Recent letters about Stop & Shop’s impressive proposal for Vineyard Haven attempt to make the case that somehow the months long review process by the Martha’s Vineyard Commission regarding the much-needed new Stop & Shop store planned for Vineyard Haven have been less than transparent.

I am writing to offer my strong support for the application of Stop & Shop to build a new store on Water Street in Vineyard Haven. Our local officials and representatives from Stop & Shop have worked hard over the past year to ensure that the new store is a benefit to the entire community.

Stop & Shop, in accordance with its international parent company Ahold’s corporate model for dominating any marketplace it enters, has instructed its team of developers, engineers, architects, and lawyers to shoehorn in the largest shopping center they can fit, and, for a first on Martha’s Vineyard, a parking garage.

The following letter was sent to Dr. Michael Mayo-Smith, director of the VA New England Health Care System.

We are writing to you today in the hopes that we can begin a discussion to address the urgent needs of a population of Massachusetts veterans who are struggling with access to quality health services in a practical and safe manner.

Thousands of cigarette butts observed (and many collected!) along the bike path at Joseph Sylvia State Beach on Earth Day. When a single smoker tosses his butt on the ground, thinking, this butt won’t cause any significant harm, his belief is no doubt true. But when thousands of smokers act on that same belief, it’s true no longer.