Thursday, June 18, 2015
E-mail To The Gadfly - Barbara Rheault
Hello Gadfly and Gadfly Readers,
In the course of three weeks, I have been the recipient of three anonymous letters mailed to my home.
The letter writer has not signed his/her name to these letters.
I want to convey to the letter writer that I have not taken the content of the letters lightly, however, without a name, the letters and concerns are considered unsubstantiated.
I am not a legal expert. Nor do I possess the knowledge of how to proceed.
I have provided copies to the Township Solicitor, Tracy Siebold, the Mayor, Jim Brown, and the Township Labor Counsel through the Township Clerk’s Office, for whatever action(s) is/are appropriate in this case.
Sincerely,
Barbara Rheault
Mullica Township Committeewoman
Director of Public Works
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9 comments:
If your not going to say what was in the letters, why do you feel there was a need to reveal that you received some letters that concerned you. Why did you not just keep it private and turn them over to the proper authorities. Always the drama in this Township..
Barbara was not creating drama. She is just trying to tell this person that if they want this problem settled they are going to have to identify themselves. Sounds like you're upset because you don't know what the letters say.
I could care less what the letters say. Like I said it's all about the drama!
BE NICE
There was no "drama" intended, however I cannot respond to the letter writer if I do not know who he/she is.
The third letter accuses me of keeping things "hush hush" and implies that I have not taken some kind of action. This is not the case. I am not creating drama. I would like the matter addressed, investigated, and the claims either considered unfounded, or if wrongdoing has occurred, the appropriate actions taken by the appropriate authorities.
I take every complaint or concern seriously. I have done what I can do at this point - as I stated to the letter writer in my original letter. I have signed my name and I would hope that the letter writer contact the appropriate authority or agency if he/she wants to be taken seriously.
What bothers me is the DRAMA the letter writer creates with anonymous letters - rather than reporting his/her concerns to the appropriate authorities, or addressing me directly. I have served on Township Committee for the last 2.5 years, and believe that I am approachable, and I am always willing to work with and for my constituents. However, I am concerned when the letter writer states:
"I won't let up until the Mayor and four of you admit what is happening and the wrong doing that has and KEEPS ON OCCURRING. If no one in this township takes these complaints and my letters seriously I guarantee you I will take this to whatever media outlet will listen. I pay my taxes and my votes put you in your seats. Why am I being ignored? Again I say if Larry Angel was alive I would never have had to write you people letters like this because my very first email to the Gadfly would have been taken seriously and he would have already gotten to the bottom of this crap....Please do something or just resign and go away."
I am disappointed that I am being accused of creating "drama".
I am disheartened that I feel "targeted" and told to "resign and go away" because "Anonymous" feels as if I am not doing my job.
I WANT no drama...just to have the allegations resolved.
So if anyone wants to accuse me of drama - well, I'm sorry, you are sadly mistaken.
And we can all AVOID drama if everyone would (wo)man up and use names and go about things in a straight-forward manner rather than hide behind "anonymous".
Barbara Rheault
As stated in the above comment by Ms. Rheault,the anonymous writer sent in emails to the Gadfly in May. The Gadfly responded to the writer that unverified and unsubstantiated accusations by an anonymous person could not be printed. The Gadfly offered to meet with this person but they were not ready to come forward.
In a matter totally unrelated to the anonymous writer's concerns, the Gadfly sent in many SIGNED letters to the Committee last year concerning an employee's illegal and unethical behavior with backed up paper proof of the accusations. Rheault and Gabris took action. They were out voted by Brown, Riffle and Silva and the employee was reappointed. In all fairness, it is not known if Mr. Silva was ever informed of the letters when he took office. I would also say it's unethical for a sitting Committee member to lie under oath to the Planning Board and disregard laws in Mullica that regular citizens are forced to obey. These are facts. I have no political agenda as I am an independent. Laws should be followed regardless of political party.
Sending this Committee an anonymous letter with no proof is not going to bring any action. I commend Ms. Rheault for reaching out the only way possible to the anonymous writer to try to bring his/her concerns to resolution.
You want to know why people write or say things without signing their name. There's an minority of people in this township who think it is alright to destroy or damage someone's property just because they don't agree with what that person has said or written. Now believe me I have no problem confronting anyone face to face about any issue but, these cowards come in the middle of the night. Also let me say you were completely right about sending information to Larry (Gadfly) and it would be fully looked into. Larry had NO problem confronting Town Hall, the police,the Fire Depts. or any one person he thought was not doing things correctly or ethically. Sometimes how he went about it was not that great but he kept people in the Twp. on their toes. I remember going to Twp. Meetings and there was standing room only. Look at the meetings now maybe 15 to 20 people. No one wants to go to a meeting where the Mayor thinks he's God, or where the rep. for Public Safety is absent half the time, and nothing gets questioned. I really thought a few years back when StAmore, Forman, Kennedy, and Polk were in office that things were changing a little. But here we are a few years down the road and we're stuck with the in that same old agenda. I know your probably thinking why I don't get involved. Believe me I was and I'm in a better place now that I'm not. No more headaches and no more destroyed property. I sit back, pay my taxes and watch our new group of politicians make asses out of themselves
To 11:24 AM - I can disagree on two statements. Only 2 citizens regularly show up for the meetings,not counting spouses of the Committee members. Things changed for the better for only one year when StAmour,Grabener,Polk & Gabris had the majority vote and tried to improve things for the people.
I commend Barbara Rheault for addressing the situation. She has always been a positive addition to this Town Council. Why hasn't any of the other Committee Members taken any action if they received these letters? Or is she the only one that received them? Maybe the letter writer knew that she would at least look into whatever was written. As far as the letter writer not coming forward I don't blame them especially if they involved in the Twp. I have heard lots of hub bub in the last two days from different people when discussing Councilwoman Rheault's post and the corresponding comments that followed. Seems like people are finally starting to take interest in what happens in their town again. Say what you want about Larry Angel but at least we all knew when something was going down. This situation has peaked my interest and I intend on keeping tabs on what happens. Unfortunately I am incapacitated at the current time and can't make it to the next meeting, which I believe is tonight, but hold on to your horses...I think there is a story to tell here. One more thing, as a taxpayer, I think we have a right to know what was in the letters that has caused this Councilwoman to even bring this to light! If it involves our taxpayer money being wasted or misused then hell yeah I want to know. Anonymous letter writer or not I give kudos to the person for having the the testicular fortitude for trying to bring what is obviously a serious situation to someone's attention. Maybe if more people did that in their lives we would have a much better world.
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