Cowls Tree Farm: "Respectful visits welcome"
It's certainly one thing to mount a protest campaign including lawn signs, newspaper columns, and vocal gatherings at public meetings -- something I applaud -- but another thing altogether to deviate into criminal activity. And I consider vandalism criminal. As does the law.
Last week someone defaced a wall in the bathrooms at Cowls Building Supply in North Amherst with the graffiti "Leave Cushman Alone!" Sort of betrays that it was politically motivated.
Cowls Building SupplyAlso last week members of the "Save Historic Cushman" group filed a complaint with state and local authorities over logging practices at the forest off Henry Street Cowls wishes to sell to a developer for student housing.
On Monday the Amherst Conservation Commission and state Department of Conservation and Recreation toured the site and found nothing major amiss.
Amherst Conservation Commission and State officials on site
Which comes as no surprise to anyone familiar with the 9th generation Cowls family, the largest private landowners in the state and tree huggers since before the term was invented.
Just as it
only takes a tiny minority of irresponsible party hardy students to give
all students in town a bad name, so it is with activist groups.
Ironically the Save Historic Cushman folks are worried about rowdy student
behavior and yet one or two of them are putting on an equally pernicious
performance.
And since bad things often comes in three's: At the Amherst Sustainability Festival Saturday on the Town Common a young conservation minded female working at the W.D. Cowls, Inc tent handing out free seedlings was verbally accosted by an older woman who represented herself as a member of Save Historic Cushman.
Including the mean barb, "You want the woods to look as ugly as you are," which sent her sobbing to the safety of her car.
Also on Saturday afternoon AFD responded to a brush fire along the cleared area just above Henry Street, far enough away so it could not have been sparks or a cigarette thrown from a passing vehicle.
First responders thought it was human activity that caused the fire, as in a party bonfire. But now I wonder:
Would someone take this hot button issue to an extreme, fighting fire with fire?
AFD Henry Street brush fire Saturday 2:45 PM
Henry Street Fire
how do you have any idea of who did what? this is goofy.
ReplyDeleteLarry,
ReplyDeleteAlthough I usually disagree with your opinions as well as your presentation this is beyond the pale...
To assume the graffiti was politically motivated is just plain naive. But, going with that, what's to say it wasn't done by someone who just wanted people to 'assume' as you have.
Where you really cross the line is to infer that someone working to stop the "Retreat" would deliberately set a fire, let alone in their own neighborhood. Wouldn't that endanger the very land they wish to protect as well as their own. And how, pray tell would that further their cause?
What you've written is not just irresponsible but downright contemptible. So, given that you are against drunk driving, can we assume that if the vehicle of someone from your DUI Dishonor Roll were parked near your house and set on fire, you'd be the likely suspect?
By the way, not that it apparently matters, but that fire was caused by "student renters" from the house below having a little fun on a beautiful day which included a 'little' campfire.
Looks to me like The Cowls'/Jones' are trying to make the Cushman folks look guilty of immaturity. Or someone hired by the potential developers. Doesn't make sense that someone who lives in Cushman did this stuff, the Cushman people have lodged a compelling and appropriate counter to the proposal and this kind of activity clearly undermines it, or is an attempt to undermine it.
ReplyDeleteLarry, you are imaginative.
Yeah, it's some kind of counter stuff, I mean, I've posted here as an anon with polar opposite opinions to mine, just because it is more effective in portraying the "competition" as idiots. That's obviously what's going on here.
ReplyDeletePerhaps Cinda could pull out the security vids, see who went into that bathroom that day. THAT would be an investigation into who did this stuff, if you REALLY want to know.
Wow! Larry that's really offensive. And I'm for the development. News requires one key thing, evidence.
ReplyDeleteWhere is the clause that says Larry is responsible to anyone? This is a blog. A blog is defined as a Web site containing the writer's or group of writers' own experiences, observations, opinions, etc. Key word is "opinion". Larry posts his opinion, some facts, and some observation and some folks seem to hold him to some sort of Walter Cronkite moral standard. If he has no facts he's wrong. If he posts pictures, the pictures are lies. He can't win. If he posts a persons name and photo, he is committing treason. Lighten up folks. Larry gives the town another outlet for information and theory and allows anyone to offer their opinion too. Nice to see.
ReplyDeleteTo say he's really crossed the line because he might imagine that a fire could have been sparked deliberately or that graffiti might have been caused by those against a housing development? They very well could be possibilities.
