OPINION: “The country has run amok and the MAGA supporters continue to be duped!”

The following is an opinion sent to New Bedford Guide. It does not reflect the opinion of New Bedford Guide, nor is it an OP-ED. In fairness and objectivity, we share opinions from our readers whether we agree or disagree with their opinion.

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“While the disparity of income, overly expensive educational opportunities, climate disasters, monumental gun violence and a host of existential threats continue unabated, the MAGA crowd is still motivated by social issues with minimal, or nonexistent impact upon their lives and even at their own expense and best interests.

Keeping the MAGA voters in a constant state of resentment is the most effective strategy exercised by the new extremist Republican legislators.

If their attention is diverted from dwindling income, unchecked gun violence, devastating climate catastrophes, expensive health care, diminished access to higher education, intrusive limitations on private life decisions, and other essential issues, it will keep unqualified elected officials in office and the donations flowing.

The MAGA objective is to deflect anger onto the Democrats which serves two main purposes: prevents grieving voters from casting blame on the real culprits of their unhappiness , and it enables aspiring and present legislators to promote their careers and self-serving agendas.

While the MAGA voters are electing and enriching these legislators they are incrementally diminishing their own freedom, financial status and safety. And the slow, but steady, march to autocracy and a completely decimated middle class will occur and it will be too late for legitimate grievances to be addressed.”-Betty Ussach, Dartmouth.




Massachusetts Sen. Markey on vote against environmental rollbacks, social program cuts

“Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) issued the following statement today after voting against the debt deal:

“I was obligated by my commitment to our planet and to the everyday families across the Commonwealth and nation struggling to make ends meet to vote against the debt limit deal. This package will fast-track dirty fossil fuel projects at the expense of environmental justice and local communities, and will give Big Oil and Big Gas a Get Out of Jail Free card.

“This legislation will keep seniors and young families who rely on SNAP and TANF from keeping the lights on and putting food on the table. This legislation undermines bedrock environmental law and creates major new exemptions to the environmental permitting process, which will leave local, state, and Tribal leaders vulnerable and voiceless on polluting projects in their backyards. And this legislation fails entirely to address the transmission and staffing issues that are real blockades to bringing affordable clean energy onto our grid, adding a new yearslong delay to our effort to ensure our regional electric grids are resilient and interconnected in case of emergencies. Meanwhile, Americans face higher energy costs from fossil fuel profiteering, and corporate executives get bigger bonuses.

“Republicans racked up trillions in debt under Donald Trump, giving tax breaks to corporations and billionaires, and now would rather deprive struggling families of food and financial security than ask the wealthy to pay their fair share in taxes. It’s despicable that the GOP held our economy hostage, and I could not vote for legislation that put pipelines over lifelines. We must abolish the debt ceiling to bring an end to the Republicans’ hostage-taking—for good.”




OPINION: “The U.S. debt ceiling deal is not a fair agreement!”

The following is an opinion sent to New Bedford Guide. It does not reflect the opinion of New Bedford Guide, nor is it an OP-ED. In fairness and objectivity, we share opinions from our readers whether we agree or disagree with their opinion.

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“It is frequently asserted by divorce attorneys that a separation agreement that leaves both parties unhappy is a fair deal.

But that is questionable, as how does one party getting physical custody of the children measure compared to the other spouse receiving seventy percent of the marital assets and a low child support order?

When the agreement plays out and the non-custodial parent has visitation for four overnights a month, it is hardly relationship sustaining, and the custodial parent, and children, have a significantly reduced level of income how comparable is that as to its impact upon the parties when put into practice?

All too frequently divorcing parties are coerced and pressured into signing separation agreements that were redrawn and amended the very day of the divorce hearing. They are reminded that a continuing insistence on more visitation or increased support may not be ordered by the judge and they will remain in limbo indefinitely causing great uncertainty and a tremendous increase of legal fees.

And similarly legislators were presented with dire national and international consequences if the debt ceiling issue was not resolved presently, and they were provided insufficient time to absorb, digest and analyze the consequences of the fine print.

