The Lincoln Squirrel – News, features and photos from Lincoln, Mass.

letters to the editor

Letter to the editor: Vote yes on solar array at landfill

letterTo the editor:

Without question, we Lincolnites are dedicated conservationists. Almost 35 percent of the town’s land is protected, giving us five square miles of undeveloped natural habitats for wildlife and plant life, fresh air, clean streams, and long stretches of space to walk and reflect.

It’s perhaps not surprising, then, that we also care about sustainability and the environment. In a recent Green Energy Committee survey, 90 percent of respondents indicated an interest in rooftop solar out of concern for climate change; 65 percent were concerned about the global politics of fossil fuels.

There is a direct connection between climate change and energy consumption. In Massachusetts, state law requires a minimum of 12 percent of its electricity be supplied from renewable sources in 2017, with those minimums increasing at just 1 percent each year. This means that the remainder—up to 88 percent—comes from dirtier or more dangerous sources. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, more than 63 percent of Massachusetts electricity came from burning natural gas, petroleum, and coal in 2016.

Fortunately, Lincoln has alternatives. Many volunteers have worked tirelessly over the past several years to explore supplying a portion of the municipal electricity with locally sourced clean energy. A Selectman-appointed Solar PV Working Group developed a Solar Blueprint, a detailed analysis of 25 municipally owned sites for potential solar arrays. These sites included school buildings and parking lots, public buildings, Codman Farm, and the capped landfill at the transfer station, automatically eliminating options that were located on environmentally sensitive lands, in historic districts, or with too much shade.

Two sites were ultimately selected for near-term solar installations that have the potential to generate up to 50 percent of the municipal electricity supply: a 45kW array on the Public Safety Building along Lincoln Road, and a 600-1,000kW array on the landfill at the transfer station.

Landfills have been natural first choices to host solar arrays in communities throughout the United States. Capping a landfill involves layering over a contaminated trash heap with a plastic-like drainage material, then clay and gravel, topped off with a vegetative layer to prevent soil erosion. In June 2016, Lincoln published a study on the environmental impact of using Lincoln’s capped landfill for a solar array. The study determined that the site provides low-quality habitat for wildlife and native plants.

To install solar PV at the landfill, Lincoln must identify and designate an equivalent amount of non-conservation protected land into conservation protection. The town’s proposed acquisition of An and Lorraine Wang’s property on Bedford Road provides an excellent opportunity for a win-win: using poor-quality land from a capped landfill to host solar electricity generation, and acquiring equivalent or better-quality land to contribute to Lincoln’s current Article 97-protected stock of conservation land. After a thorough review, the Conservation Commission unanimously voted in December to support the project and the removal of the capped landfill property from Article 97.

The proposed landfill solar PV generation system exemplifies Lincoln’s active engagement in and support for environmental conservation and stewardship projects. The landfill solar PV project has benefited from well-developed research, thoughtful consideration, and community engagement process. By continuing to move in the direction of clean, local, and renewable energy supplies, we will leave a more sustainable environment in Lincoln for future generations to come.

We encourage you to vote “yes” on Article 36 at Town Meeting on March 25.

Sincerely,
The Lincoln Solar PV Working Group

(Renel Fredriksen, Board of Selectmen; Tom Gumbart, Jim Henderson, and Peter von Mertens, Conservation Commission; Tim Higgins, Town Administrator; John Snell, Green Energy Committee; and Gary Taylor, Planning Board)

Letters to the editor must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Letters will be edited for punctuation, spelling, style, etc., and will be published at the discretion of the editor. Letters containing personal attacks, errors of fact or other inappropriate material will not be published.

Letter to the editor: New Hanscom School is a great model

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To the editor:

Back in December, I responded to a request to explain why a number of residents opposed and ultimately helped to defeat the 2012 school building project. Although many were alarmed by the proposal to cut the trees and sacrifice the central playing fields, in essence “paving paradise to put up a parking lot,” I was particularly concerned with the interior environment and the plan for an outdated, dehumanizing cell-block layout of classrooms and corridors. The ill-fated plan offered an uninspired, mediocre environment in which to develop, learn and teach.