Your condemnation of Larry is absurd actually. You act like he defecated on your children. Sort of like saying that someone who didn't want the bank to foreclose on their home would never set it on fire because it's theirs. But this happens every day in this country, and many times, very nice homes.
http://4closurefraud.org/2013/04/27/facing-foreclosure-man-gets-five-months-for-setting-home-on-fire-to-collect-insurance/
http://www.bankruptcylawnetwork.com/in-foreclosure-dont-strike-that-match/
Sort of reminds me of The Great Fire of Rome. No one knows if it was accident or arson although most today agree it was not Nero. Still, many held Nero responsible even though he had just built himself the Golden House in the very part of the city that burned.
Truth is the odds of this development being built are more than good. And while there isn't much that is really that historic about the woodlands they want to develop, nor Cushman as a whole, it infuriates those who live there as they feel they have some sort of right to keep anyone else from living there. It's the definition of NIMBY.
But this area is not alone in Cushman, slowly but surely many areas on Flat Hills Road and other places in North Amherst are seeing development and will continue to do so. It's a matter of time. I've seen it in a dozen communities. North Amherst is not immune, lawn signs or not.
Where did any commenters say that Larry is responsible to anyone? The commenters are just posting their opinions, just like Larry. Although I do believe I recall Larry calling himself a journalist and his blog a news medium, more than once.
ReplyDeleteIs it true that the entrance to the proposed development is really close to the train tracks?
If I were a member of the Save Historic Cushman group, I would get some cash, hire a private investigator, and request of Cinda that the investigator have access to Cowls records, receipts, vids, etc., and get to the bottom of it.
At the Amherst Sustainability Festival Saturday on the Town Common a young female forester working at the W.D. Cowls, Inc tent handing out free seedlings was verbally accosted by an older woman who represented herself as a member of Save Historic Cushman.
Has this woman been identified, so that we know it was in fact a member of the SHC group? OK, so we know it was an older woman...
Walt said: Amherst are seeing development and will continue to do so. It's a matter of time. I've seen it in a dozen communities.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info Walt, because we are all a bunch of stupid bumpkins who have never left the confines of the Republic.
So now Walter is suggesting that some of the Save Historic Cushman members may have started the fire in order to burn down Cushman and collect insurance money?
ReplyDeleteNow that's an interesting theory... you should get in touch with the Fire Marshal and share that theory...
ʍɐlʇǝɹ, you should start a blog about issues that affect the town you live in...
Has this woman been identified, so that we know it was in fact a member of the SHC group? OK, so we know it was an older woman...
ReplyDeleteWe also know it wasn't a Conservative because she would have been arrested before she made it to the far sidewalk.
Pity the woman handing out seedlings wasn't like some of the women I know - who would have swung a fist rather than run to the car to cry.
Historic Cushman my ass. The north end of E Pleasant street was Ostroski's farm less than 10 or 15 years ago. Now those newbies in town are putting up signs to save historic Cushman. If you look at the signs, there mostly on properties of people who have not been here long at all. What a farce. How do you think those houses less than 25 years old got here to begin with? I live in North Amherst and I say build it. One for Larry. Oh yeah, I own my house, not like Walter.
ReplyDelete"verbally accosted?" just shocking!
ReplyDeleteEd, I don't think you know shit about throwing punches around.
ReplyDeleteSo did AFD ever say how they believe the fire was started?
ReplyDeleteso the women you know, Ed, would punch someone and go to jail for being called "ugly"
ReplyDeleteNo, they'd probably escalate it verbally first -- and I mean exponentially. The reason why we (UMRC alumni) are the terror of DC is that you had to be tough to be an out-of-the-closet conservative on that campus, even the girls are tough.
I was thinking of one specific incident though, where I asked a young lady, as a personal favor to me, not to slug a truly obnoxious (male) mASSgop/MACR/College Republican kid from one of the Eastern MA colleges. When I later found out exactly what it was that he had said to her -- crudely demanding that she engage in a sexual act with him, in the most vulgar way -- I almost wished I hadn't stopped her, as she had played field hockey in high school, was bigger/stronger than him, and deserved to learn that some women can defend themselves.
But no, violence is inefficient and there is way to much paperwork and legal messes involved. I still remember having to testify in court that "A" couldn't have punched "B" because I was standing between the two of them at the time, and I am not exactly small.
