Letter: Bright Future for Outdoor Marijuana Cultivation in Williamstown

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To the Editor:

As a small vegetable farmer in Williamstown, I am a strong supporter of the citizens petition on outdoor marijuana cultivation that will be voted on at the Williamstown town meeting on Aug. 18.

As a young person and a farmer, I am perplexed and frustrated by the fear that is driving opposition to this bylaw. I am looking to the future, where farmers have diversified revenue streams and are able to make a living wage.

Everyone in Williamstown benefits from the pastoral scenery that farmers are critically important in maintaining. It is the working farms that keep our open lands open. It is the working farms that help keep property values high in Williamstown.



This citizens petition, warrant article 34, is a thoughtful, well drafted bylaw that continues to allow outdoor cultivation—it has been legal in Williamstown since 2017—but offers more guidance and best practices for anyone seeking to take the leap, and our farmers here in town are the ones best poised to do so.

I care as deeply about the landscape here in Williamstown as any conservationist. When a farm fails, the land becomes another million-dollar house lot. We are at an inflection point as many of our longtime farmers age out of the business. Now, more than ever, diverse revenue streams are important to the continued viability of farms and new farmers, and also the rural character of this town. Commercial outdoor cultivation of marijuana can be a critical revenue stream for farmers in the future, so let's give them that opportunity!

 

Brian Cole
Williamstown, Mass.

 

 


Tags: marijuana,   town meeting 2020,   

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Letter: Vote for Someone Other Than Trump

Letter to the Editor

To the Editor:

I urge my Republican friends to vote for someone other than Donald Trump in November. His rallies are getting embarrassingly sparse and his speeches more hostile and confused. He's looking desperately for money, now selling poor-quality gold sneakers for $399. While Trump's online fans embrace him more tightly, more and more of the people who actually worked with Trump have broken with him, often issuing statements denouncing his motives, intellect, and patriotism.

Mike Pence is the most recent, but the list now includes William Barr, former attorney general (who compared him to a 9-year-old); former NSC Chairs Bolton and McMaster; former Defense Secretaries Mattis and Esper; former Chiefs of Staff Kelly and Mulvaney; former Secretary of State Tillerson; former Homeland Security chief Bossert; and former Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, who referred to Trump as a "wannabe dictator." This level of rejection by former colleagues is unprecedented in American politics.

Are these people just cozying up to the Establishment "Uniparty," as his fans would have it? No. Most of them are retired from politics. It's just that they see the danger most clearly. General Milley is right. Trump's most constant refrain is his desire to hurt his critics, including traditional conservatives. Although Liz Cheney lost her Wyoming seat in Congress, he now wants her jailed for investigating him.

This man should not be president of the USA.

Jim Mahon
Williamstown, Mass.

 

 

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