Leftovers: Comments, Opinion, Football, Wainscott, Zeldin and More

Last week I devoted a column to criticizing  Optimum Wi-Fi for its poor service and customer support. The paper was on the stands for less than an hour when I got a call from Optimum saying it was sending repair men over to my house to fix whatever was wrong. Would that be all right?   Would I be home?

They came, they fixed, and they even found, according to one technician, that water might be collecting in an Optimum device on the pole in front of my house that would affect service further up the road. Of course they would be fixing that too.   I say to the people of Springs, “No parade in my honor, please.” My reward is better service for all of us. And my hat is off to Optimum. Responding as they did was a classy thing to do.

Residents of the unincorporated hamlet of Wainscott have filed papers to become the Village of Wainscott. Many in that community think that as an incorporated village they can better prevent the proposed offshore wind farm cable from arriving underground at their beach to eventually hook into our electric grid inland. Wainscott residents will vote once the town sets the date. 

Trouble is the town, county and many other agencies have already signed on to the project, and the developers have agreed to pay $29 million in community benefits over 25 years to local governments for the privilege.  It seems to be a done deal.   

It’s sort of like the party is over, the party favors have been handed out and everybody is shaking hands and saying their goodbyes and here comes a new village arriving as everybody is leaving.     

Online is abuzz about the highly colorful wool mittens that U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) wore while sitting on the dias in the cold at the Inauguration. People think his wife knitted them.  They are a new meme. This is another sign that things are returning to normal. Nobody is claiming that the mittens were a gift from the devil and Cesar Chavez proving that the election was stolen.   Everybody thinks the gloves are cute.

I’ve been watching football on TV where nobody is in the stands and an audio technician  provides cheering crowd noises alternately louder and softer depending on the action. The other day all the cheering was for one team but not the other. Who interviews the people for these jobs?

U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-Shirley) voted to deny President Joe Biden a victory over Donald Trump even though Biden won the election. Zeldin argued that 8.6 million legally posted Biden votes should not be counted. In Florida, former President Donald Trump is talking about creating a third party, the Patriot Party. Zeldin should join it. Patriots don’t need to bother with voting.  

On Feb. 1, BNB Bank merged with the Dime Community Bank and took the name of Dime.   Personally, I still write checks from the Bridgehampton National Bank account before it became BNB Bank. They still work. And it’s still the same wonderful bank. And I still have checks from the North Fork Bank, which merged into Capital One 15 years ago. Never give up. Think local. You can do it too. 

Here’s a question. For three hours  on Jan. 6, 535 congressmen and congresswomen were crowded into a secret assembly hall to keep them safe from the Trump supporters rampaging through the Capitol. During this time, all the Democrats wore their Covid masks. But many Republicans did not.   A few days later, it was announced that three of the Democrats tested positive for Covid.  My question is, why had no Republicans tested  positive? How do you explain this? What do you think?   

My favorite story last week involves a man in New Jersey who allegedly robbed a bank of $4,600 in cash and got a long sentence because during the 2014 robbery he menaced the bank teller. The State Supreme Court has now set aside the conviction.  There will have to be a new trial.

Everyone at the trial agreed that the robber had been polite.  He handed a note to the teller that allegedly read, “Please, all the money, 100s, 50s, 20s, 10s. Thank you.” And he never said a bad word.

The prosecution got the longer sentence by showing the jury the famous photograph of Jack Nicholson as a crazed axe murderer in the movie The Shining leering out from a broken-down door to tell his next victim screaming her head off, “I’m back!!”

The prosecution said, “It’s not just the words; it’s what you do before and what you do after the words that matters. And that’s what makes this a robbery.”

The jury bought it. But on appeal it got tossed.

Finally, in the news, it appears that our three largest downtown villages – Southampton, East Hampton and Sag Harbor – are on the verge of deciding to charge motorists hourly to park in downtown lots this summer. No municipality on the East End has ever charged for parking downtown before this.  But about two times a year, I drive into town to buy something, can’t find parking, and turn around and drive home. This might solve that. Maybe.