To the editor:

The mismanagement of the Town of Mansfield is at the forefront again. Mansfield has a funds shortage - what a surprise - and who is expected to pick up the cost? None other than the homeowners again. How about just for once the town manager and most of the board of selectmen go to the businesses of this town and ask them to kick in and pay for our shortfall. Remember when Town Manager John D'Agostino and most of the board members said new business would bring us great tax relief? Well we now have Mansfield Crossing Mall and almost monthly a new business opens here, so where is the tax relief we were promised?

How dare they come to homeowners and ask us for an override to pay for their mistakes! This time try something different and ask the businesses of this town to pay for the "temporary" override for the next five years. They have the ability to raise prices "temporarily" to pay for the town's shortfall. They must be making plenty of money in this town because I don't see many of them leaving. If they don't like paying some extra taxes for only the next five years, then all I can say to them is "there's the door and don't let it hit you on your way out of town." I am sure there are plenty of others willing to come to our town and take their place be willing to pay a little extra in taxes to get into Mansfield. Mansfield is a very lucrative market for sure.

I am urging all people of Mansfield to put a stop to this override before it takes its first step.

Aldo Ferrario, Mansfield State Senate candidate ready to listen and learn

To the editor:

I first met Sara Orozco many months ago when she attended a meeting of the Democratic Town Committee. It was a small gathering of 20 or so active citizens, the agenda short, but the issues important to those in attendance. Sara, a citizen of Needham, made it clear that she was there to listen and to learn, listen to the concerns of her fellow citizens, and learn about the local issues of greatest impact not only on the future of our town, but to the future of our commonwealth. Sara also made it clear that it was her intent to take these concerns to the street in the form of a campaign for the Senate seat now held by the Republican, Scott Brown. After our time together and the in-depth discussion of our varied views, those who were there gave our signatures to Sara's nomination papers. It was a beginning.

Since that day, Sara has met with scores of small groups across the length and breadth of this Senate district. And in every meeting Sara has given that same calm assuring voice to the people she has met that our concerns, our visions for our children's future, our desires for a higher quality of life for our fellow citizens are shared by her, and in every meeting the people gave their voice back to Sara in the form of the signatures needed to place her name into nomination.

By the end of April Sara had succeeded in gathering over three times the number of signatures required to place her name on the ballot and she is now the Democratic candidate for the Senate seat representing our district.

I fully support Sara Orozco in her quest to replace the Republican party candidate in the upcoming elections and I urge my fellow citizens to lend her their hand and their help in electing a Democrat to represent the future of our district.

Marty Gibeault, Plainville

Obama unwise to speak against gas tax holiday

To the editor:

For the second time at least in this campaign Barack Obama has gratuitously presented ideas about the campaign which do not help him. The first was the "bitterness" remark and now we have his wisdom concerning the gasoline tax vacation. He may well be right in both of these remarks, but would have been better served if he had kept silent.

Such acumen only impresses those who will vote for him. They are beyond the average voter's ability to appreciate. Most voters are feeling it in the wallet right now so the gas tax holiday is welcome.

If, as Mr. Obama says, we will have to pay it in the fall, well we can use this "break" now. The vacation - go now and pay later. The water's cold in November.

And as for bitterness, the voters don't want a psychoanalysis. This was not a message of hope, instead it was a message of guilt. "Who is he to tell me that I am displacing my anger," is probably what a lot of voters in Pennsylvania asked themselves, and this probably steered voters to Mrs. Clinton, who called it being "elitist."

The first thing Obama should ask himself is, "Do I have anything to say that the voters might accept?" The next question should be, "Where did this kind of talk get me last time?"

John F. Doherty, Attleboro