I just read the weekly Shawangunk Journal, and I can't believe what I read, and that is that Shoprite has filed a last minute appeal to stop Walmart from coming in. What is this some kind of stupid game Shoprite plays, in every town there is a Shoprite and Walmart decides to build?

As for Walmart causing any environmental and economic impact on the area. I don't see any, the only thing I see is more jobs, and maybe in the future more stores coming in to the area.

As far as Walmart lowering the wages in the area, I don't see how that's going to happen. Your highest paid people in this area are your prison guards, teachers, hospital workers, and I don't see any of then lowering their wages because of Walmart, as a matter of fact Walmart would pay more than these people working at you local eateries. There was none of this stupid nonsense when Shoprite came in, and that place and surrounding stores, are built on a swamp and flood plain. I remember when I was a kid, that whole area where Shoprite is was under three foot of water from a flood, and it could happen again.

You are letting people go into a flea market where there is mold and mildew, the roof is not safe, and smell the dampness when you walk in the door, and you people say this is safe, and healthy.

I agree with Mr. Distel, when he says another paycheck means another cup of coffee, and so on, and if Walmart would help get a lot of people off of public assistance, it would make a lot of people proud to have a paycheck every week or two instead of depending on once a month check. Sure Shoprite has these coupons every week in the paper but you have to buy $15.00 worth of stuff, in order to get the item for $.15, now Walmart honors all major coupons, and if you want you just can buy that item.

You people of WERD whoever you may be. I think it's about time you get your head out of your butts, and start looking to the future of this area, before it's too damn late and then you can change the name from Ellenville to Welfare Town or Ghost Town, which ever fixes best.

Wake up people make a change, look ahead to your future your children and grandchildren future, start looking around you and see how many people are leaving this area, because there is no future here.

Raymond C. Smith, Sr.
Ellenville, NY

I recently attended an event in New Paltz where our congressman, Maurice Hinchey, ranted against the recent Supreme Court decision of Citizens United, which upheld the right for poltical free speech in our country. Hinchey claimed that things being said on the right, and he sited Fox News and Rush Limbaugh, had to be stopped because they "threatened" our country.

I am appalled that the man who is supposed to be representing me in Congress is opposed to freedom of speech in general, and political free speech in particular!

Meanwhile, I shortly after received a 4 page, 4 color mailer from Hinchey parroting all of the Pelosi talking points about Obamacare - and this was PAID FOR WITH TAX DOLLARS. So, free speech is not ok with him, unless it's used to spread the liberal propoganda and is paid for with our hard earned money?

People on both sides of the issue should be appalled at any government representative who denounces free speech at the same time he uses it to his political advantage. That's why I'm supporting George Phillips for Congress in November to make Mr. Hinchey's political career history!

Pamela O'Dell
Gardiner, NY

I would like to respond to the editorial in the April 15, 2010 Journal, "There is Power in a Union." I believe too many people assume that state employees are living high on the hog. I have been a state employee for seven years. Five of those years, I have been a Supervising Court Office Assistant in Orange County. I have also spent five of those years working another job four nights a week at a local restaurant in Goshen. This is not because I thought working 25 to 30 hours on top of my state job would be fun.

I have no choice.

I am a single parent who receives no support from the other parent. In order for me to support my child, I have to work 60 plus hours per week and commute from Ellenville to Goshen, because I cannot afford to in the County in which I work. I have a B.A. in Political Law from SUNY Binghamton. I am not a state employee to get rich. I am a state employee because I need the job security and medical benefits because I am the sole provider for my child.

Ask my son how much that 4% raise means to him, when four out of seven nights, his mother is not home because she is working her second job of the day. My union "recognizes the situation we're in right now." That is why they are fighting for my 4% raise, so that maybe someday I won't have to work 15 hour days, commute 1 ½ hours everyday, and actually see my son and be able to attend school functions. I am the middle class. I still have to figure out how to pay my property taxes and hope my son gets some form of assistance to go to college, because I am still paying off my student loans.

No one should be envious of me and my so called "Union Power."

April Thomen
Ellenville

Here's the scenario: A cub reporter enters the Shawangunk Journal Editor's office and exclaims, "We just lost our first Brazilian in Iraq!" The Editor, visibly shaken, slumps in his chair and sobs, "Do we have to lose a Quadrillion more people before they stop this war?"

It is clear to me that the Editor who wrote the editorial in the April 1st Edition clearly doesn't know how to DO THE MATH! Let's consider that the average cub reporter makes $50,000 a year before taxes. I'm sure a few of those cub reporters are laughing their butts off right about now but let's assume that they make that much BEFORE TAXES are taken out of their pay. That same cub reporter would have to work nearly 16 years to pay for that project at the Galeville airport.

Let's also assume that young cub reporter goes out to buy a new car that costs about $20,000. Putting $2,000 down for a 5 year loan @ 6%, the payments would be $347.00 per month. The cub reporter could purchase about 35 new cars for the same amount of money being spent on the project at Galeville. These two "math problems" are simple examples of really how much $799,000 really is.

The cavalier manner in which the editorial dismissed the cost of the project is a disservice to anyone who works hard to be able to make it in today's economy with a salary of $50,000 a year and who struggles to be able to afford a new car every once in a while. The reality is that most people in this area fit into or below the $50,000 a year category and that $799,000 is a lot of money to them. Furthermore, if as the editorial suggests that the $799,000 is just a drop in the bucket of spending in our country, then our protest at Galeville was right on target! Our government needs to stop spending our hard-earned tax dollars on what we would like and only spend it on what we actually need.

The author of the editorial really got off topic and alluded that the people there were somehow protesting health care. Not the case at all! Our protest was solely focused on the $799,000 Galeville project as being representative of how wasteful our government is in spending on this type of project at this difficult fiscal time. It was our point that government at all levels should be putting a stop to spending when government doesn't have the money to start with and that our grandchildren will be paying for this debt throughout their lifetimes.

If the Shawangunk Journal operated its budget in the same the way the federal government operates, it couldn't stay in business very long. And, if the Shawangunk Journal printed money like the way our Federal government prints it, it would end up having about the same value!

In closing, I will take the same liberty the Shawangunk Journal's April 1st editorial did by moving off topic. The national defense budget is very large and is there to protect the individual freedoms we all enjoy. The Shawangunk Journal's editorial is just a small example of how one of our dearest freedoms given to us through the 1st Amendment remains intact. While stretching your privilege of free speech in your editorials, you should always find the time to thank a Veteran for the sacrifices he or she made so that you can continue to print the trash that you sometimes do.

Roger Rascoe
Chairman, Town of Shawangunk Republican Committee, Wallkill