Opinion

Opinion: Organ trading for reduced prison time

To the editor: The recently filed legislative bill in Massachusetts to set up a system whereby incarcerated people can trade bodily organs or bone marrow for reduced sentences is barbaric and just another systemic oppression and opportunity to...

Opinion: What’s up with DEP’s proposed septic system rule regarding nitrogen pollution?

To the editor: If you’ve been watching the local press over the past two weeks, you’ve seen a lot of articles about proposed changes to Title 5 septic system rules by the MA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). While this debate is far from...

Opinion: Martin Luther King Jr.'s influence at Alma Del Mar

To the editor: As January 16. approached, Alma Del Mar Charter School prepared for Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service alongside local AmeriCorps members. As a national day of service, our purpose was to serve the community by informing and...

Opinion: Reach out to our state legislators

To the Editor: John Lewis, the late Congressman and Civil Rights hero, said many incredibly wise things and among them was, "If you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have a moral obligation to do something about it.” Those are...

Opinion: Mental welfare in jail takes heart

To the editor: The Jan. 12 issue of Dartmouth Week featured the latest suicide at Bristol County jail. Firstly, we need to give thanks that Hodgson, whose cruelty to inmates welfare was well-established, whose overkill re-election posters saturated...

Opinion: Trump’s malign influence

To the editor: Trump’s lies and democracy defying antics, for which he is yet to be held truly accountable, has not only emboldened American legislators, but has inspired leaders and aspiring politicians in other countries. Brazil, Germany, Hungary...

Opinion: Putin’s war may line the pockets of American ammunition manufacturers but it still is barbaric and unjustified.

To the editor: Many Americans are vehemently opposed to the United States providing the Ukrainians with military aid and assistance. The reasons offered are threefold: Putin is justifiably concerned that NATO is absorbing the countries perilously...

Opinion: Is ‘trashy’ more insulting than a ‘basket of deplorables?’

To the editor: The most plausible explanation of what motivates and captivates MAGA supporters is that they are reacting to the attitude of the elitist liberals whom they believe have such disdain for them. Hillary Clinton, no doubt, lost a...

Opinion: Thank you, Mr. Bouley

To the editor: Yesterday, there was a meeting of the Prudential Committee at Dartmouth Town Hall, Slocum Road for 1 p.m. Meetings are presently at the Town Hall with Dartmouth Police present to make sure the residents of District 2 do not get out of...

Opinion: What the Fire District 2 Prudential Committee hath wrought

To the editor: Three emails were received this week about the last Prudential Committee meeting with comments from two older, former members of the District 2 Fire Company and also as past members of the Prudential Committee and one potential...

Opinion: Putting politics before public safety

To the editor: The two newest members of our Prudential Committee have offered the job of Fire Chief for district 2 to a man with limited experience when they already had the good fortune to have a chief of remarkable ability and dedication...

Opinion: Good luck to all of us now!

To the editor: Gross negligence and disregard on the part of Bob Bouley and Billy Coutu (new Prudential Committee members) offering the Fire Chief’s position to Policeman Scott Brooks, after a few unrelated and clueless questions were asked in a...

Opinion: Can the richest man in the world buy the U.S. presidency?

To the editor: Once Elon Musk runs out of financial challenges, and has purchased or produced billion dollar businesses that are only wealth accreting, does he look for loftier ego enhancing goals? The one remaining, but seemingly unattainable,...

Opinion: Communities have control over the nitrogen pollution problem

To the editor: MassDEP has proposed a set of regulations to address the nitrogen pollution degrading our coastal waters , including the Westport and Slocums Rivers. Action by the state and local communities to tackle this problem is long overdue...

Opinion: A response to ‘Beyond the icon’

To the editor: I am writing in response to the article entitled, “Beyond the Icon .” I am not Wampanoag so these thoughts are strictly my own. Beginning in elementary school I faced seemingly endless subtle and not so subtle racism in the classroom...

Opinion: Encouraging signs for the future

To the editor: The successful race of Paul Heroux to be the next sheriff in Bristol County is an encouraging sign that voters are paying attention and acknowledging that they want honesty and accountability from their elected officials. Cutting...

Opinion: Support An Act to reduce incidence and death from pancreatic cancer

To the editor: Both our House & Senate in Massachusetts recently passed a bill that will improve access to care not just for cancer patients, but for everyone in Massachusetts. The legislation passed will reform a practice known as step therapy...

