Ruby Johnson’s

Good Story

To the Editor:

Once again, Ruby Johnson has proven that she has little interest in the facts, particularly if they conflict with the intrigue of good story. I’m referring to her letter in last week’s Newtown Bee (“Where Has All the Money Gone?”), wherein she suggests that the Fairfield Hills Authority requested lights in the 2008-09 Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) in order to “finish” the baseball field at FFH.

Of course Ruby knows that it was Parks & Recreation that requested these funds as part of our CIP requests for the last two years. The commission did so independently, based not on consultations with the FFH Authority, but on our experience with previous attempts to provide lights at other town facilities. Had Ruby checked with Parks & Recreation, she would have been told that we’ve found it to be easier, cheaper, and less disruptive to have lights installed during initial construction.

With only a phone call or two, Ruby would have been told that while Parks & Recreation’s early recommendations for fields at FFH stated that the 90-foot baseball field would be ideally suited for lights, it was never suggested that funds from the initial bonding issue should be used for this purpose. In fact, it wasn’t until the design of the new field began that Parks & Recreation first suggested that a basic lighting concept be included in the plan.

As we moved forward with the project, it became clear to us that installing lights after the field was put into use would be a more costly and difficult proposition. First, we were told that running underground electrical conduit during initial construction would be cost-effective and less destructive than a retrofitted plan. Additionally, the imminent construction of Newtown Youth Academy (and its proximity to the field) would complicate any project to retrofit the field at a later date. Given these facts, the Parks & Recreation Commission made this project a priority on our CIP submissions.

At no time did the FFH Authority request that the Parks & Recreation Commission include this project in our CIP requests. In fact, the FFH Authority only became aware of the commission’s intentions when we sought the authority’s approval to add a lighting plan to the initial design work. Parks & Recreation never intended for the lighting project to be included in the construction budget — we simply wanted to disclose the fact that we intended to install lights at the field.

Finally, regarding the reluctance of town officials to engage in further dialogue with Ruby, it’s been my observation that members of the FFH Authority and Board of Selectmen have simply grown weary of responding to the countless inaccuracies, misrepresentations, and insinuations woven into Ruby’s frequent letters. Perhaps they have concluded, as many of us have, that Ruby would never let the facts interfere with the telling of a good story.

Edward Marks

3 Sweet Meadow Road, Newtown                                   May 12, 2008