To the editor:
“Blue ears,” the tagged Stockbridge bear, paid us a visit today on Rattlesnake Mountain. In the spirit of the “Rattlesnake Gang” I got out our BB gun and let him have it. I got him once in his front leg and once in the butt as he was retreating. He won’t come back. Why do I know this? Bears have really good memories and if they find a place inhospitable to them, they stay away from that place.
Well, speaking of memories (and they say us Yankees a k a “woodchucks” have good memories): I recall, quite vividly, an episode where a good friend of mine was being, sort of, harassed by a relatively new neighbor to remove his 40-plus years permitted business from its headquarters off a road here in Stockbridge. It was an issue about operating a business in a residential zone in town. Well, long tale short my friend won out because he had a permit to use his property to operate the business.
What my memory brings back so vividly is during the hearing before the Stockbridge Zoning Board of Appeals I couldn’t contain myself and got up to speak. I addressed the person making the complaint and said, “We live here, too, and have for a long time. We have seen new folks moving into our town because they think what we have preserved is so wonderful. That’s fine, we like it, too, as is, BUT our problem is that you move here and try and change here into where you came from. That just doesn’t fly and never will.”
Why do I bring this to the table now? That same person who harassed my friend and made him spend unnecessary dollars on a lawyer is running for planning board in Stockbridge. Make your own decision when it comes to the vote. I have.
John H. Hart
Stockbridge
