LETTERS
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HEAR THIS VOICE

To the editor:

I just read the interview published in the July 25 issue of The Nantucket Independent with Kyle Latshaw and Loretta Yoder (Voices From The Bluff ~ SBPF Speaks, Page 2). I also read an article in the New York Times recently with the same kind of spin to it. They leave out very important information trying to sway public opinion their way.

The paragraph about the storms in the 1990s in particular bothers me. First of all what mother nature does, we have no control over.

Second, the amount of sand coming off the bluff in a storm is minute compared to the amount of sand they want to dredge offshore and barge in.

Third, you cannot compare the low beach off the Summer House to Sankaty. That is building up as the bluff breaks down, it seems.

As far as changing any fishing off the low beach the side of the beach makes no difference. The fish are not there with any regularity because it's all sand. Off Sankaty is a cobble habitat and a hard bottom with all sorts of marine life that attracts the fish. They propose to dump sand over a good portion of this.

I am a commercial striped bass fisherman. One hundred percent of my striped bass income derives from fishing close to the beach from just south of Sankaty Light, north to Coskata Pond. Last season about 90 percent of my striped bass were caught right under Sankaty Bluff. Covering this bottom would wipe out my fishery. There is an abundance of life here - crabs, lobsters, juvenile fish, all sorts of bait that attracts the larger fish - my target species included. There is a multitude of other fish here also - black sea bass, fluke and bluefish to name a few. Awhole system of life abounds here. By covering over this rich bottom (the hard ground and cobbles) you're turning a fertile land into a desert. How can temporarily saving some structures that can be moved or re-built elsewhere possibly outweigh the destruction of all this marine life? I stress the word temporary.

Aside from the fishing, the ecological damage done to this marine habitat could be disasterous. Houses can be moved or re-built.

The public should be made aware of the truth and publishing one-sided interviews is not going to get them that.

Sincerely,

- Bob Rank

A POOR DISPLAY OF GOVERNMENT

To the editor:

I have just left the Special Town Meeting and I am extremely upset with the actions on the last article of the evening.

I have just left what I feel was an extremely poor display of Town Government. It reminded me of the old "Who's on First" routine of Abbott and Costello.

We finally made it to Article 3 after a good number of voters had already left after voting on Article 1. I believe the number of voters remaining was 321, which was short of the necessary quorum of 405 needed to vote on an Article requiring two-thirds majority. The Article actually passed with the needed two-thirds majority of those still remaining. The vote count was, ironically, 215 to 106. Two-thirds majority was 214, thus it passed.

I just have a couple of comments. I had my hand raised for an important issue which I believe that most of the voters did not realize, which I will explain in a moment. Moderator Alger never addressed me to speak, even with one of her constables with a Microphone standing right behind me and waiting for acknowledgement.

My issue is the fact that according to the Town of Nantucket Web site under the section About the NRTA, the following reads:

"The Nantucket Regional Transit Authority (NRTA) was created by Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 161B in 1993, although operations did not begin until 1995. The NRTA is a body politic and corporate and a political subdivision of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Executive Office of Transportation. According to the statute, regional transit authorities cannot operate service directly, but instead must contract with private operators for the provision of service. The NRTA contracts with two private transportation providers. Valley Transportation Services of Massachusetts, Inc. provides operating and management services for the NRTA's seasonal fixed route service. Bill's Taxi Service, Inc. provides services related to the NRTA's year round elderly and disabled van service, Your Island Ride."

The point in question is that we, the Town of Nantucket do not even own the buses in question that we have just voted to purchase property to park them on for three months out of a 12-month year. We lease the vehicles by mandate of state laws. Will we next purchase property for all of the privately owned Taxis also? Where will this stop?

Mr. Barnes also brought up a valuable piece of information. This is the fact that the property in question is a "Hazardous Waste" location and not usable for much. If we choose to sell it in the future we, the Town of Nantucket, would foot the bill to clean the property to proper standards before we could sell it, possibly costing more than we paid to begin with.

I urge the voters of Nantucket to vote "No" when this Article comes to ballot for a vote. Hopefully the ballot vote will be addressed in more of a proper manner than the count of this evening.

Thank you for your attention.

- Joanne Pimentel-Rocha

JUST SAY "NO" TO SURCHARGE

The following letter was sent to the Nantucket Board of Selectmen and is reprinted here at the author's request.

Dear Chairman Willauer and members of the board of Selectmen:

I am very surprised to see the idea of a surcharge for a Public Access channel still being considered as an add-on to our cable television contract. I believed, as most of the Nantucket residents probably believed, that this issue had gone by the wayside due to lack of public support. Now I read in this week's local newspapers that the BOS is still negotiating in favor of that proposal, and the amount is in dispute. I believe this is contrary to the will of the people. You have a small number of proponents who are pushing for something that will affect us all, and cost us all a lot of money over the lifetime of the contract.

The proponents are the same people who pushed for the town to buy the Dreamland Theatre and even with a Special Town Meeting at the height of tourist season, where a small group could sway the vote, the Dreamland proposal was not adopted. There is a parallel here, as the voters have distinguished between "wants" and "needs." A PEG channel is not needed on Nantucket.

With two local television stations airing programs 24 hours a day, in addition to a public access channel which sits aglow with dead airtime, almost completely unused, the last thing we need on this island is to PAY for more local television. We have plenty of real infrastructure needs surfacing on Nantucket in addition to the fact that 80 percent of the year-round population are renters and most are struggling to get by. Our town's own Human Needs Study clearly spells out that respondents cannot afford their rent, the high cost of groceries or healthcare. The average person you represent is unable to afford some of the basic necessities of life! None of the BOS members are faced with these harsh realities, but I beg for your empathy.