On one occasion a few years back, a young lady -- maybe 5'4" and 120 lbs -- was outside the UM student union, collecting donations for the DAV.
ReplyDeleteNow the DAV isn't some right-wing outfit, all they really do is (a) advocate for veterans, (b) help veterans navigate the quagmire that is the VA, and (c) pay for stuff that vets need, and which the VA ought to pay for but won't. This is pretty politically neutral -- they advocate for all disabled veterans, at least as best I can tell.
Two male graduate students -- both about 6' tall -- both with a history of disrupting Republican Club rallies -- essentially told her that they were going to drag her into the bushes and brutally rape her.
Yes, this was only words, but ladies -- what would be your reaction if two men, both bigger than you, said this to you? Larry, your reaction to one of your daughters having had it said to her? At what point can (should) a woman decide that her physical safety is in jeopardy and be prepared to use violence to defend herself?
And yes, a police report was filed, but since it was the UMRC, nothing was done because the university believed that she "deserved" to have stuff like this happen to her because she was a "troublemaker." (See above about how the DAV isn't exactly provocative.)
She was all set to go back out there the next day - by herself. (I said "no, we aren't having girls out there alone, not after this" -- and she didn't object. But she'd gone, that's what I mean by "tough.")
The woman now works for the Heritage Institute. Enough said?
I keep hearing reference to ʍɐlʇǝɹ not owning property in town, not living in Amherst, etc.
ReplyDeleteSo what's the deal with this guys residence status once and for all? Does he live in Amherst or What?
Why does he care?
he obviously has issues with females...
It shouldn't be the case that residents with more years living here have more say or more right to work for their cause for the town. So what if they are "newbies" (less tan 25 years.)
ReplyDeleteMost of the people who live in this town who have been here longer than that didn't earn their way into this town anyway, they inherited the deed that someone else earned. It's the "newbies" that are the ones working their butts off in this town, while second, third generation so on can slack on their 'rent's property and money.
Take Cinda for example...
No, not enough said, Ed. You are full of shit and I know it and you know it. Provide us with some proof that two males told another female student that they were going to "drag her into the bushes and brutally rape her." Surely she filed a police report?
ReplyDeleteDo you perceive yourself as some kind of hero, Ed, rushing to the aid of young ladies who need to either walk home at night, or can't stand outside the Student Union, or who got involved with a faculty member...
OMG, You're Travis Bickle!
And yes, a police report was filed, but since it was the UMRC, nothing was done because the university believed that she "deserved" to have stuff like this happen to her because she was a "troublemaker."
ReplyDeleteHow can an enormous non-human institution like UMass believe anything?
Ed, who decided that nothing should be done about two male students threatening to brutally rape another student, and that she in fact "deserved" the threat? The accusations and statements you are making are too important to just let this one pass.
either give us details, or admit that you are a fat liar and a nut who can't stop referencing RAPING YOUNG UMASS COEDS every other post regardless of what the post is about.
Weirdo.
Part 1: And then there was this incident involving a different young lady:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.massnews.com/2003_Editions/4_April/041803_mn_violent_reactions_to_prolife_exhibit_amherst.shtml
She was attacked by a woman described as being "about my (Ed's) size", and Kiera suffered a significant injury to her knee, not broken but a bad sprain that needed her to be off of it and was quite painful because she tried to keep going.
It took me bluntly asking "Do you want to be able to dance at your wedding, or do you want to be in a wheelchair?" -- and then explicitly telling her that she was going to destroy that knee if she didn't get off of it -- it took that to get her to admit that she was injured and to take it seriously.
This is what I mean by "tough."
These are not violent women (or men). They aren't going to go nonchalantly punching people (no more than I will), but they aren't going to back down, either. You "push" them and "they will push back."
You put them in a situation where they need to punch someone to defend themselves, I have no doubt they would. None. And I mean this in the context of them having no other options.
We stood our ground, that's what the mASSgop didn't like and why they essentially shut the club down.
You stand on the front steps of the student union, trying to give a speech in the face of flagrant provocation including schmucks standing a foot away and blowing cigarette smoke in your face (and I have) -- you sit through a 3 hour grad seminar which has devolved into nothing but the professor and all the other students attacking you personally -- and go back the next week for more (and I have) -- you deal with this sort of stuff and you get very tough, very quickly.
You develop the ability to stand on your own, and to not care that you are on your own in the face of vile hostility. Contrast this to those who can't even go to the bathroom without a group consensus -- who lack the courage to stand for what they believe in unless everyone around them does too.
