Author: ben45

Privatize Estero Park Land

The Banner article by Brittany Carloni published in the August 19, 2019 edition, “What will Estero do with 100-year old house?” brings to the surface some issues caused by the Village of Estero purchasing 62 acres of land along the Estero River in January 2019.

The article focuses on the some dilapidated houses at the southern end of Highlands Avenue, but calls into question what Estero should do with the complete parcel of land.

Regarding at least one of the houses, Stephanie Miller, vice president of the Estero Historical Society said “We would like to see it saved”. The article outlines some of the cost to do that.

Village Manager, Steve Sarkozy indicated the village has made no decision on what it would do with the house and that Estero is still figuring out how to use the largely undeveloped land.

The bigger question is why should Village of Estero officials and staff be involved in the detail planning for 62 acres of land.  As a government, the costs of any mistakes they make will be forced on Estero residents. Did Estero citizens realize the liabilities they were incurring when they voted to make Estero a local government?

The Village of Estero should encourage the formation of a non-governmental organization to become the owners of the land.  With the proper deed restrictions, the land can be preserved and developed to meet general guidelines established by the Village.  If there is not enough support from the public to create such a park owner, than Estero should put the land up for sale without restrictions.

Jacob Hornberger on Gun Violence

More good advice from Jabob Hornberger

Excerpt:

“… I believe that when a nation’s government has been killing people continuously for three decades, all that death and destruction is inevitably going to seep into the subconscious of individual citizens, even though it’s happening thousands of miles away and even though the government tries to keep us immune from it. Most of us can handle it but my thesis is that there are some people who are a bit off-kilter mentally who cannot handle it. I believe that the massive death and destruction ultimately triggers something within them that causes them to mirror here in the United States what the U.S. government is doing overseas. In their off-kilter minds, they are unable to do what U.S. officials do — place a high value on the sanctity of American life and no value on foreign life. For the off-kilter people, all life is equally valueless. The fact that some of these mass killers are military veterans and may even have participated in the oversea death, destruction, and mayhem makes the psychological situation even more problematic.

There is an easy way to test my thesis: bring the forever wars to an immediate end and bring all U.S. soldiers home immediately. Even if my thesis isn’t correct, it’s the morally right thing to do anyway.”

Goddard Autobiography to the Moon and Back

This book is in our collection of miniature books.

from http://edition.pagesuite.com/popovers/dynamic_article_popover.aspx?artguid=e7a65b44-1b1e-48d1-a2d3-9e48cd86b671&appid=1165

By Alyssa Lukpat, Globe CorrespondentWhen Buzz Aldrin embarked 50 years ago on his historic voyage to the moon aboard Apollo 11, he packed a tiny, credit-card-sized book, “The Autobiography of Robert Hutchings Goddard, Father of the Space Age.’’Goddard, who was a physics professor at Worcester’s Clark University, launched the first liquid-fueled rocket in Auburn in 1926 and is generally considered the father of modern rocketry.For Aldrin, who was the second man to set foot on the moon, there was also a personal connection.Goddard had taught Edwin Aldrin Sr., Buzz’s father. Buzz never met Goddard but cherished his father’s connection with the professor, said Fordyce Williams, a coordinator of archives and special collections at Clark, where the book is on display.The book was published after Goddard’s death, “but I think he would be happy it was published and the fact that it went to the moon would be absolutely incredible for him,’’ Williams said this week as the 50th anniversary of the moon landing approached on Saturday.Goddard’s autobiography includes a story called the “cherry tree vision.’’ When he was 17, in 1899, he was trimming dead branches off a cherry tree and looked over the fields surrounding him, Williams said.“[A]s I looked towards the fields at the east, I imagined how wonderful it would be to make some device which had even the possibility of ascending to Mars. . . . I was a different boy when I descended the tree from when I ascended for existence at last seemed very purposive,’’ Goddard wrote.In his diary, he wrote that he envisioned the device had “a weight whirling around a horizontal shaft, moving more rapidly above than below’’ — and that “could furnish lift by virtue of the greater centrifugal force at the top of the path.’’Goddard called the day of the cherry tree, Oct. 19, 1899, “anniversary day,’’ and noted it in his diary every year, Williams said. When the cherry tree fell in a hurricane in 1938, he wrote, “Cherry tree down. Have to continue alone.’’Goddard wrote his autobiography shortly after he launched his first rocket, Williams said. He died in 1945 without seeing it published — and without seeing the 1960s space program that would land men on the moon using giant rockets that were descended from those he had pioneered.He also did not live to receive $1 million from the US government, which paid Esther Goddard, his wife, and the Guggenheim Foundation, which funded some of his research, for infringing on Goddard’s rocket patents.The book was published in 1966 by Achille St. Onge, a miniature books publisher in Worcester. St. Onge published 1,926 copies of the book in honor of the year of Goddard’s first launch. The 85-page book, bound in dark blue leather, is about 3 inches tall and 2 inches wide.“The publishing of the book probably would’ve been St. Onge’s idea. He would’ve needed to have gotten the autobiographical materials from Esther, so she obviously gave her OK and gave the materials to publish the book,’’ Williams said.Aldrin brought the book to the moon at the request of St. Onge.“St. Onge sent the book to Buzz Aldrin in June before his flight and said, ‘Take this book with you and leave it on the moon in honor of Goddard,’’’ Williams said.“He was not able to leave it on the moon, but he wrote a letter back to St. Onge in September and said: ‘Thank you for the book. I did take it with me, but I wasn’t allowed to leave it there.’ But he brought it back and said he’d give it to either Esther or Clark.’’Aldrin decided to give the book to Goddard’s widow, who eventually donated it to Clark.Aldrin autographed the book and wrote, “Flown to the moon on board Apollo 11.’’ Visitors can see the book at the university’s Robert H. Goddard Library, along with other items donated by Esther Goddard, including correspondence from Robert Goddard, patents, and photographs.Jeremiah Manion of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Alyssa Lukpat can be reached at alyssa.lukpat@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @AlyssaLukpat.