I would like to thank Roberta Winters of Queens for her recent letter educating we upstate, provincial yahoos on the evils of fracking ("Moratorium just a political move," April 5). I am certain Ms. Winters, Yoko Ono, Sean Lennon, our downstate legislators and, in fact, our downstate governor all know what is best for the property owners in the Southern Tier and western New York.
I would encourage anyone to actually see the areas spoken about so cavalierly. Try asking the property owners what they want for their land and for the towns and counties in which they live. My experience has been these folks want jobs. They want a way to pay their mortgages. They want a way to pay the ever-increasing property taxes. Most of all, they want the financial security that will come with fracking and the jobs it will create. Fracking, which can and is being done safely elsewhere, will provide these communities and property owners with the wherewithal to save their homes, families and dignity.
The desperation felt by many in the Southern Tier and western New York cannot be seen or felt from Queens, or from Yoko Ono's apartment in the Dakota overlooking Central Park or from the Assembly chamber or the second floor of the Capitol. Haven't we had enough of the downstate "brain trust" telling all of us what is good for New York? Most of those folks could probably not find Chenango County or Delaware County on a map, and yet they feel qualified to dictate what the future should hold for the taxpayers in those areas.
Thomas McCormick
Cohoes