Letter: Support for Peter Beck for Planning Board

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To the Editor:

I write to enthusiastically support Peter Beck for a five-year term on the Williamstown Planning Board. Peter was a star student at Yale Law School. I particularly enjoyed having him in an Advanced Property law seminar where, in an unusual reversal, I as the professor learned a tremendous amount from Peter due to his experience in local government and planning.

To all of us at Yale Law School, Peter was one of those students who seemed as wise and mature as one of our fellow colleagues. Peter wrote a brilliant, and brilliantly funny, paper on Property Law for my class, which won a coveted student award. The paper showed how one of the basic property law concepts taught in classrooms across the country — that property law is a "bundle of rights" — is absolutely ill-suited as a metaphor and in fact has a checkered past.

Peter will bring good judgment, good humor, generosity, intelligence, and expertise to Williamstown’s Planning Board and I think the community will be extremely happy with his contributions to your wonderful town, which I have visited on several occasions.

Claire Priest
New Haven, Conn.
Simeon E. Baldwin Professor,
Yale Law School

 

 

 

 


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Hancock School Celebrates Thanksgiving by Highlighting Community

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff

The children perform music and a play during the luncheon.
HANCOCK, Mass. — For many, Thanksgiving is a time for gratitude and unity. Hancock Elementary School embraced this spirit on Thursday by hosting a community Thanksgiving feast for seniors.
 
The children had a major role in organizing the event, from peeling the potatoes to creating the centerpieces to performing. 
 
"Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful for what we have. To be thankful for the communities that we live in. Thankful for the families that we have, our friends," Principal John Merselis III said. 
 
"And by opening our doors and inviting people in, I think we just embrace that idea." 
 
More than 50 seniors visited the school for a Thanksgiving lunch prepared by the school's students. In addition to those who attended, the students made enough for 40 takeout orders and to feed themselves and the school's staff. 
 
The lunch was kicked off with student performances on the drums, playing "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" using boomwhackers, and a play showcasing the preparation of a Thanksgiving feast, which caused rumbles of laughter. 
 
"[The event] gives [students] a great opportunity to practice their life skills such as cooking and creating things for people, and also [build] their self-confidence and just public speaking," said Samantha Lincoln, first and second-grade teacher. 
 
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