Editor's Note: Following are Patch users' comments on stories that ran in Westchester, Rockland, and Putnam Counties.
Journal News Removes Gun Map from Website
"Score one for the power of the people!" -- The Merm
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"The original reason was lame and this is just as lame." -- James Bankhart
Approved: $3.14 Billion Tappan Zee Bridge Contract
"Great! more jobs!!!" -- claudia jones
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"$14 tolls???" -- Randall Petronus
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"So much for our state environmental quality review laws...water under the bridge. Let's pray the plan does not have the negative enviornmental impacts projected by Riverkeeper and other regional environmental groups. Guess we must find out afterwards...not exactly rational, sustainable planning practices. This is a disappointment to many." -- Don Pachner
Guest Commentary: 'Yorktown Should Continue Fluoridating Its Water Supply'
"I am no health nut. When they stated fluoridating water it was necessary. Today as I said you have fluoridated toothpaste, rinses etc. There was a concern that maybe it was so pervasive, maybe people were getting too much. People actually tend to put too much toothpaste on a brush. I think maybe we don't need to spend all that money for a problem that does not exist. If we were to expend money for water quality I would would rather see filtration and ozone treatment rather than chlorine added. Ozone is used extensively in Europe. It is cheaper and does not rust pipes." -- Bob Rohr
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"Bob, I grew up in a community that didn't fluoridate their water. My teeth are extremely cavity filled. My mother (god rest her soul) was a nurse practitioner and always loathed that my hometown didn't. It's pretty standard practice and the AMA and ADA both recommend it. The only reason not to do it is if Yorktown is banking on drawing of the water district general fund (I hear it's at about 5 million today) to give us all "tax cuts." They did draw over 800K this year for no good other reason than to offset other tax raises, right? I'm not being sarcastic. I don't pretend to be a tax expert and you have exhibited a good grasp of the local budgets. Any insight would be appreciated. I think if you look at any of the neighboring communities, a majority (if not all) do it." -- Evan Bray
Rockland Reacts to Armstrong Drug Confession
"Yesterday I heard one TV commentator bemoaning the fact that today's sports heroes are less honest than sports heroes of the past. I couldn't help finding that assertion amusing, because it put me in mind of "Champion", the famous short story by Ring Lardner, which became a major motion picture. Many may recall that "Champion" was about a boxing hero who, despite his "Mr. Clean" image, was actually a complete swine in every way. The movie version dated from the early 1950s, but the original story was written way back in 1916, almost a century ago. The author, Ring Lardner, began his career as a newspaper sports writer, so there is little doubt that, despite the fact that the character in "Champion" may have been fictitious, Lardner undoubtedly knew athletes like him. Consequently, it shouldn't come as any great surprise to learn that an athlete turns out to have feet of clay today, because obviously it is nothing new." -- Robert Guttman
NY State: Cuomo Seeks $8.75 for Minimum Wage
"A increase in the minimum wage is a positive. Hopefully it will be enacted on the federal level too. No one who works hard should live in poverty. JM Tuckahoe, NY" -- jeff meyer
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"The increase is created by the high cost of living here in NY. Where is fiscal conservative governing gone? All levels of government spending are putting debt onto our children and grandchildren. Minimum wage will be meaningless to the future of American jobs unless we balance our spending and revenue." -- Andrew Wiley
NRA Responds to President Obama's Gun Control Proposals
"If you read the federalist papers and writings of the founders you will have to come to the conclusion that after taking up arms against a tyrannical ruling government, freeing themselves and trying to create a system of government that wouldn't allow it to happen again, that the second amendment is very much about keeping the citizens armed so as to protect themselves from the government" -- Teleman
"Ask the parents of the victim babies of Sandy Hook who viewed autopsy photos of their six year olds ripped into pieces, riddled with bullets from a magazine that instantaneously tore their babies apart...lost faces, decapitations, bodies almost cut in half...all while they huddled together in terror so this free American could use this weapon of mass destruction. Your "car: argument is absurd and insulting in light of these facts." -- MJ
