Letters to the Editor 10/10/24

George Logan’s damning nonanswer

In the Broadway show “Hamilton,” Aaron Burr advises the young Alexander Hamilton: “Talk less. Smile more. Don’t let them know what you’re against or what you’re for.” Republican George Logan has plainly taken this advice to heart.

More than two months have passed since my letter to the editor asking Mr. Logan, an avowed Trump supporter, to say where he stands on specific plans in MAGA’s Project 2025. My questions included: Does he support revoking FDA approval of the widely-used abortion pill Mifespristone, prosecuting anyone who sends abortion pills by mail, banning certain forms of contraception, cutting back insurance coverage for contraception, and defunding Planned Parenthood? Does he agree that the President should have the power to fire 50,000 federal civil servants and replace them with hand-picked loyalists? Does he support dismantling the National Weather Service – especially now, given the onslaught of increasingly extreme weather events? Even many conservatives are fearful of these plans.

George Logan’s silence is deafening. To borrow a phrase used by Governor Tim Walz in describing J.D. Vance’s refusal to say whether Donald Trump lost the 2020 election, it is a “damning nonanswer.”

Project 2025 is the agenda of the Logan/Trump right-wing political base. Regardless of whether Mr. Logan had a hand in it, voters have every right to know whether he agrees with it. On October 9, Mr. Logan is debating Congresswoman Jahana Hayes at Naugatuck Valley Community College. Will he give us yet more damning nonanswers?

Pamela Jarvis

Sharon

A case for state-funded accessory dwelling units

I am the mother of Justin Potter, Democratic candidate for CT Senate District 30, who has proposed that the state provide funding to homeowners to help get Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) built. I am writing to emphasize how important ADUs were to me as a young adult in the 1970s.

I grew up in Litchfield, and after college, returned to teach at Litchfield Center School. I lived at home with my parents for a year, and then found a small apartment in Milton. It was on one end of a large house remodeled from a barn and a chicken coop, and had its own outside entrance. After the owner passed away, and the house was sold, I was lucky to find a detached cottage adjacent to a main house in Morris. I moved a third time to Bethlehem, to a rent-free, albeit rustic, efficiency apartment on the upper floor of a small barn.

During this time I met a younger man who had grown up on a dairy farm in Washington, Connecticut. After college, this English major spent some time in Brooklyn, N.Y., taking writing classes and driving taxis. In the fall, he would return to the farm to drive a silage truck during the corn chopping season. He rented a small apartment over a garage not far away, owned by friends of the family. In 1975, we crossed paths, and Tim did not return to the city.

After we married in 1976, we lived briefly in that same space. Not long after, a winterized guest cottage became available not far from the farm, and we became the new tenants. We lived there until we were able to move into our new saltbox home built on four acres of farm property across Route 109, generously given to us by Tim’s parents, as he was working full time on the farm.

In 2008, the farm was sold. We moved to the Finger Lakes area in upstate NY to support our middle son, who wanted to continue the family tradition with a cow line started by his grandfather. However, after a few years, Sam’s future wife convinced him to move to her native Iowa.

Now as a 77 year old, I am confronting the statistical probability that my husband will predecease me. Sam is halfway across the country, our youngest son is 2.5 hours east, farming in the Johnstown, N.Y. area, and Justin lives 2 hours beyond that in Kent.

I sorely miss NWCT. If the unthinkable occurs, I would love to move back to the area I have always considered home. I hope that by the time I reach that crossroad, Justin’s proposal for the state to provide funding to homeowners to create ADUs will have been implemented, and new ADUs - such as the ones I got my start in as an adult - will have been created. Such housing will allow young people, like my long-ago self, to stay put and become productive members of their communities. It will provide relief for struggling families in the form of reasonable rent. And it will allow older folks, such as my current self, to settle into an ADU with the peace of mind that I will not be so isolated from my remaining family.

Linda Potter

Skaneateles, N.Y. (formerly of Washington, Conn.)

Recognizing our amazing community

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the team at Visiting Nurse and Hospice of Litchfield County for their dedication and compassion during my late husband Marq Reynolds illness. What an amazing group of healthcare professionals and volunteers.

I’d also like to thank the Salisbury Rescue team who volunteered their time and skill to transport my husband to Sharon Hospital. They asked important questions regarding my husband’s condition so they could best serve his needs to ensure the transport went as smoothly as possible.

Sharon Hospital,what would we do without this facility in our community?

Although my husband was only in hospital for 6 hours, the care and tenderness he received while there was absolutely beautiful and professional. He was safe, comfortable and pain free.

Please take the time to thank and financially support these extremely valuable entities in our community.

We are very, very blessed.

Barbara Reynolds

Lakeville

Recalling Hayes’ record

Would be writers are told, “Write what you know,” and the same could be said for teachers, “Teach what you know.” In 2016 when she was chosen Teacher of the Year for the entire United States of America what Jahana Hayes knew was education: schools, classrooms, students. She is of the generation of Connecticut residents who forever remember where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news of the Sandy Hook school shooting that killed 26 children and adults. She knew what went into raising successful students: it took a safe community and school resources to deal with a wide range of academic and non-academic issues: health, food, housing.

That’s why she ran for office and has always proposed legislation that addresses these issues. A quick survey of 100 pieces of legislation she has introduced or supported shows her priorities:

• Student Food Security Act, National School Lunch Act, Active Shooter Alert.

• Veteran’ Health and Community Service Work-Study Program, National Apprenticeship Act, Veteran’s Housing Act, Affordable Housing Conversion Act.

• Long Covid Research, Health Equity and Accountability Act, Dental Reform Act.

This sampling of 100 measures Hayes has worked on demonstrates her consistent interest in improving the health, education, and security of all Americans and has earned her our support.

Betty Krasne

Kent