Letters to the Editor - The Lakeville Journal - 4-1-21

The next gen: teach your parents well

It’s not only what you say, it’s how you deliver the message, right? There are still moments of such extreme clarity when one realizes that it is still possible to learn profound truths, in my case at the ripe age of 72. This particular lesson came from our daughter, a veterinarian.  In one afternoon, one thing she urged us to do may change our lives: “Mom, there’s a movie called Seaspiracy.” “Where?” “On Netflix.” “OK.” “Watch it. Just watch it!” “OK!!”

When I was trying to instill a few truths (and truisms) along the way in our children, I can assure you I didn’t do it with such economy. My instructions were hammered home, ad nauseum, not leaving much room for our kids to make any of my lessons their own.

So, embracing her model of spareness, I ask fellow readers still partially confined to their homes, “Check out Seaspiracy.  On Netflix.” It’s a documentary made by a young British filmmaker named Ali Tabrizi. I can confidently say, he and our daughter have changed my life in less than 24 hours. With embarrassment that it took this long, I’ll say “Thank you, Ali and Maude.”

Molly S. Fitzmaurice

Sharon

Guns and butter blues

“Time to give the good guys the edge.” — Frank Figliuzzi, Former FBI 

When I was a kid we vacationed in the land of lakes Wisconsin, memorable for we youngins tossing the bag of margarine pre dinner to disburse the fake coloring, Wisconsin, a dairy state, sold only butter in mellow yellow sticks. Wisconsin, a beautiful state rich in resources, is seemingly daunted with Senatorial fake coloring: McCarthy in the 1950s with his red mania and now Johnson with his paintings of the January 6 Capitol insurrection as placid pastel patriots demonstrating gentle fervor for democracy.

As the agony of an unchallenged Senator Johnson booms amidst the rising hope of Covid vaccines and rescue funds distributed, two more mass shootings blast our disease weary, economically drained nation. Shooters with high weaponry exercise their unrestricted 2nd Amendment rights on unarmed, unsuspecting victims — Asian women in Atlanta and grocery shoppers in Boulder. Americans can’t go to the movies, a post office, a church or synagogue, McDonald’s, a parking lot, a night club, elementary, high school or college and now a grocery without some military grade gun-toter unloading on mothers, fathers, children, brothers, sisters, wives, husbands, friends. Unceasing cable news coverage breaking in America is yet another mass shooting.

In Boulder a first responder patrolman is shot in the line of guns uncontrolled. He, a father of seven, is mowed down. At the Capitol, officers of two local policing units were beaten, gassed, maimed and killed by a conspiracy of seditionists. Police blues — the uniform and the lament.  Police blues indeed, being in the wake of persons freely armed, ramrodding, shooting with abandon.  Police blues misrepresented by a rotted batch using their shields as instruments of harm. Police blues a discord of might vs right and good vs bad.  

American national shame and tragedy is rampant when the good guys aren’t given the edge — protection, concern, right to move freely, safely. All good guys in and out of uniform.  

 “The rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened.”  — JFK

The daffodils, crocus, pansies and violets have a heavy lift this spring. 

Kathy Herald-Marlowe

Sharon

Why resistance on new location?

I have written a number of letters to the Salisbury Housing Commission and Planning and Zoning describing the objections I have to the Holley Place project.  A more widespread articulation is perhaps warranted now.

Unlike Mr. Oppenheimer’s recent scurrilous comments concerning the motives of those objecting (I’m wondering how many of those people he even knows, e.g., I don’t know him and he doesn’t know me) to the Holley Place project, most of us have valid concerns, among them:

• Disenfranchising existing residents and operators of commercial operations that rely on the parking at Bicentennial Park.

• The failure to optimize the location for those needing affordable housing.  Optimization could be described as easy access to grocery shopping, proximity to child care facilities with the added benefit of being next to the SVNA, access to open space, proximity to the Community Garden, adequate space for parking and nearby shopping.  Does this sound like the Pope property where up to 64 units could be built satisfying 85% of Salisbury’s affordable housing requirements?  If you said yes, you would be correct.

• There is an open issue of whether the change in use for Bicentennial Park is consistent with the original gift.

• The complications of additional traffic turning onto Holley Street causing additional congestion on Route 44.

There is nothing wrong with redirecting efforts to a more amenable location.  There seems to be entrenched resistance and I, for one, would like to know why.

Margaret Monaco

Lakeville

Compare the economics

Why has the Salisbury Affordable Housing Commission (SAHC) concentrated its efforts on Holley Place and neglected the larger and more suitable Pope property?

