Tag: letters to the editor

Our ‘better angels’ need to rally

Growing up, the benefits of American society, things like common decency, trust in authority and the United States as a refuge for immigrants, seemed self-evident. Yet today, there’s a stubborn belief, if not always expressed, that the country is in decline. And polls, for what they’re worth, detect that a majority of our fellow citizens think the country’s “on the wrong track.” And such sentiments, generally speaking, I’d hardly dispute. But what, specifically, are the reasons for the general malaise? And more to the point, what is each of us doing to improve things?

Last I noticed, no positive changes occur without effort. Perhaps Americans’ pessimism comes from not knowing what we really think. And confusion breeds lethargy. The awful culprit, I believe, may be that there’s so darn much information – and alas, disinformation, our minds can’t always distinguish solid facts from folly. And maybe striving to make a difference in our communities just grabs too little attention.

But who wants to waste time just lamenting? Being a mere spectator is unbecoming; we have hands and hearts. If we want to experience a healthier, more optimistic future, one where people thrive and children dream, we must make it happen. The persistent headwinds of grievance must not be allowed to suffocate our legitimate hopes.

R. Jay Allain

Former Twin Cities resident

Orleans, MA

Supporting LGBTQ+ Vets during Pride Month, all year

The service and sacrifice of all our veterans should be fully recognized, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, or HIV status. The Veterans’ Bonus Division of the Office of the State Treasurer is proud to support all our state’s veterans, especially our LGBTQ+ veterans, during Pride Month!

Last August, much needed changes were made to eligibility requirements for veterans’ bonuses. After 104 years, the Veterans’ Bonus Division was finally able to issue bonus payments to veterans who were other than honorably discharged from service due to their sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or HIV status before or during the now defunct federal policy “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” This was an important step toward achieving equity and fairness by making sure that service members receive the bonuses and benefits they deserve.

Granting benefits to these veterans is not just a matter of rectifying past wrongs, it is about acknowledging that their service, their sacrifice, is an integral part of the collective effort to safeguard our country. By extending eligibility for the bonuses and ensuring equity, we affirm that every individual who serves their country deserves to be treated with respect and dignity, regardless of their sexual orientation.

If you are a Veteran who may be newly eligible for a bonus due to this change, please inquire by following this link: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/veterans-bonus-inquiry. And thank you for your service.

Steve Croteau

Director, Veterans’ Bonus Division

Office of the State Treasurer and Receiver General

Crime stats just misinformation from Dems

With the greatest respect Mr. Lavallee, your devotion to our Biden/Obama administration is touching. However, any Lowellian past the age of reason can find honest stats by simply reading the Sun’s arrest log.

There we find those locals despoiling our lives on a daily basis, plus those illegal aliens our cash-strapped city is pampering and offering “sanctuary”. Ask any Centerville or Back Central resident if your fantasy statistics make them feel safer now. It’s one thing to be a faithful Party shill but quite another to use the reams of misinformation it publishes, to pass as evidence of truths.

As for the political treachery that has made criminals of innocent rally attendees, may those responsible see God’s judgment. A few selfie-loving jerks does not an “insurrection” make. The continuing dumbing-down of our citizenry plus the refusal of lifetime Democrats to acknowledge the party they grew up in has gone rogue, produces the nonsense you offer as “fact.”

F. Nowak

Lowell, MA

Response to opioid death article

I’m responding to Chris Van Buskirk’s recent article titled, “Mass. reports largest single-year decline in opioid-related overdose deaths in 13 years.”  The decline in deaths is encouraging but the fact that there were 2,125 confirmed or suspected opioid-related deaths in 2023 is still much too high.  The number is also thought to be under-reported due to deaths where opioids were a contributing factor.  It also doesn’t consider the number of people whose overdoses were reversed through the administration of Naloxone (i.e., Narcan). We simply cannot take the eye off the ball on the issue especially, as noted in the article, the drug supply is being “increasingly poisoned with Fentanyl present in 90% of the overdose deaths where a toxicology report was available.”

