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No Emergency Yet, Folks
Thursday, 09 August 2012 15:43
By Rye Record Staff
With positive samples of West Nile Virus found throughout Westchester County in recent weeks, do Rye residents have reason to fear? “Yes!”, declared Hen Island resident Ray Tartaglione and his lawyer, Jordan Glass, at the August 6 City Council meeting. Tartaglione, who lives in Purchase most of the year, has been a regular attendee of Council meetings for years, asking the City to enforce the County health code on Hen Island. His larger goal is to have the government build pipelines from the mainland to bring potable water and a sewer system to the island.
At the Council meeting, Tartaglione unleashed a torrent of attacks on City officials. He accused the City of failing to inform the public about the latest New York State Laboratory test results from larva specimens drawn from samples on Hen Island, which indicate high concentrations of West Nile Virus (WNV). He further charged the City with "endangering" the health of Rye residents. In between attacking the character of various City officials, Tartaglione expressed alarm over the threat from West Nile to children in camp programs at the Rye Nature Center and the many shore clubs. He urged the City to immediately close Hen Island until these "life-threatening conditions are resolved."
City Manager Scott Pickup adamantly denied having received any official report of positive WNV testing in Rye. He added, "And Hen Island is probably the most inspected piece of property in Rye."
Councilwoman Catherine Parker asked Tartaglione to give the Council the results he claimed to have from the County. He refused.
The Rye Record contacted both the County Health Department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for more answers. According to County officials, the first mosquito batches to test positive for the virus were found in Mamaroneck last month. The total countywide is now 17. According to the New York State Department of Health, as of August 9, out of the 470 reported positive mosquito pools this year, there have been four human cases in New York: two upstate, one in Staten Island, and one in Suffolk County.
Rye Nature Center Executive Director Christine Siller assured the community that their center is regularly inspected for a variety of diseases, including West Nile Virus, in order to operate camps. "We would have been notified by the County if any traces were found on the premises," Siller said.
A few facts about West Nile Virus: About 80% of people who become infected with WNV have no symptoms, 19% experience mild symptoms such as fever and headache, and only one in 150 people will develop a serious illness. More serious illnesses from West Nile Virus have been reported so far this year than any since 2004. There have been about two dozen deaths in the United States this summer, including nine in Texas, but none in New York.
While there is no cause for alarm, notwithstanding Tartaglione's allegations, all mosquitoes need to breed is a small amount of standing, unfiltered water. Rye's marshlands and wetlands are a perfect habitat for mosquitoes. Every summer, the County encourages residents to take precautionary measures, including removing any still water in gutters, birdbaths, buckets, etc., as well as applying bug spray when outdoors, especially at dusk.
Health officials believe the mild winter, early spring, and very hot summer have fostered breeding of the mosquitoes that spread the virus to people. Most West Nile infections are reported in August and September, so it's not yet clear how bad 2012 will be.
Comments
http://www.myrye.com/my_weblog/2008/08/health-commissi.html
That report is filled with untruths and omissions. The funniest one is the Health Inspector’s failure to disclose that they had to barrow mosquito repellant from island workers because they could not conduct their testing due to the heavy mosquito infestation present in the area where they were testing.
The water storage compiled with the lack of maintenance on Hen Island encourages the breeding of Westchester County’s worst mosquito infestation in history. Anyone who has visited the Island could tell you about the horrific infestation.
http://healtheharbor.com/news/RyeRecord_LetterToEditor_053011.html
Hen Island is a 25 acre mosquito breeding site located in the epicenter of Westchester County’s West Nile Virus test result area. All 17 positive test results in Westchester with the exception of one located in Tibbits Brook park in Yonkers were centrally located within 5 miles of Hen Island. Mosquitoes are capable of flying 25 miles but are known to fly on average of 5 miles from their breeding site.
Please watch the below video on how Rye’s Mayor French and the County Health Department headed by Rye’s ex City attorney Kevin Plunkett has been avoiding enforcement for Years. It’s still going on people and their actions are risking the lives of our children and seniors every day. https://vimeo.com/47034186
Seems a little disingenuous that a man who makes his living in an industry that kills 1 in 6000 people would be horrified about the 1 in a million chance of being killed by West Nile. Why don't we ban cars from Westchester first before we move on to much lesser threats?
