Editor:
Thanks so much for the article on Allison Argo and her beautiful films. Her film "The Last Pig" is one of the most gorgeous, thoughtful, meditative films I've ever seen, but very difficult to take in because it includes the real story of how these animals are slaughtered. Where hope lies is that we humans can continue to learn empathy and compassion.
Something Rachel Carson once said comes to mind: "Until we have enough courage to recognize cruelty for what it is — whether its victim is human or animal — we cannot expect things to be much better in this world."

Reilly Pavia
Orleans

Editor:
As the affordable housing crisis looms over many communities across the United States, it is crucial for local governments to embrace innovative funding strategies that can effectively tackle this pressing issue. One such approach gaining traction in various localities is the implementation of land transfer taxes — an idea recently championed by [State] Senator [Julian] Cyr and the Cape Cod Assembly of Delegates. Their commitment to this initiative deserves our support and attention.
The concept of land transfer taxes is simple yet powerful. By imposing a small fee on the sale of real estate, local governments can generate targeted revenue to directly address housing needs within their communities. This is particularly relevant for areas like Cape Cod, where the rising costs of housing have pushed many families to the brink and hindered the region’s economic growth.
As I wrote in an earlier Op Ed letter, Senator Cyr and the County leaders should consider establishing an affordable housing trust. This trust could strategically issue bonds that would be paid off using the revenues generated from land transfer taxes and Community Preservation Act (CPA) funds, as well as investments from social impact investors. Affordable housing trusts have been used throughout the country quite successfully. A housing trust enables developers to borrow and build affordable housing today opposed to waiting for future revenues from sales transfer taxes.
This action will not only jump-start new development but you are also benefiting from construction costs that will only increase in the future. By harnessing these funding avenues, Cape Cod could create a sustainable and robust framework to support affordable housing development.

Robert Harding
Yarmouth Port
The writer is chairman of the nonprofit organization Bulfinch Housing Strategies

Editor:
Your Harwich Charter Commission has met every Thursday evening since July either at the community center or the small hearing room at town hall. Meetings start at 6:30 p.m. Never boring (or at least we don’t think so), we have been engaged in some very lively discussions and some (respectful) disagreements as we build towards consensus. All members are working diligently and cooperatively to comb through our charter so that ultimately we can offer the voters a revised, concise, updated document that will better serve the town in the years to come.  But we need your help.
The charter, simply stated, is the governing document of the town which under Massachusetts law offers our community the opportunity to do many things “our way.” To date, your charter commission has had numerous discussions around the relationship between the select board and town administrator including hiring practices, policy vs. day-to-day management as well as discussions with the finance committee and others to address timelines and transparency. Also under discussion are the relative merits of appointed vs. elected town committees, primarily in the context of whether some changes would result in greater community participation both at the committee level and the annual town elections.
We will be holding public hearings along the way to more formally gather public opinion, but we would really welcome more input along the way. So, with that in mind, we would invite all interested citizens to join our Thursday sessions and/or send us your written comments. In addition, all our public meetings have been recorded and are available for viewing on YouTube via The Harwich Channel. 
This charter commission provides a unique opportunity to seriously consider where we have been in terms of municipal governance and where we want to go.  Please make your voices heard.

Linda Cebula, chair 
Harwich Charter Commission

Editor:
On Dec. 4, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a memorandum to all federal prosecutors that should alarm all of us. It is part of the current administration’s war on our freedoms in the name of "national security."
According to the Cato Institute, the memorandum “defines domestic terrorism broadly to include ‘doxing’ and ‘impeding’ immigration and other law enforcement. Doxing is not specifically defined. Individuals who donate to organizations that ‘impede’ or ‘dox’ will be investigated and deemed to have supported ‘domestic terrorism.’ ICE and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) consider people who follow DHS and ICE agents to observe, record or protest their operations as engaging in ‘impeding.’ DHS has a systematic policy of threatening people who follow ICE or DHS agents to record their activities with detentions, arrests, and violence, and agents have already chased, detained, arrested, charged, struck and shot at people who follow them.”
The administration would have you believe that arresting people for making videos of their operations is part of a war on “extremists” in “Antifa.” Cato says otherwise, describing it as “an official, nationwide policy of intimidating and threatening people who attempt to observe and record DHS operations.” Many arrests have occurred across the country, all in an attempt to sow fear and avoid opposition to the obviously illegal tactics the DOJ has been implementing.
It is not extremism to observe and record federal agents going about their work, it’s journalism. And it’s not extremism for citizens to warn of the approach of federal agents, it’s free speech. Supporting organizations that do these things is not “terrorism” or “extremism,” it’s constitutionally protected political activity.  
If the Department of Justice wishes its agents to go about their work without journalists or citizens observing and recording them, then Homeland Security should order their agents to stop conducting mass arrests that sweep up American citizens, including veterans, and unmask their agents. As for me, I will continue to donate to organizations that record ICE activities conducted in public, as is my right.

