Opinion
Lawsuit raised legitimate concerns about New Salem Museum
In the Recorder’s Jan. 20 article on the Land Court’s ruling nullifying the special permit issued to the New Salem Museum (“Ruling upends permit for museum”), the museum’s owners had ample space to articulate their vision for the museum and the...
My Turn: 8 billion of us! — population growth and climate change
By RUSS VERNON-JONES
Sometime on Nov. 15, 2022, according to demographers, a baby was born somewhere in the world who brought the number of humans living on the planet to eight billion. That’s a lot of us!How does population growth relate to our efforts to solve the...
Devastating news
I just read that there may no longer be a night shift on the Greenfield Police Department because of budgetary constraints. $400,00 removed by the City Council so they could make a “statement” to the mayor and chief of police. At who’s cost? The...
Bleak comfort
I applaud Daniel Brown for his forthright column “When global warming stares you in the face,” (Recorder, Jan. 19). I agree that “saving the Earth” is narcissistic but also, I think, hubristic. We do not begin to honor our interdependent relationship...
‘The most important person in Franklin County’
When I became executive director of CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture) in 2000, I didn’t know a whole lot about Franklin County. I lived in Sunderland then and owned Annie’s Garden Store on Rt. 116 in Amherst. But I appreciated right...
Our forests need help
Kate Lindroos’ column “In the fight against logging, conspiracy takes the (profitable) reins,” (Gazette, Jan. 18) points out how the International Panel on Climate Change acknowledges that forest management can help mitigate climate-related risks to...
New bill on abortion
Here’s how evil Democrats are. After the House passed the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act on Jan. 11, “Born-Alive Act: Pelosi, Schumer melt down after new bill requires care for babies born during failed abortion,” (foxnews.com, Jan. 12)....
Appreciate column on assessments
Thanks to Al Norman for his revealing column “The Assessors Puzzle Box,” (Recorder, Jan. 18). We were shocked to discover we are paying more in real estate taxes for our three-bedroom ranch home than Patriot Care, the marijuana dispensary on Legion...
Who’s to blame?
I do not know why the City Council was so shocked at Police Chief Robert Haigh’s announcement at their Jan. 18 meeting. “Some of my (elderly) neighbors ask who is going to respond if they need the police. My answer was to call 911 and maybe a city...
My Turn: What might have been
By CARL DOERNER
The recent birthday remembrance for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and its surveys of his significant accomplishments lacked, at least for me, any canvas of why he announced, the night before his assassination, “I may not get there with you to the...
The World Keeps Turning: Nothing left to lose
By ALLEN WOODS
The images are tragic for anyone with a bit of empathy: three women and three children, including a 1-year-old baby, die in a desperate attempt to flee a homeland filled with violence and instability. The country they had hoped to reach did not want...
Grateful for Senior Center and its dedicated staff and volunteers
We are an enthusiastic group of local senior citizens who wish to share our positive experience at the Greenfield Senior Center.First, a brief history of how our new Senior Center evolved.About 20 years ago, there was an idea that Greenfield badly...
Guest columnist David Gottsegen: As war rolls on, support for Ukraine must continue
By David Gottsegen
With the approaching anniversary of Russia’s unprovoked onslaught on Ukraine, I think back to the Dec 5 column in the Gazette by the Rev. Peter Kakos on “defusing Ukraine.” He wrote of his hopes for an “irenic” peace, a hope that “both warring...
My Turn: Saying ‘farewell’ to fluorescents
By JOHANNA NEUMANN
How many Americans does it take to change a light bulb? To change one bulb now should only take one of us. However, to change all our bulbs in the coming years will require millions of us — and the best way to initiate that action is through the...
My Turn: The new climate normal
By MICHAEL H. SIMPSON
For us that love the winter in hills of the northern Pioneer Valley, this winter season has been a challenge. There is not enough snow for cross-country skiing or snowmobiling and a bit too warm for safely skating on the lakes. This is just the luck...
My Turn: When global warming stares you in the face
By DANIEL A. BROWN
I collect old LIFE magazines and was recently surprised to see a two-page advertisement in a February 1962 issue by Esso (Later Exxon) boasting that each day, they “Supply enough energy to melt 7 million tons of glacier!” Those were the exact words...
Addressing student enrollment drop
I read with interest the Jan. 17 Recorder article, “Schools see steep drop in enrollment,” and was struck by the mayor’s comment, “We should all be concerned about that.”Although I agree with her sentiment, I am not in agreement with her vision for...
The dangers of not voting
Although I sympathize with those who yearn for open primaries and agree that we need nationwide standards for federal elections, I would caution the letter writer who advocated not voting in the hope that the system would collapse to be careful what...
Student enrollment and population
It is a mistake to connect the decline in population to the decline in enrollment at the Greenfield Public Schools as School Committee Chairwoman Amy Proietti did in the front page article in Tuesday’s Recorder. As a 13-year veteran teacher of GPS, I...
What’s going on in Leyden?
What is really going on in Leyden. My only source of information is the Greenfield Recorder. It has been reported that a Selectman, police chief, police captain, town clerk and now seven members of the Council on Aging committee all have resigned. Any...