 We do not need to destroy the historic Bicentennial park and the parking for existing businesses in Lakeville and a lovely children’s park to meet our affordable housing needs. In 2016, the town voted  to spend $1.6 million to purchase the 59-acre Pope property off Salmon Kill Road within walking distance of the town of Salisbury. The clear intent of the voters was that some of that land be used for housing.  The town’s Affordable Housing Plan included 34-65 units on the Pope Property.   

In January 2021, the Pope commission released a 92-page report with no review of the housing alternatives. After five years, the only “recommendation”  comes on page 12 where Mat Kiefer, Salisbury Board of Finance, states the following: “The current use of the Pope property is great. Farming is beautiful.  ... This property should stay the same or become athletic fields for one to two decades. If needed,  decades from now the property could always be turned into housing sites.... We should not rush. .. Do right by the land. Respect it. I am tired of seeing housing in the middle of fields.” To his credit Jim Dresser disassociated himself from Kiefer’s comments.

 Why have the SAHC and our selectmen not pushed  the Pope commission to formulate a better housing recommendation? Some proponents of Holley Place, lacking the information needed to address the neighbors’ concerns on the merits, accuse them of racial bias. We must be able to deliberate on how we economically bring housing to our town without being distracted by character attacks. 

Our community will be better served  if SAHC  compares the economics of building a 12-unit Holley Place with 35-65 units on the Pope property. Until that analysis is done and made public, our representatives have not served their community well. Let’s address the merits of both projects by comparing the financials, the costs to the town and the impact on the neighbor. Show us the numbers.

 Pamela Wilson and George Mason 

Lakeville

Biden’s first 100 days 

We the people were promised “I will build back better and unite this whole country.”

Let’s examine this. Day 1 of President Joe Biden’s White House duties were 64 executive orders. He canceled the  Keystone XL pipeline. It caused at least 1000 direct and up to 10,000 accessory jobs to be gone. Cancellation of the 1776 Project which promoted civic education highlighting American heritage. It is being replaced by unsubstantiated critical race theory as its educational focus. The endpoint is to have the historically challenged NYT 1619 Project as its guideline. Its principal point: America is an inherently racist country.                                                                                                                                Next up is an EA allowing biological boys to compete with biological girls in school sports. This essentially ends fair girls sport competition and scholarship chances. Pandemic response. 

The very vaccine and the foundations for distribution were in place from the Trump administration. Biden needed to ramp up supplies and location strategies. The goal was to reopen schools within 100 days. This can be done or will there be a deference to teachers union demands? COVID relief. The passage of a new $1.9 trillion bill is riddled with partisan agenda priorities. It is a disincentive to stay out of work until September. How does it help struggling businesses reach their full employment capacities?  

On immigration, by tossing out prior administration policies (the Wall, Stay in Mexico, and ending Catch and Release) a firestorm has happened on the southern border. Americans must wear masks but not so for unlawful trespassers.                                                                                     Rejoining and foreign policy. Biden has rejoined ineffective organizations such as WHO, Iran nuclear deal and Paris climate accords. These agreements were never voted on by Congress.  Biden looks to “reset” Palestinian relations with a two-state policy. This would be a threat to the sucesssful Abraham Accords..     

In less than 100 days President Biden has alienated the energy industry, religious community, Republicans with radical EAs, pro-lifers,the border patrol, and members of the business community.                                                                                                                                                      

America is on a runaway train with a commander-in-chief asleep at the switch.       

Joe Agli

Kent                                                                                                          

It’s a pandemic process

Now I’ve got my second Jab

I’m sure it won’t leave a scab

Left the hospital feeling fine

Ready to go out and dine

But during sleep that same night

My arm was aching not feeling right

And in the morn the aches did start

And my arm started to smart

Then flu like symptoms came

Not feeling right as rain

But after breakfast I improved

And the aches were removed

So now I feel so much better

That I started to write this letter.

Michael Kahler

Lakeville

We need to keep our imperfect, hard-won republic

Recently Betty Krasne wrote to this paper regarding protecting voting rights, a goal we highly support.  She touts H.R. 1, an act working its way through Congress. However, we completely disagree that H.R. 1 will protect voting rights. In fact, it would undo progress made since our country’s founding.

Here’s some background. In 1787 the U.S. bucked thousands of years of  history by adopting a Constitution with a republican (not Republican) form of government, which decentralized government power that up until then had been extremely centralized, mostly in monarchies run by kings. When we broke from England we created a power sharing arrangement that split power among states, a small 3-branch central government and the citizens. Was it perfectly executed? No way — slavery, women’s rights, Jim Crow laws, poll taxes and more — all needed to be dealt with and as a nation we’ve made great strides on these issues. 