Part 2:
ReplyDelete(That, boys 'n' girls, is how the Holocaust happened. Not enough people had the courage to say "this is bullshite, I am not going to be involved in this, I don't care what happens, I am not going to do it.")
Now this doesn't mean that you are violent, only that you will stand your ground for principles you believe in -- a concept that very few people understand. And it actually is surprising because it is the same level of principled commitment that the people in the civil rights movement had a half century ago.
No, you will not reduce a conservative woman to tears. And I don't think anything would have happened had it been such a woman there handing out seedlings because bullies are inherent cowards and don't attack those who can defend themselves.
I will never forget when yet another young lady (maybe 5' tall and maybe 100 lbs but I doubt it) was bullied by a couple of much larger female graduate students in the Labor Relations program -- this in the Herter lobby outside a Faculty Senate meeting.
She was alone -- she'd been sitting next to me but had gone to use the restroom (which conservative women can do by themselves) -- and as I understand it, these women were trying to prevent her from returning to the meeting. While scared, she stood her ground, protecting her personal space by calling them "C***s", and didn't let them stop her.
They went crying to their professor who came over to intimidate the undergrad for "being abusive to her students" - as if those training to become labor mediators aren't going to hear worse said at contentious contract negotiations - and I told the professor that I neither appreciated her graduate students bullying a freshman, nor her (professor) trying to do so as well.
And that I stood behind her -- which ended it because bullies are inherent cowards.
I subsequently told the student that she had only made one mistake -- that she hadn't used the word "dumb" as an adjective further defining the other word. I had no doubt that she would were there a next time, but that there wouldn't be a next time because these bully/cowards had learned that an 18-year-old woman, half their size, would stand her ground.
I have said this before and I will say it again. If you are going to say hateful things, especially if you are going to call people out by name, be courageous enough to add your own name your post.
ReplyDeleteI have yet to see one person who has said a hateful thing about Cinda Jones or her family have the courage to put their own name behind their opinion.
Ed, who decided that nothing should be done about two male students threatening to brutally rape another student, and that she in fact "deserved" the threat? The accusations and statements you are making are too important to just let this one pass.
ReplyDeleteThe incident is documented in the UMPD records -- at least as to a call number and an officer going to speak with her -- go look it up. And while I was not present at the time, I later heard that the officer(s) were decent and supportive but really couldn't do anything because she had no witnesses.
One of the other problems -- and I did neglect to mention this -- is that the code of student conduct (at the time) did not apply to graduate students who didn't live on campus -- and these two didn't -- and these two schmucks were quite notorious for disrupting other events as well.
Oh yes, I discussed this with
Gladys Rodreguez -- the last competent person in the UM Dean of Students' Office -- Gladys took it seriously and I do need to say that.
But when I mean "UMass", I'm contrasting this to when a couple drunken fratboys tried to steal the Mettawampe statute and it became a campus-wide hate incident, when the FBI spoke to the Iraqi-born professor and that became a major incident, things like that.
either give us detail
ReplyDeleteLook it up yourself, or PAY ME to look it up. Cash retainer in advance, hourly billing and based on the annual salary/benefit package of a first-year UM faculty member. I am not doing this for free -- the link to Izzy's old column is the only freebee you will get.
I defended young men too -- I was the adviser. It was my job.
And the story about the Latin Kings and the incident at The Boulders is true. They all did suddenly just decide to go out the back bedroom window (first floor).
And I didn't stop them....
Two other things.
ReplyDelete1: Cowl's lumber is to be credited for having public restroom facilities -- increasingly, a lot of places don't because of "problems" and I hope that Cowl's can keep theirs open.
AND that it doesn't become like the restroom at Thornes' Marketplace.
2: Cinda -- where do you get the seedlings from? I'm looking to get a bunch -- 20/50/100 (?) - maybe getting year-old ones to raise in pots for a couple more years -- I intend to pay for them, but don't want to pay too much. And quality on something like this is a real issue -- I've bought seedlings from UM groups in the past and they all were dried out & dead.
I'm in the gray/grey area of between retail & wholesale, I want to put up a 300-400 foot "green wall" to keep the &^%$ tourists, the dust from the dirt road and the fog out -- and I would rather do it cheaply.
The name of a vendor or two would be greatly appreciated.
