Data centers, voter fraud claims, Holy Trinity football, power shortage, Blakeman, cyclosporiasis

Resource demands outweigh benefit

As someone who managed data centers for 15 years, I would like to present some facts about data centers and resource usage [“Debate data centers on facts, not moratoriums,” Opinion, July 16].

While not all data centers are alike, the average modern data center can use 40 megawatts (MW) of power and up to 110 million gallons of water per year. That water usage is equivalent to adding 1,000 new homes to Long Island, where we are currently in the middle of drought conditions again.

The power usage is equivalent to adding about 10,000 homes to Long Island, where we already have trouble providing power during peak times. Hyperscale data centers can use nearly 2 billion gallons of water per year and 400 MW of power, the equivalent of adding 100,000 homes to Long Island.

Matthew Aracich should ask himself if Long Island has the resources to support these initiatives and not just focus on the construction jobs that they will create. The answer is clearly no. Long Island does not have the resources available to support one data center, let alone several.

— Michael Radzicki, Lindenhurst

Baseless claims of fraud damage trust

Based on President Donald Trump’s recent speech, he is once again instigating fear by claiming that elections are fraudulent unless the vote count favors him “Time for Trump to ‘stop the steal,’ ” Editorial, July 19]. Once again, Trump implies that noncitizens are illegally registered, foreign adversaries can manipulate election results, democracy is crumbling, the Constitution is irrelevant, and that election integrity is nonexistent, causing voter fraud.

With Trump as president, the objective truth no longer seems to matter. Instead, what matters is that Trump made the most persuasive argument that people accept as valid.

Parts of the country have become cynical of the truth, prioritizing dishonest leadership as governing competence over moral decency. Ignorance has become a reality where Trump’s fabricated stories of voter fraud are believed.

— Pete Scott, Centerport

A tradition deserves more than a shrug

Holy Trinity High School’s decision to suspend its football program deserves far more explanation than the resignation of a recently hired coach “Trinity pauses football,” High School Sports, July 16]. Coaches leave. Successful programs replace them. They do not suspend more than 60 years of tradition because one employee resigns.

As a member of the Class of 1975, the father of a former Holy Trinity varsity football starter, and a classmate of John “Jay” Kutner, I know what this program represents. John Kutner Memorial Field bears his name because Kutner gave his life after suffering fatal injuries while representing Holy Trinity. The field is a monument, and Holy Trinity football has always been the living memorial.

If enrollment, finances, or participation are the real reasons, then say so — and justify the decision. Schools facing those challenges rebuild, recruit, and fight to preserve the traditions that define them.

Administrators merely inherit stewardship of Holy Trinity’s traditions; they do not own them. If Holy Trinity’s inherited legacy can be diminished without a determined effort to preserve it, then perhaps it is not the football program that requires new leadership.

— Kevin Michael Coppola, Shadow Hills, California

Shortsighted choice cost consumers

Running out of reliable power, are we [“National Grid: Need to replace LI plants,” News, July 16]? People should remember when a group of activists forced closure of a perfectly safe, reliable, fully built nuclear power plant.

The closure of Shoreham has had lasting effects on the populace of Long Island, causing sky-high rates. So, did we learn from this mistake?

— Anthony Bordano, Middle Village

Compassion is real test of leadership

I assume that when Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman attended Hebrew school, he studied the same Torah that I did [“Blakeman courts Jewish vote in gov race,” News, July 19].

The Torah reminds us 36 times to welcome the stranger. It teaches us to not insult the deaf or place a stumbling block before the blind. It is said that Rabbi Hillel, a famed, foundational sage of Judaism, when asked to set forth the Torah while standing on one leg, said, “What is hateful to you, do not do to others. That is the Torah. The rest is commentary. Now go and learn.”

Until Blakeman shows me that he learned those Torah lessons, he will not be getting my vote.

— Howard J. Herman, Great Neck

Who will leaf through FDA salad claims?

In this age of artificial intelligence, self-driving cars, and robots that could walk on the moon, how is it that the Food and Drug Administration still can’t tell us what’s really going on with shredded iceberg lettuce [“FDA back to tying outbreak to lettuce,” News, July 21]?

It’s time to lettuce know the truth.

— Martin Blumberg, Melville