Letters to the Editor: Thanking good Samaritans
Aquebogue
Thanking good Samaritans
I was driving down Hubbard Avenue in Riverhead when I got a flat tire. My spare was flat, so I took the tire off and was walking to Tire Country thinking, “I wish someone would pull over and help me” — and someone did!
As we were going to Tire Country, I told Joe I didn’t have my wallet with me, and I hope they trust me to come back and pay them. So we get there and they were closed for lunch. When Joe had to leave, he gave me a $100 bill and his card and said, “Pay me when you can.” That man’s name is Joe Vullo.
But it’s not over: The other day I was going to the post office on Linda Lane and again got help from a man named Allen.
God bless you guys, and Riverhead and Aquebogue.
John Kinane
Calverton
Nick LaLota is M.I.A.
Even though Speaker Mike Johnson sent the House home early in July, Rep. Nick LaLota refused to use that extra time to hold an open town hall this summer to meet with his constituents. What is the job of a representative in Congress except to represent all of the people who live in his district?
After shirking his primary responsibility for the past two and a half years, isn’t it time for us to demand that LaLota does his job or makes room for someone who will?
Jerry Silverstein
Wading River
Spending oversight
Congressman Nick LaLota: As a member of Congress, oversight of government spending is part of your job. Also, you are on a committee that oversees military infrastructure. Please publicly share your thoughts on these items.
Trump’s “free” airplane from Qatar that will require at least $933 million for renovations, taken from U.S. Air Force projects. Especially important: At the end of Trump’s term it will be available for his use — a going-away gift from taxpayers. Then there is the $200 million White House ballroom. Is it necessary now? The National Guard occupation of Los Angeles cost $134 million and the Washington, D.C. occupation estimate is $1 to 2 million a day. This is very expensive for a service never even trained for police work. And Trump is promising more occupations!
Who is minding Trump’s extravagant whims? Meanwhile, DOGE cuts have seriously defunded or eliminated critical government agencies that serve all taxpayers and, in early 2027, your Big Ugly Bill will cause 11 million Americans to lose health care and several million more to lose food assistance. As our elected representative, you have about one year to explain exactly how this benefits average Americans. Thank you for your reply.
Alan Daters
Laurel
Caring is not on hold
I know this with absolute certainty: I’m not the only American whose heart aches for Ukraine and the 20,000 Ukrainian children Russia has abducted. We ache imagining the fear of the children and their family’s pain. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told us on “Meet the Press” Aug. 17: “But if tomorrow the war continues, life in America will not be fundamentally altered. “
Ukrainians had homes, gardens, jobs, hospitals and schools. Now they have tons of donated clothing and monetary donations for survival kits. It doesn’t take knowing a lot of history to feel deep concern for the future of Ukraine and its neighboring countries. “This is not our war,” said Rubio. Perhaps for him history, with its lessons of the past, has already been erased.
The world witnessed our president give Putin, a ruthless dictator, a friendly welcome, which included a red carpet, warm handshake, big smiles. I didn’t hear that he considered making a deal, such as: “I’ll invite you into our country, where you’ll be elevated with attention, after you release the children.” Presidents through my lifetime — Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy and on — made mistakes, but they could make the distinction between an honorable leader and a contemptible one.
Our lives won’t be altered If this war continues, if we just become calloused to invasions aimed at wiping out the existence of a country and its people. No need to despair over kidnapped children. No worries about this brutal invasion or any others to come. If we just get on board and reset our values. If we just stop caring. If we have the stomach to live in a country without moral leadership. And hearts that quit feeling.
Mary Ellen Tomaszewski
Wading River
Climate change chaos
The Trump administration’s all-out war on environmental protection is not making America’s great again. Instead, it is making our nation unhealthy and putting all of us, Democrats and Republicans alike, in peril, whether we live in Riverhead or Los Angeles.
Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill closes four key observatories that study the atmosphere and measure greenhouse gases that adversely affect our climate. These facilities help climate scientists assess long-term climate changes, what policies are working or not, and if global warming is accelerating.
Consider that the Trump administration has filed fewer civil cases against corporate polluters — 11 in his first six months — than any other president since 2013, and 26 fewer civil cases than were filed in his first term.
Consider that the administration has issued an avalanche of policies that could stop the construction of renewable energy projects, both wind and solar, on both federal and private land. Note that wind and solar energy provided 16% of the nation’s electricity last year. One-third of Nevada’s electricity now comes from solar power.
Consider that the administration is rescinding a rule to enforce limits on greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks. Greenhouse gases are the main reason for climate change, leading to extreme heat, intense storms, droughts and wildfires.
