LETTERS

To the editor: My 40-plus years in Marblehead hardly makes me a "townie” in the classic sense, but there are some things I do know about it. One of them is the value of Abbot Library. It is primary to the welfare of the town. Easily accessible to patrons of all ages, with something for everyone, it is a place of inquiry and community gatherings. Not to mention a pleasant, helpful and dedicated staff, at least a couple of whom I know are products of…

To the editor: As we approach the 250th anniversary of America’s independence and the war that began April 19, 1775, at the Battle of Lexington and Concord, it may be instructive to reflect on colonists’ lengthy nonviolent struggle against their government’s policies in the decade prior to the American Revolution. Between 1765 and 1775, Britain turned to their American colonies to raise funds for a treasury depleted by war with France. The Stamp Act and the Townsend Act were taxes or duties levied on items…

Dear members of the Marblehead Select Board and Finance Committee:  Please don’t let it happen on your watch. Don’t let the library doors close.  As many of you are aware, in 2018 we took a long, hard look at our library. We studied its history, which at that point was approaching 140 years. We decided at that time to both celebrate the history and to begin a capital campaign to raise funds to renovate our library. The building at that time was looking very tired…

To the editor:   It was standing-room-only at the Abbot Library on Saturday, March 7, as our Marblehead Democrats caucused. The enthusiastic gathering heard from Democratic candidates and elected 18 delegates, including four alternates, to represent us at the Massachusetts Democratic State Convention. The Marblehead Democratic Town Committee is grateful to all who came out and joined us via Zoom to make this a successful caucus. We were truly inspired by the students who volunteered their time to help, and proud of two high school students…

To the editor: In response to your article about the connection of Marblehead and the TV show "Jeopardy," I remember hearing Alex Trebek, a Canadian, pronounce Elbridge Gerry and “gerrymander” correctly, with a hard G, like “Gary.” So I was disappointed that Ken Burns' narrator pronounced Elbridge Gerry and “gerrymandering” with a soft G, like “Jerry,” in his film about the American Revolution. It was an opportunity to correct this once and for all when Gerry's name was mentioned. For many years, Marbleheaders have tried…

To the editor: I have lived through a number of U.S. wars, beginning with Vietnam. Too often our involvement has ended in tragedy, cost and regret. People forget that in recent wars the casualties were so high that photos of flag-draped coffins returning from overseas were banned.  The public was not meant to see the real cost of war. With a few exceptions (Bosnia, for one), our involvement has been financially costly and unfortunate. And when we should have gone in immediately, and with immense…

To the editor: As our nation and our community commemorate the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, we would like to draw your attention to one of our town’s leading heritage institutions — the Marblehead Museum. We are a private organization dedicated to Marblehead’s rich history. Since 1898, the Museum — formerly Marblehead Historical Society — has preserved, protected and promoted Marblehead’s storied history, sharing it with residents and students, as well as visitors from all over the world.  The Museum’s collection includes 67,500 historic…

A recent letter to the editor rightfully highlighted the poor condition of Marblehead’s roads and asked an important question: Why are other Massachusetts communities able to maintain high-quality infrastructure while Marblehead suffers through potholes and patchwork repairs?  While there are many factors at play, one basic reality is hard to avoid. Marblehead simply does not have the financial resources to consistently meet these expectations. As the reader notes, we have “pride in our community,” but we simply don’t pay enough in taxes to support the…

Massachusetts pays the third highest electricity prices in the country according to the EIA (the U.S. Energy Information Administration). And voters have noticed: the cost of living is the most important issue facing the state in the University of New Hampshire’s most recent Bay State poll. The basic problem facing Massachusetts is that we do not have significant domestic energy resources. Our solar and wind potential is paltry compared to plains states like South Dakota and Kansas. That is why despite the state’s high conviction…

The war in Iran is an urgent call to members of Generation X, Y and Z that we must rise to our destiny, or risk disappearing, as previous generations have, into the mythology of American exceptionalism.  Members of Generation X lost brothers, cousins and friends in a useless war in the Iraq desert, like our parents did in the jungles of Indochina. Yet, around 1980 or so, our parents got on board the gravy train of individualism, high technology and financial engineering, and it’s been…