Thanks to the Tea Party

To the Editor: I got involved with the Orange Sullivan Tea Party about two years ago because many New York State farmers are being held hostage by overreaching, single-minded environmental agencies. We want to grow food and they want to save bats. After trying all the usual channels of protest without results, I found some friends in the Tea Party. They too found the agencies' positions unconscionable. Their regulatory demands are unaffordable, yet we are threatened with $37,000-a-day fines until we comply. We're family farms — private citizens with private businesses — and we are being regulated out of our livelihoods. The Tea Party listened and joined our cause. They informed themselves on the issues, they attended meetings, and they wrote letters.

I'm tired of the bad press Tea Partiers get! I haven't seen any "bigots" or "terrorists." I find ordinary but well-informed folks, fighting for individual freedoms on a local and national level. They see the dangers inherent in overreaching government agencies and are willing to voice their objections. I thank them for that!

Bill Johnson Goshen