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THE FOLLOWING LETTER APPEARED IN THIS WEEK'S GAZETTE. IT IS RE-PRINTED HERE WITH PERMISSION.
To the Editor:
It has been a while since I have written a letter to The Gazette. Part of that has been my realization that my comments about Village issues, and the comments of my many other village voters, fall on the deaf ears of our elected Village officials. So many decisions of our elected officials have been preordained, such as what happened concerning the Gouveia property, the Croton Point Avenue project and what will happen to the Katz property.
So why write now. I read in astonishment in the September 3-9 edition of The Gazette the letter from John F. Sowa in which he attests that “in less than four Trump years, murders went up 26%, hate crimes have skyrocketed and caravans of armed vigilantes are crossing state lines to create havoc.”
President Trump has nothing to do with local murder rates. Murder and other crime rates are the responsibility of local officials. Those murder rates have risen in mainly Democratic cities (look at Chicago and New York) and the President has nothing to do with local law enforcement. Maybe we should look at New York State’s recent no bail policy, thanks to Governor Cuomo, and New York City’s release of 8,000 inmates, thanks to Mayor DiBlasio, for the recent NYC murder rate increase in New York.
Mr. Sowa’s further claim in his letter that “Kamala Harris was tough on crime” is right. She WAS tough on crime early in her career when it was expedient to do so. Most recently, she said early on that the police officer in the Jacob Blake shooting “should be charged”, even though the investigation was ongoing. She has also stated in response to defunding the police that we have “to reimagine what public safety looks like" and how to reallocate the funds currently received by police departments. Sounds like defunding to me. And let’s not forget how she urged her Twitter followers to donate money to a group to bail out the not so peaceful protestors in Minnesota.
Mr. Sowa further asserts in his same letter that the Black Lives matters daytime marches are peaceful but after dark, “caravans of vigilantes arrive. In many cases, the vigilantes break down the doors of windows and businesses and leave. When the doors are open, the temptation for the local people is too great.”
Really?? Have you watched the videos of the destruction and looting of local businesses across the country? Are you saying that the looting by the local people is justified?
I don’t know Mr. Sowa and assume he is well intentioned. However, the claims in his recent letter are simply misguided.
Brian Powers
Croton-on-Hudson, New York
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thank you!
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