‘The Madness Must End’
To the editor:
Wellfleet has a citizen disengagement problem.
Many Wellfleet residents have simply stopped showing up. Vacancies exist across almost all town boards and committees. Even worse than the disengagement has been the rise of rudeness and hostility at public meetings. People interrupt one another at select board meetings that often run late into the night. Accusations and recriminations frequently get tossed back and forth.
I don’t believe our town’s problems are the fault of department heads or their staff. Wellfleet’s local government services almost always meet or exceed expectations.
The current chaos and disorder started with the select board. Something awful occurred during its June 27, 2023 executive session. We don’t know what happened because the released minutes of that meeting were almost entirely redacted. I believe that what happened ultimately led Town Administrator Rich Waldo and Assistant Town Administrator Silvio Genao to resign.
We need candidates for select board who can help get our town back on an even keel.
Nomination papers are due on March 11 for anyone who wants to get on the ballot for the April 29 town vote. Both John Wolf’s and Tim Sayre’s seats are up for election. Before then, though, I’d really like to know what was redacted from the minutes of last June’s executive session and what resulted in our town being thrown into turmoil.
Even if you don’t want to throw your hat into the ring, please become more informed, engaged, and invested in the workings of our town government. Every voice is important. Select board meetings are poorly attended. You might also consider getting involved in the nonpartisan Wellfleet Community Forum. There are openings on its board, and they’re always looking for new members. The madness in local government must end.
Jeff Tash
Wellfleet
Not a Moraine
To the editor:
I thoroughly enjoyed Nancy Bloom’s photograph of the beach at Duck Harbor on page A8 of the Feb. 15 Independent, with the colorful stones in all their glory. The photograph is titled, aptly, “Drift,” a geologic term that is used generically to describe glacial deposits.
I’d like to make a correction, however, to the caption, which refers to the “neighborhood glacial moraine.” Moraines are constructional landforms created by an advancing glacier margin through bulldozing, ice thrusting, and other processes. Moraines on Cape Cod include the Sandwich Moraine, which follows Route 6 about as far as the Bass River in Dennis, and the Buzzard’s Bay Moraine, along the east side of the Cape Cod Canal to Falmouth and the islands in Vineyard Sound.
Outer Cape Cod, including Wellfleet and Duck Harbor, is the product of westward-flowing glacial meltwater, or outwash, running off the retreating margin of the South Channel Lobe, that part of the continental ice sheet east of present-day Cape Cod. Bloom’s photograph depicts the Wellfleet Plain outwash deposits, which along with the Truro, Highland, Eastham, and Nauset Heights outwash plains and the post-glacial Provincetown spit, form the modern Outer Cape.
None of this geology detracts from the beauty of the photograph, and I look forward to enjoying more of Bloom’s photographs in the future.
Bob Stewart
Wellfleet
