Letters to the Editor - The Lakeville Journal - 6-23-22

Crosswalk in Salisbury has been made safer now, thanks to so many

This is a thank-you to the many people involved in obtaining for Salisbury the pedestrian-operated blinking lights at the village’s often-perilous crossings of Routes 41 and 44, one at the crosswalk on Main Street and another near the White Hart.  A third has been installed  at the Salmon Kill Road bike path.

This victory for community safety is the result of years of diligent work by First Selectman Curtis Rand, plus advocacy by The Lakeville Journal, and a September 2019 petition campaign by John Pogue and me.  John had lost his wife to a speeding car on Main Street, and I had been badly injured in the crosswalk by an SUV.  Our petition drive, announced in this newspaper, rather quickly amassed several hundred signatures in support of putting in such lights.

The signed petitions were presented to Curtis Rand, whose efforts to obtain such lights for Salisbury (as had been done previously for Lakeville)  had for several years been blocked by the requirements and entanglements of state government agencies, patent disputes, etc.  The petitions’ evidence of community support was reason to try anew, and  this time, the attempt was successful.

After a further two-year delay due to state resources being taken up in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, the blinking lights were installed in May, and are now in use, the button on the Main Street crosswalk often pressed by elderly pedestrians.  An added value comes from the lights slowing vehicular traffic into, through, and out of the village.

Tom Shachtman

Salisbury

 

Better late than never

“We cannot expect that everyone, to use the phrase of a decade ago, will ‘talk sense to the American people’. But we can hope that fewer people will listen to nonsense.”

— John F. Kennedy

JFK was headed to the Dallas Trade Mart when he was cut down, fully exposed to the public, in a convertible –a vision deeply etched in American memory. What we don’t recall or never knew is that JFK’s speech that day at the Dallas Trade Mart was to be centered on the spread of ignorance and “misinformation” damning to the US. In 1963, the danger was to US security, foreign affairs, not to the unraveling of our democracy.

We, today, also hope that fewer people listen to nonsense, that the January 6 Committee’s hearings widely available and tuned into by millions will steer not off-the-cliff conspiracists on to terra firma but reach folks neither flaming red or deep blue who are listening, considering, reappraising - Americans who hold the balance. A cadre of Trump appointees, including the Mueller-busting AG, Bill Barr, have flamboyantly defamed Trump and his BS claims of fraud, his shaky grasp of reality.

These Republican men are to be thanked for coming forward now to tell how they stepped up to Trump in late 2020 and early 2021, how they provided “guard rails” for our democracy. Yet, what a long gestation for truth, 16 months for substantial evidence to be given to the American public, for men who were under oath to the Constitution, who by their positions and power were assumed to be honorable, kept silent while a raging lie was intentionally, dangerously spread like wild fire across the nation — was wasting resources, was endangering lives, and was enabling a coup set to overturn the US system of governance: a democracy, law and order, and truth.

Several of these Trump appointees wrote books, sold their stories while they refused to offer testimony, provide evidence of crimes to justice officials, a congressional commission — crimes they called out, confronted Trump about “to his face”, in the oval office. They offered up their resignations but not their honesty, their commitment to the nation, their oath. Silence is a potent antidote to truth. Will a bombardment of Committee evidence, presented by persons of the toxic Trump wave after 16 months of journalistic pounding have impact?

Can the American public stand up at their kitchen tables to pledge allegiance, to demand adherence to national values, law and order? Will voters vote to deny the theft of their basic right to choose, to have their voice suppressed, superseded by state would-be autocrats?

Will the attention span and staunch resolve of the American public go far enough, deep enough to truly matter? Will gas prices and the potential forfeiting of a vacation trump the principles, structures, foundations of a republic — supersede land of the free and home of the brave?

“A republic, if you can keep it.”

— Benjamin Franklin

Kathy Herald-Marlowe

Sharon

 

A welcome celebration

The COVID pandemic took away years of traditional fun and recreational activities for many families just about everywhere. Here, in Connecticut, the Sharon Day Care was finally able to revive a traditional June BBQ with all the trimmings, great food, amazing grill masters, and a crowd of well wishers consisting of families, staff, and board members.

Sharon Day Care is proud of its “family” of supporters and thanks one and all for coming together to enjoy the beautiful weather that crowned the occasion.

May this event be a harbinger of more fun outdoor activities to come for all to enjoy this summer.

Janet Nickson

Sharon Day Care Board

Sharon

 

Hearings are just

Liz Cheney is a hero

Proving Trump is a zero

The hearings are a must

The accusations just

Once and for all

We see his gall

He needs to go to jail

Or justice is a fail.

Michael Kahler

Lakeville

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