Then on Monday, I had the good fortune of touring the newly opened Hanscom Middle School with a small group of parents and residents led by Superintendent of Schools Becky McFall and School Committee chair Jennifer Glass. This new school incorporates much of what our superintendent has been describing in her vision for the Lincoln schools for several years. Even though architecture and particularly interiors are best experienced to be truly understood and appreciated, I will highlight a few exciting features that I gleaned from the tour.

Upon entering the Hanscom facility, one feels immediately welcomed. Just past the security entrance, a long, light-colored wooden bench leads one to the two-story common area with an open stage and grand stair to the second level. Rather than traditional indestructible concrete block, the walls are painted drywall in warm color tones that mitigate the austere white of LED and occasional fluorescent lighting. The customary cool grays, blues and greens found in many institutional buildings are minimal, and used merely as accents in flooring patterns, door frames and some furniture, albeit in warmer tones. Not only do people look healthier, they generally feel better about themselves in such spaces, and the entire experience is one that evokes an implied trust that students are mature enough to appreciate and take pride in this environment.

Secondly, there is an abundance of diffused natural light from a variety of sources, including windows and skylights, some of which are visible through interior glass partitions. As a result, one is aware of the natural rhythm of the day whether it is sunny or cloudy outside, morning or afternoon.

Thirdly, there are a variety of flexible room types, sizes and shapes, all organized around age-appropriate “neighborhoods” based on the various grades. Rooms and spaces have a variety of ceiling heights and are not all rectilinear, creating interesting juxtapositions and adjacencies that do not feel institutional. Also, their adjacencies lend themselves to multiple uses ranging from larger classrooms to smaller spaces appropriate for coaching students who may need individual help. In each of the various neighborhoods, there are rooms set up to accommodate a range of instruction, from a group of students focusing on a single subject or project, to individual quiet reading areas full of comfortable cushions and benches and a teacher circulating to help students as needed.

Rather than being long and bleak, corridors are short and come in a variety of shapes as they connect various classrooms and neighborhoods. Transitions between classes are orderly, and Becky reported that students need little, if any, supervision for disruptive behavior that often accompany the cellblock model.

There is really so much more to tell, but in summary, the highly organized but relaxed layout, the variety of interior spaces and the use of color and natural light is masterful in how children and teachers are treated with dignity, visibly inspiring a passion for learning and teaching. This is the model that should guide the planning of the Lincoln School in the next year if we are to offer a viable 21st-century learning community. And I believe this should be our highest priority as we gather for Town Meeting in less than two weeks.

Thanks again to Becky and Jennifer for making the tour available. If the opportunity arises again, I urge others to visit as well.

Sincerely,

Ken Hurd
21 Lexington Rd.

Letters to the editor must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Letters will be edited for punctuation, spelling, style, etc., and will be published at the discretion of the editor. Letters containing personal attacks, errors of fact or other inappropriate material will not be published.

Letter to the editor: ConComm supports Wang project

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To the editor:

Over the past several weeks, the Conservation Commission has received several questions about the 100 Bedford Road project (also referred to as the Wang project), which will be going before Town Meeting on March 25. The Parks and Recreation commission has put together an excellent video describing the proposal, which has two major components:

  1. The creation of an athletic field
  2. Placing 7.1 acres of land into conservation protection

There is a third aspect of the proposal related to a solar power installation that will also be presented at Town Meeting. The purpose of this letter is to explain the decisions made by the Conservation Commission regarding the proposed solar project and the processes taken that informed those decisions. The Conservation Commission strongly supports the 100 Bedford Road project and believes it represents a major benefit to conservation efforts in the Town and to the Town as a whole.

The Conservation Commission strongly supports solar energy, and the state is a proponent of using town landfills to provide solar energy. The Green Energy Committee has done extensive work in identifying potential solar sites in town and concluded that the landfill is the optimal site for a significant photovoltaic installation. At the 1995 Town Meeting, the Town voted to “permanently dedicate and restrict exclusively for active and passive recreation and open space uses, consistent with and subject to the mandate and protections of Article 97 of the Amendments to the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts… the “Landfill Parcel.”

Article 97 of the Massachusetts Constitution grants “people the right to a clean environment and authoriz[ed] the Commonwealth to acquire conservation easements. Article 97 was intended to be a legislative ‘check’ to ensure that lands acquired for conservation purposes were not converted to other inconsistent uses.”

