Letters to the Editor - 9-5-24

Betrayal of public trust with Paley Farm project

When the state of Connecticut bought the development rights of the old Paley farm it was with the understanding that all non-farming developments are excluded and the 184 acres remain as open farmland, as a portion of that quintessential public asset called landscape. Allowing the building of a multimillion-dollar mansion with a long driveway, a pool and presumably a correspondingly large lawn and garden is a betrayal of the public, as would be any even small development unrelated to farming. Protected open land has so far saved the Sharon countryside and private money should not be able to carve out development rights for hilltop mansions I hope the DOA decision gets overturned.

Fritz Mueller

Sharon

Supportive Dog Park people in Salisbury

I enjoyed the August 22 article in The Lakeville Journal by Patrick Sullivan, regarding the Salisbury Community Dog Park annual meeting. I would like to elaborate on the word “community.”

I have discovered what a welcoming, friendly group of people meet with their dogs most days of the week. My pup Rusty, arrived at the end of April. Soon after his arrival I discovered I was woefully unprepared for a puppy. Dogs I have had, but never a puppy.

Immediately the dog park group became supportive with words of kindness, advice and support. I am very grateful for their kindness and encourage anyone interested to participate in the park in any way they can.

JoAnn Luning

Salisbury

Support of Special Olympics and Hotchkiss Swimathon

Thank you to Patrick Sullivan and The Lakeville Journal for running a piece about the 30th annual Hotchkiss Swimathon, taking place next Saturday, September 7. Swimmers from Hotchkiss will cross Lake Wonoscopomuc and back in support of Special Olympics.

For three decades, Hotchkiss has held this fundraiser; we continue to support Special Olympics whenever and wherever we can.

We’re thrilled to share this important milestone date with eight Slovakians — four coaches and four Special Olympics athletes — who are coming to America and Lakeville to do their part in helping us raise money for the Dream Day Center in the capital city of Bratislava.

Designed for Ukrainian refugee children born with intellectual disabilities who were displaced from their homes by the war with Russia, this school opened on October 10, 2022, thanks in large measure to Special Olympics Connecticut and the Hotchkiss Swimathon. We are working hard to keep its doors open.

Special Olympics Connecticut is a magnificent organization that helps bring people from possible shadow lives into the limelight. The organization’s generosity in reaching out to a refugee population in serious need after Vladimir Putin launched his war against Ukraine in 2022 has inspired us at Hotchkiss to work even harder to support Special Olympics here in Connecticut as well as in central Europe.

We welcome any support as these Slovakian friends — Eva, Martina, Veronika, Dominika, Peter, Darina, Vanda, and Andrej — come to town next week. Please let us know if you would like to be involved.

Keith Moon & the Hotchkiss Special Olympics Club

Lakeville

Are happy days here again for Democrats?

On paper, Kamala Harris looks like an impossible candidate. As vice president, she’s a national joke in the Dan Quayle category. Her word salads and shrieking laughter at inappropriate moments are cringeworthy.

Not long ago, Democrats were trying to figure out how to get Harris off the party ticket without offending minority groups. Now, thrilled to be out from under the Joe Biden cloud, they are embracing her as the next Franklin Roosevelt, whose 1932 campaign song was “Happy Days are Here Again.”

But in so doing, the Democrats are not just threatening democracy but trampling it. Nancy Pelosi said they forced Joe out of the race for which he had been duly nominated by nearly 15 million primary voters, not because of cognitive decline which would have been a legitimate reason, but because the polling looked bad. Even New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd called it a “coup.”

The jettisoning of Sleepy Joe and the anointing of Happy Harris - who has never earned a single primary vote herself - was done by party bigwigs and donors. They stifled any competition for Harris just as they stifled primary competition for Biden in this cycle, and just as they’re stifling third-party candidates.

Is this the “democracy” the left claims to be so desperate to protect from Donald Trump?

Despite her contrived ascendancy, Happy Harris and her partner, cheerleader Tim Walz, might win in November. They have one huge advantage. The mainstream press, as always, is solidly on the Democrats’ side. The press is protecting Harris, helping to rewrite her story and rebranding her. Her cringeworthy laughter is now “joyous.”

Joyous Harris spends most of her time (when not laughing) trying to hide her “most liberal” status. No interviews, no unscripted moments. She hugs her teleprompter like Biden does, because without it she goes to pieces like he does, revealing her bafflement on many issues.

If Harris and Walz do win, Democrats can continue their Happy Days agenda of open borders and helping children transition to one (or more) of the over 100 “genders” the left has recently discovered.

Like Trump, the Democrats dodged a bullet to get to this point. But while Trump was shot at, the Dems dodged their bullet by stepping all over democracy, including the rousting of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a lifelong Democrat who had to go to a third-party campaign, and who has now dropped that and endorsed Trump. His supporters could wipe out Harris’s recent gains and tip the election to Trump.

Karma may yet catch up with Kamala and the Democrats.

Mark Godburn

Norfolk

School safety: prime issue

A survey presented at a Waterbury Board of Education meeting this March revealed a disturbing level of violence in the city’s schools. According to the Waterbury Teachers Association 86% of teachers say current student discipline policies and protocols do not create a safe classroom. The current Congressional Representative for our 5th district taught history for 15 years in Waterbury’s John F. Kennedy High School and now sits on the House Committee on Education and Workforce. Yet it is the Republican candidate for the 5th district, George Logan, who has taken action to address the problem of school violence.

Logan has taken the initiative to follow up on two Department of Justice investigations regarding the safety and security of students, teachers and staff in Waterbury public schools in June of 2022 and February 2024. In an April 15, 2024, letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland Logan urged the department to immediately review the June 2022 and February 2024 investigations and subsequent policy changes regarding the safety and security of students and teachers in Waterbury Public Schools.

“I demand full transparency regarding the Department of Justice investigations, findings and subsequent policy recommendations regarding the safety and security of Waterbury Public Schools and ask that you take whatever action is necessary to ensure a safe learning environment for students, teachers and staff,” Logan wrote.

Logan charges that teachers and administrators have been told not to report incidents of violence in order to suppress data and falsify records to meet artificial quotas that do not reflect the reality in Waterbury schools.

“Waterbury Public Schools serve approximately 18,610 students and the policies recommended in secret by the Department of Justice are failing these students, their parents and guardians, as well as the teachers and staff throughout the Waterbury school district,” Logan wrote.

It is this kind of initiative and demand for transparency on a major issue of concern to students and teachers that we can expect from George Logan as our Congressional representative.

Bill Littauer

Lakeville