Southold
Your Fishers Island coverage isn’t good

Have to say your coverage of the Fishers Island policing was very disappointing. A reader is left to believe the responsibility for policing the island is driven by housing, not governance. Who has the economic and governance responsibility for this activity? If it belongs to the Town of Southold, why has New York State been handling it for so long? What allows them to unilaterally withdraw based on their housing deteriorating? Why wasn’t the facility being maintained properly for so many years? This sounds like a total farce, “Keystone Cops” in nature, and your reporting did little to explore the core issue. Instead, it danced around a specific building.

Denis O’Leary

Southold 
Food rescue is a critical issue

Right now, 40% of our food supply is wasted, while 40 million Americans are experiencing food insecurity. Over a year ago, The Suffolk Times wrote a story about Food Rescue US. After that article appeared, Food Rescue US-North Fork was established and has “rescued” 6,632 pounds of food since mid-August. Food Rescue US is a national nonprofit headquartered in Stamford, Conn., (foodrescue.us) and we on the North Fork are the newest chapter. Our mission is to “Fill plates, not landfills,” and in pursuit of that goal we connect food donors (farms, stores, restaurants, etc. with surplus edible food) with volunteers who will transport that food to agencies that distribute it to the food insecure in our community.

On behalf of Food Rescue US-North Fork, we would like to thank the local farms and retailers who have generously contributed excess edible food to many local agencies, including Garden of Eve Organic Farms, Wowak Farms, Andrews Family Farm, Golden Earthworm Organic Farm, and 7-Eleven in Southold and Mattituck. Their support has helped — and will continue to help — feed the needier members of our North Fork community, including North Fork Parish Outreach in Greenport, the Center for Advocacy, Support and Transformation in Southold, St. John the Evangelist, Open Arms and the Salvation Army in Riverhead.

We’d also like to thank the many volunteers who give their time on a regular basis to rescue the food and deliver it. These donors and volunteers are reflective of the generosity and empathy of our entire North Fork community. At this time of year, when we reflect on all we have to be thankful for, we want to express our gratitude to the many people who have become active in Food Rescue US-North Fork.

Anne Howard and Stephanie McEvily
site co-directors of Food Rescue-North Fork

Cutchogue
This isn’t working

This is a major accident waiting to happen. The police put cones up in front on Main Road in Cutchogue to direct traffic into Santa’s Christmas Tree Farm. And people who live down Pequash Avenue cannot make a left coming from King Kullen onto Pequash. And that legal turning lane is obstructed by Southold Town police cones. So people driving eastbound and entering the tree farm are in the legal turn from westbound traffic. Why not direct traffic down Depot Lane?

Corrine MacDonald

Greenport
A great songwriter

I just discovered this guy when I was listening to a song sung by Alison Krauss, “There Is a Ghost in This House.” What a song, what imagery, what a stellar depiction of a state of bleak loneliness. Alison is noted for her perfect pitch. After listening to the song about 10 times. I decided to find out who wrote this world-class gem. Lo and behold, it was Hugh Prestwood. I needed to find out about this guy and discovered we were neighbors in Greenport. I have heard, courtesy of a Suffolk Times article, he has since moved back to Texas, He fell on hard times, and living and renting in Greenport can be expensive.

I started to research Hugh Prestwood songs. I was nearly overwhelmed as they are so good, so personal, so one-of-a-kind. His fans responded to a GoFundMe page contributing over $100,000. The goal was $25,000. Had I know about this at the time, I would have contributed.

Martin Schacht 

Riverhead
What is he up to?

Hoping someone is keeping track of Soloviev, whose signs are all over the North Fork buying numerous disparate plots on both main roads. My daughter is in real estate in New York City and says they are very active projecting projects, like a Ferris wheel near the UN along with housing and entertainment areas. We have just survived the horrors of fall apples, pumpkins and corn mazes and can finally get out of our homes on the main roads. Harbes needs to give us a break so we can enjoy our beautiful country routes.

We all paid large fees to retain farm land when we purchased our property. This billionaire owns over 400,000 acres across a few states so suspect we are in for a big surprise! Let’s be aware and gain more information.

Elizabeth Weiss