It is extraordinarily difficult to remove land from Article 97 protection, and to ensure that such removal is rare and to good purpose, the state has defined a rigorous series of steps that must be taken to effect removal. The Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EOEEA) Article 97 Land Disposition Policy, commonly referred to as the “No Net Loss of Conservation Land Policy,” requires that the several steps be taken to effect removal of a parcel from Article 97 protection, including:

  • The Conservation Commission must vote unanimously that the parcel is surplus to municipal, conservation, and open space needs.
  • Town Meeting must support the disposition with a two-thirds vote
  • The state legislature must support the disposition with a two-thirds vote

Not surprisingly, the process that the Conservation Commission followed is also quite rigorous. I’ll go through each issue that was considered:

  1. Have all alternative sites in Lincoln not covered by Article 97 been considered and rejected as “not feasible and substantially equivalent”? The Green Energy Committee and Solar Design Associates identified approximately 25 potential sites for solar photovoltaic (PV) arrays, with a ranking system for suitability. The work showed that the landfill is the most suitable and the consensus of the Commissioners was that there are not alternative sites that are “substantially equivalent.”
  1. Does the disposition and proposed use destroy or threaten a unique or sensitive resource? Rimmer Environmental Consulting was hired to prepare a Solar Site Assessment and Habitat Evaluation of the landfill site and that report was completed in June 2016. The evaluation found that the proposed use will not destroy or threaten a unique or sensitive resource, and the commissioners supported this finding.
  1. Is real estate of equal or greater fair market value, or value in use of proposed use, whichever is greater, and significantly greater resource value provided to the municipality? The Conservation Commission then considered the 7.1 acres of the 100 Bedford Road property as the property to be provided to the town in exchange for the removal of the landfill from Article 97 protection. The potential acquisition parcels have perimeter habitat, which the commission determined are of substantially greater value (with respect to both fair market value and proposed use) than the landfill. The 100 Bedford Road property offers valuable habitat, trail connections, and vegetated buffer to other uses. The commission contacted the EOEEA and town counsel about the swap, and both parties agreed that the proposed swap is appropriate.
  1. Is the conversion of the minimum acreage necessary for the proposed use and, to the maximum extent possible, does it continue to protect the resources of the parcel proposed for disposition? The commission has not been presented with a final construction plan for the installation of solar panels on the landfill site. Accordingly, the commission determined that it would condition its approval (if all the other above conditions are met) on conducting a review of the construction documents in order to ensure that the resources continue to be protected to the maximum extent possible. Items the commission will examine include staging and work sequencing, fence detailing for wildlife passage, and restoration plant specifications.
  1. Does the disposition serve an Article 97 or another public purpose? The commission concluded that the disposition does serve an important public purpose, namely the first major source of solar PV energy for the Town. The commissioners expressed their strong support for this public purpose.

This evaluations described above were conducted over approximately one year and involved the Conservation Commission, conservation director, conservation planner, Green Energy Committee, and several consultants. On December 14, 2016, the Conservation Commission voted unanimously to remove the landfill parcel from Article 97 protection for conversion to a site for solar energy. The removal was conditioned on (1) that the 100 Bedford Road land swap, and (2) Conservation Commission approval of the solar construction plans.

In my personal opinion, the town made an intelligent decision in 1995. By putting the landfill under Article 97 protection, our citizens made it difficult for later generations to remove the land from protection without having exceptionally strong reasons. As a direct result, the outcome of this lengthy exercise will provide major victories for the town: more valuable conservation land and a large solar power installation. And we should not lose sight of the fact that the driving force behind the 100 Bedford Road acquisition is a new playing field, filling a long-felt need for the town. The solar benefit is real and the processes to enable it are complex, but to be clear, the solar benefit was a positive side effect of the playing field acquisition, not the driver of the 100 Bedford Road project. All of these positives would be gained with no additional tax burden, a serendipitous sequence of events and outcomes for the town!

Sincerely,

Richard Selden, MD, PhD
Member, Conservation Commission and Community Preservation Committee

Letters to the editor must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Letters will be edited for punctuation, spelling, style, etc., and will be published at the discretion of the editor. Letters containing personal attacks, errors of fact or other inappropriate material will not be published.

Letter to the editor: DeLisi running for Planning Board reelction

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To the editor:

I am enthusiastically running for re-election to the Planning Board of the town of Lincoln.

I am an academic psychiatrist and during the day work outside of Lincoln, mainly treating veterans with serious mental illnesses and conducting research projects that hopefully will improve the quality of life of all people with these illnesses.

