Letters to the Editor - 9/19/24

Reward results: Harding

Steve Harding became a Connecticut State Senator two years ago and quickly became the Minority Leader. He has come to Salisbury many times and is an avid supporter of open space preservation and local lakes. His focus in Hartford has been to insist on fiscal responsibility by opposing the historic tax-and-spend agenda. Steve’s opponent, former dairy farmer Justin Potter, seems to be an honorable person, but we must vote for the candidate better able to help our community—Senator Steve Harding.

Peter Becket

Lakeville


Equus Effect thanks community

‘Man Plans….’ and so it was on Saturday, Sept. 7, for our annual event at The Equus Effect. We could not believe that the skies would open up like that, just in time. And then, we could not believe that folks actually came out to be with us in spite of the torrent of rain and wind. Thank you. What an incredible community this is. We are so honored to be a part of it, and so very grateful for your support — rain or shine!

Jane Strong

The Equus Effect

Sharon


Your vote in November matters

I am voting for Congresswoman Jahana Hayes because:

She believes in the Constitution, democracy and the Rule of Law.

She believes in a woman’s right to choose, contraception, IVF.

She believes in working across the aisle.

She believes in moving the goal posts to help our small farms in the NW Corner, protecting SNAP benefits, protecting OBAMA Care, all while bringing home almost $9 million dollars to her district.

She will protect Social Security and Medicare…not try to destroy it.

She believes that millionaires and billionaires should pay their fair share — not less than the middle class.

She does not believe that our veterans are losers and suckers — she fights for our veterans and proposed a bill to expand healthcare for veterans’ families.

She will always tell you the truth — she will never tell her staff to “deny, deny, deny.”

She believes in helping all the people in her district– not just Democrats.

You may not agree with all of Congresswoman Hayes’ policies, but know that she is highly moral, dedicated, hardworking and most importantly true to her oath. She will always listen to your view points. Rep. Hayes is like you — she struggled to get to where she is today. She will defend the rights that are important to all of us – the right to peaceful protest, a women’s right to choose, voting rights, and more.

It’s up to you. Don’t sit on the sidelines and say I could never vote for someone not in my party. Put country over party. Be assured, you will wake up one day to find that your rights are slowly diminishing, and you will then ask yourself why didn’t I become more informed? Why didn’t I vote?

This election will determine what happens to you, your children, your grandchildren, your friends, and your family. We need to move forward, not back. You still have time to get informed about the issues important to all of us.

Marlene Woodman

Sharon


Issues that led to ‘Save the Rail Trail’ still present

Like Shasta daisies, yard signs sprouted last May in Salisbury and Lakeville. They carried a “Save the Rail Trail” message. The issues that led to the signs have not disappeared.

Those who display the yard signs, in harmony with many neighbors around our community, are ardent supporters of the Rail Trail. Thus, we were stunned to read a recommendation in a February 2024 study prepared for local government by the consulting company Collins Engineering and Design. The company advised paving over the northern tier of the Trail to allow “vehicular” access to the Pope property. That property is on Salmon Kill Road near its intersection with Highway 41/44 and is a possible location for affordable housing.

Collins recommended two-way automobile traffic across the current pedestrian bridge over the Wachocastinook Brook. Bicycle and pedestrian passage would be reduced to a narrow ribbon of land, cheek-by-jowl with cars.

Subsequently, officials have said this trail-paving project will never occur; that this notion is the product of gossip, rumor, and horseback speculation offered at a gallop. Yet a recent Plan of Conservation and Development report, entitled Sustainable Salisbury, has raised anew the prospect of a paved road across the Brook (p. 24).

It is precisely this notion of a paved road on the Trail that gave birth to the yard sign movement. Further concerns grew out of a government committee on the proposed housing development at the Pope site. In its “Schema No. 6” design, the panel recommended the construction of 64 housing units on the property. More than half of these structures extend into the Salisbury Historic District that runs adjacent to the Rail Trail and is one of the few green spaces left in the village.

Such high-density housing would concentrate units together in a confined area. One of the results: each day, scores of cars and trucks would spill onto narrow Salmon Kill Road and the proposed paved road over the Wachocastinook. The current pedestrian bridge would have to be widened and strengthened, at the cost of well over a million dollars. Unacceptable traffic congestion would occur at the intersection of Salmon Kill and Highway 41/44, without even the benefit of a stop light (prohibited on this State highway).

In contrast, if the housing units—which are much needed in our community, no question about that—were dispersed not only on the Pope land but to additional parcels of land in our area, we could retain our rural setting and provide less packed, more humane living conditions for new residents. This “scattering” of affordable housing in communities is the approach preferred by planners throughout the United States, rather than an “urban” design that groups new housing closely together into one overloaded site.