As alarming as these numbers still may be, what is even more concerning is the number of people suffering from substance use disorder (SUD) related to alcohol.  While we were focused on the opioid crisis and dealing with a pandemic, we have quietly seen the number of people seeking treatment for alcohol addiction rise to levels that far outweigh those seeking treatment for opioids.  Our data shows that 51% of people seeking treatment at our Danvers facility are for alcohol addiction, compared to 24% addicted to opioids.  Data from our Westminster location shows that 39% entered for alcohol addiction treatment while 21% sought help for opioid use.  The remainder of our patients are seeking treatment for cocaine, cannabis, sedatives, and hypnotics. In addition to SUD, we understand that the vast majority of patients present with a mental or medical comorbidity, so we are often dealing with more than one issue.  Knowing this we are able to effectively help patients manage co-occurring disorders that can play a role in their recovery process.

While we must remain focused on the crushing effects related to opioid addiction, we must also re-focus on the overwhelming number of people in the Commonwealth that need support for alcohol addiction.  Here are just a few of the startling numbers reported by the National Center for Drug Abuse Statistics that reinforce this need:

• 21.1% of Massachusetts adults over 18 binge drink at least once per month.

• An average of 2,760 annual deaths in Massachusetts are attributed to excessive alcohol use.

• The 5-year average annual rate of excessive alcohol deaths per capita in Massachusetts increased by as much as 57.2% from 2015 to 2019. (At Recovery Centers of America, we expect these numbers to be even higher once more recent data becomes available).

• Massachusetts averages one (1) death from excessive alcohol use for every 2,547 people aged 18 and older or 4.88 deaths for every 10,000 adults.

If you or someone you know is suffering with alcohol addiction or any SUD, please know that help is available and there are millions of people living happy, productive lives in recovery.

Dr. Myles Jen Kin

Medical Director, New England

Recovery Centers of America

In response to editorial on ceasefire

I read today’s paper while visiting my in-laws in Lowell and your recent editorial called for a permanent Gaza ceasefire, did not include hostage release.

First, Hamas repeatedly declared its intention to carry out multiple Oct 7ths and called for Oct 13th as a day to kill Jews a globally. Hamas broke the ceasefire on Oct 7th and again when captives were released. If Hamas isn’t destroyed, prior to a ceasefire, the safety of Jews around the world and Israel’s are at risk.

Second, you continue using Hamas / Gaza Health Ministry numbers. Since there is no free press, only news they want is released.

Third, humanitarian aid to Gaza, according to the UN World Food Program math, 4,287 tons of food is needed to feed 2.2 million Gazans 1 week. 234,000 tons entered means enough to feed Gazans for 54.5 weeks. Of course Hamas is stealing 80% and selling it in markets at exorbitant prices.

Last, according to a report in Ami magazine, March 13, 2024, p. 147-150, which mainstream social media hasn’t picked up, the Feb 29th slaughter of people getting aid, was planned by Hamas with Russia, who is also training Hamas in propaganda campaigns.

• The normal drivers were replaced, last minute, by contractors

• The 4:30 a.m. route was to be secret, but “leaked”

• several Hamas militants were stationed by the ambush site, as well as in the midst of the mele.

• Russia doesn’t want the hostages released

The article’s author, John Loftus, was a DOJ special investigator and co-author of “The Secret War Against the Jews” and “The Unholy Trinity.”

Glenn Berman, 

Southampton, PA

Help a neighbor, welcome a newcomer, and uplift society

Thomas Paine, one of the Revolutionary War’s foremost thinkers, once decried “sunshine patriots,” those who embrace love for their country when it is thriving.  And certainly one can grasp the human preference for cheering on democracy when its benefits seem tangible and its flaws distant.  At such times, we rejoice in our form of government and pity those less endowed.

