Hidden Agenda Or

Blind To The Facts?

To the Editor:

I read with much frustration Linda Dunn’s May 22 letter to the editor [Letter Hive, May 25, “Hidden Agenda”] in which she suggests a “hidden agenda” with regard to FFH Authority plans for initial work on walking trails at the FFH campus. Obviously, Ms Dunn was not in attendance at the most recent authority meeting, wherein the authority went to great lengths to suggest that anyone with questions regarding FFH plans should simply attend a meeting and request answers directly from the authority members.

It’s clear that the authority is discouraged by persons like Ms Dunn, who prefer to speak of hidden agendas rather than making even the slightest attempt to learn the facts about the authority’s efforts. Had Ms Dunn taken the time to attend the meeting or gather the facts, she would have heard Dr John Reed’s unedited comments regarding the trail efforts. Ms Dunn would have understood that not a single one of the $42,000 dollars allocated for the trail was to be used to provide access to the water bunkers. It would have been clear to Ms Dunn that the Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA) must have access to the bunkers and is responsible for the maintenance of the existing access road, and as such the WPCA would be paying for the repair of the access road. It would also have been abundantly clear to Ms Dunn that the $42,000 allocated for the trail was specifically earmarked for the construction of a spur off the existing trail that would provide access to the high meadow for persons with disabilities. Surely Ms Dunn would also have heard (as did I and others at the meeting) that efforts were underway to secure a grant to cover this expenditure and that this type of grant application requires funds to be specifically budgeted for a project in order to qualify. Surely it would also have been obvious to Ms Dunn that Dr Reed’s reference to “piggy-backing” was in fact a reference to the dollars and time to be saved from coordinating the construction of the spur trail with the Water Pollution Control Authority’s construction project.

Instead, Ms Dunn showed a lazy disregard for the facts, spouting off about the unfairness of it all, like a student lashing out at her teacher after failing to prepare for a pop quiz. To Ms Dunn and others like her I say, do your homework and get the facts straight. You embarrass yourselves and mislead the public when you fail to do so.

To the FFH Authority, I say “thank you” for your passionate, often thankless efforts to serve Newtown during this time of conflicting, polarizing public opinion. I believe that with time, the wisdom of your efforts will become readily apparent to the citizens of this community and to the generations of Newtowners yet to come.

Sincerely,

Edward J. Marks

3 Sweet Meadow Road, Newtown                                   May 25, 2007