However, our core idea of decentralizing power was unprecedented — a historic breakthrough.  The recognition of states as sovereign created the concept of a republic, not a democracy. As such the rules regarding congressional voting were specifically memorialized in our Constitution as the bailiwick of state legislatures – not Congress, not the president, not governors and not the courts. 

What does this have to do with H.R.1? Well if you thought that an Act entitled “For The People Act of 2021” was for the people, think again. This 791-page monstrosity is among the most radical anti-people pieces of legislation ever proposed. Here’s a small sample of its provisions: 1) it transfers control over congressional elections from the states to the federal government  –time, place and manner(code for central control); 2) it allows same-day voter registration(code for voting in two jurisdictions on the same day); 3) it prevents states from updating their voter rolls (code for ballots mailed to  former voters, dead and  moved away); 4) it  does away with the concept of Election Day and substitutes “election month”(our term). Ballots cast and received 15 days before and up to 10 days after  “Election Day” are considered valid (code for a counting morass without specifically designed controls); 5) it allows nationwide vote-by-mail or online — no picture IDs required, only a signature. How would we know whose or whether the signer is a citizen or even a real person? Without ID verification controls over a mail-in/online system, there is no control. It will invariably lead to a disputed result in a close election.

This is just the tip of 791 pages. Such recentralization will not help the People. History has repeatedly shown that the only people empowered by central control are those in control. We acknowledge that our system is far from perfect. But what’s the sense in scrapping it for a system  rejected 245 years ago because it was clearly tyrannical? Part of the uniqueness of this country is the power sharing we discussed above. That’s why it’s rightly called the United States and not a country called “Washington.”

Jane Pinckney

Lakeville

Libraries deserve all our thanks

Libraries are often taken for granted. This year, more than any other, we’ve become aware of the important role they play in our lives.

They’ve adapted, learned how to Zoom (as we all have) and reached out to our communities with extraordinary programming. We’ve marveled at the richness of their offerings from educational programs and book discussions to community conversations on important topics. 

Their hard work has enabled us to continue to enjoy intellectual stimulation and provided a way to stay connected to our neighbors during this time of social isolation. We want to commend the libraries of Salisbury, Sharon, Norfolk and Cornwall for enriching our lives throughout this unusual year.   Thank you!

Mary Oppenheimer

Salisbury

Wants Falls Village-scaled housing

On we go. You’ve heard of “activist judges.” We, in Falls Village, have an “activist” first selectman. Indeed, we all wish for an active first selectman who listens to and acts upon the wishes of his or her constituents. But, in Falls Village, we have quite the opposite. Our first selectman has done great damage resisting the will of his citizens. Last August, 72 citizens signed a petition requesting a referendum to vote on whether the town should approve or disapprove a permit for a 16 unit, 29 bedroom housing development in the little Lime Rock Station section of Falls Village, 2 miles from the town center. Our first selectman dismissed our referendum request out of hand, stating it was the purview of the Planning and Zoning Commission, not his. 

We protested, for naught. Funding for the project was refused by the Department of Housing, which has other more immediate concerns taking care of housing for 7,500 families in the state in the extreme circumstances brought on by COVID. A month or so ago, we heard there was a request by the town to hire a grant writer. We inquired as to the purpose of the grant. Some words were mumbled by our first selectman, alleging that the funds might be used to rehabilitate Cobble Road, an oft-flooded town by-way in a floodplain which, indeed, does serve citizens and does need serious attention. 

We inquired further and have subsequently just learned that the funds will actually be used to develop the Lime Rock Station endeavours. Not to be deterred, our first selectman, in league with a so-called town planner (grant writer) and the private Falls Village Housing Trust, has begun the process of applying for a Community Development Block Grant of an undetermined amount of money. Recently, with short notice, there was a “special meeting” to request that the town act as fiduciary for that very Community Development Block Grant to develop the Lime Rock Station site. 

This is after our first selectman stated categorically last summer that the town would have no financial relationship whatsoever with the Falls Village Housing Trust and their proposed Lime Rock Station development. We believe that, in Salisbury, one town over, all housing projects are voted on by the citizenry. Here in Falls Village, quite the opposite. Not only are our requests for a referendum turned down, but an end-around action for this well-resisted (for good reason) beleaguered (for good reason) unpopular (for good reason) project is attempted by our head town executive with poor noticing, paltry information or public input and no real discussion. We are not fatiguing. And we are not against affordable housing. We want Falls Village-scaled, town-consented, appropriately town-centric and welcoming housing that will include and serve future citizens. We can have that. And we are working for that very goal. While a tone-deaf town official works at crossed purposes. Cease, please.

Colter Rule

Falls Village