To the Editor:

Regarding the tough questions that “long time resident” suggests we taxpayers should ask, she's right. We shouldn't be timid about questioning our town's expenditures, but does she assume that the questions she poses have not been asked? Those and many others surely have been considered in the years of deliberations already expended to find a safer and more central home for Newtown Hook & Ladder.

It's about the money, of course. But what a bargain we have in our neighbors who not only spend countless hours away from their families in training and working fundraiser after fundraiser for their “volunteer organization,” but put their health and sometimes their lives at risk for ours. Without them, could any of us find an insurance company willing to cover our homes, let alone pay for such insurance if we could? Could our town find any financial institution to issue bonds? At what rating? Should we scrap our “volunteer organization” and use our tax dollars for professionals? These are more questions, but I don't think they're that tough.

Gordon Strother

14 Laurel Trail, Sandy Hook               October 18, 2014