As the soon-to-be former director of Grafton Forge and as a resident of Grafton, I wish to extend my sincere thanks to my fellow residents, numerous visitors, students, and others who have always demonstrated to me the true nature and spirit of community. Much great good has been done here.
I have had the honor to serve you in my capacity as blacksmith and educator, as president of the Grafton Valley Arts Guild, and as president of the Grafton Promotional Association. I've entertained you with my annual Holly Folly benefit performances and have been honored to march with my fellow veterans in our annual Memorial Day parade.
Sadly, my contractual arrangement with the Windham Foundation ends May 31, and it will not be renewed, owing to the poor financial health of the Windham Foundation.
While true that the Foundation is in financial straits - a situation that itself I think reflects its own ineptitude and mismanagement - I believe that the real reason for the dismissal of me, along with many others representing the Foundation's best and brightest, is that we requested that its leaders remain faithful to the organization's mission statement and that we questioned their spending priorities.