Survivors of enemy prison camps and communist gulags are testifying that the one thing that kept them going in spite of the cruelties suffered, was an eternal belief in a Devine Being and the courage to sustain it.

We must not let down the barriers of our firm beliefs in our nation and the majority who stand fast against any entrenched foes who would sell us out for 30 pieces of silver.

It’s the School’s Board of Education and Your Money

The Assembly and Senate have finally passed a budget for fiscal year 1998-99. For the East Greenbush Central School District, it contains an additional estimate of $1,494,167 or 9.96 % as compared with last year. The Governor has indicated that his veto pen will not touch education. In addition, the bill contains numerous monetary awards to support other activities impacting upon the East Greenbush Central Schools.

Legislative intent is a mystery. It has been said that local property owners carry a heavy burden of taxation in support of education and they need relief. The intent of those who have unchallenged authority to spend the additional funds is not a mystery The old axiom, "It’s easy to spend someone else’s money" is a truism. Spending someone else’s money in a rational and accountable way is an admirable trait. Our current school board, based on the spectacle which took place taking care of Don Dykstra, deserves failing grades on both the rational and accountable score.

It is time to do the honorable and just thing. Give much of the additional funds back to the people that made it available – the taxpayer. There is no mandate to start new programs, and at this late date a budget for next year should already be finalized. This is a golden opportunity to have a zero percent school tax increase this year. It’s up to the board president, who sets the agenda, and an accountable, caring, and independent school board. Don’t you wish we had one?

May is a month of anticipation and joy. As we discard our winter clothing in favor of light, we look forward to pleasant days ahead. One area where the shedding of a normal load for light is in error is in public education. The desire to learn is an ongoing normal drive and must be nurtured not stultified, misdirected or reduced.

One of the main goals of taxpayer groups is to bring truth to a sorry state of affairs in our public school systems. Our NY State Education Department is one of the tentacles of the giant octopus of centralized control exercised by liberals in Washington, D.C. to entice and coerce our next generation into the socialist creed of statism.

The evidence is all around us. Youths are smoking, abusing illegal drugs and alcohol, driving automobiles in an erratic manner, killing themselves and others.

At the same time, our academicians are primarily concerned with revenues, state aid, salaries, unwarranted increases, junkets, sports and "feel good" social programs. How about a game of "Funball"?

The indoctrination of students into an anti-religious, low moral standard, everything goes way of life is totally un-American. To stress self esteem and political correctness in place of personal responsibility should be opposed by every parent.

No one presumes to impose on educators to teach religion. By the same rationale they should not ignore or attempt to nullify its existence.

Let them explain to their students how and why a blade of grass grows.

Thus, in three years an increase of 72 "workers."

Salaries increased in some cases by $10,000. The new assistant Superintendent Dykstra in excess of $17,700. That’s more than many earn in a year working full time. This, in the face of promises to economize made three years ago by supposedly responsible administrators. Our citizen’s school taxes increased at triple the rate of inflation every year. In 1998-99 +5.9% Preposterous!

There are 210 or more employees on the payroll who are paid $1,000 per year or less. Many approximately $100, some as low as $7. What duty pray tell, can an individual perform for $7? Yet, they are on the payroll. Why?

Most importantly, what is the cost of maintaining these volumes of records? Has anyone done a cost/benefit analysis? If not, why not?

One logical answer is, to hire everybody and his brother to build a loyal following for board election votes, paid for by the unsuspecting public, of course.

Albany’s Dan O’Connell and Troy’s Ed McDonough employed such chicanery for years to win elections. What kind of examples are these for impressionable children to follow? Every self respecting citizen should be up in arms over this miscarriage of justice.

Again we are prompted to comment on the character of President Clinton. A lesson not lost on Mr. Clinton goes back to his worship of JFK. Specifically, words of wisdom passed down to JFK from his father. To paraphrase: It doesn’t matter what you do in life, all that matters is how you are perceived. Mr. Clinton obviously took this admonition as license to create self-glorifying misperceptions.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, is a deceitful photo-op a thousand times more sinful than the spoken lie? Mr. Clinton’s African Communion photo-op was an immoral act. It was sacrilege. Not because of the violation of Catholic dogma, but because the statement he made with the photo was meant to deceive. He was using God the way he would use a baby, or a puppy. He is also setting a poor example which many of his followers will, as they have in the past, emulate.

The vast majority of the citizenry knows no more of Mr. Clinton’s character than what they see on television, all of which is carefully choreographed. Turn off the cameras if you want to see the real man. Few people have the opportunity to be "a fly on the wall," so we must rely on the integrity of journalists to do their job with objectivity. This is no place for partisanship. It’s become far too easy for Mr. Clinton and his press corps to displace facts with smoke, mirrors and red herrings.