Some time back, I decided that it was time to devote a portion of my life to public service that extends beyond my relatively small circle of colleagues sharing my work interests. I thus volunteered for an opening on the Planning Board when it was advertised because I love the uniqueness of Lincoln and enjoy its surroundings so much that I wanted to contribute to the lives somehow of my neighbors and the wellbeing of the town in general.

Thus, during my four years on the board, I had a steep learning curve to be able to understand the town zoning bylaw and how to protect it. I was tutored extensively by my fellow board members on how to protect our wonderful environment that is filled with rich farmland and wildlife of all kinds. During these years, I actively participated in several issues and task forces, including serving on the committee that recruited a new director of planning for the town (Jennifer Burney), and composing a report with recommendations for revitalizing the center of South Lincoln. I was also involved in several controversial decisions that affected residents and their neighborhoods in major ways.

Finally, I worked with the new director of planning to change and simplify some of the burdensome processes that new homeowners find in dealing with the Planning Board. Hopefully, when you now come before the Planning Board, you will see a changed atmosphere and a desire of all of us to help you with your building projects and expedite their progress, yet still responding to and respecting  the requests of abutters.

In the next three years, I will continue to advocate for the preservation of our unique Lincoln environment, and the sponsorship of new regulations if needed to preserve that atmosphere. I will, most of all, be sensitive to the needs and concerns of the town and its residents during these changing times.

I believe in preserving the beauty of our historic district. I believe in the highest quality of education available to our children and in the modernizing of the facilities in which their education occurs. I believe also in a safe and supportive set of facilities and functions for our senior residents. I would like to see a vibrant community center for all. Most important, I stand for maintaining the peacefulness and natural environment of our residential neighborhoods and the health and safety of our residents.

I hope you will consider allowing me to continue to serve you as a member of the Planning Board over the next three years. I welcome comments, suggestions, and requests at any time. You can email me at DeLisi76@AOL.com or call me at 781-257-5046.

Lynn E. DeLisi
South Great Road

Letters to the editor must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Letters will be edited for punctuation, spelling, style, etc., and will be published at the discretion of the editor. Letters containing personal attacks, errors of fact or other inappropriate material will not be published.

Letter to the editor: Mostue running for fourth term on L-S School Committee

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To the editor:

I am declaring my candidacy as an incumbent for the Lincoln-Sudbury (L-S) School Committee. I have enjoyed serving for nine years on the committee and would be honored and delighted to continue for a fourth term.

I view among the priorities of the L-S School Committee the continued maintenance of high standards of learning, fine teaching and reasonable class sizes for which L-S is known. We must also continue ongoing collaboration with our K-8 feeder schools to strengthen curriculum coordination; establish appropriate models for teacher assignments and teacher loads; and implementation of pertinent mandates from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The committee will continue to balance educational priorities with the available fiscal resources.

Professionally, until recently I was an administrator for the Worcester Public Schools as director of testing and assessment for 15 years. In that position, I oversaw testing programs for both regular and special education students and conducted all data analyses. I have been a member of the faculty at Framingham State University, where I most recently  taught a graduate course on research and statistics. In the past, I worked as a statistician in both management and marketing consulting firms.

It has been such a pleasure working with the other five committee members in an atmosphere of trust and collaboration, representing the citizens of both Lincoln and Sudbury, as well as students in the METCO program. I would appreciate your support of my candidacy and am available evenings at 781-259-4347 to answer any questions or discuss any issues you may have. I look forward to speaking with you.

Sincerely,

Patricia Mostue
3 Lexington Road

Letters to the editor must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Letters will be edited for punctuation, spelling, style, etc., and will be published at the discretion of the editor. Letters containing personal attacks, errors of fact or other inappropriate material will not be published.

Letter to the editor: Rundell seeks re-election to Planning Board

letterTo the editor:

I am writing to announce my candidacy for re-election to the Planning Board and to ask for your support. It has been an honor to serve for the past four years as a Planning Board member, as liaison to the Historic District Commission, and as Planning Board chair in 2015.

