Letters

Published on May 09, 2008

True, the town report may be online, but ...

To the Bulletin: It was good of Scott Merzbach to give his attention to the town report for fiscal year 2007 (Bulletin, April 26).

Unfortunately, he may have left the impression that, now that the annual town report is posted on the town's Web site (www.amherstma.gov), it is only available to people with Internet access.

This is not the case. Although in smaller numbers of copies than in the past, the town report continues to be printed, bound, and distributed. It is available in the town manager/select board office, on the top floor of Town Hall, for $15 per copy.

It is also freely available for consultation at the Jones Library, which maintains an archive of these instructive historical records of who in our town government (the town manager; boards and committees; municipal, school, and library departments; and town meeting) did what, when, why and how.

Publication of the annual town report is mandated by state law and is the responsibility of the Select Board.

Eva Schiffer
Amherst

Support the 2008 Environmental Bond Bill

To the Bulletin: This spring, state elected officials are considering one of the most important pieces of environmental legislation of the decade. The 2008 Environmental Bond Bill will provide investments over the next five years that will protect the commonwealth's wildlife habitat and wetlands, maintain our parks, and conserve farmland.

The Pioneer Valley is blessed with several natural areas of statewide importance. The Quabbin Reservoir, the Connecticut River, Mt. Holyoke Range, Mt. Toby, and our Valley's rich agricultural soils all help attract state dollars to conserve our local resources.

In 2007 alone, The Kestrel Trust, a regional land trust, helped the towns of Amherst, Belchertown, Hadley and Pelham raise $1,594,900 in state agricultural preservation funds and conservation acquisition grants.

More than $500,000 from private contributions, grants, and Community Preservation Act funds helped leverage these conservation successes, but land trusts and town conservation commissions cannot do it alone. State funding is essential to protect the Valley's rural fabric and ecological integrity.

Funds from the 2002 Environmental Bond have been largely used up, and many important programs are running out of money.

Without a new environmental bond this year, many environmental programs will face major cuts that will affect our communities' health, water quality and quality of life.

Time is short - the Legislature needs to pass the Environmental Bond Bill before the end of the session on July 31, 2008. Please contact your legislator today to ask them to do all that they can to support this critical state investment in our future.

Kristin DeBoer
Executive Director
The Kestrel Trust

Can't take it anymore

To the Bulletin: I have lived in Amherst all my life and love the town because of the diversity that exists here. I have accepted the fact that national news shows have made the town the target of ridicule for our excessive political correctness but the controversy over the 4th of July Parade has really pushed me over the limit.

I have always thought how wonderful in a town where some of our citizens have very unique ideas and are quite antiestablishment we could actually have a normal, fun, family Fourth of July and when the parade was added it was like icing on the cake.

It has been as much fun watching the crowd, especially the children, enjoying the festivities as it has been watching the parade itself.

I don't understand why our town leaders feel that the parade should be singled out as a platform for extreme political and personal opinions.

Why just the parade? Why not the celebration on the South Amherst Common, the American Legion baseball games, the children's games at the stadium, the band concert or the fireworks?

Please, just this once, let's leave well enough alone and give a big "Thank You" to Leisure Services, the Parade Committee, and everyone else who has worked and will continue to work very hard to make this entire day so much for our community.

Joyce Quinlan
Amherst

A tale of two parades

To the Bulletin: It gives one pause when a government, especially one with as cavalier an attitude to constitutional rights as Amherst's, wants to stick its finger into every possible aspect of community life.

That being said, I can't think of any reason why they shouldn't organize a parade for the Fourth of July.

The existing parade, however, has priority. Not only would it lead to lots of unnecessary litigation, but it would be blatantly unfair and improper for the town to try to kick them out of their traditional time slot.

The obvious solution is to have the government parade later in the day, closer to the fireworks and other festivities already organized by the town. There could be a friendly competition between the two parades, as to who could get the best marching bands, stir up the most patriotic fervor, etc.

