Dan's Papers - September 14, 2007

Dear Dan,
Dear Leif,
Enclosed you will find a photo of G.V's (Ventura) niece the day she took her first surfing lesson. Uncle Gary (G.V.) had promised her last summer (2006) that next summer would be the year he taught her how to surf.
Unfortunately, due to my brother's untimely death, that promise was not fulfilled.
For a little ten-year-old girl, losing her surfer uncle, who was so known and loved in the Hamptons, was heartbreaking for her to know that Uncle Gary would not be joining his buddies at their favorite surfing spots.
On July 7, local surfers, friends and family re-united at "Flies" - a favorite surf spot in Southampton for a surfers "Paddle Out" - in memory of her Uncle Gary. After seeing the movie "Surf's Up" and viewing a paddle-out, etc, she was visible moved.
"Mom, I want to learn how to surf like Uncle Gary," she said.
I made a call to Island Surf in Westhampton, who referred us to Ryan and Kevin who teach at "Island Surf School." When Ryan answered, I told him we were G.V's family. He was thrilled at the opportunity to offer Alexis a chance to try surfing. She loved it!
The following day, the town of Southampton called us to inform us of a two-slot opening for surf camp. We jumped on it.
The day Alexis and her best friend Ali Conti, (who's family also surfs) showed up and to our surprise, one of Gary's best friends who started the Southampton surfing camp, was one of the instructors. His name is Michael Scheimeyer. With a lump and tears in my eyes, I introduced Mike to G.V.'s niece. He grabbed her and said, "let's go surfing!"
As a proud mother and mourning sister, I was overwhelmed.
My daughter got her wish. Her uncle G.V.'s promise had been fulfilled. His best friend, fellow surfer, was teaching his niece, to follow his passion of surfing.
All I could think was, "the legend continues......"
Thank you for all your articles in your paper.
The article in your paper back in March with the photo of my daughter with her uncle Gary was beautiful. I thought you would be interested in this story, since it relates so much to the precious articles.

Go Dudette, go! - DR

Dear Dan:
"John Edwards and His Wife Campaign Here" (T.J. Clemente - August 17) was worth the price of admission. The statement "In Elizabeth's eyes, her husband is worth a $400 haircut and she would work overtime to get the money to pay for it" speaks volumes. Expensive haircuts seem to be in vogue with many Democratic Presidential candidates. Senator John Edwards $400 haircut reminds me of fellow Democrat Senator Hillary Clinton's infamous $2,000 visits to her favorite Washington, D.C. hair salon. There are tens of millions of working and middle class Americans who are lucky to take home $400 per week or $2,000 per month after taxes. They would have spent similar amounts of monies to pay for the necessities of life such as food, clothing, rent and health care. Their ordinary haircuts and visits to the beauty salon are a fraction of the costs Edwards or Clinton would pay.
Both Senators Edwards and Clinton are politically correct liberal birds of a feather that flock together. They claim to be friends of ordinary working and middle class Americans, but while they talk the talk, they don't walk the walk. Edwards and Clinton offer expensive style, but no substance. Both spend like millionaires on personal pampering. They own multimillion-dollar homes in elite suburbs and live a lifestyle that average citizens can only dream about. Both have raised millions of dollars in campaign contributions from the usual crowd of lobbyists, trial lawyers, Hollywood celebrities and special interest Pay for Play crowds. All of these players are investing their campaign contributions looking for future White House access and favors such as favorable legislation, friendly tax code changes and regulations along with funding of pet programs all in their areas of interest at taxpayers expense.
In reality, both Clinton and Edwards are part of the Washington bipartisan inside the beltway crowd committed to preservation of the status quo. Those who desire real change, need to look elsewhere in 2008.

This is a dark view in my opinion. - DR

Dear Dan,
Re: "Trying Again..." Morpurgo property, Sag Harbor by Christian Mc McLean
I just read the above property about real estate in Sag Harbor. (Real estate anywhere here seems to be a preoccupation) I had to wonder what horse your paper is backing? Because it is clear your paper has chosen a side. The article dripped with bias, speculation, surmise and opinions.
Your reporter offered opinions on the law, real estate and family values. What happened to the 5Ws and journalism? Didn't Dan recently sell the paper to the Finkelstein group, which presently owns the National Law Journal and the NY Law Journal?
As I recall from a youthful brush with journalism, editorializing was not permitted in general reporting, unless the rules are different for a "resort paper."
Stick with the stories about the Giant Conga Eel and Dan's car getting stuck on the beach at high tide.

Editorializing in an article is permitted as the #1 rule of journalism at Dan's Papers. -DR