Carole,

Thanks a lot!!

Jeff

Jeff Nestel-Patt
West Stockbridge Historical Society

Hi Carole,

Our Board unanimously decided to dissolve our 501(c)(3) today. Therefore, it is official that we will close our doors August 31st. Do you still want us to come to CTSB [on the Stockbridge Updates TV show] to talk about the daycare crisis?

Let me know.

Marianne Vallee, Director
Lenox Children’s Center
9 Old Center Street
Lenox, MA 01240

Dear Marianne,

Yes, I am looking forward to the interview. At Lenox Children’s Center, you and your staff provided an important service. The families you served were grateful and very sad with te outcome. Childcare is a problem across the country. It is an important conversation.

Carole

Dear Carole,

I always enjoy the photography that punctuates issues of Stockbridge updates. Would you consider asking the photographers to provide captions to appear alongside their photo credits? Even after more than 13 years in Stockbridge, there are many places I don’t recognize and can’t identify by sight. Noting locations, plant species, and other subject matter would enhance my appreciation of our beautiful town.

With gratitude,

Jon Geldert

Dear Jon: Aren’t you nice — that’s my fault — the photographers never did any captions but there was one staffer who did. The captions were meant to be more funny than informative, and I didn’t always think they were funny, so I dropped them. Your idea of just identifying places or species is a very good suggestion, and I will do that. Right now, is there a place you didn’t know? Send a copy of the photo and I will identify if I can.

Carole

Thanks, Carole,

Appreciate your kind and thoughtful reply. Yes, humor is tricky to navigate, especially amongst an opinionated population! Informative is probably less prone to controversy. No need to “back-caption” older photos, but very sweet of you to offer.  Hope you are enjoying this mini heat wave we are having!

Jon

To the editor

I want to thank the Humane Society which has given us a wonderful example of how to get things done and help people with little or no money. Too bad that we don’t apply their methods to how we manage our communities. Today everything seems to be about money and costs. We have to hire an Expert to tell us what to do and they give us expensive answers. But we have experts in our midst that can volunteer the information and people who can help to get things done.

My father, Joseph Franz was a wonderful example of how to get thing done with less money. We would not have Tanglewood or Jacob’s Pillow Dance theater if it were not for him volunteering his services. He was paid very little. Eliel Saarinen, the Expert Architect, was paid $2,000 for plans that were never used. My father was paid $1,000 and he built Tanglewood for less than the money that was raised from volunteer contributors.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to go back to simpler times and keep our Berkshires as beautiful as they are with the use of our home-grown experts?

Shirley F. Miller

To the editor: The funding of ambulance services seems to be a recurring issue. (First printed in the Berkshire Eagle in answer to “Great Barrington calls Southern Berkshire Ambulance Squad’s nearly $1M request unsustainable,” Eagle, April 9.)

It makes no sense. Providers complain that insurance does not cover the cost, but insurance companies don’t need a ride in the ambulance. People do and should be responsible for the bill. If they are reimbursed by insurance, so much the better, but that should not affect the vendor.

Perhaps the service has become more than people can afford. Once upon a time, ambulances were station wagons, even hearses. They provided a ride to the hospital — no treatment along the way. Perhaps we should move back to that model. It is good to have treatment during the ride, but how many of us can afford to ride in a half-million-dollar limousine?

In another state, I subscribed to an ambulance service. Here, that seems not to be an option. Why not? If ambulance companies go out of business, I suppose you can call Uber for a ride to the hospital. If you can’t walk to the car, you will have to suffer at home. That seems silly, but it might be in our future.

As with any business, any ambulance service has to charge enough to pay its expenses and earn a little profit. If it can’t, it will close up shop. Public funding might extend the service, but customers have to be willing to pay