Help Make History

To the Editor:

The following historically accepted practices were challenged by the citizens of this country, at great cost: loss of employment, loss of dignity, public humiliation, incarceration, and even death.

1776: Declaration of Independence from rule of Great Britain

1861: Civil War begins; practice of slavery will be ended with the war

1920: Women Granted Right to Vote

1955: Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat on a bus to a white male passenger

1958: McCarthyism ends

1969: End of school segregation

1981: Sandra Day O’Connor sworn in as first woman on the US Supreme Court

2008: Barack Obama elected President of the United States

Historically a No vote on a budget referendum causes the Legislative Council to pursue further cuts.

Unlike the historic changes addressed above, there is no legal standard dictating a rejected budget must be revised to include further cuts. It is simply a past practice that has not been challenged and sustained to a point that facilitates change.

On May 18 we are called as a community, with the assured anonymity of the ballot, to determine the future or our town.

We can sustain historical precedents or change them, but this can only happen if we come out to vote in numbers that send a clear message to our representatives.

Please vote on May 18.

Respectfully,

Karen C. Pierce

10 Chestnut Hill Road, Sandy Hook                              May 11, 2010