Dan's Papers -February 13, 2009 -

To the gluttonous CEOs of America's failed mega-corporations: The party's over. Cork up the Chivas Regal and drink some Kool-Aid. Put your polo ponies out to pasture. Sell your yachts to the United Arab Emirates. Downsize your corporate jet fleet. Plow under your private golf courses and plant a Victory Garden.

Avarice and conspicuous consumption are no longer in vogue.

I'll drink to that. - D.R.

We understand that leftist ideologues do not allow logic, rationality or facts to alter their beliefs.

So your response to Stuart Gillman's e-mail (January 16), "Before you get here, you're an illegal," was not surprising, just pathetic.

I am writing to you after years of trying to get the attention of the person responsible for road hazards in Sagaponack. The buck is simply passed from one person to the other with no one willing to take a look and make a decision one way or the other.

A guardrail was built on both sides of Hedges Lane at Old Barn Lane (West of Town Line) to keep vehicles out of a small culvert. The guardrails are a greater danger than the problem they are intended to fix. A vehicle - anything smaller than an eighteen-wheeler - hitting it head-on would be impaled by the cross-member (similar construction existed on the Parkways - Northern and Southern State - many years ago).

Please drive by at your convenience and see for yourself whether or not you agree.

I called the Town about it years ago and they did nothing. - D.R.

On behalf of the staff and clients of The Retreat, I would like to thank you for your generosity and support this holiday season.

The holidays can be a particularly difficult time of year for our clients and their children. Every donation that is received on their behalf, both big and small, is greatly appreciated.

We wish you and your family a joyful, healthy and peaceful new year.

I played Santa Claus there this year. - D.R.

Your "take" on Madoff's $50 billion was very well thought out.

In using your term of "follow the money," you did leave out the big winner - namely the IRS.

Take, for example, Carl Shapiro, who reportedly lost $400 million. His yearly profit on that sum, based on Madoff's typical returns, would have been approximately $45-$50 million in highly taxable short-term gains. I'm sure, like most of Madoff's victims, he took some or all of his tax needs to cover Madoff profits out of his Maddoff account.

It would seem like the IRS made billions and was, as stated above, by far the big winner. In all fairness, taxes paid to the government on non-existent gains should be refunded as promptly as possible since many of the victims find themselves in extremely difficult circumstances.

DON'T DRINK THE WATER

I think your readers that have to drink Suffolk County Water Authority tap-water should be advised that the Maximum Contaminant Level Goal (MCLG) for radioactive compounds is ZERO, yet [the published] tables indicate the SCWA blends radioactive water to meet EPA's flawed Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) - even for radioactive compounds.

Since SCWA water mains began interconnecting dozens of wells in some areas after 2001, many became radioactive too. After smoking, Radon is the leading cause of lung cancer and the tables show there's lots of Radon in public wells serving Bridgehampton, Westhampton, Sag Harbor and other LI towns.

Before 2001, we had one well in Patchogue (Waterworks); thereafter 37 - so we switched to purified water. (LOEW'S sells the PRIMO brand in 5 gal jugs.)

In stories extolling the SCWA's "pristine" water, Newsday, NY Times and Town officials appear to consider radioactive water to be "pristine" simply because God created Uranium, Radon, Strontium, and other radioactive ...ium's.

They also advertise free, re-usable plastic bottles developed by the SCWA to save our landfills by filling them with tap water; neglecting to mention the SCWA's radioactive wells.

Of course, those lucky enough to be on private non-radioactive wells only have to worry about drinking toxic leachate blends from landfills that were supposed to be closed in 1990 to protect our ground water.

Since most of Long Island's western most farms are gone, radioactive irrigation wells are no longer a big problem for wildlife.