The government does plan to prevent participation in its parade by groups with an obscene or hateful message. No doubt these words can be construed in ways so broad that even Orwell would blush. Still, I can't help feeling they will be coming forth with further restrictions.

Imagine, if you will, a Clydesdale pulled beer wagon, topped with scantily clad sorority sisters, and a banner reading "Celebrate Underage Drinking." (That is one suggestion I have already passed along to pertinent parties.)

Terry Franklin
Amherst

Can't we all just get along on the Fourth?

To the Bulletin: The recent heated debate over the future of the Fourth of July parade has driven home the true meaning of the phrase "Only in Amherst" that I've heard so often. By threatening to have the town take over guardianship of the event from the Parade Committee, Mr. Shaffer elevates the committee to the role of the oppressed martyrs, who are not being allowed to put on a public event in the manner they deem appropriate. In effect, he is doing to the committee what he accuses them of doing, by not allowing certain individuals and groups the right to march based on their political beliefs. In the same light, the Parade Committee has elevated these would-be marchers from soapbox preachers to genuine defenders of American civil liberties.

One solution to this stalemate is painfully obvious. In this era of the legal disclaimer, the Parade Committee need only designate a section of the parade, led by a banner with a statement expressing the following sentiment:

"The following individuals and groups have chosen not to adhere to the guidelines established by the Fourth of July Parade Committee. However, in honor of the American values of tolerance and free speech embodied in this day of celebration, they are being welcomed to march, with the clear understanding that any views expressed are neither approved nor endorsed by the organizers of this event."

The committee can even charge a nominal fee for stickers printed up with the same statement, and require everyone carrying an unapproved message to stick it to their sign. That way, the "oppressed minority" gets their moment in the sun, the committee makes the primary purpose of the event clear, and even has a chance to help defray parade costs in the bargain.

My family has come to look forward to the parade and Independence Day celebration as a high point of our summers here in Amherst. I fear if the town takes over the parade, the people who spend so many hours of their own time every year organizing and participating in it will feel betrayed, and the event will rapidly dwindle to nothing. Even if this doesn't happen; issues of censorship, or liability, or limited public resources will eventually destroy this wonderful town tradition in its relative infancy. The opportunities for compromise on this issue are plentiful. I beg the Parade Committee and town officials to explore them before it's too late.

Joseph Russavage
Amherst

Armed and humorous?

To the Bulletin: I love Thursdays! Every Thursday morning the Amherst Bulletin's latest issue hits the street and every Thursday evening, in a secret location deep in the Belchertown wilderness, my militia group meets. We are a group of middle-aged men, few of whom have served in the military, many with prostate issues, sharing an unquestioning loyalty to all governments be they municipal, state or federal and all decisions, dictums and decrees flowing therefrom. As a veteran, having served my country for almost four years as the pilot of an LMD (light metal desk) and because I can read and write good, I have risen to the rank of Grand Pooh-Bah and, therefore, leader. We are the Prostate Liberation Army.

Thursday evenings, to the sound of a portable generator softly purring in the background, our brotherhood solemnly views films like "Rambo" and "Roadhouse" and "Ronin." But the highlight of our weekly salon occurs when I read aloud to the PLA constituency the latest letters to the Bulletin. Though the Letters section of the Bulletin has seen better days, it remains a central part of our liturgy.

Of late, the PLA is focusing its attention on the controversy surrounding the Amherst Fourth of July Parade. Both the Parade Committee led by Larry Kelley and Kevin Joy, and the forces marshaling behind Town Manager Laurence Shaffer, are laying siege to the constitutional high ground by lobbing First Amendment grenades into each other's positions. While the PLA is mindful that in Amherst the Constitution is miniaturized to the First Amendment, we believe that both groups are missing the point. The constitutional issue at hand isn't the applicability of First Amendment protections to the dispute. After all, who really cares about a gaggle of Birkenstock-wearing pencil-necks carrying antiwar messages?

