Financial Stability in Wellfleet
To the editor:
From what I’ve read in the Independent, we are likely going to be asked at Wellfleet’s town meeting this April to approve a Proposition 2½ override of $750,000 to offset the three quarters of a million dollars that has been “lost” somewhere.
This bottomless-well approach to town finances needs to be abandoned. It’s bad enough spending money as if there’s no tomorrow, but losing it through incompetent stewardship should not be in the “it happens” category.
I recognize that service on the select board is, shall we say, a taxing experience. But while an administrative body can delegate authority to another individual or group, it cannot delegate responsibility. In this case, the responsibility for this debacle rests squarely with the members of the select board.
It would be unfortunate if this mess had occurred in a relatively short period. This situation, however, has been years in the making, and it is incomprehensible that the select board could be oblivious to it.
I welcome far greater involvement by the finance committee, and I certainly support the hiring of competent and trustworthy individuals for all town positions. But to take the route of simply requiring townspeople to ante up more money to cover the losses does not demonstrate any acceptance of responsibility by the select board.
Finally, even if the override is approved to get us out of this gloomy situation, I encourage my fellow Wellfleet taxpayers to vote “no” on approving a single dollar toward any new expenditures until the town’s financial stability is completely restored and the qualified stewardship of that stability has been demonstrated.
Edward Ebert
Wellfleet
Spreading Kindness
To the editor:
I always appreciate it when people are kind: The seafood man who gives me the exact thickness of fish I described without giving me attitude. The woman who lets me go ahead of her in line because I’ve got only three items. The worker who has five boxes of produce to put out but stops what he’s doing to walk me over to the naan bread.
I know these workers can’t accept cash, so to show my thanks I give them a lottery ticket. It makes my day to see their faces light up. A buck doesn’t really have any purchasing power. But giving someone a $1 lottery ticket gives them a fun way to maybe win.
Go through the supermarket checkout and ask the clerk what kind of candy bar they like. Then put it in with your purchases and hand it to them as you leave.
Have a stash of candy bars on hand to give to the delivery people who come to your door.
There are many small ways to be kind to each other.
Sheila Garry
Eastham
Hyphen Dysfunction
To the editor:
I value the content of the Independent and appreciate the layout, artwork, and careful editing, too. As an amateur typographer, I also appreciate the handsome and readable typeface. The smooth flow of my reading was twice derailed, however, in the Jan. 27 issue by the eccentric hyphenation of “Wellf-leet,” as if the root syllables were “Wellf” and “leet.”
Do you have any justification (no typography pun intended) for not going with “Well-fleet”?
As opposed to most New England towns, Wellfleet does not take its name from a town in England but rather from Wellfleet (or Wallfleet) oysters from the east coast of England (sources: New England Historical Society, Wellfleet Chamber of Commerce).
British toponymy (place names) is notorious for being a hodgepodge of names with roots going as far back as the Goidelic (pre-Gaelic, if you will) and Brittonic languages, and the Roman, Anglo-Saxon, Scandinavian, and Norman peoples. Could “Wellf” and “leet” be spooned from that stew?
In a search through British town and place names, I found many “well”s and a few “fleet”s, but I could find no “wellf” or “wallf” components, and no “leet”s, either.
Given the erudition of the Independent’s readership, I’d wager some other readers found “Wellf-leet” jarring, too. Isn’t this something you can correct?
James Williams
Sherborn and Provincetown
We have an expert team of typography design code sleuths in Eas-tham working on the Wellf-leet situation and will report on their progress presently. —Ed.
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