Smart Growth for Vernon, CT
Working for themselves or us?

Letters to the Editor
Journal Inquirer
December 3, 2010

The behavior of some Vernon Republican Town Council members at the Nov. 16 meeting was contemptible.

Bill Campbell and Dan Anderson wanted to allow hunting on a tract of land conveyed to an area land trust. The land has a hiking trail; it is not a safe place for hunting.

When told this, Campbell and Anderson made comments about the hunters being taxpayers and that they should have the same rights to use the land as nonhunters. They can use the land, just not to hunt.

When they didn’t get their way they walked out of the meeting, like children throwing a tantrum. They stood up for the rights of hunters to hunt on a piece of private property, saying that as taxpayers they are having their rights removed.

I find this to be hypocritical, considering they voted in favor of the town paying for streetlights and fire hydrant hookups in a private condo complex in town, while I live on a town-owned road that is regularly used as a shortcut from Vernon into Bolton and Coventry that has no sewers, no public water, no catch basins and the condition of the road is filled with potholes and boulders poking through the road.

It seems that not all taxpayers have the same rights in this town.

Mark Etre walked out over an issue that has been in legal question for weeks because he didn’t want to discuss it. He could have sat quietly and said nothing. It is a legal issue and it needs a legal answer so the town doesn’t wind up doing something illegal and against the Town Charter.

The mayor walked out with no explanation and never returned. The town attorney had been asked to attend the meeting for an executive session which never happened, so taxpayer dollars were wasted since he has to be paid for his time.

These elected officials are showing their true colors. Are these really the kinds of people who should be running the town?

Edie Chernack
Vernon