Dan's Papers - October 23, 2009

So, how would we pay for a single-payer national health care plan? Easy. For starters, roll back the enormous tax cuts given to the wealthiest of Americans during the Reagan and Bush Administrations and increase the tax on unearned income from the present 15% to 25%. How about rescinding the provision in the Medicare Modernization & Improvement Act that prohibits Medicare from negotiating drug prices with pharmaceutical companies? That provision alone incurs countless billions of dollars in additional costs to Medicare. And why not plug up tax loopholes that allow American corporations to avoid paying U.S. taxes through outsourcing? The resulting increase in revenue would leave enough money left over to investigate and prosecute all of the criminals responsible for the banking and mortgage meltdown.

When is your meeting with Obama? - DR

What has a deer ever done for you? In one season, three of our family members had deer-auto incidents.

The total front grill of a Buick Park Avenue (not a midget car) on Shelter Island.

Six deer came running across the back three lanes and grass divider along the Pine Barrens, Route 27, west of Southampton. Front windshield smashed, glass everywhere, damaged my husband's vision.

Beach Causeway, east of Bayview, Sag Harbor, an eleven point Buck came out of the pond on the east and ran into our Buick Park Avenue, (yes same car), demolishing the front end, air bags deployed, burned skin. Again my husband suffered head and eye damage, which have resulted in total loss of vision and exacerbated the onset of dementia! He is now in a full-time care facility. Deer don't need to pay insurance!

After the incident (oh about 20-odd years ago, when the Buick ran into the SUV driven by the East Hampton P.D. Chief, his daughter died on Montauk Highway in East Hampton. Then was the time to gradually thin the herds to a healthful manageable size.

Amazingly in the great conservancy managed tracts of land, both burning the underbrush before the thickening (March?) and shooting deer are permissible by the Fed State Local and Corrupt Govits! Yet we homeowners must see years of growth of beautifully colored flowering plants and even Boxwood ravaged by thirsty, hungry rampantly multiplying deer or face poisoning by Permethrin.

Oh and I've had Lyme's disease at least once many years recurring twice a year, for the last 25 years.

Curse of the Hamptons. - DR

My husband and I live in Riverhead at Willow Ponds; however the HOA wants to make it a gated community, so now you can have a column titled "Gated Islander." Perhaps the deer will be charged a toll.

We oppose the gate due to the following obvious reasons: ferry traffic, winery traffic, pumpkin farm traffic, and overflow from Route 58. We want to preserve the quality of life and open space on the North Fork. That is the main reason we moved here. It is problem leaving the compound without a gate and we want to avoid traffic buildup that will cause major accidents due to gates that always malfunction.

In addition, last week someone leaving Martha Clara after wine tasting caused an accident. Plus, cars are always up lined eastbound from Doctors Path to Rte. 105 for Briermere Farms pies.

We want the farms to always remain here. When we purchased our unit, there was never any mention of installing a gate. We have single-family homes such as Roanoke Landing and Sunken Meadows on the north side without a gate. Therefore, additional traffic.

Gates and fences make bad neighbors in my opinion. - DR

I am now home in Florida after a beautiful summer at my home in the Springs. As the weather is usually too hot to sit outside here in Florida, there is nothing I enjoy more in NY than sitting on my front porch in the early morning with a hot mug of coffee listening to the sounds of sunrise and watching the birds, rabbits, squirrels and deer appear. There were plenty of birds, deer and each day but I kept thinking, where are the squirrels? I was always so amazed at how big and plump they were compared to the scrawny squirrels that taunt my two cats here in Florida.

At first, I thought the absent squirrels were coming out at night and running across my roof until I realized that the pitter/patter above my bedroom was all the unclaimed acorns that were falling from the oaks surrounding my home This was a sound I never remember hearing and I assume it was because the squirrels of years past were collecting the acorns before they could even think of dropping from the their boughs.

Why is this still on my mind? Well, I came across a letter that my father (who claimed to be a Blackfoot Indian) had written to the Catskill Mountain News many years ago asking, "Where have all the bees gone?" We all know now that the dwindling bee population is a hot topic for scientists, farmers and beekeepers. So, since I truly was wondering about the squirrels I have to ask, "Where have all the squirrels gone?" Are they sick? Have we run over way too many of them? Are they one more victim of this economy providing an inexpensive meal filled with lots of protein? I read they are rather tasty, though I have no intention of trying one myself, especially if it means one less Rocky flying through my trees next summer.

They are at my house. It's a convention. - DR

I awoke to a large Peacock on the deck of my house in Sagaponack. I saw the leg through the shades and thought it was a turkey but nope... a Peacock!