Editor:

The Harwich Conservation Trust would like to thank everyone who helped make the Meet Your Local Farmers event on March 29 a smashing success — what a great day for local agriculture! More than 1,700 people attended the event, which featured more than 40 farmers from all around Cape Cod. The happy attendees scooped up local produce, fish, meat and handcrafted products, and folks of all ages marveled at farm animals, including Scottish Highland cattle, a horse, a pig and a Flemish giant rabbit.

A special thanks goes out to the Orleans Farmers' Market (OFM), co-sponsors of the event. Under the incredibly helpful guidance of OFM board president Gretel Norgeot, OFM vendors relocated to the Harwich Community Center for the event, adding wonderful options for eager shoppers.

We would also like to thank all the farmers, makers and organizations who staffed the tables and chatted with attendees. These community conversations are almost as nutritious as the wonderful food that was available, and serve to deepen the connection and appreciation that Cape Codders have for local agriculture.

Special kudos go out to our musical guests, Wayne Naus and the Art Ensemble of Cape Cod, who provided the perfect smooth jazz soundtrack for the event. We would also like to thank the wonderful staff at the Harwich Community Center, for providing a great space. And we'd like to extend a heartfelt "thanks" to volunteers from Monomoy Regional High School, AmeriCorps and the Harwich Conservation Trust who helped set up and break down the event.

Finally, thanks to everyone who attended the Meet Your Local Farmers event. It was a pleasure to meet old friends and make new ones, and learn about the great work that Cape Cod farmers do every day. Helping folks find out what's "growing on" around the Cape was a joy for all of us at the Harwich Conservation Trust. See you next year!

Tom Evans, president 
Harwich Conservation Trust

Editor:

 During these controversial times, that are so troubled, I would suggest that we drive, walk and bike around one of the most gorgeous, spectacular and wonderful places on this earth, Cape Cod. The views, vistas and charming villages throughout promise to take your breath away. Daffodils and forsythia are all starting to make their presence known. Not quite yet, but summer is on the horizon. Let’s inhale, smile and enjoy this life. It is a gift and a blessing.

Patricia Athy
Harwich

Editor:

 The League of Women Voters of the Cape Cod Area is collaborating with the Brewster Chamber of Commerce to present a candidate forum for the Brewster Select Board and the Brewster Recreation Commission.

 The candidate forum will be held Tuesday, April 15 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Brewster Ladies’ Library, located at 1822 Main St. The forum will be recorded and shown on Channel 26 beginning April 16.

 All Brewster residents are invited to attend. 

Jeanne Morrison, president
League of Women Voters of the Cape Cod Area

Editor:

 Several months ago, the conservation commission voted to not rebuild the stairs at 23 Walther Rd. The vote was based on conservation commission standards, the intent of the deed of gift as it was understood, as well as KP Law's opinion, at that time, that no structure should exist on the property, the exception being a bike rack.

 I am not clear as to why the conservation commission's deliberation and subsequent judgement was not respected by the select board. The select board got involved and asked for another legal opinion, again from KP Law. That second opinion (produced by another lawyer) threw water on Josephine Jenkins's deed of gift by suggesting that had Josephine Jenkins not wanted the stairs to the beach to remain, she would have specifically required that they be removed. The stairs were attached to the cabana that had been removed to comply with the deed of gift. The deed referred to “all such structures, permanent or temporary.”

 As you no doubt think, I have been a bit of a dog with a bone about 23 Walther Rd. I see the makeup of your board clearly to be more about politics than about policy. By example, and supported by Chairman Handler's communication with me, I am the only outlier attempting to underpin the sanctity of Josephine Jenkins's gift. The 40 or 50 emails sent to the select board in support of the stair re-build, spearheaded with the advocacy of Richard Waystack, suggests that Neel Road Beach, as a nearby alternative, is just not enough of a beach. 

 Had the Select Board respected the Conservation Commission in the first place, there would not have been this ongoing back and forth regarding Walther Road. The matter has now become a pretzel. 

Matt Sutphin 
Harwich

Editor:

 I wish that everyone would do someone else’s job for a week just to understand the challenges people face and the accomplishments they realize. It would behoove each of us to spend a week working as a federal worker.

 I was a teacher, and I started noticing a change in attitude towards teachers when a colleague told me that a parent had said to her: “Why should I listen to you? My maid makes more than you do.”

 Most of my colleagues entered the teaching profession because we had enjoyed school, and we had been inspired by our own teachers. Teaching is the profession I know best, but I think anyone, especially those in serving professions — doctors, nurses, lawyers, policemen, politicians, journalists, construction workers, wait staff, clergy — can relate to the slow deterioration of respect for us and our work. We see the results in the teacher and doctor shortages. 

