Reinstate Animal Control Officer

To the Editor:

You don’t have to be as smart as a Border Collie to figure out that First Selectman Joe Borst’s decision to fire our animal control officer was ill-advised. We have lost an excellent town employee and our animals have lost a wonderful guardian and champion.

I know Carolee Mason through my occasional volunteer work at the pound and have sought her expert advice on several animal-related issues. I have seen Carolee perform incredible work under incredibly difficult conditions. The current pound is a tiny cinderblock structure that, despite being adjacent to the town dump, has always been kept clean and safe by Carolee and her crew. On one particular visit, the building had lost electrical power and water, and while her main concern was the immediate safety of the animals, she was also trying to manage the repair of the facility with very little support and still go out on calls.

But the intractable physical conditions are minuscule compared to the appalling political conditions she must’ve dealt with in her position. Carolee’s approach to her work was always pragmatic, diplomatic, and at times, even acrobatic. I can’t imagine that she could have done something so heinous that it would outweigh all the good work she has done for our citizens and pets over the past five years. I can only surmise that her firing is politically motivated, and it is a shame that personal agendas should interfere with the health and welfare of Newtown’s neediest animals.

Former Newtown resident James Thurber once said, “The dog has seldom been successful in pulling man up to its level of sagacity, but man has frequently dragged the dog down to his.” We should hope that the dogs in our pound do not get dragged down by our own local government’s level of sagacity. We should do the right thing and reinstate Carolee Mason to her position as animal control officer. Many tails will be wagging if she is.

Trish Dardine

17 Pleasant Hill Road, Newtown                                    April 6, 2009