Letter: In response to rail trail comments

I would like to comment on a couple of issues that were raised in this week’s edition of the Observer.

In Kent Lundberg’s Letter to the Editor, he chastised opponents to the Rail Trail from some 30 years ago. I was chairman of the Recreation Commission at that time and we requested that a blanket accident insurance policy be issued and shared by all towns through which the Trail was going (to protect us from cyclist falling while in town on the trail and suing the town) – that reasonable request was denied. There was also an issue of parking for cyclists that also went unanswered, so the town voted against the trail. These were not exclusionary complaints but rather real concerns that were never properly addressed. I have to admit that I do not know if the insurance issue was ever resolved, but it certainly made sense at the time to try to protect the town’s interests.

The other issue is the disgraceful behavior of Doug Gillespie – he had to pay only an “$8,000” fine after reaping millions in profit from his land sale – shame on the Ethics Commission for not fining him more. And where was the traffic study that suggested that allowing this behemoth of a development to be built on an already stalled Route 20 would not produce a negative impact. Members of the Select Board at that time should be ashamed for allowing such preferential and exceptionally unethical behavior by one of their own.

Gregory Czarnowski, Brook Road