Proposed Charter Changes Will Change Our Form of Government to a Dictatorship

Dear Editor,

After the August 19, 2008 Town Council Meeting I thought a lot about the direction our Town Council, Town Manager Steve Eldridge, and Chief of Police David Brooks, is taking our town, and it concerns me. I wondered how the direction could change. I considered, in a Letter to The Editor of the Lisbon Reporter, asking the members of the Town Council to resign, en masse. Also asking Town Manager Mr. Eldridge and Chief of Police David Brooks also to resign, before more damaging and embarrassing information would be published.

But after reading the proposed changes to the Town of Lisbon Town Charter, I realized that those who are running our town feel they are above the law. Their colossal egos prevent them from admitting any wrongdoing. They want to change our Town Charter, that served us well until they came into power. They have ignored rules, regulations and laws. And now want to make changes that will not only keep them in power, but give them additional duties, privileges and powers. This is the proverbial Fox guarding the Henhouse.

Friends, fellow citizens, and taxpayers beware. The Town of Lisbon is no longer a Democratic government. We are fast becoming a Fascist Government, a Totalitarian Regime, with Chief of Police David Brooks as Dictator. Just read the proposed changes to the Town of Lisbon Town Charter, and it will scare you, as it did me. Only a few of the changes proposed are: abolishing the School Committee, abolishing the Planning Board, and abolishing the Budget Advisory Committee.

Two members of the newly formed committee, Lisbon Concerned Citizens have decided to not circulate the Petition for the Recall of the Chairperson of the Town Council for fear of retaliation against their children. I know that retaliation first hand as my grandson's vehicle was searched, not once but twice, without just cause. I saw it the weekend after the police department article appeared in The Lisbon Reporter when police cruisers were out in full force, patrolling our streets and highway, stopping motorists like never before, even giving one resident a speeding ticket for "speeding" 3 miles over the limit. Trying to justify a bloated police department?

Intimidation? Harrassment? Call it whatever you want, but it still boils down to a town government out of control. Friends, fellow citizens and taxayers, if you want to keep Democracy in the Town of Lisbon, get involved, attend Town Council Meetings or watch on your television. Meetings are on the first and third Tuesdays of each month and are televised the Thursdays after the meetings at 7 p.m. on Channel 7 or 9. You will need to turn your volume way up so as to hear the proceedings, but well worth your time. Sign a petition for recall if asked. The proposed changes will be voted on at the September 16, 2008 Town Council meeting after a public hearing yet to be announced. Try your best to attend. The only way for positive change in Lisbon is for you, Mr., Mrs. and Miss Citizen, to get involved. Talk to a friend and neighbor. BUT BE INFORMED.

A Very Concerned Citizen