To the editor:

We now know something about Messrs. Justin Katz and Jeffrey Caron and Ms. Nancy Driggs. They do not like to be criticized. Not them. Their way of responding to criticism is to attack the person. If they alter the truth, they do not want to be held responsible. Here is a case in point.

For several weeks, Driggs, Caron and Katz have talked of a secret meeting between me and the Town Treasurer to plan the elimination of trash pickup. In Nancy Driggs’ words, the Budget Committee was not notified of the secret meeting I had with the Town Treasurer. This week, in the words of Mr. Katz, I met with the Town Treasurer “to research a plan to attack trash pickup.”

Here are the facts. I spoke with Denise Saurette by telephone the day of the final meeting of the Budget Committee for any possible ideas she had to reduce the Budget. After all, Denise Saurette, as the Town Treasurer, knows what money is needed by the Town on a daily basis. She is both helpful and knowledgeable. We talked about a host of issues and discussed what other communities do with regard to trash. She assured me she would be at the Budget Committee meeting that night, and she was there. Whatever she discussed that afternoon with me was more fully discussed with the Budget Committee that evening, and the meeting was open, transparent and broadcast to the public by Channel 18 over an extended period of time. There was no “plan of attack on trash pickup” and were “no secret meetings,” despite the statements of Katz, Caron and Driggs.

The fact of the matter is that Justin Katz totally misjudged the ability of the Budget Committee to cut close to a million dollars from the Budget. His belated lists of cuts to the Budget Committee ranged from the stupid – such as not maintaining the Town recreation areas (think Town Farm) – to the mean-spirited – such as not maintaining the Veterans’ plot at the Pocasset Cemetery. Not honoring the Veterans in the Town – shame on you, Justin, for even suggesting it!

Louise Durfee

Tiverton