letters to the editor

To the editor:

Warrant Article 36 petitions Congress to enact “uniform national gun safety laws.” If such laws were enacted, it is likely that they would be significantly less restrictive than those of Massachusetts, and that Congress would invoke the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, thereby replacing Massachusetts gun laws with the weaker U.S. law. What a dream for the NRA; what a nightmare for Massachusetts.

Sincerely,

Michael R. Coppock
214 Aspen Circle

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 Letters containing personal attacks, errors of fact or other inappropriate material will not be published.

(Editor’s note: there are three candidates for two seats on the Planning Board at the town election later this month. Links to their letters are at the end of this post.)

To the editor:

I would like to offer my strong support for Steve Gladstone, candidate for the Planning Board.

Steve served with me recently on the Community Center Study Committee, where his insight and thoughtful decision-making was critical to our weekly committee work, our findings and our 2015 written report to the town. He is highly intelligent, polite, a real pleasure to work with, and cares deeply about our town and its cultural and physical landscape.  We are all fortunate that Steve is willing to serve on this very important town board, and I hope that you will join with me in supporting him.

Penny Billings (former selectman, chair of the Zoning Board of Appeals, and chair of the Community Center Study Committee)
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 Letters containing personal attacks, errors of fact or other inappropriate material will not be published.

To the editor:

We have all been shocked at the horror of gun violence in America, shocked again at the refusal of Congress to enact responsible common sense gun safety regulations, and shocked a third time at the immoral resistance of the NRA leadership and the gun manufacturer’s lobby to any suggestion of more appropriate gun safety regulation even in the face of the horrific mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Warrant article 36 (see pg. 69 in the warrant) at the March 19 Town Meeting, which seeks support for “A Petition to the U S. Congress to Adopt a Uniform National Gun Safety Law Applying Equally to All States,” encourages our federal elected officials to pursue uniform national regulations to finally establish a more humane standard for gun safety applying equally to all states.

[Read more…] about Letter to the editor: support gun law resolution at Town Meeting

To the editor:

In the lively and much appreciated discussion in the Squirrel on the Democratic candidates, I have seen people I respect supporting Hillary Clinton. While it would be historic to elect a woman president, I am concerned more about the rest of the history that will some day be written about the next four or eight years.

As a country, we are approaching turning points in several critical areas. Will we continue policies that generate income inequality and financial instability? Will we keep on pouring resources into being the world’s top cop? Will we come to grips with how we treat “those people,” be they black Americans or brown immigrants? Will we throw people out of the lifeboat of our heath care and safety net systems in order to keep them financially afloat?

From my perspective, Mr. Sanders is on the right side on all of these questions. He would take on the banks and question corporate-oriented trade agreements. He would show restraint in sending our troops into the world’s hot spots. He has been dedicated to civil rights his entire adult life. He would pursue rational, tested policies to assure effective and efficient health care.

Ms. Clinton, not so much. She is cozy with Wall Street, which is indebted to her husband for helping repeal the Glass-Steagall Act. Mr. Clinton also brought us corporate-friendly free trade with NAFTA, and Ms. Clinton was for the pending TPP trade agreement until grassroots opposition caused her to pause. As a senator, Ms. Clinton voted to invade Iraq, and as Secretary of State convinced President Obama to intervene in Libya. Despite her apparent popularity with African-Americans, her record on civil rights is checkered. On health and welfare issues, she speaks Washington-speak and favors policies that are yielding a slow-motion train wreck.

Pragmatic folks say the hill facing Mr. Sanders is just too steep. Well, as they say, a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. Or, perhaps more apropos to our locale, every revolution starts with a single shot. We did that once.  I’m for doing it again.

Sincerely,

Gary Taylor
2 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.

To the editor,

With all due respect for those who share a passion for and commitment to electoral politics, I must express my disappointment with any who would assume my support for any candidate would be dictated by gender or even a lengthy résumé (see comment to the February 24 letter to the editor). My support and enthusiasm is reserved for those that I believe to hold true to a north star, both in word and deed, and a candidate of unimpeachable character, regardless of race, color, creed, sexual orientation or gender.

A number of years ago, many of us rallied behind a candidate with little or no political experience on the national stage. But that candidate’s life choices reflected core values of a person dedicated to social and economic justice. The fact that this candidate might be the first president who was a person of color was also exciting, but not the determining factor for my support. That candidate was inspirational and aspirational and offered a vision of transformation that won my heart. That candidate, lacking experience and a lengthy résumé, was Barack Obama.

Now, we need to elect a candidate with a similar vision, and the capacity to excite and engage a new generation of voters who will help us elect a more collaborative Congress.

I find unimpeachable character, wisdom to see the catastrophic folly of the Iraq War, and the inspirational vision of Barack Obama in Bernie Sanders.

Sincerely,

Sara Mattes
71 Conant 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.

To the editor:

This has been a remarkable campaign season. Let us celebrate the energy that flows from frustration with our governance in Washington and demands change. Let us also unite behind the candidate who can best preserve the progress we have made on health care, employment, civil rights, climate change, education, protecting consumers, foreign policy, diplomacy, Social Security, Medicare, women’s rights, equal pay, immigration and reducing the deficit.

There is so much more to be done, and Hillary Clinton is the one to do it. She understands the details of government process and possibility better than any of the candidates. She knows how to achieve positive change in a very difficult environment, and has the skill, sensitivity and strength to get it done.

The stakes could not be higher. The consequences of fear, destructive anger and division are palpable and deeply disturbing, at home and abroad. We are so fortunate to have such an experienced and thoughtful leader ready to be our President in these difficult times.

Please join us in supporting Hillary Clinton next Tuesday, March 1.

Sincerely,

Peter Pease, 40 Huckleberry Hill
Gary Davis, 20R Indian Camp Lane
Peter Georgiou, 126 Lexington Rd.
Jennifer and Andrew Glass, 11 Stonehedge
Sarah and Larry Holden, Weston Rd.
Avram Kalisky, 140 Lincoln Rd.
Rosemary and Jack Kerrebrock, 29 Boyce Farm Rd.
Ilana Newell, 75 Todd Pond Rd.
Al Schmertzler, 142 Chestnut Circle
Brigid and Gerald Sheehan, Giles Rd.
Barbara Slayter, 7 Trapelo 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.