Letters to the editor - December 19 2013

Our beautiful barns

At our Dec. 3 meeting, the Cornwall Board of Selectmen received a communication from Stacey Vairo of the State of Connecticut Historic Preservation Office, Department of Economic and Community Development, regarding the nominations of several Cornwall barns to the State Register of Historic Places. 

I contacted Stacey to ask how a barn gets nominated and if any of the five nominated Cornwall barns was chosen. Stacey explained that her department sponsored this program through the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation (the trust). About two years ago, the trust reviewed barns throughout the state and made nominations to her department with the end goal being that 200 barns would be listed in the State Register of Historic Places. A representative from the trust visited each property, took photos and recorded information shared by the owner.

All of the Cornwall barns that were nominated (two on Popple Swamp Road, one on Swifts Bridge Road, the Kenniston barn on Bunker Hill and Chris Hopkins’ barn on Kent Road) were accepted into the register. No restrictions are put on the property or the barn based on this registration; however, the owner may be eligible to apply for a grant from the trust to repair their barn (unfortunately, there isn’t any money allocated this year, but perhaps in the future). Stacey also mentioned that if a barn was on municipal or nonprofit property, that owner could apply to her agency for a grant as well.

Owners will receive a letter notifying them that their barn is on the State Register of Historic Places, and may opt-out if they’d rather not be listed.

It’s nice to know that others appreciate our beautiful barns as much as we do!

Heidi Kearns

Cornwall Board of Selectmen

Cornwall

Medical staff is spot-on

Taking the responsibility, every year, to get my flu shot on Election Day had adequately protected this asthmatic, until this year. While sitting at our family gathering after Thanksgiving dinner, I felt the illness rise inside me like hot water in a tub until the sick-taste appeared in the back of my throat. Dodging parting hugs and kisses to protect my family’s health, I was a spacey, quiet passenger on the drive home. In the following three days things went from bad to worse. By Monday morning the effects of home nebulizing were only lasting for four minutes and my temperature rose to 101.7.

I arrived at Sharon Hospital’s Emergency Room at 10:30 a.m. the Monday after Thanksgiving. To say the least, the exemplary efforts of the many professionals, from certified nurse aides and nurses to X-ray and pulmonary technicians, were stellar and saved my life, literally. Not all the tests are in yet, but I believe I was knocked down by a strain of flu farther up the alphabet (with bacteria complications) beyond the A/B flu of this year’s configuration. I was lucky, years ago, unprotected by flu shots, I would have had a “milder” version of this bout, followed by two months of bronchitis. As it was, I was released six days later 7.2 pounds lighter, briefly on supplemental oxygen and a heavy course of new meds. (For more about the flu, see Khan Academy website: .)

All this said, the take-away is still this:

• Go get your flu shots, regardless of my experience.

• Take the time to thank our medical professionals every chance you can.

Thanks to everyone at Sharon Hospital I’m alive and happy to be so.

Bonnie A. Sears

Sharon

Bring back area rail service

After the horrible accident on the Metro North Railway a few weeks ago, I am more supportive than ever of returning passenger rail service to northwest Connecticut. At the time of this writing it seems that the operator of the train was dozing off before the crash, but even though investigators find no fault in railway infrastructure, the sight of derailed train cars thrown onto the riverbank like children’s toys confirmed for me that we must improve our aging rail system to prevent this kind of calamity.

Some of the railroad track still in use along the Housatonic River got hammered into place when most people traveled by horse and buggy, and today derailments along the track happen far too often. The proposal to reintroduce passenger rail service includes extensive and necessary upgrades to existing railroad track in preparation for passenger train service. These upgrades would reduce the noise of trains traveling over the tracks and reduce the likelihood of derailment. The passenger rail service proposal will lead the way to overall safer rail traffic through the Housatonic River valley.

Even beyond improving the safety of our public infrastructure, passenger rail through the Litchfield Hills and Berkshires would bring tourist dollars into our shops and small businesses, reduce greenhouse gasses by keeping cars off the road and integrate the towns in the Housatonic valley from Danbury to Pittsfield, Mass. Many businesses, elected officials and citizens have already voiced their support for passenger rail. Over 2,000 people, myself included, have signed a petition in favor of passenger rail service in northwest Connecticut at https://bit.ly/NWtrain.

We had passenger service along the Housatonic valley for more than a century. Time to bring back the train!

