A Weekly Education

On Town Issues

To the Editor:

I’m fairly new to Newtown (we closed on our home in June ‘04) and have been pleasantly surprised by the breadth of local news coverage in our town gazette as well as the space allocated to letters to the editor. Bravo to The Bee for its efforts!

In my opinion, The Bee offers a worthwhile means for educating oneself on town issues — the pros and cons of Fairfield Hills for example. Maybe my education has a long way to go, but as I see it, there appear to be, among the variety of viewpoints expressed, two fundamental positions in this controversial subject: the Herb Rosenthal “we-are-bound-by-the-bonds-and-must-proceed-in-accordance-with-their-charter-and-part-of-that-charter-mandates-a-new-town-hall-regardless-of-deficiencies-in-the-middle-school-auditorium-and-Newtown-High-School-accreditation” camp, and the Al Roznicki/Ruby Johnson/Po Murray/Matt DeAngelis et al camp that, it seems to me, proposes keeping open spaces for as long as possible, allocating FFH funds to parks, ball fields, maybe a new dog pound if it could be squeezed in there, and reallocating funds to correct some of the deficiencies in the school system. I have two young daughters and one old dog. To me, this is a no-brainer. But maybe I’m missing something.

One thing I’m definitely missing is input from Mr Rosenthal. His notable absence from the Letters to the Editor dialogue makes one wonder: Is such communication inefficient or inappropriate for a first selectman? Is he waiting for the right moment to respond? Is the right moment sometime closer to November 6? For the newcomers in town, some fresh input from Mr Rosenthal would be welcome.

The Bee offered Michael Luzzi a forum [Letter Hive, “Some People Lie… Other People Die,” March 23, 2007] to express his frustration in not receiving the answers he sought when he inquired of friends in 2003 what it would take for them to withdraw support from the Bush administration? Maybe if the question weren’t so loaded, they’d have responded. Maybe an equally interesting question should be posed to Mr Luzzi: What turn of events or revelation would you require to reverse your biased opinion of this administration, and see the war for what it is — the sole significant military effort being staged today against a worldwide congregation of fanatics hellbent on ending Western civilization? Maybe Mr Luzzi could spare us the pithy word play and rethink his worldview a smidge.

I look forward to every Friday when The Bee arrives and the dialogue continues. Newtown’s residents are well informed of community issues and viewpoints as a result of The Newtown Bee.

Brendan Duffy

4 Chestnut Knoll Drive, Sandy Hook                          March 27, 2007