Fairhaven Officials Have Let Down Residents
I am writing this while sitting on my porch greeting the goblins with their parents reveling in the normalcy of trick or treating. Yes, it’s the “new normal”…a table on the sidewalk with individually wrapped candy in individual bags instead of door knocking and handing out candy face to face…but being able to do this at all is such a heartwarming treat after the cruel trick of Fairhaven moving into the COVID RED ZONE.
I’m angry about and disgusted by the actions of the three men that constitute our Board of Health and two thirds of the Selectboard. I have reviewed dozens of pages of documentation wisely kept by the former Health Agent. I have read months-worth of minutes and watched hours of Government Access TV footage from the BOH and BOS meetings. After all of that, in my opinion, I believe that the actions as well as the inaction of Peter DeTerra, Mike Ristuccia, Geoff Haworth, Dan Freitas and Keith Silvia are directly responsible for the lack of containment of the COVID-19 virus in our community.
My research has focused on the past 12 months and I’ve learned that, from my point of view, the men who’ve been voted on or appointed to the BOH and the BOS have abused the public trust, put lives at risk and brought shame to our town.
I guess I’m supposed to be soooo very happy for the Chairman of the BOH because he was allegedly able to give his child and family the wedding of their dreams: A catered affair with a bar and a live band attended by over 150 people at the time when Governor Baker’s order restricted the number of people gathering indoors to 50 people. Meanwhile I’ve had to give up my dream of having my 80-year-old parents travel from Florida to visit with my family during the upcoming holiday season. They and I are extremely saddened by this because they believe that they will not be able to come up here again before they die, a very real possibility due to their co-morbid conditions and the fact that they live in a state that has one of the worst COVID stats in the country.
My chance of contracting the virus has increased enormously because I work at Stop & Shop and I’m willing to bet that at least 75% of the wedding guests live in our town or surrounding towns and that most of those do their grocery shopping at my store. Should I become positive my husband and sons are at higher risk as well. Not only are our lives at risk but also our livelihoods are because my household will be without four incomes, possibly for months.
So yeah, I am pissed about the shitshow created by five men who I believe are corrupt, ignorant and self-serving. They ousted our experienced Health Department employees and then appointed a young woman just out of college with NO experience in Public Health and basically receiving on the job training….DURING A GLOBAL PANDEMIC!!
I feel very strongly that they all need to be ousted from all town boards and banned from ever running for any in the future!!
Diane Hahn, Fairhaven
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