To the Editor:

Our country was born in the fight against foreign interference. That makes the transgressions of President Trump’s even more repugnant. He actually encouraged foreign interference in our electoral process.

We can be very proud that the Naugatuck Valley has an outstanding historical example of the struggle against foreign interference in our country.

On a snow covered March night in 1780, a vicious British agent led a group of local Tories on a raid in Bethany. After the raid, the secret agent led the band through what is now Naugatuck and its Gunntown neighborhood. Along the way, they took a young colonial captive.

The wealthiest man in Gunntown, Jobamah Gunn, allowed the gang to hold up in his barn. The following day, the Wooster family did the same at their farm. A local blacksmith gave them sustenance as they fled south through woodlands toward Long Island Sound.

Roaring out of Bethany came revolutionary militia in hot pursuit. They picked up additional forces in Gunntown. A slave in Oxford played a crucial role in delaying the Tories and preventing the killing of the young captive. Eventually, all were captured and the young colonial returned to his family.

Here’s what happened to those who aided a foreign agent responsible for all this mayhem. The penalties were severe. To whit:

*The Wooster family lost their farm. Some left the area, possibly as far as the Maritime Provinces in Canada.

*Three Tories, including two Woosters, were fined and imprisoned for years.

*The blacksmith was fined and imprisoned.

*The very wealthy Jobamah Gunn was heavily fined.

Like Watergate and Nixon, already six Trump players are in jail or heading there. Like Nixon, Trump deserves to be driven from office or impeached.

Len Yannielli

9 Chestnut Street, Naugatuck December 6, 2019