BELLOWS FALLS — Well-provided public services are an essential feature of an attractive community. To gut essential services, such as fire and police, will only make this wonderful village a far less attractive place to live, and head it into decay. Some of those who propose doing so have family members who've been in trouble with the police. Perhaps they resent this and prefer the trouble of lawlessness for us all over the trouble of more police focus on their relatives' activities.
Those who support drastic cuts claim they love this village. This is like parents who beat their children to within an inch of their lives and claiming they do this because they love them.
These cuts would have taken this village to within an inch of its life. Those who proposed them are angry people. Some have held past public office, where they embarrassed us with their rants and disrespect.
We must not let them define our village's direction going forward. We are a good community. With continued public investment we can become even better.