Over the past year, streamlining our administrative processes and the addition of an energetic new Director of Planning and Land Use, Jen Burney, have enabled a renewed focus on planning for the community, including the following important projects:

  • Creating a South Lincoln Planning Implementation Committee (SLPIC) for actionable projects improving the sustainability of the Lincoln Station commercial area, fulfilling the vision of the Comprehensive Long Range Plan.
  • Advocating for the creation of an Economic Development Advisory Committee (EDAC) supporting collaboration across Lincoln’s for-profit and nonprofit business community.
  • Working with the Agricultural Commission to support Lincoln’s commitment to small-scale farming.
  • Working with the Housing Commission to balance our housing stock with diverse housing options while maintaining its inventory to meet state affordable housing requirements.
  • Mitigating the effects of the new Minuteman school project on the adjacent Lincoln neighborhood.

I look forward to working collaboratively on town-wide projects while continuing the important work of balancing the ideals of conservation and stewardship with thoughtful development to accomplish our shared vision of a vital town center, affordable housing and a new school project. I am happy to bring my experience and professional expertise to these endeavors.

I am a Massachusetts registered architect with over 30 years of experience in the building industry; a member of the American Institute of Architects; and hold credentials from the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) and the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program of the U.S. Green Building Council. I presently work in the software industry with Autodesk, where I lead innovation programs focused on the architecture, engineering and construction market. I hold a master’s degree in architecture from Harvard University and a B.A. in engineering science from Dartmouth College.

My wife Virginia and I came to Lincoln in 2012 with our two children and small flock of chickens, drawn by its unique character, connection to nature and the thoughtful planning of its beautiful neighborhoods. The children are now at college and the flock has flown—and meanwhile Virginia and I have become deeply committed to the community, serving on several local volunteer boards and organizations.

Between the engagement of our many involved citizens and the astute work of our predecessors, Lincoln has a powerful model for accommodating change in a thoughtful and deliberate way. I look forward to continuing to contribute in a meaningful way to our civic process. Please feel free to contact me at rrundell.lpb@verizon.net. Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Richard L. (Rick) Rundell
76 Todd Pond Road

Letters to the editor must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Letters will be edited for punctuation, spelling, style, etc., and will be published at the discretion of the editor. Letters containing personal attacks, errors of fact or other inappropriate material will not be published.

Letter to the editor: Sander is running for Board of Assessors

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(Editor’s note: Sander is concluding her term on the Finance Committee in March 2017.)

To the editor:

I am announcing my candidacy for the open seat on the Board of Assessors, which values real and personal property for taxation purposes. The seat I seek is being vacated by John Robinson and carries a remaining two-year term.

Under the guidance of the current board with the assistance of contractors at the Regional Resource Group and the administrative assessor, Lincoln’s tax rolls and tax rates have been fairly and equitably managed in accordance with state law. I aim to continue that same high level of service in carrying out these responsibilities for the benefit of Lincoln residents.

For the past nine years, I have served on the town’s Finance Committee, including two years as chair. I am also a member of the town’s Affordable Housing Trust. This experience affords me a good understanding of the board’s role.

My professional experience also serves as qualification for the assessor position. I recently assumed the position of senior vice president for finance and administration/treasurer at Suffolk University after serving as chief financial officer and treasurer at the Whitehead Institute. My previous positions include assistant treasurer at Harvard University. In addition, I worked with higher education and not-for-profit institutions at JP Morgan and Moody’s Investors Service. I have professional public sector exposure as well, having served as a Moody’s rating analyst for local governments and an analyst with the Congressional Budget Office. I hold a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School and a BA from Grinnell College. I am a certified treasury professional and belong to the Treasurer’s Club of Boston.

Most importantly, I enjoy volunteering on behalf of our town. I would be gratified to have your support and the opportunity to join the Board of Assessors. Please vote for me on March 27.

Sincerely,

Laura Sander
100 Lincoln Road

Letters to the editor must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Letters will be edited for punctuation, spelling, style, etc., and will be published at the discretion of the editor. Letters containing personal attacks, errors of fact or other inappropriate material will not be published.

Letter to the editor: Holden runs again for Town Moderator

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To the editor:

This is to let you know that I have submitted my nomination papers to run for another term as Town Moderator. More than ever, I value our good fortune to be able to participate in direct democracy. We should never take it for granted. I have greatly enjoyed serving as moderator over the past six years. There have been some contentious meetings, but I do believe that overall we all do a pretty good job of listening, speaking and showing proper respect for each other.

