Letter: Voters Should Reject Changes to RR Zone

To the Editor:

Williamstown residents attending town meeting on Tuesday, May 17, would be well-advised to watch the most recent "Talks on the Hill" at Williamstown Rural Lands, now playing on WilliNet.

It is hard not to conclude that town voters should reject the Planning Board's proposed articles with respect to our Rural Residence districts. In a succinct 30-minute presentation on "Low-Density Development," Regina Fink and Annika Harrington provide viewers with a deep understanding of the complexities of rural development and housing, delivered with a clarity that has been lacking from the Planning Board itself.

With neither research nor actual planning, the board is bringing a lengthy and confusing list of changes to town meeting. In origin and conception, several proposals treat the General and Rural Residence districts as equivalent, reducing lot sizes, decreasing frontage requirements, and allowing multi-unit buildings in both, as if equity were somehow served by using the same broad brush on zones that are different for a reason.

Rural Residence lands are not on the town water and sewer, they are farther from services and goods, and they provide important ecosystem benefits, such as farm and forestland, wildlife and plant preservation, stormwater management and carbon sequestration. As the climate crisis changes the paradigms by which our society can expect to live and survive, it is disheartening to see our Planning Board present us with a shallow, outdated, and naïve plan that will only further fragment our vital rural areas, without the slightest advantage in terms of affordability and equity.

Anne O'Connor
Williamstown, Mass.

Reverend: Christian Nationalists Make Jesus Victim of 'Identity Theft'

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
08:08AM / Sunday, October 04, 2026

David Langston introduces the Rev. Darrell Goodwin on Wednesday morning. 

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Rev. Darrell Goodwin told attendees at Wednesday's "PrayAction Breakfast" that they need more action to make their prayer effective.

 

"Sometimes prayer causes us to be in deep reflection," Goodwin told the group gathered at the Williamstown Meetinghouse. "And years and years and years pass, and we've actually done nothing about it.

 

"Our physical belief system is somehow: Say the words to God, and it becomes God's responsibility, and we've done our part because we've told God exactly what to do."

 

Goodwin, the president of the United Church of Christ's Southern New England Conference, was invited to Williamstown by First Congregational Church to speak on "The Challenge of Christian Nationalism."

 

And Goodwin challenged his listeners to take meaningful action to confront and address the ideology in their daily lives.

 

Christian Nationalism, which Goodwin referred to as White Christian Nationalism, is a perversion of Christ's teachings, he said.

 

"What does it mean to be spiritually grounded but practically committed?" Goodwin asked rhetorically. "This morning I've been asked to come here to talk about Christian Nationalism, but I think it would be remiss if I didn't say White Christian Nationalism. I want to name all three of these words because each tells us something that we must do.