Compromised agreements have devastating effects sometimes and the only winners are the legislators who prepared, promoted and paraded their accomplishment to their constituents. And so too divorce attorneys can proudly shakes hands and be thankful for a time consuming trial that has been averted.

But the reality is all too often the compromised divorce agreement and the bipartisan debt ceiling legislation have unforeseen and devastating consequences that are patently unfair, and only cause incivility and inequity in the country and to the divorced family.

Betty Ussach.”




OPINION: “New Bedford Voc-Tech School has an unjust way of accepting incoming students”

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“I am writing to discuss the unjust way New Bedford Vocational Technical School does their acceptances for incoming students.

I have a daughter who applied to the school. She has been working her whole educational career to be accepted to VT. She attends a private school since. She started 6th grade very rough. She overcame a lot of battles and did a complete 360.

All of her teachers as well as the principal can attest to her improvement. She strived for success and become an honor roll student which she has maintained all of 8th grade. She was told that her disciplinary was perfect (has no write up’s) her academics are perfect but she was absent 12 times in 7th grade all of which are not her fault. She enjoys school very much. She even does evening study which is optional for students to stay after and continue school work.

I understand the process VT has put in place is lottery first then criteria. I do not understand why it is done this way. I truly believe that it should be reverse. Criteria should be first then the empty seats be filled with lottery students. My daughter and our family sat in a roughly 2 hour long zoom meeting while numbers were picked out of a bucket and students were accepted based off of luck.

I do understand that to be in that bucket there is a certain criteria as well but VT now has students who have more absences than her, more disciplinary actions and lower grades then her attending their school while my daughter questions why she wasn’t good enough. I’m sure I am not alone in being frustrated with this system.

I’m sure many parents have contacted the school and have done everything they could to get their child into the school. I myself have wrote to the principal, two guidance counselors and the admissions department. I heard back from only the admissions department. I appreciate hearing back from very promptly. They were very informative and helpful.

I am not writing to get my daughter accepted because at this point she has prepared herself to succeed no matter where she goes. She has ambition and drive and I know she will flourish in life and become an amazing member of society. Her goal is to become a nurse. VT offers a good nursing program that would help her immensely. With the way our world is today we could use more healthcare workers in our future so why not give them the tools now to become productive in life.

If VT can’t or won’t decide to change this flawed system then I would strongly urge someone to take a look at New Bedford High School and giving those kids more options to receive something more than just a basic education. New Bedford High school should be giving the tools to give more to the students.

We complain about how lazy our kids are nowadays and how they have no work ethic or drive to be anything in life but here we are not providing them with the skills to be a productive member of society.

I do not expect to change a system based of my daughter alone but I wouldn’t feel right just sitting back and not advocating for all the students and families who have strived to do their best just to attend a certain school. I would like for someone to take a minute out of their day and put themselves in the shoes of the parents of students who are in my same position.

I could imagine how damaging this process could be to students who battle with mental health/self-esteem issues. I am lucky to have a child who will not allow this system to hold her back or crush her drive but some families are not so lucky.

I appreciate the time that was taking to read this and I hope at some point a change is made and the voices of students/families is heard. Education matters and every kid should have the opportunity to be giving the means to succeed.”




Fairhaven Fire Chief Correia “Services will need to be cut if proper funding is not obtained”

“The Fairhaven Fire Department handles over 4000 emergency calls annually. Each year our calls are increasing anywhere between 3-5%.

Our citizen demographic includes an aging population mainly housed in residences, but they are also located in three nursing homes, one assisted living complex, eight large elderly/low-income complexes. In addition, our Town has one urgent care center, one cancer center, and one dialysis center. All these equate to a very busy department.

Since 2017 we have stated the need to increase personnel to handle the increase in call volume. We also noted that we did not have enough reserves on shift, which caused an increase in overtime expenditures. We have publicly stated (at Finance Committee and Selectboard meetings) numerous times that our ideal shift staffing level would be nine (9) firefighters/paramedics. This staffing level would be needed to handle the current call volume and prepare for future demands.

