BRATTLEBORO — At the Dec. 4 Brattleboro Selectboard meeting, a member of the public informed the board that some of the “Re-Site the Skatepark” signs that had gone missing had later turned up at a party and were subsequently returned to the police.
One of my colleagues then questioned aloud, to those present (including the media and those watching the meeting at home), whether members of the BASIC Committee were at that party, saying that if they were, then they were complicit in the theft.
My colleague did not have any evidence of any wrongdoing, nor was she stating that she would be looking further into the matter.
Understandably, members of that committee feel insulted and maligned by such unfounded statements.
Are we really at this point? It just seems to be extraordinarily inappropriate for elected officials, with no evidence, to openly and casually implicate Selectboard-appointed committee members with actual crime.
I have been candidly public about my support for the skatepark at the Crowell Lot should some previously specified conditions be met, but I have also tried my darnedest to be an advocate for process.
Regardless of your feelings about the site of the skatepark, I urge us all to continue to explore options presented to us in both the Brattleboro Charter as well as the laws of common respect and fairness.
First and foremost, this spirit must be role-modeled by the Selectboard, and we owe it to the community to work harder to rise above the baseless speculation and wild conjecture that damages the path through the process.