Resident-owned communities, expensive insulin, Israel apartheid and more in today's letters
NH SB Bill 210 undermines future of resident-owned communities
Feb. 25 – To the Editor:
I serve on the co-op board of my resident-owned manufactured-home community. It’s safe to say I am the face of manufactured housing.
Our volunteer board has successfully managed our community for years. We’ve overcome economic challenges, maintenance issues, and management disputes. Resident owned communities, or “ROCs,” allow people like me, on limited incomes, to secure our homes and decide our own futures.
SB 210 would effectively end the possibility of any more New Hampshire parks becoming ROCs. It would make it harder for a co-op to vote to become a ROC. Instead, big out-of-state companies will step in, buy our parks, and raise lot rents to where we can’t afford them. We see it all the time now when residents can’t or don’t buy their parks.
Why make it even easier to take away the dream of home ownership, especially in this economy?
I urge New Hampshire Senators to reject SB 210. Leave the rules regarding ROCs alone.
Nancy Lewis
Seabrook
NH Senate Bill 210 would make people less secure in their homes
Feb. 25 -- To the Editor:
I have lived in a mobile home park for 37 years. I own my home and am now a member of the “resident owned community” co-op that owns my park and manages our operations. It’s not always pretty. Neighbors don’t always agree. But the point is we own our homes and vote on important decisions. Thanks to the NH Community Loan Fund, I have a voice and a vote in our rents and rules.
The Community Loan Fund ROC-NH team treats me and my neighbors with respect, encouraging us to work together. The Community Loan Fund helped us establish the co-op, loaned us the money to buy it, and helped us create the rules and manage operations. For 4 years, we have controlled our fate because we’re a cooperative. My neighbors and I appreciate the work the people of ROC-NH have done for us.
I was upset when I read a story about a Senate plan in Concord to make it impossible to create any more resident-owned communities. Senators should reject Senate Bill 210 and recognize the valuable contributions the Community Loan Fund has made over the years to making sure people like me can be secure in our homes.
Elizabeth Coggins
Seabrook
I'm perfectly happy with the Republican Party
Feb. 25 -- To the Editor:
Responding to Mr. DiPentima's humorous letter, I'm very happy being part of a political party birthed to be the Abolitionist Party, with Abraham Lincoln as its first candidate.
Although, I once voted Democrat, it wasn't long before I realized they did not line-up with my values. Mr. DiPentima, the Democrat party has veered so for far to the left that I would not be welcomed in it and neither would many JFK Democrats.
Regarding your comment about "almost falling off your chair after reading my letter", glad I could help in getting you off your chair. At least your wife will now be able to vacuum around it. Cheers!
Sue Polidura
Portsmouth
Where are Republicans who will stand up to Donald Trump's lies?
Feb. 25 – To the Editor:
As the Trumpists continue their absurd stories about the last election, it would be well to recall the Republican campaign in 2016. There was quite a line up of candidates and all came out against Trump. Now this man is their hero, their chosen leader and the one they want back in the White House.
At one time Senator Ted Cruz demonstrated a grasp on reality, however tenuous. His best and most honest moment was during his 2016 presidential campaign when he asserted this astute observation about Trump:
“This man is a pathological liar. He doesn't know the difference between truth and lies. He lies practically every word that comes out of his mouth. And he had a pattern that I think is straight out of a psychology textbook. His response is to accuse everybody else of lying … Whatever he does, he accuses everyone else of doing. The man cannot tell the truth, but he combines it with being a narcissist. A narcissist at a level I don’t think this country has ever seen. … Everything in Donald’s world is about Donald … Whatever lie he’s telling, at that minute he believes it … the man is utterly amoral … Donald is a bully … bullies don’t come from strength they come from weakness.”
Indeed, a very astute description of Trump. Please keep this in mind as you listen to the “new” Ted Cruz, kowtowing to the man he described as a pathological liar. Power corrupts perhaps?
Where are the Republicans now who will tell the truth and select leadership with integrity and honesty? Please come forward - we need you!
Linda Cunningham
Portsmouth
Israel is an apartheid state
Feb. 25 – To the Editor:
Robert Jesurum’s letter in Thursday’s Herald writes: "the appellation “apartheid” as applied to Israel is slander.". Slander is the use of false statements. There is nothing false in associating Israel with apartheid. Arab Israelis, both Christian and Muslim, are confined to ghettos. Their movements are restricted. They are given second class education and other services.
More:Letter writers address attacks on Israel, NH climate failures and Rye Select Board race
More:Azzi: In Israel, until the humanity of both peoples is recognized, neither will find peace
In the occupied territories Palestinians are walled in, fenced in, or divided by roads only Jewish people can use. They can hardly go anywhere without encountering military checkpoints. In the occupied territories non-Jews are subject to military justice, but not Jewish settlers. In fact, if settlers attack Palestinians the military can do nothing except protect the settlers if Palestinians try to defend themselves. Each year more and more Palestinian land is taken to build “settlements” which is designed to carve up Palestinian territory to make the creation a Palestinian state impossible.
This is apartheid plain and simple. Mr. Jesurum’s pointing the finger at Arab states does not change that fact. America sells arms to Arab states. We give arms to Israel. America is indirectly financing Israel’s illicit occupation of Palestine and its building of settlements.
Israel is no longer threatened by its neighbors. It has peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan. It has nuclear weapons. Syria and Lebanon are failed states. Neither is a threat to Israel. It is time we stopped subsidizing this country and treat it like we did white South Africa.
Walter Hamilton
Portsmouth
Federal cap needed on cost of live-saving insulin
Feb. 25 -- To the Editor:
Before New Hampshire passed the $30 cap on insulin, I constantly worried about what I would pay at the register for my next insulin prescription. There were times where I postponed picking up a prescription, or declined to pick it up once I was given the price. As a full-time chef and college student, I pay for my own insurance out of pocket. It costs me hundreds of dollars a month. For many years, the prescriptions I need to stay alive cost me additional hundreds of dollars each month. I’m not alone. 1.6 million Americans live with type I and 34 million more live with type II diabetes. Many report rationing medications because of the exorbitant cost. It’s unfair and cruel for our citizens to choose between affording food, utility bills, or life-saving medication.
There are many aspects of living with diabetes that people do not consider unless they or a loved one have the disease. Between refills, I spent my free time contacting my insurance to see if they would cover a particular prescription. I contacted organizations to access coupons for my insulin. Managing the cost of insulin is a full-time job. It shouldn't be. One vial only costs $2.28-$3.42 to produce, yet we see costs inflated in the extreme.
Thankfully, there is hope for relief at the federal level that would extend the $30 cap that we have here in New Hampshire to all Americans. I’m grateful to be represented by Congressman Pappas, who has been leading efforts in the House to give Medicare the power to negotiate for lower drug prices - for all of us. Now, we have to do all that we can to ensure those in need can access life-saving medication. Americans can’t wait any longer.
Morgan Little
Dover