The Town Administrator and the Selectboard have shifted funding around to support the addition of four (4) new firefighters. This is a necessary first step in providing a safe and adequate fire and EMS response. This funding allows us to cross-staff two ambulances with two firefighters and leave at least two/three firefighters back to handle additional EMS or fire calls. In addition, we will maintain a call department that supplements our personnel on scene to ensure the safety of our personnel and the public.

Unfortunately, this department has had to request additional funding for the past few years during the fiscal year. We do our best to stay within the budget each year, but with inflation and increased call volume, additional funding is needed to maintain services.

We will continue to offer you the best service possible with the allocated budget, but there will be a time when services will need to be cut if proper and consistent funding is not obtained. Without the override, the municipality will be working with a deficit that will affect this department and our ability to offer consistent services.

As your Fire Chief, and also a taxpayer, I support the override request. This will be the best way to allow the department to grow with the needs of the people.

If you have any questions regarding our current staffing, please email me at tcorreia@fairhaven-ma.gov.”-Fairhaven Fire-EMS.




New Bedford mom seeks opinion on changing public school of her special needs daughter

The following is an opinion sent to New Bedford Guide. It does not reflect the opinion of New Bedford Guide, nor is it an OP-ED. In fairness and objectivity, we share opinions from our readers whether we agree or disagree with their opinion.

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“Looking for feedback on elementary schools in New Bedford Public Schools for special needs children who are NOT in subseperate classroom.

I am looking to change my daughter’s elementary school for next school year due to issues with our current school. She will be going into second grade next year and is in general ed. with high classroom support needs and a 1:1 paraprofessional.

I’m looking for anyone who has had a special needs child in a New Bedford Public Schools elementary school in the same classroom setting to let me know what school and if you felt they had enough support within the school for your child, how the staff is, etc.

I’m trying to make the best decision for my daughter, and it’s hard without knowing how the other schools are.

Thank you all so much in advance.”




OPINION: “Force Them or Never Again?”; Massachusetts’ mentally ill and homeless, and Nazis

The following is an opinion sent to New Bedford Guide. It does not reflect the opinion of New Bedford Guide, nor is it an OP-ED. In fairness and objectivity, we share opinions from our readers whether we agree or disagree with their opinion.

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By Stephen M. Kelly. Copyright 2023.

Recently I’ve heard a lot of people talking about how Americans need to force the possibly mentally ill into care for their own good.

Well, not all the mentally ill of course but definitely the homeless or poor mentally ill into some kind of care somewhere. Crazy rich people are just called eccentric and the law looks the other way.Executives in some businesses do criminally insane deals that destroy the planet and cause harm to millions of people.

Clearly, those wealthy powerful executives can not live by society’s rules and they are a threat to others. Will society force them to get the help they need? No, the force will be applied to the powerless homeless person that thinks they are Moses or Karl Marx reincarnated.

The State can have anyone committed right now but we are protected by the current Civil Commitment Laws. Some want to change that since they believe it is best to force people somewhere for their own good. Others believe that Laws should be used to protect people from harm, especially State-enforced and corporate-sponsored harms. Supporters of these ‘Force Them’ policies need to remember America has a history of forcing people into unpleasant places. Conveniently they never mention the words reservations, plantations, mental institutions, or concentration camps.

Have you noticed that whenever someone says that the homeless should be forced into somewhere for help it is always with the same gesture? They will always lean in a little, raise a finger near their face then point that finger down twice, saying in a menacing two-count cadence “Force Them!” That behavior looks, sounds, and seems too much like Nazis raising a hand in the air and saying “Sieg Heil.” Millions of innocent people died in The Holocaust when they were forced into camps or forced into Dr. Joseph Mengele’s experiments of forced sciences.

