Editorial/Opinion

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Be thankful for the spirit of giving Despite war abroad and violence seemingly everywhere, we in the Berkshires region have a lot to be thankful for — not the least of which are the countless, selfless volunteers who continually take time to help others. While their contributions are particularly noted during the holiday season, many of them contribute their time and labor or give major donations throughout the year. During this time of giving thanks, we at The Advocate ask our readers to join the never-ending battle against hunger, poverty, crime and social injustice. Think about joining a community organization or pitching in yourself. In the coming days, the spirit of giving will be all around us. Together, let’s help it continue throughout the year. ...A message from The Advocate Editorial Board Civil marriage should be a right To the Editor: It is time for people of faith to see through to the heart of the issue. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court's decision on civil marriage rights is about people who have been denied rights that most married people take for granted — the right to share medical records, insurance benefits, inheritance rights, parental rights, hospital visitation rights and many others. It is about people who are committed to each other, love each other and who ask for recognition of that commitment. It is about people who are just as God intended them to be — created in the image of God. Some will say that the SJC’s decision extends "special rights" to gays and lesbians, or that it breaks from “traditional values.” We, members of the Berkshire County clergy, in accord with our understanding of our religious traditions, say that the right to civil marriage is a fundamental right. We affirm the value of every human life and the sanctity of committed relationships. Extending marriage rights to all does not damage anyone. Rather, it strengthens marriage by reaffirming and sanctifying what marriage is really about — love, commitment, mutual care and family. If we continue to deny marriage rights to some, we will deny this truth and cheapen marriage. We call on our representatives in the Massachusetts Legislature to support the SJC’s decision by affirming the civil marriage rights of every citizen of the commonwealth without regard to sexual orientation. We ask you, our fellow citizens, to contact your representatives and make your feelings known to them. At the same time, we recognize that not all people of faith and members of the clergy share in our support of the SJC’s decision. Some regret that this issue has been raised. They are our friends and colleagues and we respect their beliefs. Still, it is our contention that the civil rights of some should not be denied because of the religious beliefs and opinions of others. The right to marry may be the great civil rights question of our time. As in years past, we believe that it is the obligation of people of faith to defend vigorously the dignity of every human being. We speak from our hearts as people of faith. The Rev. Carrie Bail, Williamstown; Rabbi Sigma F. Coran, Williamstown; Rabbi Jeffrey Goldwasser, North Adams; the Rev. Jill D. Graham, North Adams; Rabbi Andrew Klein, Great Barrington; Rabbi Matthew A. Kraus, Williamstown; the Rev. Bert Marshall, Lee; Rabbi Dennis S. Ross, Pittsfield; the Rev. Penny Rich Smith, Williamstown; the Rev. Richard E. Spalding, Williamstown; the Rev. John G. Wightman, Sheffield; Rabbi Deborah Zecher, Lenox Guido’s plan looks promising To the editor: I am intrigued by the design of the proposed new Guido’s Market in Lenox. It looks promising and a step forward from their existing stores. To build sustainably is well overdue, as well as being more daring and bold. To copy the past forever is morbid. We live in the 21st century with new materials and technology. There need not be a clash between good design of the past and the future. A good architect knows how to integrate and harmonize. We should be proud to look forward and to innovate. This is happening all over the world. Let’s keep up with the times. The rendering I saw is promising, but I could not detect any natural light entering, nor the materials, entrances, colors, siding etc. I am eagerly awaiting what could (should) be a master plan of progress and a challenge to the existing cluttered supermarkets. Let’s hope. Clemens Kalischer Stockbridge A holiday plea for local businesses To the editor: To every local and regional resident, “Happy holidays.” This holiday season, your family, friends and neighbors who have opened new businesses, as well as ones who have been operation all along, we need your help and patronage! Surely every small business owner will agree that this season we ask shoppers and diners to try to avoid super stores and malls. Your help drives the local economy and entrepreneurial spirit. Together, we can create busy, bustling downtowns again. Our region is stocked full of new and old shops, restaurants and cultural institutions that need you! This year, we have experienced the bad (war, terrorism and a sour economy) and the good (necessary and beautiful large construction projects). That has all had an effect on different businesses, but most share the same story: Business for the most part is down this year. Not all have felt the pinch equally, yet any downturn is still a downturn. While most local cultural and lodging institutions had an OK year, most of the small businesses owned by people you know didn’t fare as well. It is widely understood that this year all finances need to be watched closely and belts have to be tightened. This plea is not for people to stay completely out of major stores and malls, just to remember the sacrifices being made by people you know or may not know, who are working to bring back our bustling downtowns and communities and a region we all can be proud of. Thank you. Daniel Weissbrodt North Adams To the Editor, Renzi was right to criticize Bush The letter writers who bashed Advocate columnist