Blame the state, not Chester, for Glenmere mess

To the Editor: A pattern of continually surfacing developments surrounding the ongoing Glenmere Lake made-for-TV drama is muddling the very core issue at hand: Glenmere is virtually the last New York holdout of the endangered northern cricket frog, and Glenmere is county-owned land that warrants both preservation and accessibility. Before the best endeavors on the part of either interest become further muddled by increased political pandering, cover-up, and intrigue, it would be wise to keep the fact of its one-of-a-kind nature on our collective consciousness. I’ve witnessed no dearth of blame for various municipal figures in this drama, and I think it’s fair to state that, regardless of whom we hold culpable for the dumping and the preemptive contracting, it’s ultimately the domain of the State of New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to take lead in this quagmire, and they have failed the taxpayers in this regard. Wendy Rosenbach, Region 3 DEC spokesperson, stated that the recent dumping of road-demo materials “did not impact” the stream next to the reservoir. When I called her and asked why she would state this about an entirely filled-in stream valley, she simply said that’s what she was told by enforcement. When I then spoke with Lt. Townsey of Region 3 Enforcement, he stated that the stream was, in fact, filled, that no one from his office stated otherwise, but it was fine because it’s classified as a class 3 stream. Evidently any of us can dump our asphalt in there. When I mentioned the cricket frog, which I have observed while on Chester’s lakeshore accompanied by Region 3 fish and wildlife biologists, he stated that Region 3 fish and wildlife claimed there were none present. Region 3 field biologists have gone on record with their sightings of the endangered frog on the small Chester shore, and they will confirm this with any telephone call. The truly bizarre onslaught of amnesia is occurring at the state, not the local, level. Jay Westervelt Sugar Loaf