Equal treatment under law essential

RUPCO’s Alms House plan is the last straw

Dear Editor, Enough is enough! While granting that RUPCO is a great organization and has done a lot for affordable housing in Kingston, the Alms House project is a step too far.

It is past time that other towns step up and establish affordable projects in their towns. Why should the taxpayers of Kingston bear the brunt of yet another project that won’t pay taxes based on the full value of the property?

Also, the location in question is very wrong for this project. Kingston needs to expand its tax base. There are limited opportunities to do this because of the limited amount of sites in the city for development. If you can’t expand the tax base, you must raise the tax rate. This property should be sold for the highest and best use, thereby maximizing the taxes paid to the city, county and school district. Pat Oliveri, Kingston

Zoning change makes range nearly impossible

Dear Editor: I am disappointed that the majority of the Kingston Common Council continues to reject logic, ignore facts and think that all guns are bad.

One councilperson recently said the zoning amendment doesn’t make an indoor range impossible. I beg to differ. If the proposed site is within 1,000 feet from a school, medical facility, or youth recreational facility, I think that it would be hard to find a suitable candidate. I am fairly sure there is a range in the North Manor Armory. Oh, no, there is nearby that pesky ballfield. T

The amendment puts the final approval in the hands of one person, the police chief. I think it is wrong that one bureaucrat should decide whether someone can open a legal business.

It would be easier to get a concealed carry permit in Chicago.

This is an honorable business not a strip club. I don’t understand the reticence of our city leaders. The people that would patronize the range are the most trustworthy of our citizens. They have already cleared a detailed background check, taken classes on gun handling and gun safety and been interviewed by a judge before receiving their permit. Ask your local cop as to how many of these citizens break the law. There are 24,000 handgun permit holders in Ulster County. They are not a hotbed of crime.

I am also amazed that our lawmakers would stab our sheriff in the back. Both the Ulster and Dutchess County sheriffs have requested that permit carriers actively carry their weapons on a day-to-day basis. This is the modern edition of the civilian militia. To be ready, we need to be proficient with our firearms, and to remain proficient we need to practice. Hal Grunenwald

Kingston

Proposed law would hurt Red Hook economy

Dear Editor, Your July 18 article about a Town of Red Hook proposed law that would severely curtail certain businesses and stifle economic development largely echoes my own thoughts on the issue.

As a third generation Red Hook resident, local employer and commercial property owner here, I understand the desire we all share to maintain the “country charm” of our fabulous community.

The town’s website states: “Red Hook has that home town main street America atmosphere with all of the character and friendliness of a small town while maintaining its quiet country charm, yet enjoying easy access to all conveniences.”

It is many of those future “conveniences” -- a pharmacy, a sandwich shop, a hardware store -- that would be prevented from opening to benefit our residents and visitors if the Town passes this overreaching legislation.

Local government should and can employ common sense zoning and other regulations on business that can retain our rural foundation while supporting economic development we want and need.

If residents travel to Kingston to spend on goods and services, for example, dollars can’t be used to benefit our local economy and we lose our sales tax revenue.

We, residents and business owners, are in this together. We all have a stake in protecting Red Hook businesses. Todd Baright,

Red Hook Dear Editor, Civilization and our Constitution are predicated on the moral code of “all persons are created equal and entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” This is the fundamental and foundational principle of our law and personal gift. Yet it is the one that continues to be challenged in our history and present. From the days of slavery to the Progressive movement of Woodrow Wilson and Margaret Sanger, to the Democrats’ Ku Klux Klan leaders, to the White Supremacists, to the “Black Lives Matter,” we have and are witnessing the selective application of equality and right to life.

There are those who argue that the social, economic, emotional and psychological burdens of supporting the life of the elderly and sick in nursing homes, the supporting of the deeply handicapped and wounded, and the unwanted unborn children — science, the medical profession and technology have proven that life begins at conception — all are exempted from our constitutional, civilized and moral law. It is this selective application which has degenerated and threatened our culture, laws, and freedoms. We have allowed emotional-based exceptionalism to overrule rational and spiritual truth.

Until we, as a people, rebuke and refuse this political correct and corrosive principle of exceptionalism, we will continue down this perilous road to the end of the right of life for all and the elimination of those who are deemed the burdensome. Paul Jankiewicz, Ph.D. Ulster Park