After the Allied Militaries defeated the Nazis the world adopted the motto “Never Again.” The Holocaust started by respected medical professionals forcing the mentally ill into psychological concentration camps. Now we want to force help upon the homeless poor people who may possibly be mentally ill. Do the homeless or poor have any Allies? Never Again?

I said “may possibly be mentally ill” because Americans are supposed to have the right to a fair trial where a person can be provided an attorney to help defend them. Innocent until proven guilty or mentally incompetent is the standard we should be striving for not eroding away. Until a person is found to be mentally incompetent or guilty of a crime then they can not and should not be detained by anyone or any agency. The system is already rigged against the poor so let’s beware the slum to asylum streams coming to assist the school to prison pipelines. The prison industrial complex is merging with the pharmaceutical industry to add another wing. Do you think that’s not true? Where exactly are we the compassionate people going to force the impoverished mentally unfit too?

American mental asylums or state hospitals of the past had to be closed due to the terrifying abuse. Our own New Bedford Guide covered Taunton Hospital’s atrocity factory. Abuse of every kind from neglect, violence, rape, and torture under the guise of treatment like electro-shock therapy or lobotomies.

Even worse, in many cases the patients were used by trusted scientists and corporations to conduct tests on patients without informing the patient or their guardians. Fernald Hospital in Waltham, Massachusetts teamed up with Harvard, M.I.T., and Quaker Oats to experiment on child patients by injecting them with radioactive isotopes to see what happened. What happened was that developmentally disabled children all died in pain from the radioactive isotopes. How mentally unfit were the executives and doctors in that sick experiment?

No one ever believes those that society deems unfit and so they make the perfect victims for respected sadists. Of course, this was all done to the poor for profits and the prestige of pharmaceutical corporations. These very profitable asylums still operated until 2010 and they should never return no matter how many possibly psychotic executives want them reopened. Call them treatment facilities today or whatever words we use to cover up what they are. The heavenly exteriors and marketing campaigns covered up the hellish actions in the interiors

Some like Massachusetts’s own Danvers Hospital literally became nightmare fuel. Never again should these places exist.

The other alternative is jail or prison where people in a state of psychological crises are victimized by other inmates and an unusually cruel system. Our criminal justice system is another horror tale in itself but that’s another story. We all know that jail is no place for people that can not care for themselves. That is one of the reasons some people want to force homeless people somewhere is that they can not care for themselves. Isn’t it? They all always say that it is for their own good.

How can that be true if we do not care what happens once they are out of sight? Who is next to be forced somewhere, not sure where or what happens to them? It seems we will start by forcing on our neighbors with the least power to help. Strange sort of help that has to be forced onto people by executives and politicians. It could be the Transgender, Black, Veteran, or Jewish neighbor forced somewhere out of sight next on some trumped-up charges of being unfit.

Yes, these new Force Them methods could easily be used against you or your family. Beware the Politicians offer the Final Solution to these mentally unfit people who can not follow society’s rules. The mentally unfit executives and politicians who don’t follow the rules will, of course, not have to worry about anything. It will be crazy to criticize the government, experts will say.

I will also be crazy to question the experts, the experts will say. All the trusted experts agree that everyone goes through some sort of psychological crisis at some point. Research by pharmaceutical companies shows that most of us have form sort of permanent psychological ailment. Barbers and Hairstylists both agree that everyone needs a haircut or at least a trim, I heard.

Listen to what is being said, look where this is going, think about it all and make a decision. Force Them or Never Again?”




“New Bedford needs a flashing crosswalk sign on E. Rodney French Blvd. before someone gets hurt.”

The following is an opinion sent to New Bedford Guide. It does not reflect the opinion of New Bedford Guide, nor is it an OP-ED. In fairness and objectivity, we share opinions from our readers whether we agree or disagree with their opinion.

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“It’s that time of year again where people park along East Rodney French to go to Cisco Brewers. As a person who lives in the immediate neighborhood, I enjoy walking along the water with my toddler in her carriage. Being that there is no official crosswalk at the end of Apponagansette St, I usually walk to the end of Butler St and “attempt” to cross East Rodney French there.