Sarah -- I will take it one step further -- Cicero once said "when the law is in your favor, argue the law; when the facts are in your favor, argue the facts; and when neither is, abuse the plaintiff."
ReplyDeleteAttacking someone personally is like resorting to the use of obscenities -- it is a sign of weakness. Those who choose to attack others personally are indicating the lack of merit that their arguments otherwise have.
That is what I so detest about Amherst (and modern academia in general) -- anyone who doesn't march lock-step in the approved thought mantra is attacked personally, with no consideration of the merits of the dissenting view.
The word "fascist" comes to mind.
If Cinda were so perfect there would be no reason to attack the people who dare question her qualifications and ability to manage the massive amount of land in Massachusetts she inherited.
ReplyDeleteNobody said anything hateful about Cinda. What was stated was that she did not earn her way into this town, she inherited her way into this town. If she was born to a poor family of recent immigrants in Belchertown she would not have the options to do what she would like to do to the land she inherited in the Cushman area of Amherst. The chances that she would have been able to amass the kind of property and money she owns now are slim, no matter how many hours she labored. And it's a lot easier to work at maintaining what someone else earned than to earn it yourself.
And that's where we are left, with another case of because someone did well, another a few generations later has a lot of power over a lot of God's green earth, despite not having any REAL experience to point to--and I mean the kind where you earn your way and fight to the top, the American way--that she knows what is good for Amherst or for God's green Earth.
either give us details, or admit that you are a fat liar and a nut who can't stop referencing RAPING YOUNG UMASS COEDS every other post regardless of what the post is about.
ReplyDeleteNo, I am going to call you on this.
"Every other post" is 50% -- so cite your statistics. I am quite sure that I have written more posts critical of Team Maria than about sexual assaults. More critical of UMass itself, Enku, the UMPD and APD as well.
The young lady told me what had happened earlier that day, and I believe she was telling me the truth. And that is all I need to know -- and more than you deserve to know, Asshole.
Second, prove that the citations don't exist. I have no intention of proving everything I say - can you imagine what such a burden would do to Team Maria? Think about it, asshole.
There are also issues of confidentiality, no, I am not going to post names that aren't in the public domain. That's just wrong, asshole.
Third, I am sick and tired of unfounded gratuitous attacks on both my character and my mental health. This is defamation, this is libel -- no, I am not necessarily going to sue, I am just going to call you (& yours) an asshole.
I am just going to point out that it says more about you and your ilk than it ever could about me, asshole.
And to the three fair minded people who might exist in Amherst, I am going to ask one other thing -- it likely is quite clear that I am not particularly fond of the university, nor were they particularly fond of me. Notwithstanding whatever it is supposed to be, if there truly was a defect in my character and/or mental health, don't you think they would have exploited it to get rid of me?
Some people on that campus did everything possible to prevent me from graduating -- I'm not discussing it -- but people know what happened. They would have been able to get rid of me if I wasn't "squeaky clean."
And I really am not going to be intimidated by anonymous libelous defamation. Not from assholes.
And this is one of the few times I will actually answer the assholes -- and yes, Ed really doesn't appreciate these libelous defamatory attacks -- even if he does know that they are coming from assholes whom no one with any moral character would ever respect.
If you are going to publicly write disparaging things about a person you should have the courage to sign your name to those words. You should be willing to say this things to their face.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone here who uses the name Cinda Jones like a four letter word actually spent any time with her? Do you truly know her standards and the truths she lives by? She is as hard working as her ancestors and proud of it.
These posts are a prime example of bullying.
Umh, you're right. "Every other" means every second post. Thats's not accurate.
ReplyDeleteEd, I will go back over the years and count how many times you go off topic and bring up, typically in a hypothetical way, young women getting raped. I'll even copy/paste them if Larry will publish it.
It's weird... Travis.
...if there truly was a defect in my character and/or mental health, don't you think they would have exploited it to get rid of me?
ReplyDeleteIf there is truly no defect in your character or your mental health, then there is no need to attack the people who dare question your character or mental health.
Which poster here used Cinda's name like a four-letter word?
ReplyDeleteCinda Jones is the kind of hard working intelligent person, who, if she lost her millions would be able to make it all back again. Like her ancestors before her.
ReplyDeleteWow, pretty thin skinned if Cinda's friends can't handle what has been written here.
ReplyDeleteWhat is disparaging or untrue about what was written here regarding Cinda's residency in Amherst and ownership of acres upon acres upon acres of God's Green Earth?
