The Westhampton Library Board faces a hostile audience tonight since a record 162 voted to reject its budget May 17. Board president Tom Moore, whose resignation has been demanded, is husband of Mayor Maria Moore, up for re-election Friday.

Tom MooreTom Moore

Dissatisfied citizens will get another chance to express their gripes tonight which include demands that the library board switch from self-appointed to elected and to demands that crucial topics get an airing at the library.

The residents, who have created the Free Westhampton Free Library website, did not have enough votes to block the budget but they are heartened by the size of their turnout.

The vote was 302 in favor of the new budget and 162 against. The “no” vote was 35% of the total whereas the “no” vote for the 2015 budget was 128 and the “yes” vote was 519. The “no” vote was 20% of that total.

Angry residents shouted at” the board in the two previous meetings resulting in “breaks” being called to calm things down.

“Stealth” Passage of Eruv Rankles

Residents are also miffed at the sneaky way that the Westhampton Beach board passed an agreement June 2 with the East End Eruv Assn. that allows it to put religious symbols permanently on 46 utility poles on public property.

Ignored is a “closely regulated sign ordinance in WHB, applicable on both private and public property,” that forbids such symbols, according to an 18-page analysis prepared in 2008 for WHB by Prof. Marci Hamilton of the Yeshiva University Law School.

The fact that the Hamilton opinion and similar documents never appeared on the WHB website is proof enough that Maria Moore is a supporter of the symbols, said residents. They also note that Moore never had a “town hall” on the subject, although she acknowledged the need for one a year ago, never had a press conference on it, and never conducted a public opinion poll on it.

“Clock Was Killed” on Election

Another source of anger is that Moore withheld her public support for the eruv deal until just before the election. Whenever she was asked where she stood, she just replied that it was “in litigation” and she could not talk about it.

Football fans know this tactic as “killing the clock.” When game is in its final few minutes, the team that is about to kick a winning three-point field goal will “kill the clock” until there are only a few seconds left before kicking the game-winning field goal. That effectively squelches any chance of a comeback by the other team.

Adding insult to injury, the WHB board then passed and had the deal signed with EEEA without ever revealing its terms to the public in advance.

O’Dwyer Co. lawyers say it could be challenged on a number of counts including the statement in the deal that it is “not a recognition or endorsement of any religious boundary” when an eruv is nothing if not a religious boundary. Another flaw in the agreement is that Mayor Moore did not sign it nor did any of the other trustees. The only signer is Brian Sokoloff, an outside attorney for WHB who is not an employee of the village.

Jack O’Dwyer Runs for Mayor

O'Dwyer
O'Dwyer

Given the above, and the blackout on vital information needed by residents not only on the eruv situation but on the dangerous levels of pulsed radiation that is in the library and schools, this writer will be writing in his own name on the ballot Friday for mayor.

We would never vote for another term for the reclusive Maria Moore, who never raises her voice in protest when fellow trustees demand we sit down at board meetings after speaking only five minutes. Her administration has befouled not only the Constitution but the principles of free speech and free press that are the building blocks of America.

We urge residents to write in their own names as a protest against the policies of the Moore board. If they don’t want to “stick their necks out,” they can write in our name but they must use John R. O’Dwyer. They must also be careful to write in their names as shown in the public register. We have purchased the list of 1,414 voters that provides their names and addresses. It’s about $13 from WHB’s offices and available to any resident.

We will be at the library board meeting tonight and will pass out our coverage of the pulsed radiation threat to residents as well as our coverage of The Curious Case of Kiryas Joel, a 288-page chronicle of how the Satmar Hasidic sect was able to get New York Governors Mario Cuomo and George Pataki to create a special school district for the sect’s children.

Louis Grumet fought against any such treatment as unconstitutional all the way to the Supreme Court, through 11 court hearings, and won every time.

However, he and the Constitution lost in the end because Governors Cuomo and Pataki created a special school district that was an end run around the Constitution.

Library, Bookstore Temporize on Kiryas Joel Book

We tried to get the Westhampton Library and the Books&Books bookstore on Main street to prominently display the Kiryas book but found little interest in doing this. It’s “on order” is about all they would tell us.

As a highly detailed description of what can only be described as “dirty politics,” it should be required reading of residents of WHB including the students in the grade school, middle school and high school.

The library, which is sitting on $4 million in cash and savings and intends to use $1 million of that for a parking lot, should offer Grumet a significant fee to come to WHB and describe his 15-year battle to defend the Constitution.