Appreciated the coverage

This is long overdue!

Thank you, editor Whitney Joseph, for your editorial, “Making the most of our natural assets,” and reporter Kaitlin Lyle’s  article on the Harlem Valley Chamber of Commerce presentation, “Tourism talk accentuates growing opportunities,” in the May 30 issue of The Millerton News.

The Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, is hardly ever heard from. He’s a bureaucrat and quite a calm individual. That’s why it was somewhat of a surprise, mid-summer, to have him issue a global threat warning. For months he has been gathering data and input from offices of the U.N. in almost every country. 

Ask a question, get an answer. Sounds simple enough, but sometimes drawing much-wanted information from people both familiar and strange can be harder than it would seem.

Case in point, the recent 2019 Pine Plains Comprehensive Plan Survey. Out of the roughly 2,500 people living in Pine Plains (according to the 2017 U.S. census), 229 responded — that’s about 9.15%. That tiny fraction reflects only a small pool of people willing to share their thoughts and feelings about what makes Pine Plains great, and what could make it better.

Changes in place for voting

This year the New York Legislature made a series of changes to the state’s antiquated voting system. Consistently low voter turnout in the state, as well as dramatic failures at New York City polling places in 2018, prompted Albany to make registering and voting easier for New Yorkers.

Most Americans may not know what the Skunk Works are. A division of Lockheed set up after World War II, headed by the genius Kelly Johnson, the Skunk Works was named after the comic strip, “Li’l Abner,” in which there was a running joke about a mysterious and malodorous place deep in the forest called the “Skonk Works.”

Although I’ve lived in this great country of the United States of America for 40 years as a legal and law-abiding citizen and have no fear of being deported, the latest tweet by President Donald Trump, “Go back” to your country, brought chills down my spine.