Essex farmer Sandy Lewis has been a gadfly and legal antagonist extraordinaire in the North Country for years — and his primary target has been the Adirondack Park Agency.<\/p>\n
He prevailed earlier this year in a protracted court fight over farm-worker housing on his property.<\/p>\n
In the months since, Lewis continued his role as a frequent provocateur, emailing angry rants (against the APA, local journalists — including myself — local government officials, and pretty much any other topic) far and wide.<\/p>\n
Most of the people who receive his communiques simply hit Delete but he seems to have finally struck a nerve.<\/p>\n
This week, APA enforcement attorney Paul Van Cott (who handled Lewis’s case) emailed the following message to Lewis using his Park Agency email account:<\/p>\n
Mr. Lewis, you are a sociopath. Please shut up. Go out and get a shovel and work like a real person on your farm. Enjoy life and be a real farmer. You are very forunate. Realize that and get a life. Please take me off any of your further irrational tirades. Thanks and good-bye.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Ouch. After more prodding from Mr. Lewis, Mr. Van Cott followed up with this:<\/p>\n
What the Agency does is to enforce the law based on the facts and law… You won your case. We respect the law. Go farm. I spent countless hours this past year cutting and splitting 30 face cords of wood. What have you done with your hands except to try and get the NYT to write articles to feed your ego?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
As is his way, Mr. Lewis promptly emailed Mr. Van Cott’s messages far and wide.<\/p>\n
Anyone who’s had dealings with Mr. Lewis knows that he can be, well, challenging. He himself acknowledges wrestling with significant mental illness.<\/p>\n
His conversation is often laced with fairly extraordinary profanity. At the best of times, his arguments are a handful. Here’s a sample from a recent email:<\/p>\n
APA’s 501(c)3 keiretsu is news. And it’s transparent. They raise money from the same anonymous donors and advertise together. Want to guess re donors? We came to the Adirondacks for the protection of APA. We find APA to be malevolent and misguided. Clean sweep is needed. More may be needed. We have repetition here, more than 3x – many more …. and the 501(c)3 is engaged for the benefit of its principal. Is this criminal? Federal or state, or both? Are you asleep? We are not. Many have been damaged. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n
In the end, getting a rise out of public officials (and just about anyone else…) is Sandy Lewis’s bread-and-butter. After months of trying, he seems to have accomplished that goal in spades.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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