Let us forge a community consensus on a better local approach to affordable housing. We can achieve the worthy goals of new lower-cost homes, while at the same time protect the Rail Trail and the green Historic District, as well as maintain traffic and pedestrian safety.

Loch Johnson

Salisbury

The author is a member of the Salisbury Village Improvement Coalition (SVIC), but these observations are presented in his capacity as a private citizen.


Farm support is important

Both Donald Trump and the Republican plan Project 2025 want to boost fossil fuel drilling in the future and to negate all progress toward fighting climate change. Project 2025 wants to downsize the EPA, the Environmental Protection Agency. Their plan means nullifying Biden’s executive orders to mitigate climate change and reducing the Inflation Reduction Act which is the biggest investment in clean energy in history.

If elected, George Logan, running for Congress, would join his Republican colleagues to push this Republican agenda. He says he would vote independently but after accepting support from the Republican National Committee, like so many other colleagues in Congress, he would have to follow his Party’s line. The Republican plan, Project 2025, lists ending the “safety nets” like the Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC) for farms, and ending the Price Lost Coverage (PLC), and reducing farm crop insurance.

As a child, Highfield Farm delivered milk and cream every day to my house in the woods. As an adult, I watched the dairy farm across the street decide to sell their prize herd of cows and stop production. Jahana Hayes, our Congresswoman, is a ranking member on the House Agricultural Committee, she backs farms and farmers in the 5th District. She supports ARC and PLC. Crop insurance protects farmers from the dramatic weather fluctuations, including floods and droughts we see from climate change. Price supports are important for dairy farms. Farm products are a huge part of the U.S. export market, and Americans need to feed ourselves.

Re-electing Jahana Hayes is so important for she will continue to work to create laws to mitigate climate change and to protect American agriculture no matter what the climate throws at us.

Lizbeth Piel

Sharon

The views expressed here are not necessarily those of The Lakeville Journal and The Journal does not support or oppose candidates for public office.

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Club baseball at Fuessenich Park

Travel league baseball came to Torrington Thursday, June 26, when the Berkshire Bears Select Team played the Connecticut Moose 18U squad. The Moose won 6-4 in a back-and-forth game. Two players on the Bears play varsity ball at Housatonic Valley Regional High School: shortstop Anthony Foley and first baseman Wes Allyn. Foley went 1-for-3 at bat with an RBI in the game at Fuessenich Park.

 

  Anthony Foley, rising senior at Housatonic Valley Regional High School, went 1-for-3 at bat for the Bears June 26.Photo by Riley Klein 

 
Siglio Press: Uncommon books at the intersection of art and literature

Uncommon books at the intersection of art and literature.

Richard Kraft

Siglio Press is a small, independent publishing house based in Egremont, Massachusetts, known for producing “uncommon books at the intersection of art and literature.” Founded and run by editor and publisher Lisa Pearson, Siglio has, since 2008, designed books that challenge conventions of both form and content.

A visit to Pearson’s airy studio suggests uncommon work, to be sure. Each of four very large tables were covered with what looked to be thousands of miniature squares of inkjet-printed, kaleidoscopically colored pieces of paper. Another table was covered with dozens of book/illustration-size, abstracted images of deer, made up of colored dots. For the enchanted and the mystified, Pearson kindly explained that these pieces were to be collaged together as artworks by the artist Richard Kraft (a frequent contributor to the Siglio Press and Pearson’s husband). The works would be accompanied by writings by two poets, Elizabeth Zuba and Monica Torre, in an as-yet-to-be-named book, inspired by a found copy of a worn French children’s book from the 1930s called “Robin de Bois” (Robin Hood).

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Cycling season: A roundup of our region’s rentals and where to ride them

Cyclists head south on the rail trail from Copake Falls.

Alec Linden

After a shaky start, summer has well and truly descended upon the Litchfield, Berkshire and Taconic hills, and there is no better way to get out and enjoy long-awaited good weather than on two wheels. Below, find a brief guide for those who feel the pull of the rail trail, but have yet to purchase their own ten-speed. Temporary rides are available in the tri-corner region, and their purveyors are eager to get residents of all ages, abilities and inclinations out into the open road (or bike path).

For those lucky enough to already possess their own bike, perhaps the routes described will inspire a new way to spend a Sunday afternoon. For more, visit lakevillejournal.com/tag/bike-route to check out two ride-guides from local cyclists that will appeal to enthusiasts of many levels looking for a varied trip through the region’s stunning summer scenery.

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