| Issue #3- April 13, 2007 |
Letters
DAN’S PAPERS’ VOLUNTEER PROOFREADER
Dear Dan,
Couple of errors in the March 23rd issue. The article on Lindsey Buckingham
said he was the bass player for Fleetwood Mac. That would have been
news to John McVie, the actual bass player. Buckingham played lead guitar.
Also, the article on the Duke of Windsor said he was formally King Edward
VII. That would have been news to his grandfather, the actual Edward
VII. The Duke was Edward VIII.
Always glad to be of help.
Dan Grossman
Clifton, New Jersey
Via e-mail
Get a life? –DR
EAGER BEAVERS
Dear Dan,
Your piece on the beavers moving into the Hamptons was very enlightening.
Beavers are industrious, great builders, and provide well for their
families.
They are a welcome addition to the Hamptons.
Mitchell Cahn
Via e-mail
The’ll still need a permit. –DR
SOUTHAMPTON CAR WASH ALL WASHED UP
Dear Dan,
I am writing to inform you about the terrible customer service I received
this weekend at the Southampton Car Wash on Route 39A in Southampton.
I was looking forward to a wonderful holiday weekend in the Hamptons
and stopped by the Southampton Car Wash on my way to friends in-Amagansett.
After my car was washed it was returned to me with no front mats and
I was told that they had mistakenly been given to another car. I honestly
thought they would just give me two mats from their store where they
are sold and apologize for the mistake so I could be on my way. However,
they offered nothing.
I spoke with the manager, Robert, to rectify the situation and asked
him to simply replace them for me with the mats that were sold inside
the store so I could leave with the same items I came into the shop
with. He refused to do so and told me I had to wait until the end of
the day to see if the driver of the other car returned them. I explained
to him that I did not live in the area and that I was not able to plan
my Easter weekend around his working hours. I simply wanted him to replace
the mats with one of the many sets he sold inside the store. He refused
to accommodate me and insisted that I was being unreasonable. (How I
was being unreasonable for asking for my own car mats that I drove in
with is still not clear to me.)
I then offered a new solution; to refund the price of my car wash so
that I could purchase new mats myself, and again he refused.-He continued
to argue with me and insult me. He suggested I call back at the end
of the day to see if the mats had been returned which I did as well
as on Sunday and of course all of my calls went unreturned.
Is it too much to expect the manager of a business establishment to
take responsibility for his employee’s actions and show a little
courtesy and fair business practices?
Janet Kleinbaum
Manhattan
Via e-mail
Sounds like they might have handled this better. – DR
THE TRUTH ABOUT TRIPPE
Dear Dan,
Alec Baldwin might not have regretted “the cruel way Juan Trippe
was portrayed” (Dan’s Papers 4/6) in the movie,-The Aviator,
if he was aware of the predatory and ruthless business practices of
Pan Am’s Trippe.
In 1930, Trippe essentially forced a much larger airline (NYRBA-- New
York, Rio and Buenos Aires Line)-into a merger because he was able to-underhandedly
manipulate-the issuance of-the US Air Mail contracts to South America
through his Wall Street and Washington political and social contacts.
Both Postmaster General Walter Brown and assistant PMG Glover-in the
Hoover Administration were in his pocket. Brown, who was also the Chairman
of the Republican Party, adamantly refused to offer the airmail contracts
for competitive bids until NYRBA accepted Pan Am’s merger offer.
This heavy-handed government tactic allowed the tail to wag the dog
and forced O’Neill and his financial backers to capitulate.-
The president and general manager of NYRBA was Ralph O’Neill,
a WWI fighter pilot ace who was awarded three Distinguished Service
Medals and the Croix de Guerre with Palm while flying 99 missions. In
the late 1920s, he had built a 7,800-mile airline carrying passengers,
cargo and mail through hurricane zones, tropical rain belts and hazardous
mountain ranges to twenty-nine cities in sixteen countries (in comparison,
Pan Am in 1928 had one route from Key West to Havana).-O’Neill’s
dream was shattered by the manipulations and devious business practices
attributed to Juan Trippe.
Fifty years later, O’Neill compared the takeover to “a shotgun
wedding after a damnable rape” and still referred to the Pan Am
CEO as the G-D SOB! Read Dream of Eagles by O’Neill if you want
the whole story. Colonel Ralph O’Neill died in California in 1980.
D. Wynn
Via e-mail
Trippe didn’t come off any too nice in the movie. –DR
SHAME ON YOU ALL!
Dear Dan,
Sag Harbor, wake up and stop the cruelty at Spring Farm. Surely everyone
has heard the loud noise of shotguns every weekend. That’s when
all the guys that hide behind their weapons get together and do their
so-called sport……what a joke! This is captive killing for
profit and pleasure. It kills, and worse, mostly wounds thousands of
poor, tame ducks and birds. The ducks are left half dead all over the
place, dragging their broken wings, stumbling with shot-off feet, parts
of their beaks and eyes missing, their bodies full of bullets. I know
because I’ve been running mutilated birds to my veterinarian and
to the Wildlife Center to try and save them. The birds that didn’t
recover, I’ve buried them in my garden for the last twenty-five
years. You have probably seen some birds wandering around in the middle
of the road on the Turnpike, but not to worry, the same so called sportsmen
will probably run them over on their way home the same way ducks and
geese are run over on Jermain Avenue almost every day.
The wildlife rescue people we’ve talked with have said that the
ducks are raised from young, hand feed, have their wings clipped to
restrict their ability to fly properly and escape, and then used for
this captive, trapped shooting.
Only an idiot could miss with a shotgun. It’s like shooting your
own tame pet. It’s sickening and must be stopped.
It’s unreal that people who have lived in this area all their
lives and know about this cruel and barbaric treatment towards the ducks
and birds haven’t lifted a finger to stop it.
Thank You,
Christina Welteroth
Sag Harbor
Via e-mail
 |
