Letters to the editor

Demonstrate compassion

I applaud Jim Himes for courageously joining 53 other House of Representatives Democrats in sending a letter to Pres. Barack Obama calling on Israel and Egypt to lift their blockade of the Gaza Strip.

A policy of blockade amounts to collective punishment of the entire population of Gaza, including its hundreds of thousands of children.

The blockade of Gaza has gone on for nearly four years, and has grossly undermined efforts to restore the vital water and sanitation infrastructure that were obliterated during Israel's three-week assault on the territory a year ago.

An estimated 80 percent of Gazans are dependent upon food aid to survive and the skyrocketing unemployment and humanitarian crisis has left Gaza's imprisoned people with no hope for a better future.

As Himes notes, desperation breeds extremism and the situation in Gaza is very desperate right now. Our greatest hope for securing the peace is by demonstrating compassion for all.

Shiva Sarram

New Canaan

Canal Park recycles

When I moved in to Canal Park nine years ago, and asked about recycling my trash on the property, I was told that it had not worked for years. In spite of the regulations, town and state, which mandate non-residential (our category) as well as residential recycling, people had become complacent and given up, and the unsightly bins outside each building became contaminated or just disappeared. Being handicapped myself at the time, I rarely made it to the town dump with my recyclables.

A long-time friend who visited me regularly, began chastising me for laxity ("you, of all people, who are so earth-conscious!") and often carted my rescue-worthy recyclables to her home, a half-hour away.

Last year, the summer of '09, having myself become more mobile, and often being queried by new tenants about the lack of recycling, I decided to act. I had recently joined the Green Village Initiative (GVI) team, whose various committees were working effectively on projects for the greening of Westport, and this gave me further impetus to confront the task. I had also noticed that a health food store in town was not even recycling the café trash, having only a separate container for cardboard outside the back door, a situation that seemed to apply to most of the businesses in town.

After spinning my wheels a bit, I discovered that to make any progress, I needed to work with several administrators, public and private, who would have to weigh in on a joint effort to pull up the tent.

I ferreted out the key players at City Carting, as well as the Westport Housing Authority and Millenium Real Estate, which manages the property. At the same time, I reached out to Town officials with the help of members of GVI.

I was given permission to hold a meeting for the tenants, which was crucial, as they had been the scapegoat for noncompliance. The few tenants whom I had managed to round up for the meeting came away ready to participate and with a good understanding of what was involved. Diane Lauricella, a waste management professional from Norwalk, agreed to instruct and inspire us, which she did very impressively.

I kept a continual stream of communication going between myself, City Carting and Millenium R.E. and finally, after several months of negotiation, an additional pick-up for recyclables at no extra charge for a trial period, was agreed upon. I also drafted a letter to be sent to each tenant to explain the separating guidelines. Millenium approved the purchase of extra bins, and City Carting provided their free labels.

This was the beginning of what is now an up-and-running program. Even the more handicapped tenants find a way to comply. I often see some of them rush out to meet the green truck when it comes, with an armful of recyclables. All are aware that we have self-appointed unofficial monitors who check weekly to remove contaminants so that the carters will not be fined or ultimately reject us.

Although not perfect, our effort is, I believe, a cornerstone event in a joint enterprise of Green Village Initiative and others who wish to foster a more sustainable path in Westport, our region, and beyond.

Sophie Barnes

Westport

Don't promote

Blumenthal

I have observed with great interest the recent media reports regarding announcements that Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal intends to seek the Democratic Party nomination for U.S. Senate. I vigorously oppose Blumenthal's intentions.

In 1788 James Madison said the following: "In our governments the real power lies in the majority of the community, and the invasion of private rights is chiefly to be apprehended, not from acts of government contrary to the sense of its constituents, but from acts in which the government is the mere instrument of the major number of the constituents."

This statement gives a good distinction between the positivist theory of constitutional government and the natural law theory upon which our nation's Constitution was created. According to Connecticut General Statutes, Section 1-25, the oath of office that Blumenthal gave when he became Attorney General included a provision that he support the Constitution to the best of his abilities.

For my long-term role, stemming from my banking background, of being a critic of activities of the Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority (CRRA), in 1995, I filed in federal District Court a lawsuit against the CRRA. Several other defendants were named including the Office of the Attorney General (for actions occurring under the earlier administration of Joseph Lieberman).

The lawsuit included well-supported claims of mail fraud, bond fraud and bid-rigging. Under Blumenthal's authority, Assistant Attorney General Charles Walsh (who was never hired in accord with the requirements of the State Personnel Act) presented a motion to dismiss the lawsuit using quite expansive claims of defective service of the complaint, statutes of limitations and standing.

Without those issues being fully resolved, District Judge Dominic Squatrito (who less than six months prior to the filing of the lawsuit was Senator Lieberman's campaign treasurer) dismissed the case. I promptly filed an appeal with the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. The Court of Appeals applied a procedural issue to dismiss the appeal (without prejudice).

This is one of several examples that I can provide of clear excesses of statutory and constitutional limitations by the Office of the Attorney General under Blumenthal.

It is curious that other recent media reporting offers background information of Blumenthal with curious detail that he graduated from Yale Law School as a classmate of Bill Clinton, that he earlier worked as partner for Cummings & Lockwood (the law firm that, just prior to the 2001 CRRA/Enron debacle was contracted as outside legal counsel to the CRRA), that he served as law clerk to then-federal District Judge Jon Newman, and further that he was appointed by Pres. Jimmy Carter to be U.S. Attorney.

What is clear of Blumenthal's role as attorney general is that he will do just about anything in pursuit of his objective of elevating a political agenda and the interests of governmental organization over those of basic citizen rights (i.e., the positivist theory of government). He plays to a perceived position of governmental bias in the courts, a situation to which he has actively contributed, and he and those under his administration abuse their offices to influence officials of state agencies and the courts as collateral attack against those of us who might have legitimate federal claims against the state or state officials.

In short, Blumenthal's long-term practice of respecting the Constitution only when it is politically convenient means that he really doesn't honor it at all. He has violated his oath of office and he should not be promoted to the higher office of the United States Senate.

Ethan Book Jr.

Fairfield