Opinion: Letters to the editor: Protect ponds, praise for Mashpee schools, rec

Time to protect ponds for swimming

I live on Long Pond in Centerville, one of the first Cape ponds to be closed

to swimming each summer (8 years in a row for us) by the harmful algae bloom.

The causes are clear: septic and lawn fertilizer runoff.

An effective government would not permit a few citizens to ruin the summer

swim season for all of us. Title V is woefully inadequate. The state should mandate

inspections of existing homes every three years, not just when the property is sold

to an outsider. Cesspools should be illegal anytime. This is not rocket science, just

good governance and protection of our common property.

Likewise,  lawns within 100 yards of water should not be fertilized. There should

be fines in place for such selfish activity! The algae blooms reduce property values,

according to many valid studies. Probably a greater effect on property value than a

brilliant green lawn.

These two loopholes can be closed by legislation, and should have been decades

ago. Now is the time to act, please. I have shared these thoughts with Senator Cyr

and Rep Diggs. I urge your readers to do likewise.

      Steve Waller, Centerville

Universal Pre-K is valuable service

Dear Editor,

Today I was delighted to read Superintendent Patricia DeBoer’s weekly message. She announced there will be Before and After School Care for 4-year-olds in the Mashpee Public Schools Universal Pre-K program offered through the Mashpee Recreation Department! My eldest child entered the Universal Pre-K program at Kenneth C. Coombs School in 2017. The program ran from 9:05-3:35 pm and I worked in Orleans. Fortunately, I had a flexible morning schedule, the ability, and means to secure one of TWO open slots available for aftercare at the Kids Klub AND a willing father-in-law who picked up my son daily from KC Coombs and brought him to Kids Klub.

Since then, I have heard from many MPS parents who either struggled with the program time or elected not to enroll their child in the Universal Pre-K program. Now, because of the support offered through the Mashpee Rec and MPS, our youngest residents will benefit from the strong foundation preschool undeniably provides. If you know someone in the community who needs to know things have changed, ask them to call 508-539-1520.

If you would like to see more programs offered like this throughout the Cape, talk to your local legislators and school committees about what’s happening at MPS. Also, head to commonstartma.org/news/its-time-to-pass-child-care-legislation-this-session to learn more about how you can help the final passage of the Legislature’s Education Committee landmark bill, H.4795/S.2883, titled An Act to Expand Access to High-Quality, Affordable Early Education and Care, which will transform early childhood education and childcare in Massachusetts.

Noëlle Pina, Mashpee

If government doesn't work, change it

Isn’t the Fourth of July supposed to be about LIBERTY?  We now face the “Supreme” Court sabotaging our democracy, depriving millions of women of our reproductive rights.What a sad time for our country!

With a court that consists of (at least) one judge with credible accusations (plural) of sexual  attack; another with credible accusations (plural) of sexual harassment, and whose wife apparently took part in the attempted overthrow of the government, and a whole bunch who, oddly, seem not to understand the principle of separation of church and state.  A court that is miles away from the views of the majority of the citizens it serves, and doesn’t appear to care.

How can a handful of people get away with this when forced pregnancy is a war crime punishable by the International Criminal Court?

Can we welcome this larger court to investigate the ruling of our ethically challenged authoritarians?

Can we impeach the judges who lied to Congress?

Can we vow this Fourth of July that we’ll all do our best to make this country a real democracy?

After all, the government is supposed to derive its powers “from the consent of the governed"?

As the Declaration of Independence says, "That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Reilly Pavia, Orleans

This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Opinion: Letters to editor: Protect ponds, praise Mashpee schools, rec