I'm just saying... look at who is in charge of the irredeemable fate of these stretches of woods, and why are they qualified to be in charge?
Yes, I'm aware she does not need to demonstrate competency, she owns large swaths of His land, and can pretty much do what she wants, and that's sad to me.
I just don't think that this what will make our town or country stronger. The people who have fought their way to the top have more incentive to do the right thing. And inheritors have a way of F'ing things up, business in America is replete with examples of this.
I'm sure Cinda can handle these tough, tough questions, Sarah, but you are a good friend anyway. Good for you!
Cinda Jones is the kind of hard working intelligent person, who, if she lost her millions would be able to make it all back again. Like her ancestors before her.
ReplyDeleteToo bad she has decided to never prove that to us or to herself.
But you're right, it's pretty easy to make millions as long as you're smart and hard-working (not.)
P.S., Sarah...
ReplyDeleteI am not a friend of Cinda's but I met her once and I liked her very much.
Just like I think Larry actually likes the town manager and superintendent.
But "like" is hardly the point.
Gee, Ed, for somebody who doesn't have anything to hide about all those references you made re umass coeds, you sure are sensitive.
ReplyDeleteYou went over the edge there, pal, and that tells us something.
Hmmm.
...who, if she lost her millions...
ReplyDeleteBut, gosh, where would she live while she was making her millions?
Surely not Amherst, Right? I mean, it's simply not affordable to live here if you have ZERO and are trying to make millions... and how would she make her millions here anyway? A new Hardware Store and Lumber Yard start-up?
It's tougher than people like Cinda and Sarah think.
Ed has a vivid imagination and embelishes or just makes stuff up. When he's called on it, with questions or the actual facts,he either doesn't answer or says do your own research.
ReplyDeleteI can't think of any other poster here that veers off course and brings up rape, sex, gay sex and sexual deviance. Not every other post like accused of, but certainly at a disturbing rate.
Glad he's not in town anymore.
I will catalog those off-topic rants by Ed.
ReplyDeleteThe idea had been growing in my brain for some time: TRUE force. All the king's men cannot put it back together again.
ReplyDeleteEd...
ReplyDeleteyou must be "over the target".
Or maybe I'm over the target...it's hard to tell.
ReplyDeletewhy not the travis quote about flushing the town down the toilet--it's ed to a tee, i think i could find an ed quote that's almost identical--come on, it's fun
ReplyDeleteSarah,
ReplyDeleteI am against the "Retreat" but have not written a word against Cinda.
Instead, and unlike many other contributors, I write based on research about the project not the person. After my 1st post on this blog he responded with incorrect and unflattering assumptions about me and referred to me as a nitwit because I had misspelled his name (funny, given the # of misspellings I've seen him make).
Can you imagine what he might do if he were to know my name?
Oh, and by the way, I'm not being cowardly. Its just that to encourage more vitriol from him (or anyone here) and on a personal level seems counter-productive. Or, is that the point?
Cowardly Anons –
ReplyDeleteI am grateful for every advantage I’ve had in life. I object to your misrepresentation of me as one who didn’t earn where she is and who doesn’t work her ass off every day. Let me correct this misimpression with some facts.
I have lived 25/45 years of my life in Amherst. I was told to get educated, useful and experienced before I came home to the family business. I did. My diverse and relevant experience would have earned me my senior management job at Cowls in 2001 even if it wasn’t my dad doing the hiring.
After a degree from Colby then working as Assistant Executive Director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine for 3 years; I went to DC for 10 years; got a Certificate in Business Admin from Georgetown; and worked my way up from pretty lowly positions to being Marketing Director for Wood Products at the American Forest & Paper Association; Marketing Director for the Cato Institute; Northeast Regional Director for the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation; and Vice President of the National Forest Foundation.
Then I took a significant pay cut to come home and work at the family business.
For years before, and for the first 10 years I came home, WD Cowls lost between $10K and $200K per year. I turned the family business around by closing the unprofitable sawmill and endeavoring new businesses like a commercial gravel operation; analysis and exploration of diverse opportunities; and streamlining operations.
I’ve proved my commitment to conservation by partnering with MA F&W and completing the largest conservation restriction the state has ever seen, the 3,486ac PCJ Working Forest, named for my recently deceased father.
