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letters to the editor

There ARE Taxi's in Concord!
big, fat tree!As an individual who has run a taxi business in Concord MA for 30 years, starting in August 1973, I find it odd that the writer in a previous Letter to the Editor seems to have been informed that taxi businesses are not allowed in Concord. A simple check of the telephone yellow pages would have proved otherwise. The more important question, however, is why there is not a thriving, readily available, taxi industry in Concord or other affluent suburbs.

Taxis are licensed by the individual towns, and Concord requires that any licensee live in, or have a physical place of business in, the town. Given the rents of commercial property, and the cost of housing in Concord, it is virtually impossible for someone living on Concord or running a business in Concord to make full time living operating a taxi business. Everyone in Concord has a car--or several cars--and needs a taxi very infrequently. Secondly, to operate a radio dispatched or cell phone service would be even more costly. The driver and taxi owner cannot make money by driving 5 or 8 miles to a supermarket, to help someone with their groceries, to their home a mile away.

Is there a solution to the problem of the lack of availability of taxis in Concord? I don't know. I suggest that Concord needs greater economic diversity in its population, so that simple services such as an available taxi company can be provided. If you need to earn $80,000 per year to live in Concord, operating a taxi company is not a viable option.
Thomas Knatt, Apollo Airport Transportation, Concord Taxi, West Concord

Trolls Strike Back
windy hair...or hairless??!Surely you can do better than this inane fable. T'is an offense to trolls everywhere, worse than the maliciously propagandistic (and spurious) "Three Billy Goats Gruff"drivel!

Particularly irksome is the reference to the Lexington-Concord Troll's being "follicularly-challenged". The correct term is "glabrous". This is a sub-species of troll noted for its extremely attractive (indeed, some say sexually-arousing) smooth pelt. It is difficult to imagine a Glabrous Troll behaving rudely, as their suavite and diplomacy are legendary. If this sort of thing continues, you may expect to be picketed by the East Coast Troll Anti-Defamation League. A word to the wise...
Huffily, Joe Boyle

Coins on Gravesides - New Orleans and Nova Scotia Style
I pulled up the article on your website because I also wanted to know the significance of leaving coins at gravesides. I would like to share something with you that I have seen.

a tad windy out here, eh? I work as a tour guide and in New Orleans, in the cemeteries or 'Cities of the Dead' as they call them, many people leave coins at the graves, especially on the voodoo graves. In fact, I was in front of Marie Laveau's tomb (the famous voodoo queen) and as we were talking a young woman came up, put a bottle of Jack Daniel's in front of the tomb, got down on all fours touching her forehead to the ground and then got up and walked away. Usually people just leave coins for their answered prayers - just a little offering. Evidently this woman hit the jackpot.

I also work in Nova Scotia, Canada, and when I am in Halifax I always take my groups to see the graves of the 121 Titanic victims in Fairview Lawn Cemetery. Besides the grave of Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio's role was based on an actual person) we visit the grave of the Unknown Child. An 18 month old baby was pulled from the water when they did the body recovery and, rather than put him with the other unknowns in the mass graves, the captain and crew of the recovery ship had a special mass said and took him to the cemetery themselves. At the baby's grave they also had a special headstone laid, honoring the 'Unknown Child'. People still leave flowers, teddy bears and, yes, coins at the grave.

Just in case you are wondering about the rest of the story: By coincidence, the baby's mother is buried about 5 feet away. From the contents in the purse she was still clutching (frozen in her hands) when they found her body, and correspondence from her husband who was waiting for his family, they deduced that it was actually her baby. The bodies of her other 3 children were never recovered. The fact that the baby lies so close to it's mother - by chance - still touches everyone who visits the cemetery.
Regards, Ashley Ryan

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