Matthew Brown
Harwich

Editor:
In reference to the Dec. 11 letter “Say No To Secret War, the writer stated that the Constitution does not permit the president to [engage in] offensive lethal operations without Congress.
For the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, the Afghanistan War, and the Iraq War, Congress did not issue a formal declaration of war. Instead, presidents used their authority, often supported by Congress.

James Coyle
Harwich

Editor:
It’s very interesting to watch meetings and see how the affordable housing projects are dividing both the towns of Harwich and Chatham. I understand the need for affordable housing, I really do. What I don’t understand is why the maximum density? West Chatham would have been better off with Habitat for Humanity Homes, but no — we had to cram as much density as possible in a two-plus-acre lot. If this development had been built by Habitat, in the end, owners would have taken pride in these homes and helped build them. That isn’t even taking into consideration the monstrosity Pennrose is planning to build in South Chatham.  
Pennrose has had the audacity to apply for community preservation funds (from our taxes) to build these units. They are not preserving anything — they are destroying land. Now there is zero chance of home ownership and the Chatham Zoning Board and the previous select board have naively approved this nightmare. In all fairness to the Chatham zoning board, the minority members of the ZBA upheld the decision to do the honorable thing in representing the wishes of the community by voting against this project. Remember, Pennrose is handsomely profiting from this. Anyone from anywhere in the state can live in these proposed apartments. I don’t understand why these towns don’t seem to “get it” that no teachers, firemen, or police will be able to live there because they make too much money. Where do folks think the year-round jobs are going to materialize from to support these 90-plus units that will eventually be in Chatham? The talk is all about cramming more housing into these units. Harwich has at least had the foresight to communicate with the Cape Cod Commission. Chatham, thus far, has done no such thing.
Affordable housing should never get a free pass in terms of the environment. Towns have spent years building wastewater facilities and doing other things to protect our environment. Now they are destroying the very items we have spent years advocating for. Let’s hope the majority of the Chatham zoning board does their job on Meetinghouse Road and votes it down.  
 
Judy Patterson
West Chatham

Editor: 
Many of us known loved ones and friends who died from pancreatic cancer. Some of us know individuals who were treated with Whipple surgery. It is a complex and technically demanding operation. The five-year survival rate ranges from 20 to 25 percent. 
In the December 2025 edition of the Scientific American, an article entitled “Your Personal Cancer Vaccine” discusses the development of vaccines, based on mNRA targeting a cancer patient’s unique tumor. In the January 2026 issue of the Atlantic, Michael Scherer reports on “The Most Powerful Man in Science,” namely, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the secretary of health and human services.
As secretary, he has had and will have a significant adverse impact on the research and development of individuals’ personal targeted cancer vaccines by terminating approximately $500 million in federal support for mNRA vaccine research. He has redirected the vaccine research of pancreatic cancer. This has caused grave concern among oncologists and scientists and leads to confusion and undermines the public trust in mNRA technology. 
HHS funding cuts have a direct result in the delay and cancellation of cancer trials and agitate the concern of patients and their physicians. Kennedy’s opposition to vaccines is rooted in his longstanding personal beliefs fanned by misinformation and emotional appeal. His impact over time increases substantial suffering and death from viruses, bacteria, and now pancreatic cancer.

Mark I. Berson 
Orleans