Letters Of Endorsement

To the Editor:

I am writing to recommend candidate James Belden to the Legislative Council because of his knowledge and experience. He is an excellent chairman of the Pootatuck Watershed Association. As a board member, I’ve learned a great deal under his direction. He is well informed, patient, active in getting grants for the town and involved in town and statewide projects in which he’s taken leadership. I’ve worked with James on several environmental projects, including planting hundreds of trees to protect Deep Brook near Al’s Trail and in Dickenson Town Park. As a leader and a member of P&Z, he has worked with developers such as Toll Brothers as well as on other town projects to reduce impact.

We need James’s expertise to face the impending challenges ahead. I believe that our population is on the brink of creating an unhealthy situation in which to live. We need a governing body of elected and appointed officials who are environmentalists. Without such a government we risk having aquifers, lakes, and streams besieged by pollution. The details are complicated and not easy to understand, especially for developers who create situations that do not bode well for future drinking water. The Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection is making recommendations for our safety. It is up to our local government to ensure that regulations are enforced.

We all can contribute to safe and abundant drinking water by limiting water use, using rain barrels, establishing rain gardens, installing French drains that put driveway runoff onto lawns, limiting impervious surfaces, indeed trying any measure that allows water to percolate into the ground rather than running off as heated storm water into rivers. Trees are a cost-effective way to manage runoff. Above ground leaves hold dew and rain and provide cooling shade. Below ground, the roots do their job by absorbing water and by preventing erosion. With high-density population we are not going to have pristine streams. Other towns such as Washington, Conn., already have regulations in place. We need to do the same in Newtown. Please vote for environmentalist James Belden in this next election.

He is as tall as a tree and able to stand as strong.

Sincerely,

Patricia Barkman, PhD

49 Taunton Lake Road, Newtown                             October 4, 2009