By way of this letter please allow me to introduce myself. I am Bryon N. Gardner, President of BiNG Jr. Enterprises, owner of BG Quality Logging. My company in 2009 entered into a selective timber harvest contract with Joel Hoffman, owner of the Nevele Hotel at the time. Your publication ran several articles about the harvest as it concerned the Nevele. After 8 months of meetings with the planning board and spending thousands of dollars on their concerns, all for naught, I took action. Seeing what was happening and the money I had invested, I placed a lien on the property and all corporations involved. Since this involved timber, the lien was attached to the property asset.

I am a proponent of the casino application that went to Albany. In earlier years I was fortunate to be a patron of the Nevele. My concern is since I was forced to protect my investment by this lien, I am wondering whether it could possibly effect the application since the lien has an attachment to the property. Why would the gaming commission want to issue a license if the property has a question?

The lien was filed in Kingston, NY. Thank you for your time.

Bryon Gardner
Port Jervis

Many are accusing President Barack Obama of abusing the use of executive orders and of being a tyrant. But the president has issued far fewer executive orders than the previous president and Obama has had little choice due to obstructionism.

I wonder if readers are aware that the pledge to obstruct Obama began in a Washington, D.C., bar the night of his first inauguration, when Republican representatives got together and agreed not to cooperate with him ("Frontline: Inside Obama's Presidency"). They didn't want to do anything which would make Obama look good, hoping to deny him a second term. To me, that is tyranny.

I might add that the role of racism has not been explored in this respect but should be since so many members of the tea party caucus are from the South, where there is still discontent over the Civil War and civil rights.

The obstructionists are not ruining Obama's legacy as they hope; they are burnishing it in the long term. This president has been through the mill like no other president before, and has withstood it with intelligence, dignity and style. History will look kindly on him.

Nancy Keenan Rich
Poughkeepsie

Referencing the hearing on prejudice in Pine Bush, I ask, what is "prejudice"? An unexamined survival mechanism? And who among us believes extreme bias exists only in Pine Bush? This discussion is important. Making Pine Bush the poster child, not so important.

Does everyone not realize prejudice has been with us since the beginning of human history? We are evolving. The conversation will continue until prejudice is gone. Punishing Pine Bush for a rampant problem will not solve the problem.

Mr. Steinberg's options were limited. How parents raise children is key. Perhaps a more deft facilitator might have met with both sets of parents and children together immediately and directed an enlightening discussion in an organized setting — a discussion that needs to include us all.

I believe that our attitudes toward each other are a major wrong with American education. Our strength, diversity, is also our weakness. When comparing our educational efforts to other nations, the variable we give least credence to is diversity.

Other nations are not similarly diverse. We are asking a prejudiced world to come together in our public schools and get along. Who makes this happen? It is not just an education system as diversity biased as anyone. We all need to help. Where is our universally compulsory course "Living in Diversity 101"? Could it be on Twitter?

Stiles M. Najac
Middletown

For decades Americans have recoiled in horror at the description of the bombing of Guernica in 1937. Recently in Gaza, however, Israel has reportedly killed more than 200 Palestinians with U.S. aircraft and bombs, and we seem to accept it. We accept the Israeli government explanation that it is simply responding to "rocket attacks" launched from Gaza. These are "rocket attacks" that even Israel admits have killed no one. Since when do we as Americans support the bombing of civilians, including children? Let's remove ourselves from this farce and stop all military aid to Israel. If we don't stop this aid, let's stop pretending that atrocities like that which occurred in Guernica are so repulsive.

Kevin Smith
Alligerville

Has the United States government gone completely mad? Your front-page headline about the potential loss of billions of dollars in Federal highway funds, which are sorely needed, makes one wonder why the U.S. continues to fund morally and ethically corrupt governments such as Afghanistan and Pakistan. The money isn't even unbundled before it goes into some official's pocket.

Peter X. Neuman
Cornwall-on-Hudson

Republicans in the House just announced that $3-4 billion is too much for President Obama to spend on thousands of mostly children who have been pouring into the U.S. from Central America. These youths risked great danger in traveling to the U.S. seeking asylum from violent gangs and poverty, while peacefully and openly placing their fates in the hands of the U.S. Border Patrol.

Now many languish in decrepit conditions while they await probable deportation, back to the inhumanity that awaits in their native countries. To you Republicans I ask, what ever became of "family values"?

Marshall Rubin
Youngsville

I've read so much about fatherless families in connection to young men going on rampages with guns to murder people, school children, teachers, families, etc. This goes somewhat beyond not having a father in the household.