I urge you to hold off on this decision until you take advantage of an opportunity to poll the public, either by election ballot, Town Meeting, or on a community-wide survey. The hearing last March had limited participation, as most hearings do. Since then, we have had an Annual Town Meeting and a Special Town Meeting where you could have brought this issue to the people to decide. A vote is in order for a financial issue of this magnitude. The idea that it is only a few dollars per month is ridiculous. If the proponents have their way, those dollars would add up to more than a quarter million dollars in the first year alone. With that said, the cable rate will increase by 5 percent each year, thus increasing the surcharge annually on top of the escalating rate. Please put this to a vote.

I will be sending a copy of this request to the local newspaper's editors along with your contact information, with hopes that other citizens will voice their concerns on this issue.

Thank you.

- Barbara Gookin

Anyone concerned about this surcharge should write to Nantucket Board of Selectmen, 16 Broad Street, Nantucket MA 02554 or send a note to all of the following e-mail addresses; whitey@willauer.com, chadwick@nantucket. net, pafr@nantucket.net, allenreinhard@ yahoo.com, michael@nantucket. net.

JOHNSON RESIGNS FROM PARK & REC. COMMISSION

The following letter was sent to Town Manager Libby Gibson and is reprinted here.

Dear Libby:

I regret to inform you that I will be stepping down from my position as Commissioner on Park & Rec.

It has been and remains an honor to serve the Town of Nantucket in any way that helps all of us move forward in a positive direction to sustain our quality of life here on our special island.

My time commitments have become a conflict on the specific day that the P & R bimonthly meetings are held. I look forward to serve the town in some other capacity in the future.

Respectfully yours,

- Leslie Johnson

MARCAVITCH RESIGNS FROM HISTORICAL COMMISSION

The following letter was sent to the Nantucket Board of Selectmen and is

reprinted here.

Dear Selectmen:

I would like to submit to you my resignation from the Nantucket Historical Commission.

While I have enjoyed my time there and appreciate your recent reappointment of me to this board, I have found that my time with my new job and soon to be born baby, I am stretched for time too tightly.

I would like to continue to assist the town in development of historical preservation tools- but I find that being a full time member of this board is too strenuous. (I unfortunately have to evaluate my participation in the Historic District Commission as well.)

Those at the Commission are well versed in the issues of historic preservation. They have been supportive of the goals and work hard. I hope that my departure does not precipitate the failure of this group and I hope that the Board of Selectmen will take an active role in making sure this group continues to thrive. Understandably all of the members have many commitments and hopefully they can find a mutually agreeable method for achieving these goals. I have a strong interest in seeing a Certified Local Government be established for Nantucket and the development of stronger archaeological standards. If these goals are realized, I hope I will get to revisit my decision and perhaps return to the board at some point.

Thank you,

- Aaron Marcavitch

MORAN RESIGNS FROM COMMISSION ON DISABILITY

The following letter was sent to the Nantucket Board of Selectmen and is

reprinted here.

Dear Board of Selectmen:

After a great deal of thought I respectfully resign from the Commission on Disability effective June 30, 2007. I am very upset you have totally disregarded the fact that I have been present at over 90 percent of the meetings and you appointed me to only a one year term.

- Richard Moran

FOURTH TIME'S A CHARM

To the editor:

On behalf of the Nantucket Atheneum Board of Trustees, library staff and the 2007 Circus Flora Committee, I would like to thank the many, many people who helped make this year's Circus Flora performances amazing and successful.

This is the fourth time the library has hosted the magical one ring circus from St. Louis and each year just gets better. As the Atheneum's primary fundraising event, the success of the circus weekend, which included a gala party, four performances and a barbeque, will help us to continue to provide the island with top notch services and programs.

But, we could not have done it without the generosity and enthusiastic spirit of our team of sponsors, committee members and volunteers.

Special thanks go to our committee co-chairs Mia Matthews and Melinda Puljic; to our lead underwriters Northern Trust and Sentient Jet Membership; to the residents of Tom Nevers; to the cast and company of Circus Flora and, most especially, to the more than 5,000 people who came to see our circus by the sea this past weekend and were enchanted by it.

Sincerely,

- John Loose

Chairman Nantucket Atheneum

Board of Trustees

HOSTETLER PARTY GRATITUDE

To the editor:

The board and staff of A Safe Place would like to thank Susan and David Hostetler for the wonderful party they hosted on July 22 to benefit A Safe Place. All of the proceeds from the event are for the benefit of A Safe Place and will help us continue to provide needed domestic violence and sexual assault services to the Nantucket community.

Sam Girton, a professor from Ohio University, provided the photographic entertainment for the evening - a photo booth for fun photos (complete with hats and props provided by currentVintage) and also photographed studied portraits of the guests in the style of Richard Avedon.

We would also like to thank the many people who, at Susan's request, provided goods and services at a discount for the event: Blue Water Bakery, Daily Breads, East Coast Seafood, Placesetters, the Dotted I in Concord, Mass. Special thanks to Kathie Lee Gifford, Mia Matthews and Colleen Girton who favored us with lovely songs throughout the evening, music provided by Matt Hutchinson - Blue Lion Music on piano and David Hostetler on the drums.

Thank you, also, to the volunteers who helped to make this evening happen - Maren Keeley, Keena Bolling, Julie Brown, Elise Kornack, Susan Bennett Witte, Kat Robinson Grieder, Pat Kelleher, Janice Peneno and Ruth Zakarin.

Beautiful and artistic home, wonderful food, great music, fun photographic diversions, congenial and supportive guests - thank you, thank you, thank you!

- Michelle Langlois for the Board and Staff

of A Safe Place