The Mysterious Orange Haze

In the late ‘60s, Jimmy Hendrix released a song titled “Purple Haze,” which contained the following lyrics:

Purple haze all in my eyes

Don’t know if it’s day or night

You got me blowing, blow my mind

Is it tomorrow or just the end of time?

I don’t know about you, but what occurred here in the first week of June certainly blew my mind, except it was an orange haze.

Although the strange atmospheric condition was present early in the week, it peaked here on Long Island sometime in the afternoon on that Wednesday. People were reaching for their handy COVID masks again, trying to prevent those microscopic orange particles from entering their respiratory system.

If you did happen to venture outside that day, the afternoon sky looked surreal with an ominous glow, more akin to being on the surface of Mars. To be safe, officials advised the entire Long Island population to stay indoors. This reminded me of every apocalyptic rendition of the future I’ve seen in movies, depicting the sun blotted out, the daytime sky darkened, and most of the human population living underground.

Facebook newsfeeds were flooded with pictures depicting supports a cleaner environment. Many companies allow employees to telecommute and work from home. Others use alternative work schedules which afford staff the ability to avoid rush hour gridlock. This saves travel time and can improve mileage per gallon. Join a car or van pool to share the costs of commuting.

The ability to travel from home to workplace, school, shopping, entertainment, medical, library etc. is a factor when moving to a new neighborhood. Economically successful communities are not 100 percent dependent on automobiles as the sole means of mobility. Seniors, students, low and middle income people need these transportation alternatives. Investment in public transportation today contributes to economic growth, employment and a stronger economy. Dollar for dollar, it is one of the best investments we can make.

What better way to honor the late President Johnson and all that has been achieved these past 59 years in public transportation by continuing funding the federal Highway Trust Fund and Mass Transit Account. Happy Birthday!

(Larry Penner is a transportation advocate, historian and writer who previously worked for the Federal Transit Administration Region 2 New York Office.)

Karl V. Anton, Jr., Publisher, Anton Community Newspapers, 1984-2000

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Linda Baccoli the foggy ginger-colored sky compared to the previous day’s sharp blue. The Manhattan skyline had the look and feel of a blackout. The evening sundown was pretty in color but dangerous to all creatures and the air that they breathed.

As a curator of five or six oak trees in my backyard, our property is inundated during May with fine yellow dust, accompanied by what we affectionately call the “squigglies.” The dust is everywhere and clings to every surface, while the squigglies form tumbleweeds and roll down the street, causing Massapequa to look more like Yellowstone. I use an entire container of window wash in my car every spring.

We are prisoners inside until mid-June when the yellow menace abates, causing us to spend an entire weekend hose-washing every square inch of my patio and outside furniture. Outdoor Memorial Day barbeques are limited to friends and relatives without oak trees.

But this mysterious orange haze wasn’t coming from my backyard oak trees. That wood-burning fire-pit smell wasn’t coming from any of my neighbors. The smoke from a distant fire was coming from, of all places, our neighbors in the true North. O, Canada!

Unfortunately, Canada is experiencing unprecedented wildfires that have already damaged almost 10 million square miles. Firefighters from all over the world, including the US, have joined with the Canadians to bring these fires under control. But the smoke has to go somewhere, right?

The answer, my friends, is blowing in the wind.

Winds from the North wreaked havoc down here and across the Northeast, causing schools to keep the kiddies inside and

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PASSING THE JUDICIARY ACT

The Supreme Court is running amok, and it’s past time we got it under control.

In the year since the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, abortion has been effectively banned (with extremely limited exceptions) in fourteen states. Nearly 1 in 3 Americans have lost access to abortion care.

This year, the Court overturned access to clean water, affirmative action in college admissions, and student debt

Letter To The Editor

relief for millions of middle and low income borrowers. They’ve set the precedent of overturning policies simply because they were enacted by a Democratic president.

On top of that, the ethical crises keep piling up. We’ve seen Republican mega donors footing the bill for Clarence Thomas’s vacations, mortgage payments, and family tuition; Samuel Alito taking dinners with conservative anti-abortion activists, accepting a lavish vacation from someone with business before the Court, and allegedly leaking reproductive health decisions; and Neil Gorsuch selling property to an executive that has business before the Court just days after his lifetime appointment was finalized. We can’t let this continue. Congress must stop the out-of-control, right-wing majority on the Supreme Court. The only way to do that is to restore

Oped

Statement On Congestion Pricing

Governor Kathy Hochul and Democratic lawmakers in Albany have found another way to tax the working middle class out of New York, this time in the form of a congestion pricing plan that will charge a hefty fee to commuters

DISCLAFANI from page 6A flights to be canceled. Want to know how serious this was? Major League Baseball took the bold step and canceled games in The Bronx and Philadelphia.

Canada is a large country with its border hundreds of miles away from Massapequa. It’s more than 500 miles traveling into lower Manhattan via car/ truck - all in the name of funding a bloated MTA. Instead of seeking ways to curb wasteful MTA spending, New York State lawmakers will now force hardworking commuters from New York City’s outer boroughs and suburbs to foot the bill for decades of mismanagement at the MTA. The imposition of this “suburban tax” in addition to tolls already collected at many of New York City’s bridges and tunnels is patently unfair, and Governor ideological balance to the Court by adding four more seats.

I’m urging our legislators to stand up as a governmental body and rein in this illegitimate court by passing the Judiciary Act.

Sincerely, Scott Korman 11005

West across New York State and through Buffalo before you get to Niagara Falls and enter Toronto. If you want to visit Montreal to the North, it’s about 400 miles.

We didn’t start the fire, yet the smoke was so intense that the Town of Oyster

Bay suspended all garbage and recycling collections to protect their workers.

So, for all of us who survived the respiratory issues that affected millions of people in the past few years, let’s have a little respect for the orange haze disrupting our daily lives. It may no longer

Hochul and her lackeys in the State Legislature have only themselves to blame for the ongoi ng outmigration from New York.

—Congressman Anthony D’Esposito, 4th District be as intense as it was on that dreadful Wednesday in early June, but it still lingers. After all those years of creating “smoke-free” environments on airplanes, trains, bars, and restaurants, let’s not blow it now.

‘Scuse me while I kiss the sky…

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