A reasonable request

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To the Editor:

I am writing this in response to Myra Post’s letter last week [No taxpayer funds for ACE-MV, April 9].  This letter is full of misinformation about health care and retirement accounts which are purely conjecture on her part.

I know the director who has worked tirelessly for years developing programs to make life more interesting and creative on Martha’s Vineyard for adults. This is a nonprofit that is offering positive opportunities in an isolated community with little else to choose from. Not everyone can afford to take the time and money to commute off-Island to an educational facility to enroll in classes.

In 1979, I took a welding class in the adult ed program at the high school here, because I needed to have those abilities to continue growing my art career with stained glass. I had no extra money or time to go off-Island, and in eight weeks I learned the basic welding techniques that I then developed on my own. I have since built many public monuments in forged and welded stainless steel (Immigrant Memorial at Plymouth Rock).

If it wasn’t for the adult education course at the high school, I would have never had the opportunity to build this work. The request for funds from all the Island towns is very reasonable and will provide positive, healthy opportunities right here on Martha’s Vineyard.

Barney Zeitz

Tisbury