Recently an article was published about “Critter Camp” at Flaherty’s Farm. I would like to clarify a few things that were written in this article (“Zoned out,” The Current, June 19).

My name is Debbie Jones and I’m a program coordinator for Scarborough Community Services. I am the person responsible for contracting for Critter Camp and the person responsible for canceling the camp.

On Monday, May 19, 2008, a message was left at community services about the possibility of a zoning issue for “Critter Camp.” When Community Services contracts with anyone, we make sure each camp is reputable, has insurance and background checks are made. This criteria was met with flying colors by Jill Flaherty and her farm. Neither one of us thought there would be any type of zoning issue.

I contacted Jill Flaherty on that Monday, and, unfortunately, she was out of town and could not be reached. I was able to speak with a family member briefly and he asked me to leave a message on their answering machine. I was also told that this message would be relayed to Jill and she would be asked to contact me ASAP. By Thursday of that week (May 22), I had not heard back from Jill and a decision needed to be made. Do we continue to take registrations or do we cancel the program? Though I did not want to, I made the decision to cancel. Since I had not heard from Jill, I could not see continuing registration and payment for a camp I wasn’t sure would be able to run.

On Friday, May 23, 2008, Jill returned my call. Again another unfortunate circumstance occurred, I was out of the office for the long weekend. Jill left a message on my voicemail. I retrieved that message on Saturday (May 24) and returned her call giving her my cell number as well as my home number. I again explained what happened, told her I’d be around all weekend and to contact me to see what we could do. I didn’t hear back from her until a little over a week later at which point we played phone tag.

Scarborough Community Services wanted to run Critter Camp and we shared the frustration with Jill Flaherty but unfortunately we were never able to communicate in a timely manner to preserve the camp for this year.

Debbie Jones

Program Coordinator

Scarborough Community Services