Time For A Change

At The Flagpole

To the Editor:

Today I was flipped off by someone speeding through our town, as I simply was trying to cross Main Street at the flagpole to come home. Yesterday, as I sat forever trying to cross Main Street again, like I do everyday of my life, someone yelled profanity at my neighbor while he was trying to cross the street. Ah, the beauty of the flagpole at its finest!

I can see why everyone wants to not put anything on the flagpole, like a four-way stop or stop light. We don’t want to make our beloved flagpole look bad, and we want to keep our town looking the way it used to be. We want to cater to the speeders from other areas, who don’t care about our beloved flagpole, but are using our main street to get home as quick as possible, knowing, full well, there is no policeman in the police car parked in front of the meetinghouse. They know we cater to them, not the residents of Newtown and especially those who pay the Borough tax every year. Yes, we want to have car crashes there often, because that also brings beauty to our area, and the lovely sound of sirens. We also don’t want to be able to walk our dogs or take lovely strolls through our downtown because our beloved, beautiful flagpole is more important than any of these things!

Come on, my elected town officials, listen to the residents of this town, adjust to the times and take care of the flagpole concerns. The residents of this town, who pay taxes on everything, are speaking up. We want this problem taken care of. We have to adjust to the times, and the population that has grown, that speeds through our town. Let’s put something there so We the People of Newtown can have our town back where we cater to the people who live in it. Let’s put nice brick cross walks around the flagpole to make it more conducive for pedestrians to walk on and beautify the flagpole that way. Let’s slow down traffic with stop signs or a stop light, so we can look at the flagpole, while waiting to cross, instead of dodging traffic and not even noticing the flagpole! Make our town beautiful by making our town safe, so we can stroll through our downtown for a walk with our dogs, or walk to the theater and the General Store; that would make our town beautiful! It is not “the past” anymore, it is 2009, let’s adjust to the times and be a smarter community! Listen to the residents, that’s why we elected you!

Cheryl Arend

14 Castle Hill Road, Newtown                                      June 24, 2009