I'd like to address the issue of why so many fathers desert their families. It's not as if they just take off, but the reason for it, in many cases, which are many.

This may have something to do with the mother who is bossy, manipulative or otherwise not trying to make the marriage work or it can be the other way around.

A boy needs a father image, and he may too try to make the marriage work. It all boils down to the centuries-old battle of the sexes. The different world we live in today, as opposed to the one I grew up in, has a bearing on all this. I wish I knew the answer. There has to be a way to have fathers back in the home.

Robert Milroy
Rhinebeck

Of the 50 county jobs Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus proposes to cut, disproportionately the jobs affect services to the sick and the poor. Meanwhile, through the County IDA, he announces a new program to give away $2 million each to businesses promising jobs. Is that where the county's "missing millions" are going?

A. Jane Johnston
Newburgh

The term carpetbagger has been used to describe Sean Eldridge as he makes a bid for NY's 19th Congressional District. Eldridge only recently moved to the 19th District. As a native New Yorker, I'm puzzled about why this is an issue. New York has a long history of welcoming people, including politicians, to the state from all over the country and the world. It's one of the strengths that have contributed to New York's stellar place in the history of the U.S. Remember the campaigns of Bobby Kennedy, Hillary Clinton, Michael Bloomberg (from Boston, of all places) and Bill de Blasio, who was born in New York but raised in Cambridge, Mass.?

In addition to the local issues facing the Hudson Valley, Congress must deal with national issues like the economy, immigration reform, extending benefits for the unemployed, cuts to the food stamp program, whether to raise minimum wage, the national debt and the unsettled situation in the Middle East. The list goes on.

Isn't it better to concentrate on the candidates' stands on these issues than to be distracted by the issue of where a candidate was born and raised? Shouldn't U.S. Rep. Chris Gibson, R-Kinderhook, be required to answer why his Republican Party has obstructed votes on these issues? Shouldn't Eldridge be required to articulate how his election might change the gridlock in Congress?

I urge all my fellow voters in the 19th District to pay attention to what the candidates say on these important issues and not be distracted by the trivia which frequently emerges in a close race.

Al Ragucci
Rhinebeck

Given my lifelong commitment to leftist politics, one might think I have no respect for the American flag. One would be wrong. Since I have no military service, one of my biggest regrets is that I'll go to my grave without the red, white and blue encasing my casket.

On July 5, someone stole a medium-sized American flag that had hung near my front door since the day after the horrors of 9/11. They may have wanted to dishonor me, but what they really dishonored was the flag. Well, at least they didn't take it on July 4.

I have two flags hanging in my living room, plus a framed reproduction of the famous Marines flag raising on Iwo Jima. The flag means everything to me, even when I'm less than happy with politicians on either side.

I don't even like garments that look like the American flag. Red, white and blue t-shirts, hoodies and headbands make me queasy. A catalog recently advertised boxer-style swim trunks guaranteed to be made from "an authentic American flag." Am I the only one disgusted by such tripe?

I recently read that 115,000 Americans gave their lives in World War I, which begins its centennial on August 1. Whether struck by Mauser bullet or mortar round, the red those men bled is represented by the red on our flag.

Yes, I'll buy another flag, hang it by the door and hope for the best. Politicians argue, the flag does not. It means just what it says; now and always.

Larry Robinson
Wappingers Falls

More than 50,000 undocumented migrant children have arrived at the U.S. border since last October, creating an unprecedented and dangerous humanitarian crisis. President Barack Obama has asked Congress to allocate $3.7 billion in emergency funds in order to handle the crisis and deal with the influx of refugee children.

Congress has recently threatened to toughen the bill so that it is easier to deport children — a point the president may concede in order to get it passed.

The multitudes of young students coming to the U.S., contributing their talent and ideas to our country and then being turned away is a detriment to the fundamental ideas that continue to make America an attractive place for people around the world.

If we want to truly combat the idea of America in decline, let's pass an immigration reform bill that provides a pathway for citizenship and clears up the onerous H-1B Visa process.

Our country continues to attract the best and brightest — only to kick them out once they've finished their schooling. America was built on the ingenuity, grit and perseverance of immigrants.

Vice President Joe Biden is right when he says we should staple a visa to every student who comes to our universities and graduates; these are the students who work in Silicon Valley, who have been instrumental in our recent energy boom, and who are on the forefront of breakthroughs in science, medicine and technology.

Let's hope Congress will pass the $3.7 billion budget without any extra provisions that will make deportations easier. It's time to stop making excuses and start finding solutions.

Andrea Blinkhorn
Schenectady