This CR enabled my brother and me to pay the taxes due on getting the family timber business to the next (9th) generation; and keeping 100 parcels of land in active forest management, with advantages including your public recreation, clean air, clean water, and wood products. I choose to sell one parcel of over 100, because I believe the proposed project is worthy, and I’m the enemy. I’m lazy. I haven’t earned where I am, I’m publicly slandered.
Under my leadership, and because of an amazing team, Cowls has won numerous national environmental and sustainable forestry awards.
You question how hard I try, and how hard I work? I get up at 4:30am every week day, am at work at 6am and stay often until 6pm. I’m in the office working lots of weekend days too. I am no slacker. I am an achiever. And THAT, dear anons, is exactly what pisses you off.
Cinda
I will catalog those off-topic rants by Ed.
ReplyDeletemake sure you note that time when someone said something about ed sniping off the roof of the library, and ed's retort was that to go off topic with such a statement--for that thought to have even entered anyone's mind unprovoked--is proof that the person who thought it is the one who would likely commit such an act.
and make sure that you include the many comments Ed made, unprovoked and WAY off topic, in the few weeks leading up to him making that comment, about young coed UMass students and children of Amherst residents being brutally raped.
Cinda can handle what has been published here, in fact I doubt she has given it a second thought if she has even given it any attention at all.
ReplyDeleteIf you want to play big girl games your gonna get a little jabbing--at least in this town. And look back at what was written: It's about her circumstance, not her person.
I could have easily said, for example:
"Take Gerald Jones for example..."
or some other kid half my age who inherited a bunch of property or money, or many others. It's simply a fact that there are a lot of grown-ups in this town who inherited a ton of land and/or money and didn't have to do the hard part of earning it. And now they get to make the decisions about how our town will look, act and behave 'cause of who their daddy or grandaddy or great great grandaddy was. Nothing we can do about it, just the way it is.
Didn't find one comment where anyone references how hard Cinda tries or works--must be something she has on her mind, 'cause it ain't on the blog.
ReplyDeleteWho paid for all that education, Cinda? Did you earn the money that cost? I paid for all of mine by working through college. It feels really good.
My diverse and relevant experience would have earned me my senior management job at Cowls in 2001 even if it wasn’t my dad doing the hiring.
Unless someone else with more diverse and relevant experience applied--that's called competition. But I'm sure you "won" the position.
I am an achiever. And THAT, dear anons, is exactly what pisses you off.
Your background and history is news to me and frankly, knowing the leg up you probably had starting out and along the way, I'm not all that impressed. Doesn't piss me off, I am an achiever too, (not an achiever like YOU, of course,) you read things into this stuff that I didn't write.
But again, I and you will never know if you would have been able to achieve at a level where you would have what you have now. Chances are, no. You have inherited a situation. Is that so incorrect? I know people who work a lot harder than you Cinda, and have a better education and more experience, too, and it's a struggle out here. But that is such a common refrain from trust-fund children--"Hey, I would have earned this if it wasn't given to me." People like that simply will never have the same perception about who is successful, who "earned" what they have, what it actually takes, as people who earned it all from zero.
Glad you've done so well for yourself, though, honestly.
Wow, I guess anon who said Cinda probably was not giving the comments here a second thought was wrong. Touch-y. Boy, not that much was even said! And to respond to things she was not even accused of?
ReplyDeleteKind of strikes me as unprofessional, to retort with your resume.
Can't imagine the town manager or the superintendent or the Police Chief responding like that...of course they are professionals.
Oh Cinda...I wish you hadn't.
ReplyDeleteFor your supporters, your comments obviously weren't necessary and I'm surprised and disappointed that you felt the need to respond to those who sling mud rather than engage in open-minded, fact based dialog.
Whether I agree with the Retreat or not, you don't need to explain yourself or your credentials to anyone, least of all on Larry Kelley's blog for goodness sake.
Wow, bonus points. You zing two people at the same time, both of whom have the guts to sign their name to everything.
ReplyDeletePretty good for a curmudgeon CAN.
Yeah, my parents told me to go out and get an education and some experience too. Most of our parents did, I imagine.
ReplyDeleteBut most of us didn't have something so grand and guaranteed waiting for us at the end of that...it was more work and experience and proving ourselves every day.
It must be nice to "compete" within a realm of the business world where there is no possibility you will ever go homeless or hungry.
It's easy to have "guts" if your name is Cinda Jones.
ReplyDeleteanon said: Cinda...for your supporters...
ReplyDeleteSupporters? Does Cinda have supporters and detractors? Do you mean supporters of her plans in Cushman?
