Letter to the Editor: Diverse opinions should be respected

Dear Editor

I like living in this country.  How incredible it is that we as citizens have the right to participate in the way our government is being run.  Many global citizens do not have that right. It is too bad that more people weren’t paying attention in the past decade as we probably would not be in the mess nationally that we are.

Our State Representatives ask us to call and write them about issues that we are concerned about and our Council members do the same.  I am hoping that our Fire Commissioners  will now understand the importance for the public to feel that they can come to their meetings and ask questions about how our tax dollars are being spent. It is so unfortunate that many people get so defensive about their own positions and are unable to see the big picture.

I was disappointed at the last Fire meeting to listen to someone verbally attack  Pierrette Guimond and call her a rotten egg as well as read the article in last week’s  paper.  I have been told that the person who wrote the article has recently moved here and is currently writing grants for the Fire District.  He was also serving ice coffees to the commissioners at this meeting and is cooking for staff/volunteers at the department.

You may not like Pierrette’s style but she does come prepared and has researched her subjects well.  To be verbally attacked is really uncalled for.  I would like to put up her hundreds of volunteer hours and dollars next to the man that just moved here.  She has put in hundreds if not thousands of hours in board work and community landscaping.   She has researched every document the county has from the turn of the century until present for the cemetery district.  We now have a data base with accurate information for all plots. She also hand painted 100+bricks and placed them to mark the lots.

Remember we live in a wonderful community with diverse opinions. Respect for each other builds community. Disrespect pulls us apart.

Leith Templin