To The Editor:

While I am running for re-election to the Legislative Council, this letter is not about my candidacy or politics. I’m writing as a private citizen and neighbor.

Like many residents in Newtown, I show my support for certain candidates by placing yard signs on my property. Unfortunately, despite the pleas of the DTC’s Alex Villamil, no fewer than ten times and counting these signs have been vandalized, defaced, or deliberately run over.

This sort of thing happens every election season, but this year it has escalated with someone brazen enough to do it in broad daylight several times.

I’ve been called names such as “Nazi” and “Fascist” while walking in the Labor Day Parade or out campaigning. While I find that disrespectful and uncivil, I recognize that free speech protects a person’s right to express their opinion. What I cannot tolerate, however, is the destruction of personal property, which, ironically, is an attempt to silence differing views; in other words fascism.

Our town’s law enforcement officers have taken this issue seriously and shown real understanding, though I recognize their resources are best focused on public safety and more serious crimes.

I ask as one of your neighbors: please stop this. This is not who we were as a community just a few years ago, but in recent times there has been an escalation of this type of behavior. We can and should disagree on issues without resorting to vandalism or intimidation.

Newtown has embraced the slogan “Nicer in Newtown” and has always had high standards of civility. I ask all of us to live up to that ideal and to those standards, not just in words, but in our actions.

John Zachos

Newtown