A Contradiction

To the Editor:

What a gross contradiction that Pinith Mar made when he said [in the Danbury News Times, Sunday, June 10] that he believes the site on Boggs Hill Road creates a calm and relaxing atmosphere for his monks to meditate. I have to say that those monks came across as self-pitying people who think they are entitled to special privileges because they like the way the land looks as it is today.

If it looks so peaceful, then why do they want to make such drastic changes to the property as far as knocking down the medium-sized farmhouse and building a huge 7,600-square-foot, red-roofed building that has a much larger imprint on the land and that will need an enormous septic tank that will be a menace to the area and the noise and traffic from 450-plus people is hard to imagine as a quiet, peaceful gathering.

They also plan to have a large paved parking lot with tall lights that will shine in their neighbors’ yards. Funny how they conveniently left out that information. And, oh, don’t forget that we are to feel sympathy for their struggle to collect money for a down payment. What about all the people on Boggs Hill that had to earn their down payments and then made homes in that neighborhood without thinking they would have to put up with traffic and noise from large gatherings? Strangers to the area will have trouble navigating the winding road safely and in bad weather, the road conditions are terrible. Accidents will happen. Traffic will happen. Noise will happen. Why is it OK for them to disrupt the peaceful living of all the other residents that were there before them? Don’t they count?

I don’t see why they had to pick that location. It is the wrong location and they made a mistake. Now they want us to feel sorry for them and I just don’t. They are creating the friction; they are the ones persisting when all the frustration is caused by them. They are saying the Newtown people are unreasonable and wrong. I beg to differ. Don’t go screaming religious freedom either. They can just find an appropriate piece of land in the main areas in town. This is not an appropriate location and the changes they will make are not appropriate either. They sound like petulant children and their arguments do not sound plausible.

JoAnne Barnhart

54 Brushy Hill Road, Newtown                                      June 11, 2007