An Alternative Water Source
To the editor:
I’ve just read the lead article in the Independent regarding the Walsh property in Truro [“Water Quality at Center Stage on Walsh Property,” Oct. 13, front page] and the “Docs for Deception” editorial. I smell a lot of rats. But without wading into who really leads what organization and their true motives, I suggest that you consider some research into the water supply for the property.
I own a house in South Wellfleet that sits on a peninsula surrounded by bay and marsh salt water. Multiple efforts to drill a well that produced potable water were unsuccessful, so in a major renovation after my purchase about four years ago, I installed a rainwater capture system for all of our domestic water needs. I have three 1,700-gallon tanks and a multi-filter system.
Climate change is predicted to bring much more rain to Cape Cod. Why don’t more people install similar systems?
The Outer Cape needs affordable housing desperately. It’s depressing to see these extended and deceptive battles. Maybe we can change the subject, find a sustainable and affordable solution, and move forward.
Marianna Koval
South Wellfleet and Boston
Kindness and Hard Questions
To the editor:
Your coverage of the tragedy in Truro, especially the sensitive investigative piece by K.C. Myers in the Oct. 6 issue of the Independent, was so well done. Thank you for your professionalism and kindness to the family and friends of Susan and Adam Howe and for the hard questions raised about policing the mentally unwell and incarceration on the Cape.
Excellent reporting on a very sad event.
Sheila McIntyre
Wellfleet and Ottawa, Ontario
Conditions at the Fox & Crow
To the editor:
Your article “Fox & Crow Gets Its Licenses” [Oct. 13, front page] incorrectly states that the town counsel told the select board at the Oct. 4 hearing that increases in noise from what previously took place at the café’s location “could not be remedied by setting conditions.”
The town counsel in fact stated that conditions could be set by the select board. Such conditions might have limited amplification or required that musicians be inside the building, as had been the case prior to the tenancy of the Fox & Crow. As a result of this hearing, it appears that live music with amplification is now permitted from 1 to 10 p.m. inside or outside, seven days a week. What close neighbor anywhere in town would be happy in this atmosphere?
No neighbor was asking to deny the entertainment license but only to limit the license to the conditions that existed prior to the Fox & Crow. The music was inside with windows closed. There was no outside seating, whereas now there are approximately 45 seats outside.
There appears to have been no oversight or public hearing regarding this expansion. The property is commercial but bordered on three sides by a residential neighborhood. Requests to be a good neighbor were ignored.
Accurate reporting is important to underscore the fact that the select board did have the opportunity to find a solution but chose not to do so.
David Moulton
Wellfleet
Mr. Simms’s Legacy
To the editor:
Re “Mr. Simms, Creator of Adventure Ed, Plans to Retire,” Oct. 13, page A6]: I write as a parent of a child who took Adventure Ed in seventh grade at Nauset Regional Middle School and who happily accepted an invitation to explore more with Mr. Simms in Advanced Adventure Ed in eighth grade instead of taking one of her favorite subjects, art, for a second year. This is a testament to the joy she finds in Mr. Simms’s class and what she has taken away from his lessons.
Our daughter tends to be shy and conscientious. She is more of an introvert than an extrovert and, in middle school, this can seem like indifference. Mr. Simms’s classroom, curriculum, and personality have given our daughter confidence in who she is. She is not more extroverted, but she is more self-assured in what is important to her: empathy for others, safeguarding our environment, and peace in the world. I believe that Mr. Simms’s class has also given her the focus to do well in all of her other subjects.
Her father and I have noticed how many times she has brought up Mr. Simms and what she has discovered in his class.
As a family, we have long discussed our spirit animals, but experiencing something so personal with her peers has bonded them in a way that was unexpected. We all want to feel as though we belong without changing who we are for others, especially in middle school, and Mr. Simms has given that to the students who have taken his class for the last 12 years. What a legacy.
Thank you, Mr. Simms.
Constance Kremer
Orleans
A Vote for Donna Buckley
To the editor:
Donna Buckley is by far the best qualified candidate to serve as Barnstable County sheriff. An attorney, Buckley formerly served as counsel to the sheriff’s office. She is deeply familiar with its policies and procedures and with issues that need to be addressed.
