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By DANIEL CANTOR YALOWITZ

Every positive change — every jump to a higher level of energy and awareness — involves a rite of passage. Each time to ascend to a higher rung on the ladder of personal evolution, we must go through a period of discomfort, of initiation. I have never found an exception. ~ Dan Millman

By JEAN IDA HOFFMAN

I was a student at Kent State University on May 4, 1970 when the National Guard murdered four students (including two of my friends) and wounding nine. This was the worst memory of my life and I experienced a visceral reaction this month as I watched Trump call in the National Guard to Los Angeles over the objections of the mayor of the city as well as the governor of California.

Franklin County has unique 200-million-year-old features called Jurassic armored mud balls (“JAMBs”). Hopefully, many readers have heard about these. The Massachusetts Legislature is considering recognizing JAMBs as the official state “Sedimentary Structure,” in addition to over 50 other distinctly Massachusetts items such as Podokesaurus (state dinosaur), Dinosaur Footprints (state fossil), and Boston Crème (state donut).

President Donald Trump is proposing draconian cuts to international humanitarian aid, human services, to public media, and aid to low-income Americans. I thought the reason for cutting international humanitarian aid was to better use that money for Americans in need. But we are cutting funding from Americans too. I thought the reason for cutting so much “waste” was so we could take the burden of high taxes off American taxpayers. But if the military is going to get 13% more funding than there is zero overall savings to give back to Americans. I thought we were moving out of Ukraine to save money for American taxpayers. Yet the military is getting so much more money. So I just do not get it. Please explain to me MAGA, what is the point?

Recently, nearly 200 donors, legislators and media representatives toured our Emergency Department (ED) at Cooley Dickinson Hospital (“Cooley’s new ‘front door’ on display,” Gazette, June 7). Our long-awaited project, which is being completed in phases, expands the ED by 40%. It features new equipment, more private rooms and a floor plan designed with patients in mind. Earlier this year, we opened a dedicated space to provide a calm, healing environment for those needing mental and behavioral health support. Additional ambulance bays await our region’s EMS teams as they bring patients to our ED. The new addition opens in July and renovations in the existing ED continue through early 2026. Our ED is open throughout the project.

By ALLEN WOODS

The signs of summer are everywhere and hard to ignore. Birds surround the feeders, swooping and squabbling and feasting on a banquet of seeds and nuts, the grass threatens to grow up around my ears overnight, the sun lingers for hours at dusk, and the solstice brings more daylight than we’ve seen in a full year. It’s a glorious time in New England, bathed in verdant green and luscious gold, with months of heat and light ahead.

By JOHANNA NEUMANN

I want to thank the following media outlets for making local sports special in Franklin County.

Today, as I was going through old Recorders, I came across two headlines that caught my eye — Nov. 28, 2024, Northfield: “AG pulls plug on energy bylaws” and Dec. 3, 2024, Shutesbury: “State overrules bylaw on battery storage.”

By TOBIAS BASKIN

“What do you teach?” I am asked when I say that I am a professor at UMass. I teach plant physiology. But the question misses the core of what I do: run a research lab. Few ask me: “What do you research?” or “Why is a college professor doing research?”

By JOHN BRIARE

At first glance, Robin Neipp’s recent column “Massachusetts must continue to lead on common sense gun laws” [Recorder, June 9] might sound reasonable until you realize the writer is endorsing a law she clearly hasn’t understood. Chapter 135 spans 116 pages of sweeping new gun laws and mandates that only punish the law-abiding while doing absolutely nothing to stop actual violence or criminals. Criminals will not obey a single sentence of this 116-page law.

I am profoundly disturbed by the response of the Greenfield and Turners Falls police force to a domestic violence complaint. A small army of men dressed up in tactical gear, complete with high-powered guns? According to an article in the Recorder, the woman had left the house and was out of danger. The alleged abuser was locked in a bathroom. What person in their right mind would unlock that bathroom door and step out of the house knowing that many guns would be directly aimed at his head? What was the goal of the official who decided to deploy such a force of strength? By far a better, more sane response would have been to bring in a few police officers who understood the value of and had well-developed skills in negotiation and de-escalation. Instead, it seems that those in charge employed the ugly, dark tactic of instilling fear, not only in the man cowering in the bathroom, but in the community as well.

Folks on Plain Road East must be getting pretty desperate if they are concerned about the noise from the proposed dog shelter. Hey, come my way. Now we have almost continual concerts about a mile away at the brewery and they play til 10 or 11 p.m. Good if you don’t work or like rock and roll and maybe if you don’t have little kids who need their sleep, like the neighbors.

I greatly enjoyed Dorothy Storrow’s letter sketching out for us the defining characteristics and the value of the writ of habeas corpus. I had no idea it dated back to the Magna Carta. But I do know that the man who many consider to be our greatest president, Abraham Lincoln, suspended the writ in Maryland in April of 1861. When he received a letter from Chief Justice Roger B. Taney objecting to this action, Lincoln ignored it.

For anyone who was lucky enough to work with or under the leadership of departing Greenfield Public Schools Superintendent Karin Patenaude, the loss of her from this district is incalculable. Her high standards, work ethic, love for students and deep experience from being a beloved English teacher and highly respected administrator endeared her to staff, students and families in the district. To watch her talk to a quiet teen, a curious fourth grader, a distressed parent or a questioning teacher and see her treat each with understanding, kindness, respect and always an encouraging smile, is to see the very best that public education has to offer. Seen as a "teacher's teacher" by the educators at Greenfield High School, the spontaneous standing ovation that she received by the 900 people in attendance after her words of encouragement for the graduating class on May 31 spoke volumes of how beloved she is as our leader. Karin Patenaude set a standard that will be hard to fill, she will missed and I am grateful to have worked for her.

Would a Trump supporter explain to me why, if the National Guard can be called out to protect ICE enforcement, why wasn’t it called out when the U.S. Capital was being attacked? He says he has the power today, 2025. He also had it in 2020 but didn’t use it when our nation’s Congress was overrun. It was a demonstration that got so out of hand that people did die. That leads to the question of what’s more important: ensuring the peaceful passage of a democracy’s power or making sure police can grab up criminals?

I have openheartedly and willingly accepted Donald Trump as my personal savior. There can be no other before Him. Obedience to His will is the only path to salvation. His second coming is ushering in a new millennium. All He demands is obedience, gratitude, and worship. But it must be total. Not just on Sundays, and not just for four years, but for a 1,000-year reign.

By JOE CURTATONE

Massachusetts is facing a familiar crossroads: our climate is changing, our grid is under strain, and our communities are rightly asking tough questions about safety, cost, and accountability. This is what communities need to do, but those questions must be met with facts, not fear.

By BILL NEWMAN

Last Saturday, “No Kings Day,” saw large demonstrations in Northampton, Easthampton, Greenfield, Springfield, Shelburne Falls, Sunderland, Cummington, Pittsfield, Amherst, Granby, Williamsburg, Ashfield, Orange and Boston. They were among the more than 100 protests in Massachusetts and over 2,100 across the country in cities and towns, big and small. The common denominator? Devotion to resistance and the fervent hope, if not always the firm belief, that we can mitigate, if not totally prevent, the fascist takeover of the United States now in progress.

By TOLLEY M. JONES

On Jan. 1, 1863, The Emancipation Proclamation became law in the United States. It declared that “all persons held as slaves … shall be … forever free and the …Government of the United States … will do no act … to repress such persons … in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.”

By AL NORMAN

That government which is closest to the people, should be the most accessible to the people.