Ted Connors - A friend and mentor: Letters

Ted Connors - A friend and mentor

July 19 − To the Editor:

I am a lucky person to have had Ted Connors as a friend and mentor for the past 50-plus years. Webster defines a friend as “a person who you like and enjoy being with, and a person who helps or supports someone or something.” There could not be a better description of the man, Ted Connors.

When we started our Servpro business in 1978, Ted and the Portsmouth Housing Authority became one of our initial customers. He critiqued our performance and offered suggestions on how to make our business a reliable source for the services we provided. His recommendations to others helped grow the business which lead to its success.

We often met for a morning cup of coffee at his office in the Margeson Apartments. We talked about Portsmouth and New Hampshire politics. I caught his enthusiasm for helping our community, and with his encouragement and advice, I ran and was elected to Portsmouth City Council for 7 terms. If Ted had not been my mentor and friend, I would not have been able to successfully meet the goals of making Portsmouth better.

The four of us, Ted and Lis and Kay and I, have a relationship that was respectful, friendly, and contained much fun. We enjoyed the successes of our children and grand-children. Although the past 17 months have been difficult, Ted was always positive. Ted made a goal to be here for he and Lis’ 60th wedding anniversary. Kay and I were blessed to join them in this special moment.

Ted’s accomplishments speak for themselves. We were fortunate to have had a ring side seat at his table.

Bill Wagner

Portsmouth

Dog waste the the likely culprit causing fecal contamination at beaches

July 20 − To the Editor:

Fecal contamination of our Seacoast beaches only seems to have become a problem in recent years, once large numbers of people began to bring their dogs to the beaches and allow their dogs to run around the beaches, even in areas where dogs aren't allowed. The wildlife that has existed in harmony with nature for centuries, livestock which is miles away from any beach, and now the fish houses, which have been at the beach for a couple centuries, are being blamed for the contamination, while the obvious recent trend of pounds of dog feces infesting our beaches are the most likely culprit.

Travis Murray stated in Angeljean Chiaramida's article on Seacoastonline that “literally, one dog pooping on the beach can cause the high bacteria counts. That’s all it takes.” Unfortunately, it is exponentially more than just one dog pooping on the beach − hundreds and possibly thousands of dogs are being brought to a place where they don't belong year round, and a percentage of them are defecating on the beach. What is the town of North Hampton − and the surrounding towns of Hampton and Rye − willing to do to stop dogs from running around our beaches (disturbing visitors, knocking down toddlers, and putting people in danger in the process) and producing dog fecal contamination?

Laurie A. Couture

Newmarket

Doctor is wrong. Socialized medicine won't work.

July 18 -- To the Editor:

The esteemed retired physician James Fieseher of Dover attempts to recover from his letter recently espousing Socialized Healthcare here in the United States.

The good doctor goes on to decry his previous position and outright denies his previous letter touting socialized medicine. I chose to use his own premise to shed light on how bad socialized medicine is and using Great Britain as the prime example. The facts speak for themselves. They don’t need me to speak about how bad their system is for the patient!

Dr. Fieseher needs to remember that the government simply cannot overhaul the U.S. healthcare system by taxing the citizens and businesses. This will take time and cooperation politically and that is not easy these days. All of us want affordable and excellent medical care but it is not going to happen with socialized medicine. He should be mindful that people read these pages and he needs to live by what he says. A desperate retort as this column is, does not bode well for his beliefs in what he stated earlier.

Be realistic Dr. Fieseher stop trying to fix the ills of the United States with socialistic suggestions as they simply cannot be funded nor work.

T. Stephen McCarthy

Portsmouth

Northern Lights a reminder of how Planet Earth protects us

July 18 -- To the Editor:

Weather has certainly been in the news lately, both on land and in space. It is much easier to see the results of rain and wind on Earth than to see the results of material flying through space. One indication of space weather is seeing the Northern Lights from time to time. Just like an indicator light on an appliance, it is a reminder that part of Mother Nature's space defense system is working.

Unlike the Moon or Mars, the Earth has a strong magnetic field and a relatively thick atmosphere that acts to shield us from Space Weather. When events occur such as a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) from our Sun, charged/ionized particles come streaming to Earth and interact with the magnetic field and atmosphere. The result is a beautiful and eerie glow. So to hear from some folks that if we harm the Earth’s environment, we can just go live on the Moon or Mars, that is a pretty naive thought process.

In addition to a lack of easy drinking water and air to breathe, the Space Weather on the Moon and Mars is quite withering and can prove fatal at times. Unless you are living a number of feet under the Lunar/Martian surface, your cells are going to be damaged by the charged/ionized particles, X-Rays and cosmic rays raining down on and passing thorough your body. There is no thick atmosphere to shield and protect you there.

We really need to take care of our Mother Earth. Instead of talking about terraforming Mars to make it more livable, we should stop negatively terraforming Earth with carbon dioxide and methane emissions. Mother Nature will increasingly show us her tough love until we start behaving better. Until then, she will keep sending more flooding, severe wind, hail, drought and heat until we are washed, blown, starved, baked or burned away. So when you look up and see the Northern Lights someday, remember that it is a reminder that there is no Planet B.

Don Cavallaro

Rye

Biden has added 2.4 times more job than Trump

July 17 − To the Editor:

Donald Trump says he was a great job creator and Joe Biden is wrecking the economy.  Is he right?  The government’s Bureau of Labor Statistics keeps track of the number of jobs created each month.  We can exclude 2020 because of COVID.  In Trump’s first three years, the economy added 6,568,000 jobs.  That was down from the last three years of Barack Obama’s term.  He added 8,423,000 jobs.  Joe Biden has only been in office for 2 ½ years yet his presidency has created 15,861,000 jobs.  That is more than 2.4 times as many jobs as Trump in 6 months less time.

Unemployment is the lowest in 50 years.  There are help wanted signs everywhere.  We should all be grateful Biden won the 2020 election and want him to win again.

Walter Hamilton

Portsmouth

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Ted Connors - A friend and mentor: Letters