Letters

Spirit Is Alive

On January 24, the Sag Harbor Booster Foundation hosted the ninth annual Spirit Night. It is an evening designed to showcase and celebrate the wonderful talents of our students.

The Sag Harbor Youth Hoopers showed their basketball skills in scrimmages and had a parade in front of the packed gym. Congratulations to John Cottrell and his team of volunteers for building up the basketball program and coaching 200-plus children, in grades K to six, every week.

The amazing performances of the national anthem by the Middle School and High School Chorus were led by Suzanne Nicoletti, Pierson’s choral teacher. They also filled the gym with the spirited singing of the school song.

The Pierson Robotics Team entertained the crowd during halftime with a robotic slam dunk.

And, last but not least, our talented varsity girls and boys basketball teams both came away with wins!

It takes many hands to make Spirit Night happen, and we appreciate each and every person who volunteered their time.

The Sag Harbor Booster Foundation would like to thank: Tammie Wilson, Fran Nill, Meg Kinney, Jill Kelsey, Kristen Schiavoni, Barbara Federico, Susan Schaefer, Jody Miller, Suzanne Nicoletti, Sue Duff, J.R. Wilson, Schiavoni IGA, the custodial staff, Principal Jeff Nichols, the security staff, and, of course, Athletic Director Eric Bramoff, who kept things on schedule and emceed the night’s event.

We also would like to extend a special thank you to Sag Pizza and East Hampton Clubhouse, who donated prizes for the Half-Court Shot Contest, which is held at every home varsity game. And we are always grateful for the Sag Harbor Fire Department and Sag Harbor Police Department, who continually support our students and community.

For more information on how you can support the Sag Harbor Booster Foundation, please visit our website at www.sagharborboosterfoundation.org.

Whaler Nation!

Emilie Bennett, Sag Harbor Booster Foundation

Just A Nuisance

The airport debacle has been going on for years, with the affected residents at the bottom of the list. The hand-wringing of the self-interest proponents is obvious — nary a word, ever, about the safety of those on the ground.

We are constantly bombarded with low altitudes, often just above treetops, exposing families and homes to a catastrophe. The hand-wringing self-interest proponents cry “fire in a crowded theater” — that a potential disaster requires it?

Large cargo planes have to go to Westhampton, because they cannot land here. “Wealthy travelers would abandon the Hamptons should they not be able to fly over the traffic jams”? Don’t make us laugh! This place was here long before them.

So, let the peons suffer the daily disruption at all hours, deprive them of the enjoyment of their homes and properties. Expose us to constant danger of a crash. There have been near-misses and crashes, and thankfully no homes or lives were lost. Think Egypt and Lumber lanes and Scuttle Hole Road? Did not the tower operators complain about the “cowboy” helicopter pilots who come in from all angles and cannot be seen until the last moment?

Lost jobs? That happens everywhere, and I am not concerned that the charter services will be affected. We are the town and support it through taxes and the economy, year-round. Places close due to high rents — and that is more than 21 people. People are fleeing this state.

Close the damn nuisance, and eliminate noise, lead and air pollution (yes, they use leaded gas). Clean energy, such as a solar farm, would benefit the entire area and return some resemblance of peace and quiet.

Have meetings till the cows come home. Things change, and closing it is warranted.

Arthur French, Wainscott

Who Knows Best?

We commend the young ladies’ “Viewpoint” in the January 16 editions of The Press [“School Board’s Letter Dismisses Real Science”]; however, the letter is an example of how information gets distorted and erroneously perpetuated — a failure to fact-check, then repeated with biased interpretations.

Did they miss the point of the Southampton Board of Education’s letter because their perspectives are limited to classroom education? Does government truly know what’s best for one’s child, or one’s medical history?

We hear all too often, “Big Pharma owns everyone,” “You can’t trust government.” And with a movement toward tailored biologic medicine, how can vaccines continue with broad-stroke applications and be ignored?

However, the School Board did not advise its constituents to vaccinate (or not) for HPV or flu, and The Press is not the arena to debate vaccine science and safety.

The Scientific Method uses double-blind placebo testing. This method was not used in testing vaccines. Specifically speaking, Gardasil was tested against an adjuvant solution, and Gardasil 9 was tested against Gardasil.

Scientists of the World Health Organization have stated that it would be unethical to test on children. Therefore, there are no double-blind placebo tests. Scientists and medical experts attending the WHO Summit on Vaccination Safety held on December 2, 2019, stated that much more investment is needed to conduct safety studies, including on the carcinogenicity and mutagenicity of the human and animal cells used in the development of vaccines, as well as on the potential cross-reactions between different vaccinations by different manufactures, often given to infants and children in a single visit. But to do so in all of these areas is quite challenging.

The National Childhood Vaccination Injury Act of 1986 indemnified manufacturers of vaccines from any liability (some will dispute this, because of a 75-cent tax on all units to fund the awards given through vaccine injury court) and at the same time charged the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services to submit product development and safety assessments to Congress every two years, beginning in 1987. A 2018 court case revealed that such reports have never been submitted to Congress.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vital statistics reports through the 1960s show that disease mortality declined nearly 90 percent due to improvement of water systems, sanitation and hygiene years before the introduction of the vaccine program.

Look at CDC charts for flu vaccine effectiveness, as referenced in the board’s letter: The majority of those subgroups were far less effective. Last year, it was 29 percent effective; this year, it’s not effective at all. The board’s interpretation was generous.

“The capacity to learn is a gift; the ability to learn is a skill; the willingness to learn is a choice” — Brian Herbert.

Vickie Bovio, Southampton

Kevin Lubbe, Southampton

Carli Simon, East Quogue