We welcome your opinion on any subject of interest to Hudson Valley residents.

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This column may include "Opinion" pieces, submitted by public officials, and "Letters", submitted by citizens.

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Supervisor supports casino in Sullivan

However the Casino Gaming bill moves forward, a single casino per region, multiple casinos in a single region, or some other mix, Sullivan County is by far the most ready and willing partner to work with the State of New York to develop a successful class three gaming facility.

Our community has long supplied Casino Gaming, which is evident by three destination resort sites, which have already gone through all of their environmental impact studies and are on the verge of achieving final site approval as destination resorts. Each of these sites has excellent transportation access from NYS Route 17 (Future 1-86), in part, due the significant State investment in this limited access highway. Selecting a class three gaming site in Sullivan County not only makes sense from a transportation perspective, but also from a public investment perspective.

We believe that Sullivan County offers the State of New York one of the greatest opportunities for a return-on-investment of public funds due to our proximity to the New York metropolitan region, our long history as a resort destination and our communities overwhelming support for casino gaming.

The casinos proposed in our County are designed to be "Resort Destinations", which would appeal not only to those interested in gaming, but also those interested in outdoor recreation, world class golfing, and a variety of other activities. Rather than stand-alone casino halls that appeal to a narrow market, our resort destinations would appeal to a variety of tourists and ensure a broader market and more importantly increased repeat customer and longer stays, which translates to more revenue for each of our venues.

The Sullivan County Legislature would like to be on the record as saying loud and clear to the State of New York that we are willing and able partner in the development of a world-class class three gaming destination in the Empire State.

Coupled with our world-class Bethel Woods Performing Arts Center and variety of other tourist destinations, the establishment of a casino in Sullivan County would help the State to create a destination that can effectively compete for market share against the Casinos in nearby Connecticut, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Anthony P. Cellini
Town of Thompson Supervisor
(June 12)

Fortis deal and national security

Not so very long ago in this Nation, well within the remembrance of most, there was a great hue and cry, among conservatives and liberals alike, about “dependence on foreign oil”.  This dependence was correctly alleged to threaten both our economy and our national security.

This threat of placing control of our energy in the hands of foreign entities has apparently been forgotten by proponents of the Fortis/Central merger.

Our electrical grid is a resource vital to our economy and national security;  Chinese and other hackers have tried, and are trying at this very moment to gain access to this system–they know its importance.

“Dependence on foreign electricity”?  No problem here in the Hudson Valley--there are millions of dollars to be made!

I do not want a Canadian headquartered company, which might be purchased by anyone from Vladimir Putin of Russia to N. Korea’s Kim Jung Il,  to have control of our power–nor anything which could affect our Nation’s security.

Like minded citizens, please let the New York State Public Service Commission know your opinion by email or phone 1-518-474-6530. These few public servants must now protect, in addition to the consumer, our Nation’s independence.

Charles Davenport
Wappingers Falls
(June 12)

Guidelines

We encourage submission of diverse opinions, but reserve the right to reject any content that we deem to be potentially libelous or slanderous, or in our opinion, clearly in violation of prevailing community standards of good taste.

Letters should:

• Address an issue of local ( Hudson Valley) interest
• Be limited to a single topic
• Be limited to about 250 words or less (we are very flexible on this). Very long letters may be edited for excessive length.
• Be written in a normal style i.e. No all UPPER CASE, or NO upper case when appropriate (at beginning of sentences), excessive use of italics, or failure to use standard punctuation including periods (.) at ends of sentences.

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• Anything that in our judgment violates prevailing standards of decency
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• More than one letter per contributor, per 30-day period.

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We will NOT publish "anonymous" letters.