 The public discourse is permeated with a sense of aggrievedness. “It’s not fair” is something I often heard from students, and I would invoke one of Portia’s comments in Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice”: “In the course of true justice, none of us would see salvation.” If we really got what we deserved, our circumstances would be much worse. In fact the unfairness is that we get many more breaks than we’re entitled to; we don’t notice those examples of unfairness.

 I hear adults lament perceived injustices, and I wonder if they think of the breaks they get as well as the undeserved “fouls.” I’ve deserved to get speeding tickets; I’ve gotten many fewer than I could have. I’m 10 minutes late for my doctor’s appointment, and neither the staff nor the doctor gives me a hard time. My dog bit his dog, and my neighbor quietly took his dog to the vet and forgave us. I’m given grace over and over. 

 Federal workers have been vilified and mocked in the last few months. They are victims of an outsized sense of grievance about government. We need them. We should be thanking them. Government does what the free market won’t do: ensure that food, drugs, water, planes, bridges are safe.

 Let’s support our federal workers. Let’s be grateful. Let’s extend grace to others.

Jan Sidebotham 
Harwich

Editor:

Do you care about democracy?

 We need to protect the “Land of the free and the home of the brave” because it is slipping away. It is time to act if you love your country.

Your Social Security and Medicare are at risk.

 America is not as great as it was two months ago. America is a democracy not an autocracy. We need to protect the Constitution and the rule of law.

Jon Fuller
Chatham

Editor:

 I am writing to beg, beg the state, the county, whomever I need to beg, please replace the rubber medians of Route 6 with a center guard rail!

 How many more fatalities do we need? I lost a friend in 1978 on the same stretch of road where a poor dear soul lost his life on Thursday, April 4. This is just ridiculous. What is it going to take to make this stretch of road safe?

Noreen Powell
Bluffton, S.C. and Chatham

Editor:

 The recent government-sponsored tariff war is basically a “shell game” perpetrated on the American consumer. In order to partially pay to extend the soon-to-expire federal tax cuts, our government (in the guise of bringing manufacturing back to America) is imposing tariffs on imported goods, increasing government revenue. The higher prices the American consumer will pay for everyday necessities is the cost of this program. In essence, it’s a transfer of wealth to the government from the American consumer. 

 The rest of the cost of extending the tax cuts is purported to come from eliminating waste in the federal government. However, these savings under even optimistic estimates are not sufficient. Therefore, the only significant source of savings must be in social services, such as Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security. All of these transfers of wealth will hurt the very same people with lower incomes who don’t have enough income to benefit from the extension of the tax cuts. Is this what they expected when they voted?

 Even if the massive taxes on imports do bring some manufacturing back to the U.S., the cost of manufacturing here, where the average factory worker can’t even afford housing, would have to be passed on to the American consumer, who is already paying more than in other advanced countries. I just returned from a few months in France helping my younger brother recover from an accident. The total cost without insurance of a doctor’s visit was $45. The total cost of a CAT scan was $200 and the cost of 18 ounces of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes imported from Michigan was $2, not $6 in a supermarket here. A nurse’s home visit cost $10. Seniors can sell their primary home without any tax if they owned it for five years. Or they can sell it tax-free on an installment plan and live in it until they die. Do I want to move to France? No. Would I like to see some fairness in the system we live under here? You bet I do, and you should too.

John Sweeney
South Chatham

Editor: 

 Are you concerned about such Chatham issues as water, sewers, housing, the airport and offerings for seniors? We are approaching an election to choose community leadership. The Unitarian Universalist Meeting house will be hosting a Meet the Candidates event on Monday, April 14 at 4 p.m. at the Meeting house on Main Street. The four candidates — Jeff Dykens, Mike Schell, Brian Phillips and Stuart Smith — will be present to educate us on their positions on these important community issues. 

 We invite the community to this opportunity to be an informed voter. Hope to see you on the 14th.

Gail Tilton
Mary Parsons
Evan Howard 
Pam Ebeling
Chatham

Editor:

 The Women of Fishing Families are so happy to announce that after a 10-year hiatus, the Mustashio Bashio is back! We could not have done it without our incredible community and the friends who have supported us for almost 20 years! Thank you to Mike Giorgio and the Red Nun family and staff for sponsoring and hosting the Mustachio Bashio. Thank you to Amy Tag and The Cape Cod Chronicle for helping us promote this fun community event. To our incredible panel of judges: Shareen Davis, Renee Gagne, Jamie Rushnak, and Mike Giorgio — thank you! Shout out to emcee extraordinaire Tad MCKitterick, DJ Kate Murdoch, and all the wonderful WOFF volunteers and hilarious, entertaining contestants who gave it their all for the hairiness! This fundraising event helped us raise money for local fishing families and for scholarships that support graduating seniors of Cape Cod fishing families. We are just getting started! We look forward to our next event, the Blessing of the Fleet! Please stay tuned for more information! 

 See the Boot. Know the Cause.

Karen Murdoch
Chatham