UPDATED June 26: The following viewpoint about owls and rat poison was written by Liz Reisberg, in collaboration with Carol Band, Dana Cooperson and Peggy Gardiner. In photo, Diane Welch, the town's animal-control officer, at the May Spring Fling, tells kids about owls. When two Great Horned Owls courted, nested, and produced two babies in Menotomy Rocks Park, visitors to the park were thrilled. Many in the neighborhood came daily in the hope of an owl spotting and watched with great pleasure as...

Worst Offender: Somerville’s SOM01A combined sewer overflow. UPDATED June 22: Precinct 13 Town Meeting member Kristin Anderson, who is monitoring the combined sewer overflows into the Alewife Brook, provided this update. At 6 p.m. Wednesday, June 29, Cambridge, Somerville and the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) are holding their first public meeting via Zoom to discuss Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs). REGISTER HERE >> The legal limit for sewage discharge in the Alewife Brook...

Carey M. Theil of Arlington submitted this obituary. He is executive director of GREY2K USA Worldwide, a nonprofit that works to pass stronger greyhound protection laws and end the cruelty of dog racing. A greyhound named Brooklyn, who inspired the successful international campaign to close down the worst dog track in the world, died June 22 in the Boston area. Brooklyn was born on Dec. 10, 2008, at a breeding farm in New South Wales, Australia. After failing as a racer in 2010, he was shipped t...

UPDATED June 24: Steven Ratiner, Arlington’s poet laureate, sought submissions in February 2020 from Arlington residents to contribute to "a rather unconventional, utterly delightful way to inject poetry into the everyday." It was to remain secret until its debut during April’s National Poetry Month. Then the coronavirus hit. In June 2021, he offers Red Letters 3.0. PUBLISHED:  I was asked to write an essay for Askold Melnyczuk’s Arrowsmith Journal about what I learned from the first y...

 Sheri A. Baron, at right, a Precinct 7 Town Meeting member, wrote the following essay, recollections of her late parents: Tell people how much they mean to you – now. Tell them often, knowing that life can change without warning. Hug them, show them affection. If you are a distance away, send a text, an email or a letter. Just do it and send it, or you will have regrets. I know because I do. I lost my mother 15 years ago. I sometimes need to  think a moment to land upon the ...

Submitting this letter to the editor about housing was Alejandro Paz of Marathon Street. Katie Mogg’s article on Arlington’s housing crisis ("Arlington is facing a housing crisis: Experts, residents explain their views") struck a nerve with me as an Arlington resident who worries about the increasing challenges around housing costs here and around the state. I recently moved to Arlington for the second time, having previously lived on Brattle Street about a year ago. As Mogg’s article describes,...

Dave Levy, a Precinct 18 Town Meeting provided this opinion about local news and Town Meeting: Click image to access >> During the time overlapping with Town Meeting, I learned that The Arlington Advocate had merged with the Winchester paper, effectively eliminating the Town of Arlington having a true local paper that has material financial support to cover local issues en masse. Later, it was reported over the Arlington Email List that the new Advocate & Star would not have a local re...

YourArlington's policy about letters to the editor UPDATED May 24: YourArlington welcomes opinions of all kinds from local residents, including those about the U.S. Supreme Court's view of Roe v Wade. Letters are reviewed for fairness, factualness and taste. This site welcomes letters about any issue that stirs the public mind. Longer opinion pieces are also welcome. NOTE: When emailing a letter to The Advocate & Star, consider copying YourArlington at the same time. Your opinions will ...