Administration Promotes Slow Opening

Editor:

Your editorial of April 22 accuses the Trump administration of rushing to open the economy. Get people back to work. Ignoring the consequences of starting back too soon. This is not true. 

At numerous press conferences the president stated that governors of states severely impacted by COVID-19 should proceed cautiously while other parts of the country that experienced little impact slowly open up their economies while monitoring and testing workers. 

Perhaps the few “conservative” demonstrators at the Bourne rotary were there out of a sense of desperation. They’ve lost their jobs.

John Sullivan
Harwich

Would Enjoy Collected Columns

Editor:

Just a quick note to say how much I look forward to and appreciate the columns by Mary Richmond that you publish each week.

As a retired environmental science teacher, it is wonderful to read her thoughtful, fact-filled and beautifully written words each week. Has anyone put these into a collection or a book? I would definitely want one for myself, and some to give as gifts. I suspect many others would also.

Sandra Penz
Richardson, Texas

Find out more about Mary Richmond's work at capecodartandnature.com.

Strict Sanitization Procedures In Place

Editor:

In response to the letter to The Chronicle expressing concern over the sanitization of rental properties during COVID-19, let me assure him and your readers that as an AirBnB operator, we were also concerned as to the best way to go about an advanced thorough cleaning between guests.  We were pleased to find out that AirBnB and VRBO have measures outlined on their sites as to the best way to sanitize your property. AirBnB goes a step further by limiting the room rentals to a 24-hour closure between guests.

You can be sure that as an AirBnB operator, we are striving to provide the best possible healthy environment for our guests, our families and our Chatham community.

Carol Gordon
South Chatham

Historic Building Deserves Better

Editor:

I am writing as a citizen of the town of Harwich. For a number of years the house that is known as Bishop's Terrace has been vacant and falling into disrepair. It has been designated as one of the most endangered historical buildings in the state of Massachusetts. It is heartbreaking to pass this once beautiful house and observe its deterioration by neglect. This building deserves better. As a resident, I implore the owner to give it the attention it deserves. It is an important part of our history. Please reach out to the neighbors. We are here to help you. Let us hear from you.

Virginia Doyle
West Harwich

A Mother's Day Message

Editor:

Sunday, May 10, is  Mother’s Day. It is a day when cards in commemoration of mothers in America are sold.  I do not know what is done in other countries. I have received a card from my daughter ever since she was born in 1941, although not written by her. Ever since she could write she sent me one. The earliest was with a heart she had drawn and a poem, “Roses are red/violets are blue/nobody else is as sweet as you.” And in parenthesis she added: “Violets  are not really blue.” Over the years I have cherished and kept her cards.

Mother’s  Day was not started as a day to sell cards,  as an uncle of mine said, but was started as a day of peace by Julia Ward Howe,  who may be better known for “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” Her proclamation  is more relevant today, in the year of the pandemic, where war is occurring all over the world and mothers are struggling—here, too, in America, called “the richest country in the world”—to protect their children and to provide food and other necessities of life.  Some of her words I cite below:

“Arise, all women who have hearts. We women of one country will be too tender of those of another to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.” And a voice goes up from a devastated earth, she tells us, to “Disarm, Disarm.” And the proclamation calls for all women, regardless of nationality, to meet at a designated place, “to promote the alliance of the different nationalities to settle  all  international questions in a peaceable manner.”

It is women like Diane Turco of Harwich, who has been working for over 25 years to dismantle the Pilgrim power plant and safely get rid of its nuclear waste because she knows of its dangers, whom I salute today.  To all other women of the world I say: “Happy Mother’s Day. Peace should prevail.”

Juliet R. Bernstein
Chatham

Candidate Well Informed About Orleans

Editor:

Andrea Reed is a candidate for the town of Orleans select board in the election to be held June 23.

I support Andrea because she has extensive experience-based knowledge about Orleans and a willingness to use that know-how in a thoughtful, collaborative and results-oriented way. She works in town, consults with small businesses, and has long been an active volunteer with non-profits. She and her husband raised their children here. 

Andrea’s years on the planning board, where she currently serves as chair, have given her a well informed and integrated view of Orleans that few have. She knows what needs to be done to move the town forward and has good ideas on how to do it.  Andrea is a committed, practical and hard-working citizen of and for Orleans.  I have worked alongside Andrea and know first-hand the quality of her character and ability.

Robert Summersgill
Orleans

Candidate Does The Work

Editor:

I’m writing to express my support for Andrea Reed’s candidacy for Orleans select board.  Andrea has served our community in many capacities over her 22 years in Orleans both as an active volunteer and appointed official most recently as chair of the planning board. She is a person any board or organization would be thankful to have. Hard working, well informed, sensitive to balancing the historic values of the town with contemporary needs, Andrea believes in Orleans and is desirous of being a part of the team that shepherds us forward.

Faced with challenges such as meeting the need for affordable housing; supporting young families so they can live in town; protecting our environment and rural character; and ensuring fiscal responsibility, our Cape leaders need to be good listeners and problem solvers. Andrea is both. She practices openness and collaboration, seeking opinions of others as she gauges her response to issues at hand. She makes decisions after “doing her homework.”

Orleans is fortunate to have many great people willing to step up and serve as an elected official or board or committee member. Andrea has repeatedly shown herself to be among the very best examples of these. Please join me in voting for her for select board on June 23.

Alice Thomason Van Oot
Orleans

What We All Want

Editor:

We have to keep hope alive. Nothing negative is going to help. Remember the good times? Eating with friends, being close, having fun. Nothing else really matters.

Our difficult neighbors are not worth thinking about, ever again. Why take time thinking about negatives?

I'm so grateful to drive Calvin over to Lighthouse Beach every day full of love and anticipation to watch the sun glimmer on the water when the sun is out and count the birds. Love is all that matters right now.

A few days ago when Calvin and I were enjoying the water, a silver pickup came thundering to our side and a young kid stepped out. I was curious to see what was in the box he so gently lifted out of the pickup and saw the head of a curious cat popping out of the little opening. I was so fascinated to see what he was going to do. He carefully carried the box down the stairs and straight onto the shoreline. He put the box down very carefully and out popped a frisky cat who playfully scampered along the shore after him. He was simply walking someone he loved along the beach. And in the end, isn't that what all of us would like to do: be with someone you love at the beach.

Fleur Feighan Jones
Chatham