Wholly Inaccurate. All costs would be born by the island residents - NOT ONE NICKEL WOULD BE PAID BY RYE TAXPAYERS. Additionally 3 drilled water wells at $15K each would solve these mosquito problems forever as should have been done 6 years ago. That approach requires no connection to municipal water at all.
Please notify me when you delete this comment. Thank You.
Really? That would be absolutely AMAZING. So if Suffolk county drills a couple wells along the shoreline all the mosquitos will disappear and they could stop spraying. I'll call the Suffolk County Executive immediately and tell him the good news!
https://vimeo.com/47034186
The world is not stupid, it is just you, the Mayor and a select few, who think they are.
I address this e-mail to you as President of Kuder Island Colony Inc. Please consider this correspondence as official notice requesting remediation and the advisement to those affected.
On July 19th Hen Island was tested for West Nile Virus. On August 8th you were notified in writing that the test results showed positive for the presents of West Nile. As of this date, August 19th 2012 there has been no communication to the residents of Hen Island addressing the issue. Your failure to notify those concerned and to act to minimize the West Nile threat is what has prompted this e-mail.
Although the City of Rye and the County of Westchester is trying to make light of the findings and is cooperating with the Island to avoid and negate enforcement, you have a responsibility to inform the home owners on Hen Island along with others within a close proximity to the Island.
Please be advised this is a serious health risk that also affects thousands of residents in the surrounding communities. American Yacht Club, Shenorock Shore Club, The Coveleigh Club, The Greenhaven Homeowners Assoc. Beach, and the Rye Golf Club are all located less than a ¼ mile from the shores of Hen Island. Most of the aforementioned hold day camps for hundreds of children and programs for many of the community’s senior citizens. Your actions and inaction's are directly affecting the health, safety and welfare of thousands on a daily basis. Should you believe that this threat is not serious, I direct your attention to the below linked group that I have been a member for some time now. It is called West Nile Virus Survivors and Supporters.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=435058126540352&set=o.406191450760&type=1&theater
As you are aware Hen Island is home to Westchester County’s worst mosquito infestation. Every home on Hen Island illegally stores hundreds and sometimes thousands of gallons of water for domestic use. In addition, for years the high reed areas of the Island have been used as a dump site for debris that has washed ashore over the winter and during the summer. Trees that have been cut and pruned have been stored throughout the Island. Each one of these actions encourages the breeding of millions of mosquitoes. All of the above has been officially documented in a Westchester County investigation from 2007 and/or a City of Rye violation notice issued to Kuder Island on April 8th 2009. The City of Rye specifically addressed the mosquito infestation and put the Island on notice about their concerns as did the County report. To this date no actions have been taken to address any of the health and safety issues.
Please understand that “time is of the essence” and action has to be undertaken immediately on many fronts. I await your response.
Ray Tartaglione
Blessedly, Westchester County has not yet (fingers crossed) seen a case yet. Most of the cases are in Texas.
Mosquitoes breed in any standing water; low-lying areas that flood on occasion, brackish water, tire tracks, flowerpots, roof gutters, swamps, etc. Rye, because of its proximity to many wetlands -- protected by Federal, State, County, and local law --, naturally is a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Mosquitoes tend to live in a limited range of territory (about 300 yards from their hatch according to the CDC.) The notion that Hen Island is the source of all or even most of the mosquitoes around Rye is ludicrous. Nor, for that matter, is the Nature Center a cause of concern. Note: Mosquitoes prefer not to lay eggs where predators like salamanders, frogs, toads, and dragonflies are prevalent, such as the vernal pools at the Nature Center.
The County has not issued an alert because they do not believe the activity in Rye is abnormal. "Every summer," to quote the County Health Inspector, "we find traces of West Nile Virus." When the County believes that an outbreak of West Nile requires extreme caution, they will tell us. (Here's an example of extreme caution. When I lived in Florida, there was an encephalitis outbreak. As a precaution, the County cancelled Halloween trick or treating.)
The County Health Department does not recommend extreme caution as yet. Rather, they have issued the same guidelines they issue every year: be careful around dusk, wear anti-mosquito repellent, empty containers of water around your house, wear long sleeves if there is significant mosquito activity, and so on. If, the County decides that the risk is heightened, they will tell us.
I have spoken directly to the County Health Department, and researched the advisories put out by the CDC and other health bodies. The County does not advise "shutting down Hen Island," as Ray Tartaglione, or his representative, suggested recently. In fact, Hen Island received this year a relatively good report from the County. Aside from a few exposed cisterns, there were none of the man-made common sources of mosquito breeding: open containers, children's toys on the ground, children pools, etc.