Not a fairy tale. Little Red Riding Hood and her school mates must be saved from the ravenous wolf pack of public educrats by the vigilant woodsmen of American decency.

To put blinders on and trust the double talkers and betrayers of our heritage who plot to engorge themselves at the expense of hard working citizens is totally un-American.

Some school board and faculty members are beginning to feel a sense of revulsion, not only by the tactics of the immoral Clintonites but by the voracious liberal followers of monopolistic power at every level.

Gullible parents are bamboozled by freely distributed "higher grade" scores for poorer, simplistic efforts. They must eventually face the reality of necessary remedial courses or rejection by higher institutions of learning when the final bell tolls.

At this point in time, the majority of American people feel that our public school system needs a drastic overhaul as well as the IRS. The politicians are late in catching up on this.

The reasoning most commonly offered by teacher unions and Liberal politicians for their opposition to school choice which includes religious schools is that it would violate the constitutional provision for the separation of church and state. This is a bogus claim in that no such provision existed with regard to education until it was placed there by anti-Catholic bigots in the middle of the previous century.

It was during the time of the Irish potato famine when anti-Catholic sentiment ran high, that a candidate for Congress by the name of James Blaine used this public sentiment to launch his political career. He was a member of the "Know Nothing Party" because when asked to divulge their platform, members, who took an oath of secrecy, would say "I know nothing." They were nativists, bigots actually, who couldn’t abide the tide of Irish and German immigrants breaching our borders. When Blaine was elected to Congress, our system of public schools was in it’s infancy. He proposed federal legislation which would have denied tax dollars to schools with religious content. Other Congressmen, wise enough to the inherent Constitutional violation, defeated his proposal. Blaine and his allies, however, persisted at the state level and were ultimately successful in getting what’s now known as "Blaine language" inserted in most state constitutions.

Our system of funding public schools is unconstitutional. It was designed to oppress Catholics and people of religion in general. The abysmal condition of our society is testament to the need to restore choice in education.

Most property owners keep their lands and building in good order, but there are a few that could care less. The general appearance of a community has a great deal to do with our way of life and attitudes. Why should 95% of us lose any good things of life so 5% can be a public nuisance?

The town governments should mandate ordinances spelling out what constitutes "an unkempt property" in a reasonable manner; i.e. after a fire 6 months to 1 year to clean up; when a house is being built, a 2 year limit on construction and a reasonable length of time that unlicensed vehicles can be parked in view.

The towns or city should have reasonable power to rectify bad situations. On vacant lots when the vegetation gets a foot high it should be cut. If the owner doesn’t cut it, the town should and charge the owner.

As was stated before, appearance has a lot to do with attitude, so why cut ourselves short. For the few who think that an ordinance such as this is imposing on their constitutional rights they can move to some place in the hinter-land and live the life style that they want.

The continuing problem of bad teachers will not go away. The public must sooner or later come to realize that something drastic should be done. Our future is at stake. Not just a whim or a fancy but hard choices must be made.

Thomas Sowell, PhD of Stanford University says in the 4/18 issue of the Times Union:

"Once you have gotten used to a whole vocabulary of euphemisms, it can be shocking to come across the plain truth. The title of a new book may therefore jolt some people: "Bad Teachers," by Guy Strickland.

"If every parent whose child has had a bad teacher were to buy this book, it would hit the top of the best-seller list in no time. More important, millions of parents would learn how to recognize signs of a bad teacher – and how to cope with the evasions and double talk that parents are likely to encounter from the teacher, the principal and other school officials. "Bad Teachers" is written in plain English, unlike the pious gobbledygook of most education literature and most educators.

"The education establishment will not be able to dismiss Guy Strickland the way they dismiss other critics, by saying those critics don’t really know what it is like inside the schools today, that they don’t have all that expertise and experience that teachers supposedly have. Strickland was both a teacher and a principal before he became an education consultant."

Why are we expanding an expensive public library when we have many people who cannot read simple sentences? A vast waste.
East Greenbush Resident

Someone questioned why people don’t want their names in Vox Pop. They didn’t want their own names mentioned either.
Clinton Heights Resident

Those who jump to conclusions sometimes need a parachute to save their exposed hides.
Nassau Resident

The world owes everyone a living, except for the fact you have to work like h$%^ to collect.
East Greenbush Resident

Kudos to Rensselaer County DA Ken Buono and the Department of Social Services for investigating and pressing charges against welfare fraud.
Castleton Resident

Good move, East Greenbush Town Supervisor combined two town jobs and came up with one position, saving thousands of dollars for the public.
East Greenbush Resident

How many of our State highway engineers live on Columbia Turnpike?
East Greenbush Resident

Coming Attractions

• Next meeting, Tuesday, May 12^th, Town Hall, East Greenbush, 7 pm.
• Don’t forget to vote on the school budget!!!
• Why not pass on your copy of the newsletter when you finish reading it?