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CALENDAR SOUTHAMPTON PUBLICK HOUSE LADIES NIGHT 9:30 p.m. 40 Bowden Square, Southampton. DJ Brian Evans plays your favorite Hamptons classics. $3 drafts. $6 Absolut Vodka specials and giveaways. 631-283-2800
thursday, november 8 MUSE IN THE HARBOR LIVE MUSIC 7–10 p.m. 16 Main St, Sag Harbor. Guest may drink and dine by the music of Steve Fredericks, guitarist and vocalist. No admission fee. 631-899-4810 LIVE JAZZ THURSDAYS 7:15–9:30 p.m. Bay Burger, The Jam Session, Live Jazz with John Landes and Claes Brondal. The Jam Session’s founding fathers. Located at 1742 Sag Harbor Turnpike, Sag Harbor. Improvisational music. $5 suggested donation, musicians free. 631-899-3915 www.thejamsession.org
friday, november 9 CANDELIGHT FRIDAYS 5–8 p.m., Wolffer Vineyards proudly presents Clinton Curtis. Wolffer Vineyard, 139 Sagg Road, Sagaponack. Wines by the glass, bottles, mulled wine and cheese and charcuterie plates for purchase. No cover charge. 631-537-5106 www. wolffer.com LANTERN TOUR – HUGH KING BRINGS GOODY GARLICK BACK TO LIFE (RAIN-DATE 11/16) 5 p.m. Lantern Tour, East Hampton Village, Historian Hugh King and his wife, Loretta Orion, an anthropologist, will reenact the life and lore of the accused witch, Goody Garlick. In visiting her haunts along East Hampton’s Main Street, participants will meet actors portraying Lion Gardner, Elizabeth Howell, Thomas Baker and John Winthrop, Jr. all major characters in the Goody Garlick witchcraft case that roiled the Town in 1657. The tour will begin at Clinton Academy, 151 Main Street, East Hampton. Tickets are $15 and reservations must be made in advance by calling the East Hampton Historical Society. 631-324-6850 www. easthamptonhistory.org
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upcoming and ongoing FREE Qi GONG CLASS Second Sunday of the Month, Noon. UU Meetinghouse, 977 Bridge-Sag Turnpike, Bridgehampton. Renew and restore yourself with these simple ancient Chinese movements and self-massages. 631-723-1923 DAN’S PAPERS BEST OF THE BEST WINNERS CELEBRATION 11/15, 6:30–10 p.m., Open to the public to come and celebrate your favorite best of the best local businesses. General admission tickets include hors d’ oeuvres, cash bar, wine tasting from East End Vineyards and dancing to music by Dan’s Best of the Best including Gene Casey, Jim Turner, Suzy on the Rocks and more with a special appearance by New Life Crisis. For tickets and more information, please call 631-537-1789 or dansevents@danspapers.com THANKSGIVING WEEKEND SALE 11/23–11/25. Parrish Art Museum, Southampton. 631-283-2118
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Send Calendar listings to kelly@danspapers.com before noon on Friday. Check out danshamptons.com for more listings and events.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR DEAD HORSE Dear Dan, The passing of losing 1972 Democratic Party Presidential candidate South Dakota Senator George McGovern reminded me that he was ahead of his time. McGovern’s platform including ending the Vietnam War also called for spending the billions wasted on the war to be used for rebuilding America along with saving lives by bringing the troops home sooner rather than later. McGovern was too proud to emphasis his military experience as a decorated World War II bomber pilot against Nixon who attempted to portray him as soft on national defense. Fast forward to today and consider the expenditure of over a trillion dollars between our Afghanistan and Iraq wars. Was it worth spending the dollars and lives for what we have gotten in return? Sincerely, Larry Penner Great Neck It was a bad idea from start to finish, that war. —DR MORE? Dear Dan, The Popsicle lives on in infamy! I want to thank you wholeheartedly for printing my homage to eastern Long Island! My cousin on the Island had sent me a text that you had printed it and when I saw the bright orange beacon of a popsicle, I was just elated! And your editing is perfect. As you pointed out, my commentary (ok, superfluous talk!) gets in the way. I talk too much. Pure and simple. As I’m doing now! Sheesh! Anyway, I can’t thank you enough for even considering my story. I hope to send more. Just for fun. Sincerely, Kathy Sites (Anne Henry) Miami Enjoyed your popsicle. —DR Economy Stupid Dear Dan, The article by David Lion Rattiner was refreshing to read. Beyond women’s rights or the growth of government programs, there is a huge ticking financial debt. David is right, the management of the debt is the
