In plain sight

One of the extraordinary features of the criminal charges brought against Donald Trump is that so much damning evidence is already public.

The documents case: Most of us have seen the pictures of boxes of government documents piled up next to a toilet at Mar-a-Lago, and the classified papers strewn across the floor of Trump’s personal office. And then there’s the audio recording where he brags about showing top-secret war plans to visitors at his New Jersey golf club. Trump can be heard saying, “This is secret information. Look! Look at this!… As president, I could have declassified this. Now I can’t.”

The attempt to overturn the 2020 election: After all legal challenges to the election results were exhausted, Trump’s team created what they called “fake electors” to be used to block the counting of the state-certified electors on January 6. When Vice President Pence refused to go along with the scheme, Trump tweeted that Pence “didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done.” The Secret Service immediately evacuated the vice president as chants of “Hang Mike Pence!” rang through the halls of Congress.

Georgia: Georgia’s Republican secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, recorded a January 2 phone call with Trump in which he pressed Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to overcome Biden’s narrow victory in the state. When Raffensperger refused, Trump turned to veiled threats saying, “You know what they did and you’re not reporting it… that’s a criminal offense… that’s a big risk to you.”

It will be fascinating to see what juries make of all the rest of the evidence that’s been amassed.

Bruce Ferguson
Callicoon Center, NY

Restore peace in Tusten

It is time to restore peace and harmony to the Town of Tusten. It is time for the Tusten Town Board to stop tearing the community apart.

For reasons that defy logic, the Tusten Board periodically entertains needless proposals that pit neighbor against neighbor. Not too long ago, it was the Main Street Riverwalk/Esplanade. Now, it is the pavilion proposal for the ballfield on the Flats that has raised the ire of local residents.

For what purpose? An underutilized pavilion already exists at the Lava Firehouse. It has everything the Tusten Youth Commission—a driving force behind the Flats pavilion proposal—requested: bathrooms, a kitchen and ample parking.

Another complaint voiced is the lack of shade at the Flats field. We would be remiss if we failed to point out this was a problem created by a previous Town Board when it foolishly cut down the shade trees. The current solution to fix that blunder is an expensive pavilion completely out of character with the neighborhood that will drive our already sky-high property tax rates into the stratosphere.

If shade is needed at the ballfield, shade can be had inexpensively with shade sails, similar to what you see at pools and resorts.

With those problems solved, here’s hoping the Town Board promptly deposits the pavilion proposal into the circular file where it belongs. Then we can all return to enjoying our wonderful community instead of tearing at each other’s throats.

To quote the great philosopher John Lennon, “All we are saying/Is give peace a chance.”

Mike Farrell
Narrowsburg, NY