Ralph Renzi in last week’s Advocate for his comments on President Bush were both out of order and completely wrong. First of all, President Bush may claim he is for stem cell research, but as usual, he is lying, saying one thing and doing the opposite. If he were actually for stem cell research, he would have opened it up to more than the “60 stem cell lines” he designated for taxpayer funded research, of which only 12 are currently available to scientists (Boston Globe). Bush’s aim here, of course, is to appease the religious right by actually restricting stem cell research in the United States. As for Renzi's statement “he (Bush) is one of the worst presidents this nation has struggled under,” the only part Ralph got wrong is “one of.” Here is a president who is still trying as hard as he can to cover up his administration’s failures to heed intelligence warnings about the 9/11 al Qaida attacks (a Berkshire Eagle article on 11/8/03 said that members of the federal commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks “were still weighing a subpoena to the administration for Oval Office documents that President Bush received in the days before Sept. 11” — and this is a bipartisan committee, not an independent one!). Bush has instituted a dangerous new policy of preemptive military strikes against countries that are deemed threats; he has led the invasion and conquest of two nations, killing hundreds of U.S. soldiers and thousands of Arab soldiers and civilians. He has failed to kill or capture either al Qaida leader Osama bin Laden or Iraq President Saddam Hussein, both of whom may still be directing attacks against Americans and their allies, attacks which have increased drastically in the past month. Bush's unilateral stance and utter lack of diplomacy in his rush into a war that the United Nations would not back have turned American into the most hated and feared nation on earth. At home, Bush’s economic policies have led to an unemployment rate of over 6 percent, up 2 percent since he took office, and an anticipated deficit of $410 billion to 425 billion dollars, the largest budget deficit in our history — and that doesn’t even include the cost of the war in Iraq, which is currently running about 4 billion a month. And I won’t even dig into an unprecedented record of anti-environmental acts, beginning with Bush refusing to sign the Kyoto Protocol on global warming which 178 other countries agreed on. All this is certainly “streettalk.” Every day I run into someone who complains about the latest outrage committed by this president. Hal March Williamstown Criticism should be constructive To the editor: With regard to Ralph Hammann's highly negative review of “The Real Inspector Hound” (Nov. 12), I saw the production and thought the cast at the Main Street Stage approached the play intelligently and with a delightful sense of farce. It is true that the English accents wandered from Sussex to Somerset, but this added to the sense of absurdity. Possibly the wigs were a distraction, and the pace could have been brisker. However, two of the actors were excellent, and the others performers displayed skillful comic timing. For Ralph Hammann to use his review to launch a personal attack on Frank La Frazia suggests dyspepsia rather than artistic discernment. The Main Street Stage is the equivalent of off-off-Broadway or pub theater in London, where young directors are free to try out eccentric approaches to drama. This company performs a very valuable role in bringing us plays of all kinds during the dark days of winter, when the Williamstown Theatre Festival has folded its tent and decamped. We can support their work by getting involved, volunteering, proffering advice. And of course, donating money. Constructive criticism, rather than assault with a blunt instrument, would allow the Main Street Stage to grow and enrich our lives. Jane Poncia Williamstown SPEAKOUT! Give theater company its due In his review of the Main Street Stage production of Tom Stoppard’s “The Real Inspector Hound,” Ralph Hammann presented a mean and unforgiving picture of a brave and worthy company. This North Adams theater group, consisting of professionals and amateurs, deserves constructive criticism, rather than comparison with the summertime productions of the rich and privileged Williamstown Theatre Festival. In striving to be incisive, Hammann may be disinclined to be generous to the Main Street Stage, but he would do well to tip his hat to its year-round effort to bring theater to the region. Peter Burchard Williamstown What’s on YOUR mind? Speakout, a new column offered by The Advocate, is designed to draw out a multitude of opinion on countywide, state, national and international issues, in the hope of providing a lively public forum. The Advocate invites its entire readership to take part. Here’s your chance to speak out on any topic you like. Send your comments of 200 words or less to “SPEAKOUT!” The Advocate, 100 Main St., North Adams MA 01247, e-mail them to news@advocateweekly.com or fax them to 413-664-7900. Please include your first name and the town in which you live. Comments must be received no later than noon on Mondays to make it into each Wednesday’s paper. E-mails are preferred, when possible. No libelous comments or remarks in poor taste will be permitted. The Advocate reserves the right not to print any comments for those or other reasons, including personal attacks, and to edit the comments for length and clarity. Where is Xenophon when we need him? A column by Edmund P. Cunningham With over 13,000 Greeks in danger of moral peril and penned in by Persia’s less than welcome terrain, Xenophon, a student of Socrates and one who had earlier implored the Delphic oracle for guidance, successfully retreated to Greece through 1,500 miles of treacherous mountains, all endlessly inhabited by countless hostile tribes. He recorded the journey in his legendary writing called “The Anabasis.” That was 400 B.C., but even to this day his genius and strategies are the subject for war colleges throughout the world. Now