The Death of a Whale
To the editor:
Kudos to the Provincetown Independent and reporter William von Herff for digging into the facts surrounding the death of a right whale off Martha’s Vineyard and for not allowing the lies and misinformation of fossil-fuel front groups to pass as the truth [“Entanglement Leads to Death of Young Right Whale,” Feb. 8, front page].
It is disturbing that groups are lying about what is killing these animals simply to stymie clean energy projects. It is cynical and cruel to mislead good-hearted people about the real cause of these whale deaths. And it impedes and confuses efforts to stop these tragedies.
The climate crisis is the biggest threat to right whales, closely followed by entanglement in fishing gear. Getting offshore wind projects online is a critical step in confronting this crisis.
Fossil-fuel companies, often joined by wealthy landowners who care only about their ocean views, are dramatically stepping up their misinformation campaigns everywhere offshore wind is proposed. It is incumbent on all of us to call out the real reasons for this misinformation.
They don’t care about the whales. They don’t care about our climate crisis. They are just trying to sell oil and protect their views.
Kate Sinding Daly
Falmouth, Maine
The writer is Senior Vice President of Law and Policy of the Conservation Law Foundation.
Disinformation and Social Media
To the editor:
Last week’s article about #5120, the right whale found dead near Edgartown at the end of January, is a sad story about another loss of a critically endangered whale near our shores.
A surface-level analysis may have included just the facts with some commentary offering “differing perspectives” on potential causes and contributing factors — the kind of both-sides-ism storytelling that has become all too common in American journalism today.
Look a little deeper, however, and you find a shining example of the unmitigated spread of disinformation through social media that finds its way onto the pages of traditional media. Fact-free claims that the death was somehow caused by the Vineyard Wind project spread through the information echo chambers.
The Independent’s well-researched story illuminated and cut through the disinformation surrounding the incident in a way that journalism often fails to do today. More critical thinking and inquiry is the only way we can save our democratic institutions in this election year.
Austin Miller
Provincetown
Wellfleet’s Oyster Industry
To the editor:
Re “Hiring a Shellfish Deputy Becomes a Pitched Battle in Wellfleet” [Feb. 8, page A4]:
With 300 people deriving a living from Wellfleet’s multimillion-dollar shellfish industry, the more “safe certified” the product, it seems to me, the better it is for business. All they’d need is one bad oyster — a notoriously fickle product — to put the scare in the Wellfleet oyster customer base.
An additional deputy inspector would appear to be a very positive development.
Bill Hardy
Eastham and Washington, D.C.
A Long Wait on Main Street
To the editor:
“Pizza Spinello Brings Dinner to Main Street” [Jan. 25, page A8] brought my family much happiness and also some genuine sadness.
The sadness is over the loss of the Lighthouse Restaurant and many fun memories there but in larger part over the discouraging state of affairs regarding current and future possibilities for Main Street in Wellfleet. Is there really no alternative to gaining needed septic resources that would allow the opening of eating establishments than to wait until 2031?
How is that OK? (I may not even live that long.)
Phil Greene
Wellfleet and Brookline
Truro Tax Delinquents
To the editor:
Of course David Delgizzi feels no pressure to pay his real estate taxes [“Delgizzi Owes Over $500K in Truro Taxes,” Feb. 8, front page]. The town makes it easy to toss tax bills and written communications regarding delinquency, since the recipient knows the threats are empty and enforcement laggardly at best — in fact, nonexistent in the case cited in the Independent.
Perhaps more folks should simply not pay their real estate taxes. The town might then feel enough fiscal pain to institute serious repercussions for scofflaws.
Dan Katz
Truro
His Name Was Louis
To the editor:
In your obituary for Dian Reynolds [Feb. 8, page A17], you reported that the boxer that Dian saw in person at an early age was “Joe Lewis.” Wrong spelling of a very famous boxer.
The world champion American heavyweight was Joe Louis. He thrilled Americans and became world famous when, in 1938, he knocked out the Nazis’ champion, Max Schmeling, in the first round.
This was at a time when boxing was the biggest headline on the sports page. Joe Louis’s victory over the Nazi was on the front page.
Joe Louis may have been the first Black athlete to be an American hero.
Mort Inger
Wellfleet
Postal Trouble Hits Home
To the editor:
Your article describing the shortage of help at the post office and the resultant delivery delays [“Post Office Staffing Problems Delay Outer Cape’s Mail,” Feb. 1, page A7] really hit home this week: I received only one section of my Independent. No Inside/Out or Arts & Minds for me, except online.
But I did get three Stop & Shop circulars.
Donna Cooper
Provincetown
