Letter: Democratic Writer Out of Touch With Reality

To the Editor:

Let me start by saying that I have zero expectations that this will be published on iBerkshires because any messages against the favored leftist narrative are not allowed on your platform.

After reading his letter to the editor entitled "Contrast Between Parties," I'm struggling to determine if Michael Wise is merely out of touch with reality or if he's intentionally attempting to gaslight people. My guess is that it's the latter.

He claims that "Only one of our national political parties cares anymore about good government," and asserts that is the Democrats. Is our wide-open southern border an example of that "good government?" What about the skyrocketing inflation that continues to grip our economy due to the Biden admin's reckless spending? Or is the rampant crime and homelessness in blue cities now made worse by surging illegal alien populations? Or the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan? Or the spectacle of our clearly diminished president stumbling and bumbling through his presidency? Or is our affirmative action VP spewing another meaningless word salad while waiting in the wings for an obviously frail octogenarian to break a hip? Or the weaponization of our intelligence agencies and DOJ against political rivals? That's good government?

Then there's the biggest whopper of them all: President Joe Biden, like President Obama, is running a no-scandal administration.

A no-scandal administration? Joe Biden is facing an impeachment inquiry for the blatant corruption he engaged in with his son Hunter and his brother James. Polls show that 60-70 percent of Americans think that Joe is dirty. His family clearly took money from China, Ukraine, Romania, and others. That's the biggest of many scandals. What about his mishandling of classified documents which the special counsel labeled as "willful," only escaping prosecution because Hur thought Biden demonstrated diminished mental capacity? That's not a scandal? How about Biden's DOJ labeling concerned parents at school board meetings as domestic terrorists? Are these not scandals?

I won't even get into the myriad of scandals from the Obama admin. Lois Lerner anyone? Fast and furious? Benghazi? Hillary's email server? Iran nuclear deal? Solyndra? The list goes on and on, no matter what Mr. Wise would like you to believe.

Mr. Wise assumes of course that the good Democrats of Berkshire County only consume news from the mainstream media aka the narrative-spewing lap dogs of the Democrat party like ABC, NBC, CBS, NY Times, WaPo, MSNBC, CNN, etc. That's why they won't be able to determine that his letter is packed full of lies on their own. It's not a surprising tactic from a leftist like Mr. Wise. He knows he truly can't tout the Biden admin's accomplishments, because there are none, so he resorts to attacking the opposition while relying on the easily duped Democratic base to be uncurious about the facts.

Allen Jezouit
Chicopee, Mass, formerly of Williamstown

Coggins Classic Golf Tournament Helps Bennington Project Independence

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
05:37PM / Saturday, September 05, 2026

This was the tournament's fifth year; it combined with the independence project's annual golf outing this year. 

BENNINGTON, Vt. — Thirty teams hit the green for this year's Coggins Classical Golf tournament, helping Coggins Auto raise money for Bennington Project Independence.

Coggins Auto Marketing Director Valerie Harrington said the fifth annual tournament, which was held on Aug. 28, continued a tradition of community-driven giving. 

Harrington first helped organize the tournament in 2022. She hoped to raise $10,000, which would allow the auto group to leverage a $10,000 Toyota match program. 

The tournament has successfully raised more than $50,000 the last two years, with last year's beneficiary the Cancer Center Community Crusaders. 

This year, it raised more than $50,000 alone, including meeting the Toyota match the third year in a row.

Harrington said she wanted to help the nonprofits in the area, especially those that might get overlooked.

"The idea of it was especially for those nonprofits that are pretty small and don't have really the funds or the means or understanding of how to put on a golf tournament, and to give them an opportunity to get at least $20,000 in funds that year, which is huge for a lot of them, and it's really grown since then," she said.

"There's a lot of nonprofits that are big and big and loud and you know about them, but there are so many more that are like people don't even realize they exist. But what they do is super critical and important to the people in our community."

Local nonprofits submit an application each year explaining their mission and what they need to succeed. Coggins employees narrow the submissions to their top three choices and then let the community decide who they should pick.

Bennington has more than 100 nonprofits, and it can be hard to keep track of them all, but with the tournament, Coggins is able to have many people learn and see the needs in their community and nonprofits they haven't heard about.

"Even if they don't win, they've got in front of thousands of people who read their story and know what they need and know what they do to just spread awareness," Harrington said. "And then by having the community vote on it, then we know for sure what we're doing is what the community wants the most at that given time ...

"The community is saying, 'Hey, we want this nonprofit. We like what they're trying to do. Let's give them help because it's the decision of hundreds to thousands of people rather than just a handful of us.'"

Bennington Project Independence is an adult day service for individuals and families facing the challenges of aging or disability. This year the organization is combining its 13th annual golf tournament with Coggins.

"I think they've affected a lot of people's lives and helped a lot of families because it's an adult day facility for not just the elderly but also special needs," Harrington said. "So what they do every day to keep those folks' lives enriched while giving the family a break or allowing them to go to work and do these things. It's really important."

The 2027 tournament submissions will open in March of 2027.