By Kristin Palpini – Sep 8, 2015 | 0 comments

No time for a tree house

Very seldom do I read an article in the Advocate that makes me want to respond. My first and last thought to this article, “Let Brandon Have His Tree House Already,” Aug. 27-Sept. 2, 2015, was where is this author’s head. Before people get riled up I will say that my mother was one of the first special needs teachers in Massachusetts, so I am sensitive to their needs. I ask this: How do you think the families that live in under-served communities with special needs or handicapped children feel when they read this? They can barely afford food and clothing yet you want a special variance that could change the view of a neighborhood and infringe on the privacy of neighbors just for one child? Clearly the family can afford this. What of the other children? Let them start a fund for a city park just for special needs and build a tree house for many. I just don’t think Kristin Palpini put too much thought into this one.

Karen Ellsworth

Web comment

Media has double standard for tragedy

I am sending this letter in the wake of the tragedy concerning the news reporters in Virginia who were killed on air by a former station employee. I am glad they did not show the incident on the broadcast news, but this also sets a double standard. The news is always too eager to confront family members and friends during their time of grief with no regret. And they do not mind showing horrific images of shootings and police chases. But when it came to their own employees being shot, they did not want to show anything as solidarity to their coworkers. They did not show the usual police chase or ambulances or callousness of interviews. The news reporters hid under a protective blanket. Once again I say I am glad they did not show it, but they should either treat others the way they like to be treated or suffer the same anguish they have others go through.

Jeffery Melbourne

Palmer

$450K fine too lenient on Palmer developers

Palmer needs economic development. This whole country does. But why at a cost to our environment and quality of life? While Palmer residents were busy fighting the Mohegan Sun Casino another project snuck through under the radar, the Palmer Motorsports Park racetrack on top of Whiskey Hill. Now this is one of several commanding hills that form a spectacular backdrop for the town of Ware and the Ware River Valley in Warren and Palmer. How planting a noisy, ugly car and motorcycle track atop one of these hills ever passed the Palmer Planning Board and the state Department of Environmental Protection is beyond me.

Life is about balance; balancing economic development with quality of life and even survival of our planet. All too often our fearless leaders push reckless projects that are devastating socially and environmentally. There’s more to life than money. We’d better wake up to that fact if our species is to survive. My great hope is that this track gets shut down for noise. It’s a park now with trails down to the Merrimack. Land use law says you can’t create a nuisance. Basis for a suit? Those officials who allowed the permits should be held responsible, too. Maura Healy’s $450,000 fine for the environmental laws and permitting requirements developers broke is a joke, and they know it.

Charlotte Burns

Palmer

Feminism and lingerie don’t mix

I found the article by Hunter Styles called “@Lunch with Michaela Schwartz,” Sept. 3, 2015, to be somewhat disturbing. Women feeling “uncomfortable” about their body parts or how they as females “look” has more to do with females at a very young age being socialized in a way that has them more concerned with what boys and men think of them than what the aforementioned females think of themselves. Moreover, in a market-driven, possession-oriented society such as ours, the idea of being the latest model or item to be consoled has everything to do with why a lingerie store even exists. It is shameful for Schwartz to suggest that such an institution lends to feminism in any way. Yikes! Finally, all human beings should know their bodies. Yet females, beginning at a very early age, are actually discouraged from doing so by playing sports and engaging in other physical activities that will help them discover both their inner and outer capacities.

G. Djata Bumpus

Northampton