I think she has amassed detractors since announcing the development. Some of whom she probably considered friends.
ReplyDeleteWell, I'm sure she expected that.
ReplyDeleteFor sure.But probably not the level of bile on display here today.
ReplyDeleteCinda, we know you wake up early and work hard and everything, like so many of us, it's just that it's hard to know what you have actually EARNED from work and what you have INHERITED because your name is Jones. So the person who is saying "and now look who will decide the fate of large swaths of God's green Earth" has a point. It's not really your land, you know what I mean?
ReplyDeleteAnd to say, "Well, I would have earned what I inherited anyway" does not ring so true to those of us out here that have more ed., more experience, work longer hours and harder. It's really hard to get ahead, Cinda.
It is an attitude and a perception you will only be able to rid yourself of by proving to yourself that you would have been able to do it all alone, and that means leaving it all behind, and going forth into the world once again. I would say it would be reasonable to take a modest amount of cash along with you that came from salary, so it wouldn't be quite as hard as it was for some of us when we went out to make our way in the world.
bile? I see a reasonable discussion occurring here. These are real issues to concern ourselves with.
ReplyDeleteWe have already seen a rash, unprofessional retort from Cinda here today, should we wonder whether she has really thought her plans for Cushman through in a professional, reasonable way? Because the display I saw from her today was NOT professional or reasonable--pretty lousy first impression for me, actually. Have emotions clouded her decision making process re the Cushman development, as well?
She should be able to tell when someone's trying to push her buttons and be cool and professional and ignore. That kind of behavior wouldn't be tolerated in the real working world. Fail.
Funny, I've never heard you refer to similar discussions and comments as "bile" when they are directed at SC members, or school admin., or town government workers...
Funny, I put my name on everything I say no matter where it's directed.
ReplyDeleteWhere Cinda went wrong is thinking that what people say here matters. Everyone knows that this place is largely populated with angry people who spew hateful rhetoric because they can. She should ignore all these people and carry on with her life. Hang in there Cinda and don't let the turkeys draw you down to their level.
ReplyDeleteClearly you would like nothing more than to bring down "Team Maria", you've got the time, if you could you would.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely not.
I'm just waiting to see her crash & burn most spectacularly -- she's going to crash & burn on her own and it's going to be impressive.
Most millionaires do not even graduate from high school.
ReplyDeleteWe are all responsible for what happens to us in life.
Personal responsibility.
Cinda is a good and true person with people who love her. She will not walk this Earth alone. Neither in triumph nor in defeat.
I wish you all the same.
Cinda could still be in DC living on her own, independently and successfully. Instead she chose to come back to this fishbowl of a town, save the family business, and run a business that employs close to 50 people. She goes home every nite with the stress and headaches that come with running a business and putting food on the tables of 50 families. For you people to accuse her of having it easy is laughable. It is hard working people like her that help keep this country running.
ReplyDeleteSo what, you socialists think that no one should ever inherit anything ? That would just drive every generation to exploit every piece of land they own. That would likely have eliminated every open-to-the-public piece of privately owned land that has been available to all of us for so many generations. They would cut down every tree to sell, build houses on every buildable acre, and the land would be worthless to the rest of us.... get real.....
ReplyDeleteAllowing people to compete over who will win the right to make decisions about the fate of a large swath of forest would be more capitalistic not socialist. Right now there's a sort of royalty system where the power is simply passed down to the next born--in this case--princess. The way we get the best products and services are when people must compete, not get handed something. It should be that individuals are allowed to compete to get a leg up in this world. Cinda didn't compete for that land, why should we expect the best product and service?
ReplyDeleteSarah said: Most millionaires do not even graduate from high school.
ReplyDeleteWe are all responsible for what happens to us in life.
Personal responsibility.
You are correct, Sarah. And most millionaires did not earn their millions, either; they inherited them from someone who did. Did Cinda leave home with zero, pay for her ed. herself by working, then come home after making millions on her own? That I would be impressed with.
That's what I'm talking about, this perception: most millionaires are relatively young and inherited their money, yet believe they earned it through personal responsibility and hard work. This idea, "Oh, I would have earned it anyway." It is an illusion.
I watched Ms. Jones interact with the townspeople of shutesbury several years ago when parcel sizes were being discussed. I didn't know her prior to this encounter but what I witnessed was less about the townspeople and more about her legacy. And her family's power.
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