Tinkering With Task Force A Dangerous Move?

To the Editor:

I am a member of the NBLA and this is my own opinion with no reflection on the NBLA.

Yes Mr Poulin, us horse owners are now the minority and we are desperately trying to preserve what we have not only for ourselves, but for our children, grandchildren and fellow Newtowners who, like us walk or bike the trails. You see all the new homes and developments going up.

How would you feel if at a P&Z meeting, Mrs Mauer got up and said the horse people needed to be policed (April 1999) and then at the June 2000 P&Z meeting to grandfather in some farms, you say Mrs Mauer and Mrs Sapienzia approaching the people opposing the horse farms?

And the next P&Z meeting she is appointed to the P&Z board? Then a few weeks later, she’s now on a horse task force? Now tell me, Mr Poulin, how would you feel? Well, I felt that my horse’s existence and the beautiful town I’ve raised my children in was being threatened. I was a quiet backyard horse owner until I read about all the controversy with the Zoar Ridge Farm special exception hearing. Not knowing anyone, I went to my first P&Z meeting. I sat in the back and watched the mud sling! After the meeting, I went up to the board and asked “You do this for free? You’re crazy!”

I do have the utmost respect for the P&Z board, but before you say “We shot ourselves in the foot and you have my sympathy,” look at both sides.

I don’t think you will find a horse person that does not agree we need a horse task force. Like Mrs Miller said: a vet, a non-horse person, a NBLA member…Also, please keep in mind, not every horse person you see is a NBLA member. (I wish they were.)

The  love and passion you have for your horse is worth fighting for. So once again I say, “Look at both sides.”

Deanna M. Davis

42 Orchard Hill Road, Newtown        August 29, 2001