LETTERS
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IN REBUTTAL

To the editor:

We would like to correct several serious errors in Peter Brace's front page article in the 12/26/07 issue of The Nantucket Independent, headlined "Ethics Questioned."

At no point did we say that the Nantucket Preservation Trust doing a report on historic houses in 'Sconset was "unethical." Of course the NPT can, and should, do studies of Nantucket's historic structures. And we believe we said very clearly that surely we would all agree on the importance of preserving them, although not necessarily on the best is more likely-to-succeed methods of accomplishing this.

What we addressed, specifically, was not the report itself, but its use, as part of a preservation team, for the 'Sconset Beach Preservation Fund's seeming advantage, before a town board (the Conservation Commission) during a decision-making hearing, and being paid to do so. This is a very important distinction.

This distinction was immediately apparent to, first, the person in the audience who asked the question: Was NPT paid by the SBPF to do this survey? Mr. May's answer was: Yes. The following even more critical question was: Was the NPT's Executive Director, Michael May, therefore making this presentation as part of the SBPF's team? The answer, again, was: Yes.

Mr. May's statement, therefore, in Peter Brace's article, that NPT was not part of the SBPF's team, is in direct contradiction of his own words as shown on the video of the meeting.

The issue of conflict of interest was obvious - to the questioner, to us, and to quite a few other people who expressed themselves to us about this, and who agreed with our first letter of 12/19/07.

This is not a matter of what Cheryl Bartlett refers to as a nonprofit supporting another nonprofit. As we said in our earlier letter, our nonprofit organizations are not meant to be part of a team arguing for a project before town boards, in return for payment, nor should this be the impression given. This is a clear conflict of interest, as payment puts impartiality squarely in question.

Sincerely,

- Reva & Mort Schlesinger

GETTING AGENCIES STRAIGHT

The following letter is in response to a story that appeared in the Dec. 26, 2007 issue of The Nantucket Independent entitled, "Florida lab claims to have superior Lyme disease test."

To the editor:

Dr. Lepore and the reporter need to be educated as to the governing agencies for clinical laboratories. The FDA governs Food and Drugs, not clinical laboratories. Clinical laboratories are governed by the CLIA (Clinical Laboratory Improvement Act) and similar agencies for laboratory approval and by the state in which the laboratory resides. They must go through rigorous testing to get this approval. It is not an easy task for any clinical laboratory.

- Carol Fisch

Adjunct professor emeritus of laboratory science and medical

laboratory advisor for tick-borne illness testing.

HEMINGWAY'S ISLAND VISIT

To the editor:

With the recent announcement of this year's One Book, One Island, Nantucketers will be fascinated to read of Hemingway's visit to our island when he was eleven years old. He sailed here, and he swam here, and he loved visiting our own Whaling Museum, then located on Fair Street. He stayed with his mother on India Street and left with the bill of a swordfish which he purchased from Nantucketer Judah Nickerson. Eleven years old is quite an impressionable age, and it is fun to think what an influence our little "elbow of sand" might have had upon yet another great American novelist.

If you would like to read more, there is an article about his visit, and it is available on the Nantucket Historical Association web site: www.nha.org/history/hn/HN-jan85-

hemingway.htm. I

- Bill Tramposch NHA Executive Director