Scott Reed: Shout out to Northeast Biodiesel workers

Northeast Biodiesel’s recent closing is disappointing for many reasons. One is that our region’s used cooking oil will continue to be exported to other countries that have the infrastructure to recycle it into heating and transportation fuel. Another...

Jon Nelms: What happened to free speech?

What was most gratifying about university students protesting genocide last spring was that their concern was based on their empathy for people who aren’t one of us, rather than for our troops or spending priorities, as has been the case with past...

Scott Ingram: Politics as unusual

Since moving to Southampton in 2022 my wife and I have enjoyed the quiet beauty of this small town. Last night a different side of this strange world in which we live today revealed itself. MAGA goons stole my Harris/Walz yard sign and left some...

Karen Ranen: Rotaries and roundabouts

Every time I enter a rotary or roundabout I’m taking my life in my hands. I believe we all are. Cars often enter the rotary without knowledge or thought to the rules. Roundabouts have sprung up left and right, and now more are being planned for South...

Richard T. Chu: Collaboration, transparency absent in Northampton city government

I read Gazette columnist Andrea Ayvazian’s piece (“Building solutions: Our collaborative spirit,” Sept. 21) with bemusement if not with dismay at the way she portrays the city as a city that has been collaborative or consultative in regards to its...

Guest columnist Dr. Christopher Flory: What is rock bottom for health care?

By DR. CHRISTOPHER FLORY

At a recent gathering, I had on my “Medicare-For-All” (MFA) button and I was asked whether I thought it would ever pass. I found myself answering that I felt that the problems with our health care “non-system” were so deep that a fundamental change in...

Guest columnist Molly Merrett: Co-op deshelving campaign part of global anti-apartheid movement

By MOLLY MERRETT

I am a Jewish valley resident, and I have been a member-owner of the River Valley Co-op since 2010. I support the campaign to de-shelve Israeli made and sourced products from our co-op.I strongly believe that Jewish safety is entwined with...

David King: Hamas resistance cannot be overcome with violence

 Why this obsession with Hamas? I must admit I was confused by the column “Victory for Hamas, tragedy for the Palestinians” that appeared in the Sept. 23 Gazette. Although the increasingly popular elected authority Hamas, through its military wing the...

Nancy Stenberg: Question 1 about checks and balances

I would like to set the record straight on why Question 1 calls for an audit of the Legislature. It is not unconstitutional to audit the Legislature. It has been done in the past. As an educator, I support transparency in our government. We have the...

Jennifer Scarlott: Rep. McGovern — Be a standard-bearer for Palestine

“Poor, poor, pitiful me.” The words of the Linda Ronstadt song echo every time I hear Rep. Jim McGovern bemoan the fact that many of his constituents feel he has done nowhere near enough to stop the genocide in Gaza. Mr. McGovern will eagerly tell you...

Leslie Chalmers: Neighborly Kindnesses

As we celebrate National Good Neighbor Day this weekend we should think about all the ways we interact with others. When I have a positive encounter with someone in a shop, on the street, or get a wave from a driver to let me make a turn in traffic, I...

Columnist Susan Wozniak: Newcomers will become part of fabric of country

By SUSAN WOZNIAK

A week or two ago, I overheard an interesting recommendation. A man told his friend that the food at a local restaurant was, “really good.” I found myself at 8 p.m., near the restaurant at six hours past my last meal.The place was empty but the...

Guest columnist Tzivia Gover: Our neighborhood menagerie

By TZIVIA GOVER

Editor’s note: The Gazette is publishing short essays over the next several weeks to mark National Good Neighbor Day on Sept. 28. Have a story about good neighbors in your lives? Send your submission of 500 words or less to...

Stephen Armstrong: The wages of hate

The United States is within, what? — 20,000 or 40,000 votes of electing an utterly unfit man to be president. Millions of us despise him, but no matter what happens, win or lose, we will have to make compromises along the way, no matter how righteous...

Judy Pozar: Auditing the Legislature a ‘waste of time and money’

Ballot Question 1 — to allow the state auditor to audit the Legislature — sounded simple and reasonable enough at first. Then I read the Majority Report in the red “Information for Voters” booklet — a real eye-opener. While the current state auditor...

Julie Caswell: Vote ‘yes’ on CPA funding to restore, upgrade 1888 Building

I am writing to encourage all Deerfield residents to vote “yes” at the Oct. 7 Town Meeting at 6 p.m. to approve spending Community Preservation Act funds to restore and rehabilitate the historic 1888 Building (the old Grammar School on the corner of...

Columnist Carrie N. Baker and Carrie Cuthbert: Do you know your human rights?

By CARRIE N. BAKER and CARRIE CUTHBERT

J.D. Vance’s comments devaluing childless women, Donald Trump’s lies about Haitian immigrants and the Project 2025 agenda to dismantle U.S. civil rights laws show that many current-day Republicans do not believe all people deserve to be treated with...

Sidney Moss: The importance of working for justice for all

I was impressed with learning about the work of Assistant District Attorney Erin Aiello in the Northwestern district attorney’s office on behalf of animals in the article “Animal advocate leads fight for justice” [Gazette, Sept. 23]. It’s wonderful...

Peter Jones: Gun culture has changed

When I was in high school, there were no school shootings. There no mass shootings at all in the United States. If any had happened, it would have been big news, on TV and in all the papers.Once we turned 14, we schoolboys took the NRA hunter safety...

Elaine Frankonis: Elder housing is a crisis

As an octogenarian activist who can no longer march, I worked with my fellow cronies to initiate a national petition urging committed action on the part of the federal government to address the unforgivable crisis in affordable options for senior...