Westhampton Refuses to Show Deal with Eruv Org

Westhampton Beach trustees last night refused to provide a copy of the agreement with the East End Eruv Assn. that would give EEEA permanent permission to post religious symbols on 46 utility poles.

Weshampton Beach Mayor Maria Moore

Although “Approve Litigation Settlement” had been on web postings of the agenda without further explanation, the only one of 16 items not explained, a printed agenda handed out last night had a nine-paragraph description of the agreement.

It said the trustees are “authorized to sign the attached settlement agreement after it has been executed by all plaintiffs of their respective authorized representatives, in order to bring and end to the subject litigation.”

However, no settlement agreement was attached. WHB has not replied to a Freedom of Information request faxed to it May 26 and hand-delivered to the Mayor’s office May 27.

Mayor Maria Moore told this reporter that the settlement will not be revealed until it has been signed by the trustees. She did not know when that will be.

This writer, a homeowner and taxpayer in WHB as well as a registered voter, urged Moore and the other trustees not to sign any agreement until it is made public via the WHB website and provided to this website as a PDF.

To do otherwise, we told her, would put her and the trustees of violating their oath of office to serve the people of WHB.

Agreement Is Irrational

One of the paragraphs provided at the last minute to residents says:

“Whereas, the proposed settlement agreement expressly provides that it does not create or recognize a religious boundary, nor does it constitute a proclamation, lease or designation of any such religious boundary…”

That statement is false. An eruv is a boundary created by Orthodox Jews to establish a district that gives believers certain rights they would otherwise not have. The validity of any agreement signed by the trustees could be invalidated by a court, lawyers told this writer.

Physical markers are supposed to be attached to utility poles and other natural boundaries such as rivers, fences and railroads are sometimes called into play. The general public may not know of the religious significance of the markers but believers do. It is of profound importance to them. Believers will not move into an area unless there is a physical eruv approved of by local authorities.

Moore an Ally of Eruv Supporters

Moore has shown herself to be an ally of eruv supporters in numerous ways. She has never called a “town hall” so citizens can discuss the matter although she indicated last year she might do so after citizens complained for a half hour at one trustee meeting that they were not being fully informed about eruv litigation.

If she and the trustees had been even-handed about the issue, they would have posted on the WHB website the 18-page essay that Yeshiva University Law Prof. Marci Hamilton wrote for WHB in 2008 that shows that eruvim are unconstitutional.

Numerous other items attacking the claim that eruvim are unconstitutional are also missing from the “Eruv Litigation” part of the WHB site. Last entry is a legal notice dated June 30, 2015.

Supreme Court Nixed Permanent Displays

The Supreme Court, in McCreary County vs. ACLU of Kentucky, ruled in 2005 that “permanent” religious symbols of any type are not allowed on public property. Seasonal displays are allowed.

Justice David Souter, writing for the majority, “emphasized the principle of government neutrality among religious, and between religion in general and non-religious beliefs. Religion is not supposed to cause “political divisiveness and exclusion,” he wrote, which is just what is going on it WHB.

That decision should be on the WHB website.

Former Mayor Conrad Teller has estimated that “95%” of residents do not want an eruv. Neither Teller nor Mayor Moore ever conducted any type of poll on the issue. Six trustees won election to WHB by stating their opposition to eruvim—Joan Levan, Toni-Jo Birk, Hank Tucker, Sue Farrell, Brian Tymann and Rob Rubio. The last two were elected in 2015 on the promise that they would never sign any agreement allowing an eruv in WHB.

McCreary Decision Told to WHB Board

This writer, allowed only five minutes to address the board last night, used them to describe the McCreary decision and ask the trustees to abide by it.

A chilling example of what could happen to beaches in Westhampton is shown by the continued closing of a city pool in Brooklyn for a total of 6.5 hours on four days a week to mollify Orthodox Jews.

An attempt by the Parks Dept. to end the “women only” hours at the Metropolitan Pool at 261 Bedford ave., Williamsburg, as of June 11 brought howls from Dov Hikind, New York Assemblyman, who noted that Orthodox rules demand separation of the sexes.

Kingscountypolitics.com, noting that Hasidic Jews are a “key constituency” of Mayor Bill de Blasio, said the Parks Dept. did “an about-face” on its decision, saying the new summer schedule was posted “in error” and that “separate-gender swimming hours remain in effect.”

There’s no doubt ultra-Orthodox Jews control the government of Westhampton Beach and the closing of Rogers Beach and other beaches to satisfy the rule for separation of the sexes is not far-fetched.

Women occupy a distinctly inferior position in the Orthodox religion. For instance, they sit in the balcony of an ultra-Orthodox Synagogue when services are conducted. Only men are allowed on the main floor. The position of women is not unlike the position of women in Muslim religions.

Radiation Danger in Library Told

We squeezed in at the end of our five minutes the fact that we have found high levels of pulsed, microwave radiation in the library.

We aimed our remarks at Tom Moore, president of the Westhampton Free Library board, who is the husband of Mayor Maria Moore.

Using an Acoustimeter, we found high levels in the children’s area on the second floor on the second floor and peak levels of six volts per meter and 2,500 micro-watts per square meter in the room used by the library board and a bridge group that meets Tuesday.

We visited the room last Tuesday when it was filled with 64 bridge players, most of them senior citizens. Seniors and children are especially susceptible to harm by pulsed radiation. Library staff get the most radiation because they are there five days a week for 7-8 hours a day. The Library of Paris, biggest in France, eliminated all Wi-Fi in 2008 mainly on complaints by the staff.

We found no area of the library to register in the “safe” zone of the Acoustimeter. Bioinitiative.org used to recommend 1,000 as a permissible level for continued radiation but now says it only allows .1 of radiation.

This writer spent four hours with about 60 Wi-Fi and pulsed radiation health advocates at a conference in New York May 22.

Anyone who downloads some of their research will be convinced of the dangers of radiation from cellphones, cordless telephones, computers, high-powered routers that Comcast, Cablevision and other companies are forcing subscribers to take, the more than 6,000 cellphone towers dotting the U.S., and plans by Google and others to float hundreds of thousands of Wi-Fi-emitting balloons worldwide plus Wi-Fi satellites.

AT&T wants to eliminate landlines throughout the U.S. and convert its entire system to wireless.

“Everything Wireless” is the slogan of the CTIA which represents the industry.

Offer Made to Library Director Waskiewicz

We have offered to walk through the library with director Danielle Waskiewicz and show her the readings on the Acoustimeter. There has been no response thus far.

The Ashland, Mass. library has purchased an Acoustimeter which it lends out to patrons so they can measure the radiation in their own homes.

One who did so was Cecelia Doucette, who made a 22-minute video of what she found in her home. It is an excellent lesson in the radiation perils in the average home. She was able to shut down some of the radiation sources.