Donald Trump doesn’t exist in a vacuum. His policies are implemented by minions like EPA administrator Lee Zeldin, former 1st District U.S. congressman, who says that Trump policies will make it cheaper and easier for businesses to operate in the U.S. So there we have the motivation: money and profit for corporations. The health and well being of our citizens be damned!
Zeldin’s successor, Rep. Nick LaLota, has been in lockstep with administration policies from day one. Let’s remember this when it’s time to vote in the 2026 mid-term elections.
Martin Skrocki
Mattituck
A taxing proposal
As a life member and active participant in the Mattituck Laurel Historical Society and Museums, please let me express my concern and opposition to the proposal to finance its activity through an additional tax on local property holders, to be voted on in September.
Not requiring visitors to the museum to make any kind of payment but having all the residents do so seems patently unfair. Moreover, the members were not consulting in making this decision. While this year’s budget is in the $45,000 range, the levy will be for 50% more than that. To those that plead the amount is small, this is how we make living here unaffordable — by killing affordability with a thousand small cuts!
G. Charles Whyte
Greenport
Issues that matter
It’s my belief that a healthy community needs people of all skill sets, ages, professions and backgrounds to be sustainable, resilient and productive. This concept is, after all, what makes up the fabric of America. While Southold Town has done a tremendous job of preserving our land and protecting our waters, we have indisputably failed at maintaining the human infrastructure needed to be good stewards of our communities. Make no mistake: This balancing act is the defining issue of our town.
I was born and raised in Greenport, and I remember it vividly: After graduating from Greenport High School, I was pulled aside by a mentor who told me that if I wanted to be successful, I needed to leave the North Fork. In fact, I belong to a whole generation of young people who were told to flee if we wanted to thrive.
There’s also another critical issue — one that your children are surely familiar with: housing. Home prices are ballooning, affordable unit construction has stagnated and volunteers for critical emergency services have declined sharply as they’re priced out of their own neighborhoods. Our housing crisis deserves to be treated as such — a crisis.
We have to prioritize building more opportunities for our young people and working-class neighbors. We must act with a sense of urgency so we can offer affordable housing for people at every stage of their lives. We have to create legislation that moves quickly enough for our small businesses to navigate the complex landscape of modern commerce.
These are issues that matter deeply to me — and they’re ones I’m committed to focusing on if elected to Southold Town Board this November. Because the next generation of graduates deserves the opportunity not just to survive, but to thrive — right here in Southold.
Alexa Suess
Ms. Suess is running for Southold Town Board on the Democratic and Working Families lines.
Southold
Walk against, ride with
Having lived a good, long life — much of it on roads either driving, cycling, running or walking — I notice many pedestrians on the North Fork fail to obey the simple rules of the road.
I have often driven around sharp corners to find pedestrians at night, wearing dark clothing, walking with their back to me and I nearly hit them. Often families with baby carriages!
Walking against traffic is proven to be much safer than walking with traffic, for two reasons. First, a driver can see a pedestrian easier when facing them and not well from behind, which may include dark hair and clothing. Secondly, wouldn’t you rather see a vehicle approaching you that is oversized or speeding or driving erratically? I bet you would say, “Yes!”
Please, we want you and your loved ones to be safe — and you won’t end up a statistic.
Eric Hoffmaster
East Marion
School shootings
The Aug. 21 edition of The Suffolk Times provided a timely focus on back-to-school activities and the article about police training to manage school shootings highlighted one of the many ways our police work with the community to provide a safe environment. As the article acknowledges, school shootings are a horror no parent wants to experience, and police are helping to avoid more tragedies. However, stating it is a “harsh reality of today’s world” suggests school shootings are common worldwide. Statistics speak otherwise.
Most places in the world do not have the rate of school shootings seen in the U.S. World Population Review publishes data on school shootings of at least one person, other than the shooter, on school grounds serving elementary through university and vocational students. The five countries with the most school shootings between 2009 and 2018 are in rank order: No. 1, U.S., with 288 incidents; No. 2, Mexico, with eight incidents; No. 3, South Africa, with six incidents; No. 4 and 5, Pakistan and Nigeria, with four incidents apiece.
But what about more recent data, that also accounts for population? The data again informs us that the U.S. stands out from other countries by having more school shootings. In 2025 there was an average of one school shooting a week in the U.S., more than occurred in all European Union countries combined. With about 333 million people, the U.S. has had about double the number of school shootings as the EU, which has approximately 450.4 million people.
