Letters

During the April 21 Village Board meeting, Southampton Village Mayor Jesse Warren claimed that Village Trustee Mark Parash did not support the environment [“Mayor, Trustees Clash Over Southampton Village Budget; It Passes in A Split Vote,” 27east.com, April 23].

Allow me to set the record straight:

I have been married to Mark Parash for 20 years, and for the past eight years I have been a volunteer raptor handler with the Evelyn Alexander Wildlife Rescue Center. I know you have all seen my colleagues and me with our beautiful hawks and owls at Southampton Fest, Marder’s, the Elks Club, Kiwanis, local museums, schools and churches. We educate the public about our local wildlife and encourage everyone to help nurture our precious flora and fauna.

I can assure you that Trustee Parash would never vote against supporting the environment, much less “strip away funding,” as our mayor has falsely claimed. Furthermore, Mark himself will tell you that if he ever contemplated doing so, he would quickly find himself sleeping in the garage.

Please don’t just take my word for it — you should watch the video yourselves at southamptonvillage.org and click on “Agendas & Minutes” for the board’s April 21 public session. You can fast-forward to about the 1:30 mark to watch the events in question.

I urge our Southampton Village residents to hold the mayor accountable to the truth. Let him know that posting heavily edited videos to his Instagram account, followed by an appeal for donations to his reelection campaign, is disgraceful behavior. If he is so concerned with our environment, why not solicit donations for wildliferescuecenter.org instead?

Mayor Warren, stop using our beautiful Southampton Village as your personal tawdry reality TV show. A far better use of your time, and our tax dollars, would be learning new communication skills, answering the questions the other elected officials pose to you, and just getting on with the work — even if you have to do it without your film crew!

Ulrika Parash

Southampton Village