We all know that the point has always been a cruising route and has an uptick in traffic during the summer months even without the more recent congestion due to Cisco. I noticed driving by today that people are already parking on top of the crosswalk at the end of Butler Street making in nearly impossible to safely cross.


Google Maps photo.

Last year there were lines painted to give ten feet or so on either side of the crosswalk and a construction barrel was placed in the middle of the crosswalk at an attempt to slow people down. I found it to be a futile effort if I’m being honest. I would sometimes watch as 10+ cars go by and stare at me waiting to cross with my stroller in tow.

I’m sure that Cisco has brought in revenue to the city and I think it’s a nice addition to the South End. I feel that the crosswalks at least along Cisco Brewers should have a flashing crosswalk sign in order to keep everyone safe and hopefully prevent any unnecessary accidents from happening.”-Ashley Hobbs.




Proud Dartmouth mom’s daughter creates safe space for minority students and allies

“My daughter Alexia Ashe attends Dartmouth High School and founded and leads the first black student union. I’m so proud of her for creating the newest and largest club with space for everyone. This is just one of her many accomplishments.

The meetings take place once a week during their free period.

My daughter was teased and struggled as one of the few black students in Dartmouth and as the diversity in Dartmouth’s students grew my daughter decided to create a safe space for all minority students and allies. She made it possible with the support of John-Paul Emile and some of her teachers at Dartmouth High School.”-Fatima Pinheiro.

All photos by Fatima Pinheiro:




OPINION: “Let’s get real about defunding police, undocumented immigrants, outlawing abortions!”

The following is an opinion sent to New Bedford Guide. It does not reflect the opinion of New Bedford Guide, nor is it an OP-ED. In fairness and objectivity, we share opinions from our readers whether we agree or disagree with their opinion.

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“Defunding the police, closing all jails and prisons, outlawing all abortions, allowing unrestricted abortion, eliminating all undocumented immigration, open borders, erasing all history book references to the inhumanity and savagery of slavery, and decreasing long-standing entitlements, are attractive clarion calls for impractical voters who are unconcerned with nuance, reality, or their best interests.

Anyone familiar with the judicial system understands that it is essential to imprison dangerous and unrepentant criminals and that halfway housing them or providing therapy is not always effective or safe. On the other hand, a vast majority of incarcerated people have mental health or addiction issues that are exacerbated by incarceration with punishing procedures.

We must have adequate medical and mental health facilities and services for those who get caught up in the judicial system, but we also must maintain prisons and jails for those who injure or murder without remorse and cannot be rehabilitated.

In the same vein, we need more social workers and police officers trained in de-escalation techniques, devoting significant funding to law enforcement departments to accomplish safety for the community as well as the mentally ill and addicted.

To defund or eliminate police departments in a country rife with life-threatening rage, unlimited access to guns, almost daily shooting rampages and inequality of income and resources, is nonsensical and should not be presented as a viable issue.

Outlawing all abortions is as indefensible as unlimited pregnancy terminations. There must be an acknowledgment that this is an issue that involves health, morals, religious and financial consideration and not a political problem to be exploited by opportunistic legislators.

To cleanse our classroom textbooks and school libraries of truthful renditions of American History will deny developing minds the opportunity to understand what is achievable as a nation and what should be avoided.

The thorniest and least resolvable problem is immigration and those that propose no limits, or denying access except to those with assets to invest, or much needed skills, are ignoring the positive contributions historically provided by millions of immigrants. But there is also the necessity to acknowledge that we presently lack the resources to process and settle millions of immigrants.

To those unaware of the personal impact a reduction in entitlements will have on their lives, and who support politicians promoting such legislation, is perhaps the saddest aspect of present-day politics.

Unfortunately, with the ever-decreasing availability of local print newspapers, the voters are relying on internet and cable t.v. commentators who are rarely held accountable for the distortions pedaled to their listeners who believe, and act upon, their biased and enraging lies.” -Betty Ussach, Dartmouth.