I am writing to congratulate Mike Siegel and Wally Gardner on their opening of Canal Street Knives in Ellenville, and to clarify my comments printed in last week's story, "A Cut Above: Canal Street Knifeworks Opens its Doors, Cuts its Ribbon." As a member of the Board of the Directors of the Ulster County Chamber of Commerce and as Ulster County Legislator Elect, I was asked to say a few words at the ribbon cutting. I referred to the book by Malcolm Gladwell, The Tipping Point, in my comments. The author, Gladwell, makes the point in the book that

"One of the things I'd like to do is to show people how to start "positive" epidemics of their own. The virtue of an epidemic, after all, is that just a little input is enough to get it started, and it can spread very, very quickly. That makes it something of obvious and enormous interest to everyone from educators trying to reach students, to businesses trying to spread the word about their product, or for that matter to anyone who's trying to create a change with limited resources."

I was quoted in the article as saying "This just may be the thing that puts us back on our feet". It was in that context of referring to Malcolm Gladwell's book that I had referred to opening of the new store possibly being a tipping point for Ellenville . When taken out of context, as a stand alone statement, it might seem odd that I would say that a small knife store would be the thing that "puts us back on our feet". However, when one understands the premise of "The Tipping Point", hopefully my comments make more sense.

Gladwell says about his book "This is not an abstract, academic book. It's very practical. And it's very hopeful. It's brain software.

I spend a great deal of time in the Village and come to Ellenville each week to buy fresh pizza dough from Dominick's on Center Street for our business. I am looking forward to working in the Legislature to help create the type of "change with limited resources that Malcolm Gladwell talks about.

I know a lot of the kids walking the streets in Ellenville (particularly those with skateboards in their hands), and have a significant number of customers that live in Ellenville, Wawarsing and Cragsmoor frequent my businesses Pilates at the Bungalow and Skate Time 209. I am committed to working to bring more jobs to our county, as well as working to lower taxes. I thank Mike and Wally for contributing their positive project to the area - a step in the right direction!

Terry Bernardo
Accord

I have watched this health-care debate for sometime now and I have to admit I have laughed at the American public over this debate. Some may ask why? Well that is simple that is because I have had government controlled health-care for well over 36 years at the VA that is the Veterans Administration hospitals here at Castle Point and Albany and while I was in the military.

Now mind you that is not free my brothers, sisters and I have earned that medical care. Many of us pay co-pays on our medical services and medication and there are those us of who lost limb or was wounded and get percentages free or maybe 100% non-co-pay. That non-co-pay may have come after fighting for years with Uncle Sam over our wounded broken bodies either through veterans groups or with lawyers.

Now mind you America there are some great folks at the VA but mostly it is and has been an over crowded understaffed facility's run by overpaid bureaucrats who don't care about veterans or didn't you people read the articles done by newspapers over the years about Walther Reed and other VA's? Didn't you hear many veterans groups protesting our care or didn't you care? Oh yea we get medications not the same cutting edge stuff offered on the outside to you who have private health-care we get the stuff Uncle Sam says he can afford to give us even though we pay and have paid.

While I had private health-care I avoided the VA because I found overwhelmed doctors who for the most part didn't care although Uncle Sam paid them very well no not like your doctors got paid but they got paid well. Since I have been back to the VA they have lost my blood work 6 times five at the Kingston Satellite office of Albany Stratton VA and when I called and asked what was up I got a letter from the VA police at the direction of the Director Mary Anne Piche' telling me that I was a trouble maker and I no longer could go to the Kingston Satellite office.

So I drove from Ellenville to Albany until I could no longer afford to do so. I then went to the Monticello Satellite office run by Castle Point where right out of the box they lost my blood work so I just said to hell wit it and started going to the Main Campus facility over the Hudson in Ducthess County. There I see my main doctor who now for years sits at a computer and types he never has examined me once. I see a metabolic doctor who ordered blood test last August and now it is December and although my Blood Sugars went up he has never requested to see me. I also see a pain doctor no there is no chiropractic care pain is dealt with by making us drug dependant which I got to say is similar to outside care where the medical profession has seem to made quite a nice little niche business for themselves.

I have to say that maybe this is justice that you all seem to want Uncle Sam take care of you with health-care when he can't even run an election right. I have to laugh and think to myself this is good that they see how us veterans were cared for when we came home wounded with head wounds and they tied us to the wall in some mold infested hallway with rats running around like the VA hospitals in the Bronx. Or like when I was diagnosed as having been exposed to Agent Orange and wrote Congressman Maurice Hichey, Senator Schumer and then Senator Clinton for help and they refused to even listen to me so I had to hire a lawyer? Just maybe this is justice since you didn't seem to care that we were being treated in this manner not befitting an animal and no one cared until this recent war then there was a brief flurry of news reports and some protests.

So I say maybe this is justice that these left leaning liberals get what I got and worse after all they spit on me and my fellow returning veterans and called us baby killers when we came home, just maybe this is God evening the score because the right didn't seem to fired up to help us either. Our supporters have been family and each other as we quietly took what was given to us so you could fight over "free health-care" for all. Well America nothing is for free not our freedom and not our health--care and if you let this go down you will be sorry.

We need to fix the problems like being able to buy insurance throughout the country not just three or four in our own states. We need to ensure that those with pre-existing conditions can be covered and at a fair market price. We need to rid ourselves from things like AARP where they rip seniors off like my seventy-three year old brother who was paying $177 a month for his AARP supplement when he now pays another company right here in New York State about $33 a month for better services. You don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. You don't give people who refuse to work, or have come into this country illegally free heath-care. If you seriously think those people in Cuba, Europe or Canada have better healthcare than you well I have a bridge I want to sell you.

You want government healthcare, join the military, or move to one of the communist country's we've been at odds with for all my life, Canada, Europe but don't bring it here and for Gods sake wake up and tell your representatives to take care of it's active duty military and her veterans and fix the VA finally once and for all.

Michael J. Walkerwicz
Navy Veteran
Ulster Heights