Dan's Papers - April 17, 2009 -

Regarding your "Breaking News" article in the April 10 edition of Dan's Papers regarding the swans, I just want to show the world how cantankerous the male swan can be. We were at the pond watching the swans from a safe distance, when the male swan made a straight b-line to our car which was parked a distance from the nest. Nothing scared him off, honking, starting the car or trying to back up. He held on for dear life. From now on I am going to take the long way around the pond to steer clear of them. If I had read your report before we went to visit the pond, we would have stayed away. Hell hath no fury like a swan scorned!

Male swans could be rented out as security guards. - DR

I just read the article by Dan on "Hamptons Zepplins" and for the last two years I have been lobbying an airship company that operates in San Francisco to open a route from NYC to points east - also from NYC and Long Island to Atlantic City.

Of course, all my letters have fallen on deaf ears. As a marketing specialist and producer, I want to get involved by doing the promo work. Perhaps all of the heavy hitters (don't tell me there are no wealthy people left in the Hamptons) could set up the shuttle by purchasing the 40-passenger airship and a crew.

The advertising potential is astounding.

Yeah, but where would they garage it? - DR

If I got dragged downtown on charges of fraud, forgery, and operating a Madoff scheme AND I was innocent, I'd have a big toothy smile that would surly fend off any perceptions created by a lens of lesser quality; bulging cheeks to boot.

They do look worried. - DR

The statistics are absolutely frightening. One in seven women living on Long Island compared to one in 29 nationwide will be diagnosed with breast cancer. Considering the disproportionate number of women in Nassau and Suffolk County who are diagnosed with breast cancer each year, it is disturbing to accept that researchers have not yet been able to narrow their focus from a vast array of environmental pollutants that may be serving as catalysts for this devastating disease. The irony involved with breast cancer studies on Long Island is overwhelming. In order to understand the complexity and cause of this disease, we cannot ignore the environment as a distinct threat to our personal health, as officials would lead us to believe. To say that these studies are misleading would be an understatement. Our environment is by no means safe. To make proper conclusions, we must not omit parts to the equation. Specifically, overwhelming evidence that our environment is toxic. What we are not being told may be hastening our demise. Groundwater contamination is a serious problem on Long Island. Released into the environment from leaking underground gasoline storage tanks, the now-banned gasoline additive MTBE (methyl tertiary butyl ether) has done significant damage. Used originally to enhance the burning qualities of gasoline, it has entered our aquifers and contaminated our soil. Classified as a carcinogen, the Environmental Protection Agency has listed Long Island as having nearly the highest MTBE contamination in the nation. Exposure to MTBE by inhaling vapors via soil vapor intrusion can lead to various forms of cancer including leukemia and lymphoma. Avoiding MTBE vapors on Long Island is difficult, considering how extensive our damage is. Until MTBE and other pollutants are fully addressed and removed from our environment, excessive cancer rates will continue. The public cannot be misinformed. Smoking and diet cannot be the scapegoat for a dangerous environment.

They need to find what this is. - DR

Many vocal license supporters in the NY/NJ metro argue about Florida's license being a model to go by. Take a look at what local residents and tackle shops think of the new plan to FINALLY license state residents who've been exempt from licensing requirements for more than 20 years! http://www.keysnet.com/news/story/88818.html.

Recreational anglers on Long Island needed a simple registry to count the saltwater anglers; Albany wanted more money to distribute along the bureaucratic supply chain. The New York saltwater license is simply a registry with an inflated user fee attached (in other words, a tax), and it's certainly not what the federal government had mandated, regardless of what's often been written.