BRATTLEBORO — Regarding Olga Peters' May 9 article, “Brattleboro citizens decry dog shooting”: While I thought the article was well-balanced, she obviously misinterpreted very relevant areas of what I understood as a conversation. Please allow me to offer some clarification.
My personal experience with interacting with local law enforcement has historically been quite positive. You do, understandably, often have to chase them down, but I've always appreciated the respectful, forthright dialogue when sitting face-to-face and discussing an issue.
What has changed is the inaccessibility to directly communicate with Town Manager Barbara Sondag and to have what is perceived as a very closed system of management.
While I respect the demands of her job, I personally feel it would be to her own advantage to try and be a little more flexible, and open to a wider range of the citizenry. I am not alone in coming to this conclusion.
On leaving the May 2 Selectboard meeting, I was actually appreciative of Police Chief Eugene Wrinn's willingness to acknowledge that “mistakes were made.” That sort of candor requires honorable courage.
There was, however, still a lot of unresolved issues. With all due respect to Selectboard Chair Dick DeGray, a number of people felt he used a very poor choice of words. For the citizenry to come forward on such an incendiary issue also requires courage and is equally worthy of respect.
Those of us lucky enough to have grown-up pre-9/11 know that communities such as our own can function in a more compassionate and caring way, particularly to the most vulnerable, be they beast or human.
As individuals, we're helpless in influencing the larger patterns of the aggressiveness that now permeates society and most of the world. We can, however, as a community, start in our own backyard in reclaiming our dignity and safety as part of an incredible nation. By acting and getting involved locally, we may affect eventually the larger scheme of things.
I strongly encourage all of you to contact the Citizen Police Communication Committee to express your own concerns and be informed on their monthly meetings.