In Defense of A.R.C.
To the editor:
I want to add something to the history of Wellfleet’s relationship with A.R.C. recounted in your article “A Bad Year for Shellfish Seed Sows Discontent” (Sept. 22, front page). It’s a history that I think we should all be grateful for.
A.R.C.’s Wellfleet bed is on one of my former leases, and I was there when it was decided to allow A.R.C. to be a part of our local shellfishing industry some 40 years ago. I have watched that prove to be a valuable decision for the town and for Wellfleet shellfishermen.
Over these years, A.R.C. has done research that has improved our methods and equipment, found ways to increase disease resistance, and provided local viable seed. Their strong broodstock has helped populate our bay. They’ve helped create a year-round market for Wellfleet shellfish. They have also worked with Wellfleet shellfish farmers, making seed purchase accessible in the spring when cash flow is tight.
And the bottom line, if you’re wanting to fight big business control of the economy: you should support your local hatchery. We are fortunate on Cape Cod to have that in A.R.C.
Toby Storer’s letter in last week’s Independent says the bed A.R.C. is using “should be used to keep independent farming alive.” That’s one thing I agree with him on, and I would say that’s exactly what it has been doing all these years.
The town needs to find a way to allow A.R.C. to remain a part of our farming community.
Irving Puffer
South Wellfleet
Management in Truro
To the editor:
Truro Town Manager Darrin Tangeman’s response to a valid question about the creation of a new position for a communications and marketing coordinator was ludicrous, to say the least.
It seems the town manager was noted for doing away with some positions and creating new ones in Colorado, where he lived before coming here. In a small town with approximately 1,900 year-rounders, many of them senior citizens, there are certain basic needs, one being a council on aging director to help us as we age. This position has now been eliminated, to the dismay of many people in town who were not even given the opportunity to voice their opinions.
Then we learn, in “TRI Wins Rehab Contract” [Sept. 29, page A12], that the town manager chose TRI rather than the Community Development Partnership (CDP), which has helped local citizens over the years with much-needed renovations. This was done without even interviewing these two competing organizations. Yes, CDP’s bid was $500 more than TRI’s, but as Jay Coburn pointed out, Mr. Tangeman rejected a high-performing candidate for one whose offices are not even on the Lower Cape.
We are paying higher salaries for town hall staff than we are for our public safety personnel, which makes no sense and may be the reason for the high turnover we’re seeing. I hope that our select board will take more of an interest in what our town manager is doing that may not be in the best interests of the town.
Carol Nickerson
Truro
The Annoying Price of Gas
To the editor:
I am thoroughly annoyed at the price of gasoline in Provincetown. We are a captive audience, and stores tend to take advantage of our geography to extort high prices.
I noted that the price for regular at Cumberland Farms on Shank Painter Road was $4.69 a gallon and was sure it was much less off Cape. I bought just enough to get off Cape and then filled my tank at Cumbie’s in Buzzards Bay at $3.39 a gallon. That is $1.30 per gallon less than in Provincetown.
The price differential is certainly not because of the cost of trucking, as tankers bring at minimum 2,000 gallons and often as much as 8,000 gallons. If it were trucking costs from Buzzards Bay to Provincetown, 2,000 gallons times $1.30 would be $2,600. For an 8,000-gallon load, the trucking would be $10,400. I want that job.
The reality is trucking might cost $3 per mile. It’s about 144 miles round trip to Buzzards Bay, so trucking should be $432. Even if you figured $600 for trucking, that would be 30 cents per gallon on a 2,000-gallon load and 8 cents on an 8,000-gallon load, not $1.30.
I have attached pictures, all taken on Sept. 28, of prices at Cumberland Farms stores from Buzzards Bay to Provincetown: Buzzards Bay $3.39; Hyannis $3.51; Dennis $3.55; Orleans $4.16; Eastham $4.17; Wellfleet $4.33; Provincetown $4.69. Note the 4-cent difference from Hyannis to Dennis and the 51-cent difference from Dennis to Orleans.