She will bring commitment and long-overdue emphasis to programs that help inmates succeed once they are released from jail, including access to addiction counseling, mental health services, and vocational training. She will focus on reducing employee turnover, increasing staff, and training them in the core mission of the sheriff’s office: the supervision, safety, treatment, and rehabilitation of inmates in the sheriff’s custody.
Currently the sheriff’s office spends only 1.7 percent of its more than $32-million budget on inmate mental health services. Yet it has purchased a boat, which has no discernible relationship to the sheriff’s supervisory or rehabilitative mission. The sheriff recently lent out the boat for a private wedding at taxpayers’ cost.
Buckley will decommission the boat, discontinue such expenditures, and refocus the budget on carrying out the work of the Barnstable County sheriff’s office. I strongly urge voting for Donna Buckley on Nov. 8.
Marcia Dalbey
Eastham
The Complexities of Cluttering
To the editor:
Julia Perry’s article on decluttering and the Provincetown Council on Aging program Buried in Treasure [“How Not to Be Buried in Treasure,” Oct. 6, page A3] was excellent.
As a long-time member of the Cape Cod Hoarding Task Force and a board of health member in various Cape Cod towns, I’ve learned a great deal about the complexities of cluttering and the act of hoarding. My empathy for folks who grapple with the immense challenge of addressing a hoarding disorder is ever expanding. Ms. Perry’s article was vulnerable, honest, and interesting. I also learned some things.
If you, a family member, or a friend experience a hoarding disorder, I encourage you to read her article and explore joining a Buried in Treasure group.
Kalliope Chute
Provincetown
Another Spear Point
To the editor:
Mark Adams’s “A Field Trip to an Ancient Landscape” [Oct. 13, page A4] was so good. The drawing also!
The ancient bifurcate spear point from Brewster shown in the illustration is indeed a rare discovery on the Cape. Point of fact: one was also discovered in Eastham in the 1980s. It resides in a display at the 1869 Schoolhouse Museum — an important artifact in our collection.
Patty Donohoe
Yarmouth Port
The writer is archivist of the Eastham Historical Society.
Gouging at the Pump
To the editor:
I write in agreement with the letter by Luther Bumps in the Oct. 6 edition of the Independent regarding his well-documented grievance on gas gouging in Provincetown and the Outer Cape by Cumberland Farms and other retail petroleum vendors.
Cumberland Farms’ chronic overcharging for gas in Provincetown is unconscionable, has no rational economic basis, and continues without any outrage expressed by our elected officials.
I purchased regular gas just yesterday in Plymouth for $3.39 per gallon, only to return to America’s actual hometown, Provincetown, to observe Cumby’s price stubbornly remaining at $4.59 per gallon.
It is long overdue that elected officials and the community voice objections to this predatory practice — and with as much vigor as we dedicate to assisting our housing- and income-challenged neighbors. They are bearing an even greater burden to fill their gas tanks, given the lack of public transportation alternatives on the Outer Cape.
Christopher J. Snow
Provincetown
Why We Are Here
To the editor:
Dennis Minsky’s column “Errands: A Cure for Ennui” [Oct. 13, page A3] reminded me of a passage in Kurt Vonnegut’s A Man Without a Country. He needs an envelope to post a manuscript off to his typist. Rather than order a delivery of a thousand envelopes (as suggested by his wife), he goes out to a newsstand, waits in line to buy just one manila envelope and chats with the other customers who are buying lottery tickets, candy, and that sort of thing.
“Do you know anybody who ever won anything in the lottery?” he asks. And “What happened to your foot?”
Next, he goes to the postal convenience store down the block, where he is secretly in love with the woman behind the counter. Again, he waits in line. He gets to the counter and gives the woman his letter. “I don’t reveal to her that I love her,” he writes. She sells him stamps for his envelope.
“And I go home,” says Vonnegut. “And I have had one hell of a good time. How beautiful it is to get up and go out and do something. We are here on Earth to fart around. Don’t let anybody tell you any different.”
Fred Kavalier
Wellfleet and London