Opinion: Hodgson and his antisemitic dog-whistle

To the editor: On Oct. 31, Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson dropped another Willie Horton style campaign ad . He'd already tried to frighten voters by accusing his opponent of coddling pedophiles with a non-existent vote on non-existent...

Opinion: In what alternate universe is Nancy Pelosi more of a threat to democracy than Donald Trump?

To the editor: Is it Nancy Pelosi’s gender, political affiliation or commitment to civil rights, the working class, the elderly, Medicare, universal health insurance, a clean and sustainable environment, quality education, workers’ compensation and...

Opinion: A blight on all of us that we need to fix

To the Editor: I write to endorse Paul Heroux for Bristol County Sheriff, and to ask all Bristol County voters to please take part in this election. Voting is how change happens, and we badly need a change in this office. First things first: The...

Opinion: Let us stop this nonsense

To the editor: Robert Bouley's constant repetition that "...a salary of over $100,000.00 is too expensive for the town's smallest district by population" is a tiresome canard, a misdirection the source of which cannot possibly be from well-thought...

Opinion: Paul Heroux is the Sheriff of today and the future

To the editor: On Nov. 8, please join me in voting for Attleboro Mayor Paul Heroux for Bristol County Sheriff. I am confident that Heroux will do a terrific job succeeding incumbent Thomas Hodgson who’s been in office for a quarter century and vying...

Opinion: Shining a light, a purple light

To the editor: Election Day 2022 is just weeks, really days, away and while I am a proud conservative Republican and it may seem obvious to any who read this for whom I am voting, I want to be completely and absolutely nonpartisan as my goal is not...

Opinion: The Meadow in the Russells Mills Town Pound, a green public benefit

To the editor: A recent and notably positive development in our community has been the creation of a meadow within the walls of our historic Town Pound (a 19th Century corral for keeping wayward agricultural livestock). This repurposed historic site...

Opinion: Vote Trump out of Bristol County

To the editor: In Bristol County the voters have an ideal opportunity to register their complete and utter rejection of Donald Trump and his brand of ego-centric nativism by electing a new Sheriff to replace Thomas Hodgson. The pronouncements, hate...

Opinion: Reply to Harry Booth

To the editor: Harry Booth makes light of criticisms of Sheriff Thomas Hodgson's substandard food and extremist connections, suggesting that both charges are inventions. In 2018, following food protests by 60 ICE detainees and 250 other prisoners,...

Opinion: Sheriff Hodgson does not run a country club

To the editor: Betty Ussach and David Ehrens each had recent letters in their anti-Tom Hodgson series appear in Dartmouth Week. They both seem to be singing in the same choir about the Sheriff’s alleged collusion with white supremacists, but neither...

Opinion: Sheriff Hodgson, not every criticism hides a political agenda

To the editor: Every couple of weeks there appears a letter to the editor. or a statement by Sheriff Hodgson, that defensively accuses all the people who have written or spoken critically of him of having political agendas. Indeed so many of these...

Opinion: Regarding Robert E. Bouley's letter of Oct. 8

To the editor: Mr. Bouley thinks Sheriff Hodgson's cruelty equals "rehabilitation over recreation." Bouley goes on to say, "Taxpayers pay a lot already for inmates’ food, medical care, programming and other things. We shouldn’t have to pay more to...

Opinion: I applaud Sheriff Hodgson for his ‘rehabilitation over recreation’ approach

To the Editor: If there is one underlying theme I keep seeing over and over again in media coverage on Sheriff Hodgson’s jails, it’s that the criminals are the victims, and the victims and officers are the criminals. It seems like every story I read...

Opinion: Anthony Amore for Auditor

To the Editor: I am proud to join Governor Charlie Baker in enthusiastically supporting and wholeheartedly endorsing Anthony Amore for Auditor. Anthony Amore has a stellar résumé, graduating from the University of Rhode Island and earning a Master...

Opinion: Tom Hodgson is the right person to serve We, the People of Bristol County

To the editor: Sheriff Thomas Hodgson is a man of honor, character, loyalty, integrity, compassion, sincerity, and faith. I could not be prouder to work for him as his Administrative and Legislative Assistant at the Bristol County Sheriff's Office...

Opinion: Time for a change at the Bristol County Sheriff’s Office

To the editor: Sheriff Thomas Hodgson is asking for six more years. If elected, this would bring his tenure to 31 years at the end of his 5th full term in office. We’re talking nearly a third of a century! That’s a big ask from such a controversial...