Yet a democracy, even one with a long venerable history like ours, can suffer decline as well as ascendance.  For like any institution, it consists of individuals and is susceptible to all human frailties including greed and incompetence.  And I am convinced the only real corrective is citizen engagement.

At the end of her remarkable novel, Middlemarch, writer George Eliot, a woman, seemed to suggest our present crisis when she wrote: “For the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts, the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.”  Back then, when social stability was more a given, perhaps just being decent was enough.  Now, however, every brave and civil act that upholds democracy or assists a neighbor or newcomer should be celebrated from the hilltops. (I graduated from Fitchburg’s St. Bernards in 1969)

R. Jay Allain

Orleans, MA 

More funding needed for mental health support

Massachusetts’ mental health crisis is a ticking time bomb, threatening to devastate families and communities already on the brink. The system fails those who need it most: children struggling in school, veterans fighting PTSD, and loved ones lost to suicide. We can’t afford to wait – every day means more suffering.

The numbers are stark: 47th in funding, 12-day wait times, and 60% without treatment. But it’s not just numbers – it’s a mother unable to find care for her anxious child, a veteran forced to wait months for therapy, a friend lost to suicide. We need bold reform, increased funding, and expanded access now.

Contact your representatives and demand change. Support the Mental Health Reform Act and help us build a system that heals, rather than harms. Let’s bring hope to those who need it most.

Ron Beaty

West Barnstable, MA

Biden will take climate change seriously

For every presidential election, there are always a multitude of issues voters must consider when deciding who to vote for. To me, there’s one issue that rises above all others this year: climate change. According to the UN Climate Chief, we have two years to save the planet. Two years to stop burning fossil fuels. Two years to fully transition to a clean energy economy. Two years to curb fossil fuel pollution.

This poll shows that nearly half of Americans thought Trump’s presidency hurt us on climate change. We are already living through the impacts of global warming: erratic weather patterns, wildfires, floods, loss of biodiversity, and ongoing pollution. Climate change is no longer some distant threat, but a current crisis. Unlike Trump, Biden’s administration supports policies prioritizing the climate crisis, supporting the transition to clean energy, rejoining the Paris accord, and targeting net zero emissions.

These shouldn’t be footnotes, they should be headlines. The long-term cost of ignoring climate change will outweigh any short-term economic or political turmoil we currently face. This year’s election is a binary choice and Joe Biden is the only one who will take action on climate change seriously.

Debora Hoffman

Belmont, MA

 

Health care needs to focus on disease prevention

With the COVID vaccine, a new malaria vaccine, and a tuberculosis vaccine in development, we are seeing a renaissance in disease prevention. But we squander their lifesaving power if the vaccines never reach communities that need them most. The situation is especially urgent for the more than 10 million children worldwide who’ve never received a single dose of critical childhood vaccines. In 2022, 4.9 million children under the age of 5 died due mostly to preventable health problems like diarrhea, pneumonia, and measles.

But there is proven strategy available that has already saved the lives of over 17.3 million children. Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance is an international partnership that provides essential supports for locally-led vaccine programs worldwide.

World leaders are coming together to reinvest in Gavi this year. I urge Congress and the Biden Administration to help set the tone for the global community with a bold, multiyear funding pledge. Let’s make sure our medical innovations are actually put to work preventing the diseases they aim to end.

William Deignan

Medford, MA 

Council only cares about welfare of poor people

The Shelter is close to Lowell Community Health Center. It is also close to two churches which provide services for the homeless. No one is going to want it in there back yard. Let’s talk to the Council about moving it to Belvedere or The Highlands. Lol That would be a good place for it. I would like to know who’s complaining about it besides Rita Mercier. So maybe we should move it next to her house! Maybe one of Lowell’s big developers has their eye on it for more $600,000 condos. For the rich lawyers and judges up the street. The Council’s last concern seems to be the welfare of these poor people, who put the roofs on their houses, dug their swimming pools, painted their houses, and vets that can’t walk.

Len Whitney 

Lowell, MA