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Is It Curious?

How are decisions made by local leaders and media about which issues are worthy of discussion and comment as they relate to local events?

The Courier recently reported that our Board of Selectmen (BOS) refrained from commenting on the issue of tolls on our highways [July 11, “Not Our Job: Guilford BOS Declines Request to Take a Position on Tolls”]. There is no shortage of nationally initiated issues with limited local application or jurisdiction that are tackled by Guilford or the state that have little to do with the wellbeing of average Guilford citizens not interested in burnishing “woke” bona fides, such as fracking bans and sanctuary cities/states.

Guilford’s BOS doesn’t vote on the issue of educational cost sharing (ECS), yet our representatives appropriately lobby hard to gain the largest share they can of those funds. Is it curious that politicians fight so hard over the redistribution of our taxes, but don’t weigh in as strongly to prevent or reduce the amount of the tax taking in the first place? Not really, when you think about it.

Tolls on I-95 will have a major impact on Guilford’s residents in terms of direct costs, the increased costs of all transported goods to the town, and possibly added traffic along Rte. 1. Our BOS should engage publicly on this issue as it does on the ECS issue so that we can determine if the interests of the average citizen are being well-served.

Perhaps the town could declare Guilford a toll-free sanctuary city to resist the state initiative and at least protect its citizens from the costs of driving from one end of town to the other between exits 57 and 59!

Tim Costello

Guilford