most important issue, and it should be discussed at the last presidential debate on Monday. The next term president will have to make cuts in many areas and find some way to raise taxes. However that truth is not likely to get someone elected. We know about the last four years with President Obama who has had to manage some unprecedented events. I wondered about the four years that former Governor Romney was in office in Massachusetts and why he was just a one term governor. I wanted to look past the way he made money by breaking up companies and letting go of their employees, if indeed he managed Massachusetts’s debt well. I just looked him up on Wikipedia, and chose the governor section. This is what I found: Romney supported raising various fees, including those for driver’s licenses and gun licenses, to raise more than $300 million.[171][186] He increased a special gasoline retailer fee by two cents per gallon, generating about $60 million per year in additional revenue.[171][186] Opponents said the reliance on fees sometimes imposed a hardship on those who could least afford them.[186]Romney also closed tax loopholes that brought in another $181 million from businesses over the next two years and over $300 million for his term.[171][192][193] He did so in the face of conservative and corporate critics who viewed these actions as tax increases.[192][193] The state legislature, with the governor’s support, cut spending by $1.6 billion, including $700 million in reductions in state aid to cities and towns.[194] The cuts also included a $140 million reduction in state funding for higher education, which led staterun colleges and universities to increase fees by 63 percent over four years.[171][186] Romney sought additional cuts in his last year as governor by vetoing nearly 250 items in the state budget; a heavily Democratic legislature overrode all the vetoes.[195] The cuts in state spending put added pressure on localities to reduce services or raise property taxes, and the share of town and city revenues coming from property taxes rose from 49 to 53 percent.[171][186] The combined state and local tax burden in Massachusetts increased during Romney’s governorship.[171] He did propose a reduction in the state income tax rate that the legislature rejected. [196] Romney sought to bring near-universal health
insurance coverage to the state. This came after Staples founder Stemberg told him at the start of his term that doing so would be the best way he could help people.[197] Another factor was that the federal government, owing to the rules of Medicaid funding, threatened to cut $385 million in those payments to Massachusetts if the state did not reduce the number of uninsured recipients of health care services. [198][173] Although the idea of universal health insurance had not come to the fore during the campaign, Romney decided that because people without insurance still received expensive health care, the money spent by the state for such care could be better used to subsidize insurance for the poor.[197] I was hoping that this would help me make a decision. It looks like he cut state aid to localities and in turn they had to raise property taxes a great deal. If Romney gets in office it can be extrapolated that he will reduce federal aid to states which will cause local property taxes to be raised a great deal. When Massachusetts residents complained, then he taxed more businesses. It does not matter if he cuts our federal taxes, because our localities will have to raise property taxes to compensate for the reductions in federal programs and federal funds. No wonder why he does not spell out the specifics of how he balanced the budget in Massachusetts. If Romney gets elected the Republican Congress will work with him to do what is best to make Republicans look good. Will the Republicans do what is good for America in the second term of a Democratic President? I am writing this to give you food for thought. Romney is right, we know four years under Obama, but we really need to question him about his four years as Governor regarding how his policies affected the personal property taxes of the residents of Massachusetts. Who will manage the sensitive balance of reducing the debt without hurting the people who can least afford increases in taxes, fees, college education costs, etc.? Marianne Klepacki Southampton This is surely good stuff to help decide who to vote for. —DR Email your letters to askdan@danspapers.com