Asia Minor has long since been forgotten, but Iraq remains in a wash of oil and is unhappily occupied by 130,000 American troops. Fatalities are an integral part of war but hardly a subject to be dealt with in a cavalier fashion. There are those would-be semanticists who will claim we are not occupying Iraq, rather we are the third millennium conscience or Red Cross or something. In no way am I recommending retreat, but sometimes I do question the leadership qualities of the current administration when it places some poor soul like retired General Jake Garner in charge of the rebuilding of Iraq and in a matter of a half dozen weeks sacks him and then hangs him out to dry. The gentleman they replaced him with, the current American Administrator L. Paul Bremer III, is clearly a class act, but what’s happening on a daily basis is dreadfully scary. Back in the late ’60s and early ’70s, I well remember flying on a weekly basis out of the then Washington National, Dulles or Baltimore airports when all too often the flight would be delayed to accommodate the removal out of the plane’s cargo belly of yet another coffin containing the remains of still another victim of the Vietnam conflict. In the line awaiting the boarding of each trip, there would be at least one set of parents agonizing with their pink-faced son, for he was on his way to Vietnam and may well have never returned. Today, much of that trauma takes place in Delaware, where the media are forbidden to pursue their trade. Back then, my own three sons were coming of age, and I would be dishonest if I didn’t admit that the thought of renting a lovely apartment in Montreal more than once crossed my mind. Near 20 years earlier, at the very end of the Korean Conflict, I had arrived on a landing barge upon the less than scenic shores of Inchon and remained there on foot for 16 months while living for one entire winter in a tent. My judgment was, I didn’t think that was necessary for my children. In the months that followed the 1945 conclusion of WW II, Mr. Truman, with the assist of the remaining advisors from Mr. Roosevelt’s brief but last administration, established the stern requirement for the decade that would follow to select proper leadership for the governance of both Japan and Germany. If you give thought of it now, that is to say, the results that followed over the years, the collective selections were brilliant. The first priority was to reassemble the Empire of Japan. General Douglas Macarthur, who was already a legend in his own time, was rightfully chosen and in a matter of 10 years had created a Nation. Its persona today is one of a functioning allied country whose industrial strength and genius require no apologies. The names of the latter day Monday morning quarterbacks who have questioned the old general’s strategies were and are in the dust bowl of history’s burial ground. His name, with all of its plaudits, will remain as long as history remains a part of our conscience. Germany, an equal priority, was eventually assigned as its American High Commissioner, Harvard’s long reigning president, James Bryan Conant. He with the cerebrum of a giant, together with the likes of General, and later Secretary of State, George Marshal and all too many others, reestablished a diverse but cohesively cultured Europe which today is even economically in the throes of becoming one. We had spilled an awful lot of the blood of our flower through Africa, Italy and the balance of Europe to establish the independence of France and Germany so that in time they would have the freedom, now and then, to respond with a “No!” The common thread between both of these post war monumental accomplishments was the international notoriety of every individual whose leadership, guidance and direction was tantamount to the success of each step along the way. A bit of a stretch, but nonetheless an example, Conant taught General Tojo at Harvard. When he needed information or help, he knew who to call. Every single one of them could pick up a primitive phone and on a one-on-one basis get the job done. With all due respect to A. Paul Bremer III, I don’t see all of that happening. Like, who is he? Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is reminiscent of Truman’s Secretary of Defense Louis A. Johnson (1949), who through a lack of understanding of what the army was all about had no idea of what preparations were needed to fulfill the requirements that were necessary to assist South Korea at the beginning of the Korean conflict. Mr. Truman resurrected George Marshall for Defense to at least begin with the proper building of the army. An op-ed that appeared in the London Financial Times on Nov. 11, written by Ivo Daalder and James Lindsay, quite simply said, “While President George W. Bush insists that, ‘America will never run,’ a fierce debate is raging just below the surface of his administration over when and how America should exit from Iraq.” Where is Xenophon now that we need him? Retiree Edward P. Cunningham lives in North Adams and writes occasional commentary.
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Senior Golf Series Returns in September

Community submission
PITTSFIELD, Mass. -- The Berkshire County Fall Senior Golf series returns in September with events on five consecutive Wednesdays starting Sept. 18.
 
It is the 22nd year of the series, which is a fund-raiser for junior golf in the county, and it is open to players aged 50 and up.
 
The series will feature two divisions for each event based on the combined ages of the playing partners.
 
Golfers play from the white tees (or equivalent) with participants 70 and over or who have a handicap of more than 9 able to play from the forward tees.
 
Gross and net prices will be available in each division.
 
The cost is $55 per event and includes a round of golf, food and prizes. Carts are available for an additional fee.
 
Golfers should call the pro shop at the course for that week's event no sooner than two weeks before the event to register.
 
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