As I walk around Rye, I see many instances of practices that encourage mosquito proliferation: flower pots filled with water, children's wading pools left out over night with water in them, tire ruts at construction sites filled with standing water, depressions in the City roads where water lies for days at a time (see the Boat Basin and Elm Place) and so on. It’s evident that Hen Island and the Nature Center may be making the best effort, throughout Rye, to control the growth of mosquitoes. Rather than censure, they deserve praise.
I am going to keep this short and to the point.
In an article printed in your newspaper (The Rye Record) and penned by your wife ([censored]), she describes the sewage and water systems on Hen Island after a personal visit in May of 2011. Linked below and I quote:
“Between the homes,
in some cases not more than shacks with
jerry-rigged waste systems and rusted-out
water containers, there are lovely private paths dotted with eclectic sculpture.”
Three things you should be aware of:
1.) Not only am I the curator for every piece of art on Hen Island but I personally selected and installed each one.
2.) You should be communicating better with your wife during dinners.
3.) Your wife might make a good County Health and/or City Building inspector.
There is an old saying;
"If at first you don't succeed listen to your wife"
http://healtheharbor.com/news/RyeRecord_WhyRayTartaglionecan%27tgowiththeflow_050611.pdf
Only the people who write things Mr. Tartaglione likes would make good County Health Inspectors. Anyone else is corrpupt.
"island filth-heads"
"sham county inspections"
If those inspections where such a sham, can I assume the positive WNV test is a sham also? It must be, according to you.
You got a lot of class, it's all low.
Prove it. Oh, That's right, you can't.
He penned this letter eight years after the West Nile Virus was discovered in New York. Keep in mind that homeowners were advised to bury dead birds so as not to draw attention and to the possibility of officials inspecting the Island and uncovering all their "dirty little secrets"
http://healtheharbor.com/correspondence/openletter.html
Or if you would like something more official how about this Westchester County Police investigation report where the inspector states "
"We also noticed that this area appeared to have a mosquito infestation. This director and other officials were severally bitten. The area showed no signs of any type of mosquito control program.
http://healtheharbor.com/correspondence/WestCounty_FOIL.pdf
1.) In an area where West Nile occurs, the longer you're exposed to biting mosquitoes and the higher the concentration or number of mosquitoes at the location, the higher your chances are of acquiring the virus.
2.) Among those with severe illness due to West Nile virus, case-fatality rates range from 3% to 15%
with the chance of death increasing with age, particularly above 50 years old and/or if you are immune compromised. Immune compromised can consist of something as simple as taking doses of steroids for a sinus condition, allergies, a bad case of poison Ivy, or something as serious as a transplant recipient.
Since Mayor French and Deputy Mayor [censored] believe that Hen Island should be commended for their efforts and there is "no emergency yet", if we could get them to spend one hour at the playground section of the North Island without any mosquito spray, I am sure that would speak volumes in proving the point. Please consider this a public invitation for the entire Rye City Council and they are welcome to bring their children.
http://myryesoundshore.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2648:hen-island-complaints-proven-baseless-by-officials&catid=34:news&Itemid=53
Even the Sound Shore Review is calling you a liar.
P.S. Doesn't it bother you that you and your shills are praying for someone to get sick?
http://www.mountvernonexposed.blogspot.com/2012/08/westchester-da-janet-difiore-covers-up.html
But back to your filthy stagnant water mosquito vats - the sham inspectors sent by the WCDOH don’t run the tests for WNV. That’s done by the state DOH. The state lab provides the results to Mr. Plunkett’s county DOH and then THEY obfuscate the dates, the sites and the rest. WCDOH goal is to slooooow everything down and to try keeping Hen Island’s multi-decade non-potable water violations under wraps and the Rye public minimally informed. Too bad for you the state wants the truth out faster. This kind of pre-season positive test results and spread pattern that would today send a Texan flying at local elected officials to deal concretely with the problem before anyone is infected. The state DOH knows this.
And BTW the sham county DOH inspectors couldn’t have completed their last sham visit to Hen Island without borrowing bug repellant from your island workers. And they couldn’t even climb the platforms to test those big gang tanks we’ve all seen. And simply flipping over your rusty vats for a few weeks to cheat thru the next sham visit doesn’t solve anything. Drilling the wells immediately would show Rye you actually give a fig.
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