Steve Sherman

Falls Village

TLC’s 25 years of lifelong learning

The Taconic Learning Center (TLC) will be starting its 25th year with nine courses for this coming winter, thanks to our program chairman, Larry Rand. The courses are quite varied, ranging from calculus and its use to history, Shakespeare and Henry IV, Verdi operas, playreading, Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib, a potpourri of biblical poetry, current foreign policy and medical topics. You will find full course descriptions, instructor information and January starting course dates at our website, www.tlcnwct.org, or in the ad in The Lakeville Journal or Millerton News. Charles Church, a frequent contributor to the Journal’s op-ed page, will be teaching the Guantanamo course. The annual foreign policy course will for the first time ever have some Housatonic Valley Regional High School students attending the classes. Peter Vermilyea, director of the social studies program at HVRHS, will coordinate this joint effort. 

The TLC board will be adding an honor roll to its website under TLC history for all instructors who have taught five or more courses during the past 25 years. The board is also exploring other options to celebrate our 25th year.

W. Peter Reyelt Jr.

Salisbury

Some things went unmentioned in Janelli letter

It is always a delight to open a new edition of the Journal and find a letter from a Lauretano or Chris Janelli, “Chairman Salisbury Republican Town Committee,” who last week clumsily misrepresented a Harvard survey of 2,000 Americans aged 18 to 29. He began with the teaser, “The results may surprise you.” But, golly, they don’t. They’re pretty much in line with the results of the other current polls of Americans of various age bracketing I have seen. The nation’s political attitudes are split 50/50, but folks are 100 percent annoyed and pessimistic.

He gets his very first figure wrong. The poll clearly states that 47 percent said yes to recall President Obama, not 52 percent as he writes; and 46 percent said no — today’s 50/50-ish political split. Oddly, Chairman Janelli chose not to mention some of the other results: 52 percent wanted to recall “all members of Congress.” All! For Democrats in Congress, 35 percent approved of their performance (59 percent disapproved); for Republicans, only 19 percent approved, and an overwhelming 75 percent disapproved. For the performance of Mr. Obama, 41 percent approved but only 54 percent disapproved — far lower than the GOP’s 75 percent disapproval. Looks as if the Republicans smell worse to the youngsters than the Dems and our president (who is, for Mr. Janelli, “an empty suit president big on socialist ideas,” thus managing to invoke that all-purpose crusher, “socialist.” We must wonder why he didn’t write “communism.”) Then, looking at the poll’s 75 percent “no” response to “Are you politically active?,” he confuses “politically active,” such as door-to-door canvassing, with “Do you vote?” He tries to derive some loopy conclusion from this misunderstanding, which, it follows logically, is as flawed as his initial misunderstanding.

Having omitted so many of the survey’s salient results, Mr. Janelli feels justified in launching into the usual tired litany of Tea Party-ish talking points: “the social and economic disaster this presidency is inflicting on America.” (Mr. Obama did this all by himself? What a giant he must be.) “Young people may be getting their first real life experience ... of big brother government and starting to understand the intrusion into their lives that Obamacare represents.” Maybe — or maybe not: half the young respondents seem to have thought that the Affordable Care Act and Obamacare are two separate things, so at least half of them are kind of dumb. (There was a 60-40 disapprove-approve split on both.)

Mr. Janelli then springs one of his signature non sequiturs on us: that there may be a genetic component to social behavior. Who would have thought? There is a genetic component to the behavior of every living organism. His conclusion: “Perhaps like [sic] in nature, America’s survival as a nation may come down to this simple fact: survival of the fittest.” That makes no logical sense ... but I do fear for Mr. Janelli’s right-wing street cred. Survival of the fittest (he probably means natural selection) is for his fellow travelers not a simple fact, but rather socialist trickery.

Alan Tucker

Sharon

Ah, Crescendo!

As longtime residents of the Northwest Corner, we would like to express our appreciation for what Crescendo’s concerts bring to our community. We have attended these annual concerts for a number of years and want to say what fabulous musical experiences they are. We recently heard a major choral work at Carnegie Hall, and the Crescendo concert was many times better. 

Thanks again to Christine Gevert, this year’s production was just wonderful. The selection of the music, the staging, the professionalism of the chorus, the quality of the soloists and the very enlightening program notes and the pre-concert talk all contributed to a splendid performance. 

That we should have this kind of quality musical experience in our community is really exciting. Long may it last!

Lynden and Leigh Miller

Sharon