? Definitions follow:
—A firefighter or first-responder who goes to a fire, accident, etc. scenes for other departments, to watch an “interesting” call. There are also “buffs” who aren’t first-responders, but go out to watch the call unfold. In either case, this is called “buffing a call.”
—To trick out a vehicle with lights beyond the one standard blue “first responder” light.

Example: Firefighters who buff cause concern when they start offering advice to the chief in charge.
Basically a “buff” is the the voyeur of the first-responder world.

Yesterday, I got an e-mail from Ramapo Town Hall that just about knocked me out of my chair. It wasn’t the topic: a Community View from Town Supervisor Christopher P. St. Lawrence pushing an upcoming “Unity Forum� for a town that is full of diversity, and tension. The November election aired the town’s troubles between various factions for all to see.

No, the message of the Community View didn’t surprise me. But, the opening line just floored me:

It read: “Recently Harvard Political Scientist Robert Putnam released the results of a massive study based on interviews…â€?

It didn’t matter what the study said, or what Prof. Putnam’s findings would be. I stopped when I got to the word “Harvard.�

St. Lawrence got in some hot water a couple years back for identifying himself as a graduate of Harvard University. Not so, said the Ivy League school. So, now he will say he attended, but after some round-and-round, he no longer claims to have graduated.

So, now he mentions Harvard as the second word in a Community View that aims to build bridges in a town that desperately needs it.

Sigh.

Read the Community View in tomorrow’s Journal News. Sorry I spoiled the giggle.

Today, Al Gore, along with Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, officially received the Nobel Peace Prize.
And of course, there’s a Rockland connection! Fourteen of the IPCC scientists are on staff of Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, a research center in Palisades.
Lamont research takes place around the globe, and the impact of its scientists’ work reaches far and wide.
But it also touches us in Rockland. Lamont has been called on many times on local issues. In March, the county health department sought help from Lamont for water testing after United Water reported that a series of tests on two wells turned up arsenic levels that exceeded federal standards. This fall, Lamont experts on water quality came to a Rockland County Legislature Environmental Committee meeting to discuss trace arsenic levels found in a different United Water well. Their involvement in a global study of arsenic in water helped Rocklanders understand the local situation.
Read Gore’s speech this morning in Oslo City Hall in Norway here.