Westhampton Library Board Ducks Wi-Fi, Election, Eruv Issues

Tom Moore, President, Susan Rosenberg, Treasurer

The Westhampton, N.Y. library board met last night and declined to take up three issues—the unsafe levels of pulsed micro-wave radiation in the library, the demand that the board be elected and not appointed, and the signing of an agreement with the East End Eruv Assn. by Westhampton Beach.

This reporter showed the trustees the high levels of radiation as clocked by an Acoustimeter but they were openly dismissive and even contemptuous of the instrument or that the radiation it measures was any sort of health threat.

The highest levels of radiation, reaching six volts per square meter, were found in the board meeting room which is also used each Tuesday by 64 seniors playing bridge for four hours.

The trustees, including board president Tom Moore, husband of Westhampton Beach Mayor Maria Moore, and treasurer Susan Rosenberg, said that the sun’s rays are radiation and we should worry about that also.

Tom Moore on Feb. 27 issued a statement that the library was following guidelines of the Federal Communications Commission and was confident that there were no radiation threats in the library. He attached a three-page FCC statement on Wi-Fi.

Health advocates say FCC’s findings are outdated since they only acknowledge radiation that raises the temperature of the body. Low level, pulsed microwave radiation can cause cancer and many other diseases over a period of time that can be as long as five or ten years, they say.

Many Radiation Sources Listed

Such radiation is emitted by cellphones, cellphone towers, cordless phones, tablets and laptop computers, TV game consoles, Wi-Fi routers, Bluetooth devices, GPS, remote control units, wireless utility meters, wireless appliances, Wi-MAX zones, FM radio towers, TV Towers, cellphone antennas atop most New York City and other apartment buildings, and the thousands of military, commercial and scientific satellites circling the globe.

The list is in a statement June 14 by retired Canadian Army Captain Jerry Flynn who wants Wi-Fi removed from all public buildings.

Moore, library director Danielle Waskiewicz and the trustees were asked for the location of the routers in the library, their specifications and any other information about them. We also asked to see some of them so photos could be taken.

Also such requests were refused. We were told to contact the suppliers of such devices.

Sabina Trager

Trager Repeats Demand for Elected Board

Speaking in the public portion of the meeting for the allowed limit of five minutes was Sabina Trager, who has sought with others for many months the creation of an elected library board to replace the self-appointed board.

She said that only six of the 19 Suffolk County Assn. libraries have appointed boards. Only one of five Nassau County association libraries has an appointed board.

A record 162 residents voted to reject the budget May 17.

The residents, who have created the Free Westhampton Free Library website, did not have enough votes to block the budget but they were 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.

Trager is seeking a position on the board since trustee Eric Mirell has resigned. She has noted that while Tom Moore has asked for volunteers at the library there are no committees to volunteer for. The long term planning committee, she notes, is made up exclusively of appointed trustees.

“We should have a town hall meeting asking for the opinions of residents,” she said. “We should have a public vote to see who people want to be on the library board.”

O’Dwyer Asks Health Concerns, Runs for Mayor

This reporter, in the five minutes allotted to him, pleaded with the board to recognize the health hazards presented by the industrial-grade routers that dot the library including the children’s area on the second floor.

Our Acoustimeter showed unhealthful levels of radiation in that area. Children and babies are particularly susceptible to harm because of their smaller body size and thinner skulls.

Waskiewicz refuses to take a tour of the library showing the radiation levels in various rooms as tracked by the Acoustimeter.

We also showed to the trustees the book The Curious Case of Kiryas Joel: The Rise of a Village Theocracy and the Battle to Defend the Separation of Church and State by Louis Grumet, a former aide to New York Governor Mario Cuomo.

The board showed little interest in the book and challenged us to donate our copy to the library. We responded that the library has about $4 million in cash and savings and has allocated $1 million to a parking lot and $3 million to improve a six-year-old building and should be able to afford a copy itself.

Westhampton has just agreed to allow the East End Eruv Assn. to put lechi religious symbols permanently on 46 utility poles

However, lawyers for opponents of such a boundary note that Mayor Moore did not sign it (outside village attorney Brian Sokoloff signed) and that voters never got a chance to see the agreement before it was adopted by the trustees.

The agreement carries the statement that the WHB eruv is “not a recognition or endorsement of any religion or religious boundary” when that is exactly what it is, say lawyers for eruv opponents. They say such language and other flaws in the agreement could invalidate it.

Mayor Moore is up for re-election tomorrow. This reporter is running for the office of mayor as a write-in candidate. We cannot in any way support the undemocratic practices of the administration headed by Moore including the refusal to have press conferences or town hall meetings so citizens can express their views. Public expression is limited to five minutes at the trustee meetings.