I have done what I can to keep us on track so that the meetings run as smoothly as possible. Several of you have made suggestions for me to consider as I try to run the meeting as openly and efficiently as possible. I appreciate the feedback that you have given.

A group of people is working now to come up with suggestions for some changes to the Town Meeting structure and voting. As with any other suggestions over the years, I will consider the group’s recommendations when they come.

I look forward to serving for another three years and ask for your vote on Monday, March 27. I also look forward to seeing you at Town Meeting on Saturday, March 25.

Sincerely,

Sarah Cannon Holden
Weston Rd.

Letters to the editor must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Letters will be edited for punctuation, spelling, style, etc., and will be published at the discretion of the editor. Letters containing personal attacks, errors of fact or other inappropriate material will not be published.

Letter to the editor: work together to decrease power outages

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To the editor:

Many in Lincoln were without power during the latest snow storm. Some on Beaver Pond Road had two interruptions on Monday, Feb. 13, one in the morning and the other at night. Some were without power for 17 hours. The vast majority of outages are caused by downed branches from pines and fallen dead trees; limbs from a single stand of white pines were responsible for the most recent outage and another last December.

What can we do to decrease the frequency of outages? The town proactively pruned the right of way along the road last summer, but damage often comes from trees on private land. Eversource trims and removes trees that have the potential to fall and cause a power outage. About half of our neighborhood met last weekend, with many interested in working together to identify potential hazards and request trimming online. If we can do it, you can, too. We encourage all to pitch in to improve the reliability of our electrical service.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Dwyer
14 Beaver Pond Rd.

Letters to the editor must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Letters will be edited for punctuation, spelling, style, etc., and will be published at the discretion of the editor. Letters containing personal attacks, errors of fact or other inappropriate material will not be published.

Letter to the editor: appeals court hearing “a breath of fresh air”

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To the editor:

No matter what side you have been on during the Presidential election and thereafter, it has been and continues to be a rough ride. Each side has its talking points which are calculated to generate political support, whether they are true or not. Such is the nature of the political thicket. It has been this way since the founding of the country.

This past Tuesday evening, I listened to a different type of conversation; the oral argument in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals about the President’s Executive Order on immigration. Although many may say “how boring,” it was refreshing and instructive. It showed how facts, although stubborn things, do exist and remain critical to the proper functioning of the nation. It again demonstrated that truth is a core value of the nation. Today’s political discourse, like that of the past, has tried to minimize the importance of facts and truth in a quest for political power. However, the judicial discourse during the argument reminded us that these values are central to the proper functioning of our democracy.

Members of the executive and legislative branches of the government can say virtually anything they want to advance their agenda. However, lawyers in court have the obligation to the court to state the facts and truth as shown by the record before the court. On numerous occasions, the three judges on the appellate panel grilled both sides on what the record actually showed and the lawyers were careful to only represent what it did show.

What a breath of fresh air. No “alternative facts”; no making up the facts to score political points (e.g., the “Bowling Green Massacre”, the largest crowd to attend an Inauguration or Democratic overreaching). Instead of hyperbole and showmanship, you had reason.

I am not suggesting that the judicial system is beyond criticism. It is also political in the sense that the President appoints federal judges and it is expected that his appointments will share his judicial philosophy. This is part of our political system. This is why there are supreme battles over appointments to the Supreme Court. Some judges may be what has been described as “politicians in black robes,” but the huge majority take their judicial responsibilities extremely seriously. Different judges in a case will reach different conclusions, not because some are absolutely right and the others are absolutely wrong, but because sometimes reason exists on both sides in our constitutional democracy.

Obviously, that political thicket cannot and should not operate like a court of law. We all need to fight for what we believe. However, when political excesses create a constitutional or legal mess, it is reassuring to know that there is a branch of government where facts, truth and reason still matter. So when you have had it with all the politicians and talking heads pushing the baloney at you, come on over and have a beer with me as we listen to an appellate argument!

Sincerely,

Steven Perlmutter
90 Todd Pond Rd.

Perlmutter is a semi-retired trial and appellate lawyer who hosted a 12-part Council on Aging series of talks in 2015 about Michael Sandel’s “Justice” course at Harvard.

Letters to the editor must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Letters will be edited for punctuation, spelling, style, etc., and will be published at the discretion of the editor. Letters containing personal attacks, errors of fact or other inappropriate material will not be published.