School shootings are not a given reality. Rather, we in the U.S. have made a choice to live with them. We could just as well make a different choice, to support change and learn from other countries that have found ways to keep schools safer.
Anne Bogard
Southold
Questions for Rep. LaLota
1. Do you support the continuation of mail-in voting as a convenient option for your constituents?
President Trump said, just the other day, that he was opposed, that it was corrupt and no other countries allowed it. Yet many do, including Canada, the UK, Australia, Germany and Switzerland.
Either Trump hasn’t checked the facts or he is blatantly lying. Trump also said, in a live TV interview, that his buddy Vladimir Putin told him mail-in voting was corrupt. Well, if the murderous ex-KGB agent says it, it must be true!
2. Do you support Ukraine and its heroic fight for continuation as a sovereign nation?
Putin, like Hitler, is hell bent on invading neighboring nations and dominating Europe. Ironically, Trump is aggressively trying to expand our “empire”… making a push to acquire Canada as our 51st state and making Greenland a U.S. territory.
3. Do you approve of Donald Trump’s using the presidency to enrich himself ?
All prior U.S. Presidents have divested themselves of their assets or have placed them in a blind trust to avoid any conflict of interest. In broad daylight, Trump buys $100 million in bonds for his own personal account (as reported in recent requisite filings). At the same time, he is relentlessly interfering with the Fed’s independence and pushing hard for interest rates cuts, which would substantially increase the value of that bond portfolio. Trump is using the power of his office to enrich himself… an egregious abuse.
I’m sure that you have your own questions. Since Mr. LaLota does not hold in person town halls, call his office at 631-289-1097 and ask him, his staff or his answering machine.
Please speak up. Our democracy is at risk. Act now, before it’s too late.
Dick Sheehan
Southold
Tyranny alert
“The secret of freedom lies in educating people, whereas the secret of tyranny is in keeping them ignorant.” — Maximilian Robespierre
While many people think of Trump as dumb, this quote from Robespierre proves the opposite is true. Step by step, organization by organization, he is systematically pushing his ignorance agenda. From his quote in the first run for president, “I love ignorant people,” he has proved his word.
A White House letter sent Aug. 12 to Smithsonian Institution secretary Lonnie Bunch III, which was obtained by the Associated Press, states that the Smithsonian is required to provide materials from exhibits and drafts for upcoming events within 30 days. It states that within 120 days, museums will be expected to take corrective action, “replacing divisive or ideologically driven language with unifying, historically accurate, and constructive descriptions.”
Whitewashing history is another way to diminish our democracy. Don’t be fooled, it’s part of the plan.
Rosellen Storm
Southold
The good old days
Re: the Aug. 21 Police Report. When I was a young girl in Brooklyn many, many, many decades ago, if a guy deigned to give a flower to a girl on the street and said hello, it would have been considered a sweet thing to do.
That poor guy from Greenport must have been surprised by the reaction to his action. Alas, what is happening to our country, and why?
Elaine Goldman
Cutchogue
Save Oregon Road
The town proposes to amend the zoning code to change the “block” of Oregon Road between Depot and Cox lanes from Light Industrial to Industrial.
Although our community has already told our elected officials that this is the wrong place for a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS), the proposed code would allow this — and more. We could see a tanning salon, more storage units or a car wash, to name a few options permitted by the proposed code.
The town and county have already spent millions of our tax dollars to preserve large swaths of land on Oregon Road. It makes no sense to then allow this zoning change. Instead, any land in this sector that is currently open space should be rezoned agricultural.
Let’s save what’s left!
Please sign the petition at tinyurl.com/saveoregonroad and show our town that taxpayers prefer farmland over car washes on Oregon Road.
Alix O’Mara
Founding member, Friends of Oregon Road.
Holbrook
Political term limits
In response to your article about term limits in our Suffolk County Legislature and on other levels of government
(“Our View,” Aug. 21): As a politician myself, I think we should have term limits, but we should make terms a longer period of time. For example, if I ran for a county legislative position, I would like to serve for a period of four years. Two years is not enough time for a politician to carry out any type of policy changes that could happen while in office and to witness how these changes affect their constituents. And then they could run again for the same office for another four-year term. Currently, the limit is a total of 12 years. It would be good to see that this issue within the political realm is not a factor in meeting legislative responsibilities like our president. It looks like right now, two years is not enough time to research, discuss, vote on, implement and test the change — as this is the process. Politicians need to focus more on the changing issues of today, as their responsibilities include the No. 1 priority of maintaining peace as it relates to the changes in human behavior.
Ilona Torraca