No. The essential constitutional question before the good burghers of Amherst is how individual expression of Second Amendment liberties might lay to rest the First Amendment bickering surrounding the parade. Citizens of Amherst ask yourselves this, "Why are the cops the only ones in the parade carrying guns?" Can anyone who has followed the parade controversy doubt that quarreling over sentimental First Amendment rights would cease if all parade participants and spectators were armed? Think about it.

This past winter a few members of the Belchertown Board of Selectmen courageously went on record decreeing there is no such thing as global warming. If polar bears are drowning in the Arctic, maybe their parents weren't adequate swim instructors. In any event, it is the intention of the PLA to march in the Amherst Fourth of July Parade with our signs and firearms in support of the quasi-scientific opinions of the Belchertown Board of Selectmen. We encourage everyone to bring your guns and make this a festival to remember.

Jack Tulloss
Belchertown

Get those nonperishables ready for USPS

To the Bulletin: Many thanks to the U.S Postal Service Letter Carriers for organizing the food drive on Saturday. It is a long-standing community service event that the Amherst Survival Center has grown to rely on to supply the 3,000 people who use the center each year.

And thanks to the residents of Amherst and surrounding towns for participating in the food drive. Please remember to put some nonperishable food in your mailboxes on May 10. The ASC is particularly short on peanut butter and other protein-rich foods for their pantry program.

Marcie A. Sclove
Survival Center Board Member
Amherst

Example set by 'volunteers'

To the Bulletin: I was at work today and saw a group of young people walking by cleaning up litter. I asked them who they were and they told me "community service" volunteers. I thought how great! Thank you Detective Brian Johnson for organizing another very productive community program.

Now if we all work as homeowners and landlords to follow this excellent idea, all our neighborhoods can look a lot better.

Won't you help us improve the image of Amherst, too?

Thaddeus Copernicus Jr.
Amherst

Crude situation with car idling

To the Bulletin: Crude oil has reached $120 a barrel and it's on track to hit the $200 mark before long. In the first quarter, BP's profits rose 48% to $6.6 billion and in the same period Shell's profits rose to a record $7.8 billion. With the price of gas already high and on the way up, it's hard to believe that anybody would want to waste gas by running their car or truck engine unnecessarily - especially when you bear in mind the reasons why we banned motor-vehicle idling in the first place.

Exhaust from motor vehicles is a key component of ground-level ozone and it can seriously damage your health, particularly if you're a kid with a compromised respiratory system. It's also bad for your engine because the gas in an idling vehicle burns at the wrong temperature leaving residue on the spark plugs. And if that wasn't enough, idling contributes to global warming.

A recent letter revealed some confusion about whether it is permissible to leave your engine running unnecessarily in Amherst. It is not. Motor-vehicle idling is just as illegal in Amherst as it is in the rest of Massachusetts. There is a state statute (Chapter 90, Section 16A) and a state regulation (310 CMR 7.11) that prohibit unnecessary idling. And in 2005 Town Meeting voted to enforce those laws. Police officers, firefighters, building inspectors, and public health officials all have full legal authority in Amherst to stop motor-vehicle idling.

But some people want you to keep on idling; for example, oil companies like Shell and BP, the "oiligarchs" of Putin's Russia, and OPEC. They love to watch the price of oil going up and up. Wasting gas makes them happy.

In contrast, towns like Amherst do not benefit from soaring energy prices. Far from it. Snow plows, school buses, and police cruisers need gas. Schools need electricity. The money for all that energy has to come from somebody, and that somebody is you. Ultimately we all pay for rising energy costs not just at the pump and in our home-fuel bills, but also through higher property taxes.

So if you have money to burn, instead of just giving it away to BP, Shell, OPEC, and the oiligarchs by running your engine unnecessarily, here's a better idea. Calculate how much time you spend idling during the course of a year (e.g. during errands, waiting for the kids at school pick-up) check out the price of gas, and do the math. Then just make your check payable to "Town of Amherst" and send it to Town Hall.

Peter Vickery
Amherst