Being responsive and responsible to the community

Galen A. Crandall Jr.
Perkinsville, Vt.
To the editor,

A thought that no one has mentioned for the lack of new volunteers for fire departments might be that the younger generation seem to lack a sense of responsibility to and for their community. This could be a factor in your quest to find why department are having trouble recruiting new members. The simple answer, of course, would be to go to call (paid) firefighters. The simple answer to that is small towns cannot afford the cost. I’m guessing the idea of having call firefighters may be one reason that the West Windsor Volunteer Fire Department members want to be in a municipal department. If the select board manages to get a paid professional fire chief, good luck trying to get volunteers.

Of course I doubt the select board has ever considered what repercussions must be addressed if they manage to steamroll their plan over the will of the people. The fact the select board edited Article 9 as just a dollar amount, never mentioning that their plan included a paid professional fire chief is just an example of their deceitfulness.

I don’t know how familiar you are with the mutual aid system we are part of. It includes surrounding departments, which also include paid department, as well as departments with call men. This does temper the lack of firefighters of local departments that may be at work or out of town. Those members do have their pagers, so they would be responding. It has been that way for years.

One reason that you haven’t heard some thoughts of local members is because knowing how you favor the merger makes them wary of being portrayed as less than knowledgeable, much as the public is accused of not knowing what is best for them; that they must compromise, which means agreeing with whatever the select board decides.

Your strong support for the plans of the select board is problematic to me. It’s always been my thought that the media, by virtue of the words “freedom of the press” should be impartial. But, by now putting your opinion on the editorial page removes it from “news” to “opinion” and removes it from any ethical considerations, if it ever was. I do believe your intentions, and beliefs are real so as long as you can justify your methods; it’s not up to me to judge.

No, Mr. Todd, we don’t accept your dictate that your rules are not open to discussion.

Galen A. Crandall Jr.

Perkinsville, Vt.