By Editor Beth David
We don’t lie in our paper. And I don’t lie in my editorial. That would be libel, Mr. Freitas. Please, feel free to sue us.
Oh, did I mention there’s a recall effort afoot? Visit www.RecallDanFreitas.com
One can only hope. Fairhaven is the only town in these parts that requires signatures of 20% of the voters, and they have to be collected in 14 days. Clearly this bylaw was created by someone who was afraid of a recall. Most other towns require 10% and allow 30 days to gather the signatures. I think it’s time we changed our bylaw to make a recall effort more realistic. Should it be easy? No, of course not, but it shouldn’t be nearly impossible either.
Mr. Freitas told another news outlet that he would resign if they got the signatures. As my dear mother used to ask: Is that a promise or a threat?
Either way, let it be true, please. But, hey, I’m not the one who lies here, so … only time will tell.
Meanwhile, I broke a rule of journalism: I signed the petition. Yeah, I know. But, no point in pretending.
It’s not, however, up to me, or even the 2000+ people needed to sign the petition. It’s up to the voters. A special election will have to be held and then Mr. Freitas can run for his seat, just like anyone else. If the voters still want him in office, then so be it. That’s letting democracy work.
Because a recall is democracy in action, make no mistake about it.
You know what’s not democracy? What’s NOT democracy is threatening Stop & Shop so the petitioners lose the best spot in town to collect signatures. You know what’s NOT democracy? Threatening a small business because they let the petitioners set up outside their restaurant. You know what’s NOT democracy? Sending your goon of a brother to hover around the table harassing the petitioners and any potential signers.
Yeah, all that happened. Your esteemed elected official at work.
And…NEXT. The Board of Health refused to let a resident into the room at their meeting this week (see page 4 and page 22 for letter). Another petty little move, by petty little men. Oh, there’s a recall effort underway for those guys, too (see ad on page 24).
Meanwhile we have meeting coverage in here. See page 4 for Board of Health, and page 25 for BPW.
The Fairhaven Firefighters union has a new president and he’s planning to make sure they are more active in the community. They’ve been helping at various cleanups around town, and they built a wheelchair ramp for a family that really needed one (see page16).
Pretty cool, huh?
There’s other stuff in here, of course. Be sure to look carefully at each page, notice who our advertisers are, and let them know you saw their ads in the Neighb News.
Until next week then…see ya,
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Click here to download the entire 4/22/21 issue: 04-22-21 OxfordSchoolDemo
