To the editor:

I was one of the people who watched as an enormous, rotten tree fell on a spectator during a Little League game at Sowams Elementary this past Saturday. I am also one of the many people who were at that scene who are having a hard time shaking the feeling that it could have been one of our children crushed by that tree. It is, of course, terrible that it happened to anyone, and I know the victim has a long recovery ahead of her, for which I wish her all the strength and courage it will take. The fact that she is alive at all is hard to fathom for those of us who witnessed what happened; a child likely would not have survived it. 

I write because I’m hoping to bring some awareness, and some pressure to bear on the town. This tree had obviously been dead and dangerous for a very long time, yet continued to stand on the edge of one of our elementary school’s playgrounds. I understand that accidents happen, and that we can’t protect everyone from everything everywhere, but people have a reasonable expectation that certain public grounds - like ball fields and school playgrounds - are actively maintained by the town to prevent accidents like this. I implore the town to use this incident as the impetus to conduct a comprehensive review of our public spaces, and to take immediate action on any further outstanding safety issues. 

Sincerely,

Robert Brake

Barrington