Opinion: Greg Edgcomb has earned the job

To the editor: I recommend hiring Greg Edgcomb, the Acting Chief of Fire District 2, into the permanent role. Compensation in the range of $115,000 is appropriate. Voters approved this salary at the annual meeting. This salary is lower than DFD 3...

Opinion: The Prudential Committee needs to keep Greg Edgcomb

To the editor: Bob Bouley and Billy Coutu continue be swayed by blatant misinformation about Fire District 2 and interim Chief Greg Edgcomb, therefore misinforming voters to get themselves elected in April, as the two newest members, of which there...

Opinion: Let’s drop the charade, Boulay and Coutu

To the editor: As a long-time resident of Fire District #2 (44+ years), I have never seen such unprofessional behavior by the Prudential Committee. There appears to be some hidden agenda that is being kept from the people who voted two new members...

Opinion: Sign(s) of the times

To the editor: The colossal, in-your-face “Keep Tom” signs that stalk Route 6 in Dartmouth tell us a lot about Sheriff Hodgson. These signs–many on for-lease commercial properties—are meant to project an aura of power and permanence around the...

Opinion: Dartmouth, a dumping ground for New Bedford?

To the editor: During the last several years, the Town of Dartmouth has grappled with the extent and liability of soil contamination in what has been delineated as the Bliss Corner cleanup area. Pursuant to an order by the Massachusetts Department...

Opinion: To deny a chief of such talent a contract and the meeting majority approved salary is in no one’s best interest

To the editor: During the annual meeting at the Dartmouth District 2 Fire Station, a firefighter assigned there rose to speak. He praised Chief Edgcomb saying he had full confidence in his decision making capabilities in crisis situations. The Aug...

Opinion: The $15,000 war

To the editor: Acting Chief Greg Edgcomb was appointed to his position in November 2021 after the former Fire Chief, Timothy Andre, resigned from his position. 27 years ago, Greg Edgcomb began his career at Fire District 2 as a call firefighter...

Opinion: Sheriff Hodgson takes action

To the editor: In reply to much vitriolic criticism of the record and reputation of Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson, I ask that opponents pause and reflect on a few facts. First, and perhaps foremost, Sheriff Hodgson’s continued goal is to...

Opinion: We must not lose Edgcomb

To the editor: In the short time that Acting Chief Edgcomb has led Fire District 2, policies he instituted produced significant improvements. Among achievements but not limited to those listed below are: Improved firefighter communication including...

Opinion: We are lucky to have someone representing us who has no hidden agendas

To the editor: I am writing to support the re-election of Chris Markey as the Representative for the 9th Bristol District. He has served since 2011 and has been an outstanding representative for the varying needs of his district.He is a champion for...

Opinion: Owners and developers must play by the rules

To the editor: As reported in Dartmouth Week, the Dartmouth Board of Public Works (BPW) held a public hearing on Aug. 24 to discuss the after-the-fact felling of 12 mature Black Locust trees (diameter 18 inches) on town-owned property facing Wilson...

Opinion: Markey is out of step

To the editor: Thanks for your coverage of the debate between incumbent State Rep. Chris Markey and challenger Cameron Costa . As a Dartmouth voter, I watched the debate online and had two strong reactions: first, I was shocked that Rep. Markey...

Opinion: Is saving $15,000 worth a man’s life?

To the editor: I hope everyone in District 2 reads the recent article on Fire Chief Greg Edgcomb saving a life at the Allen's Neck Friends Meeting Clambake. It was his quick thinking and experience that saved that gentleman's life. Two members of...

Opinion: Why I am supporting Andrea Campbell for attorney general

To the editor: It has become increasing rare to find a candidate for public office who supports the goals and aspirations of the citizens of this Commonwealth. It is even rarer to discover someone whose personal story is both so tragic and yet...

Opinion: Kudos to the Dartmouth police and SWAT team

To the editor: The recent standoff with a Dartmouth resident who ostensibly suffered from mental problems was resolved without injury or death, which is a testament to police and SWAT de-escalation tactics. With proper training and awareness of...

Opinion: Concerns about search for new District 2 fire chief

To The Editor: As Fire District 2 residents we are writing to express our concerns about the process of selecting a new Chief. The following items describe the issues at hand: 1. Acting Chief Greg Edgcomb held two helpful educational meetings in...

Opinion: Hodgson must go

To the editor: Sheriff Hodgson’s brutal methods are well-known. We also know that he had his ICE facility closed because of it. What’s the result of his approach? More people return to jail under the current sheriff than any other jailer in the...