Is this considered price gouging?
Luther Bumps
North Truro
The writer sent photographs showing the prices of gas at the seven Cumberland Farms stores listed in his letter. —Editor
What’s Brewing Beneath the Surface
To the editor:
The “nuclear wars” over Plymouth’s Pilgrim plant seem never-ending. Didn’t Cape towns already vote twice to protect our bay from radiation hazards?
We’d love to forget about Pilgrim — and Holtec would love us to. They’re banking on it. But we can’t afford to forget.
As Christine Legere reported in “Holtec Says It Will Delay Decision on Water Release” [Sept. 29, front page], Holtec scientist James Conca tried reassuring us that the (illegal) release of radioactive tritium into our bay poses no health threat. He reminds me of the Exxon scientists paid to suppress and deny evidence for 30 critical years that fossil fuels contribute to global warming.
Either Holtec representatives don’t understand that ecosystems are complex webs of interrelated lives or they don’t care. What might not immediately injure a child wading in the water might damage micro-organisms consumed by the fish that child — or an endangered marine mammal — may eat. Whether we’re whales or humans, whether we eat krill, seaweed, shellfish, or fish, as Ludwig Feuerbach proclaimed in 1848, we are what we eat.
Our health and our economy depend not only on what’s visible in our bay but on the reality of what may be brewing beneath the surface. We hope the Save Our Bay rally on Monday, Nov. 28 brings more than a thousand Bay State stakeholders to Plymouth to speak out before it’s too late.
Harriet Korim
Wellfleet
The Cost of Dentistry
To the editor:
I maintain a dental office in Marshfield and live part-time in Provincetown. My office has been inundated with questions over the last week about the upcoming vote on ballot Question 2 regarding dental insurance. I will be voting Yes on Question 2, for the simple reason that it is helping to control costs in dentistry. Here’s how:
Currently there is no regulation on how much money dental insurance companies can keep for themselves. The amount of money that you or your employer pay to the dental insurance company in premiums is measured against how much of that money is actually paid out for dental treatment. This premium-to-treatment ratio is a great measure of how efficient an insurance company is.
Medical insurance is regulated by law: insurance companies must spend at least 83 percent of premiums for patient care. But with dental insurance there is no such regulation. And last year Delta Dental of Massachusetts spent only 74 percent of its premiums for treatment.
The opponents of Question 2, mostly dental insurance companies, want you to believe that this extra money is being wisely spent on fraud prevention, tech upgrades, and other productive costs and want to confuse the issue by claiming that the dentist who spearheaded this effort is of questionable character. But the reality is that Question 2 is about sound fiscal policy.
The executives at both these for-profit and nonprofit companies are highly compensated, and if medical insurance can make their businesses work with the 83-percent rule then so should dental insurance. Voting Yes on Question 2 will help rein in some of the waste and cost of dentistry in Massachusetts.
David Bastien, D.D.S.
Provincetown and Boston
Confronting Racism
To the editor:
Thank you for publishing Nancy Carlsson-Paige’s article “Straight Talk With Young Children About Racism” [Sept. 29, page B7]. As a parent and former teacher, I know how much children — even very young children — are aware of race. I am also aware of how early racist attitudes and behaviors can start.
It is heartening to see articles like Ms. Carlsson-Paige’s that offer examples of how teachers can work with students to confront racism. Unfortunately, as the author pointed out, there is a movement in this country intent on silencing dialogue about racism and even preventing people from learning about the profound role racism has played in American history.
It is tragic, although not a coincidence, that this warped attack on Critical Race Theory and anything that breathes of anti-racism was launched almost immediately after the murder of George Floyd. Were too many white people beginning to consider the idea that racism still exists? Or that racism is deep in our foundational bones as a nation?
Shining light on the truth of our past and current society can only strengthen us as a community and a nation. Many thanks to those educators who are opening up these important conversations with their students.
Kathy Greeley
Cambridge
