At the March 19 Scarborough Town Council meeting, I tried to voice a concern of mine. I was not trying to denigrate anyone; however, I was silenced. All I was trying to do was show a connection from the past to present. I was quoting from public record. Before the ad hoc committee met, we were told this would be fair. Now we have found that there is a connection between Tom Hall, members of the council, the Higgins Beach Association Civic Committee members, Chairman Bill Donavan and President Roger Chabot dating back to a time when they were trying to get surfers and street parking banned in Higgins Beach. When their attempt failed, that’s when the council chose to construct and use taxpayer dollars to build a 6-by-100-foot wooden fence along Bill Donavan’s property line, shielding his house from the on-street parking. Bill Donavan could have requested permission from the town to build the fence and pay for it himself, but chose to have the town use taxpayer dollars. It is “favors” like this that make people angry with their government. Tom Hall said at the time, “you can understand how just the coming and going, and car doors constantly shutting could be kind of a nuisance.” Is this justification for a town expenditure.

Bill Donavan chose to buy that house knowing full well there was parking on Bay View and with his house now on the market, he will reap the benefit. Now that he is a councilor, should he repay the taxpayers?

To have Council Chairman Richard Sullivan stop me several times from trying to make my point, he did not allow me to make the connection to the ad hoc committee of today. In doing so I was unable to show how Tom Hall, the council and Councilor Bill Donavan were able to actually slant and influence the outcome of the ad hoc committee. Roger Chabot’s wife Glynnis, Councilor Bill Donavan, Lucy LaCasse and Noah Perlmut were all appointed by Tom Hall with the council’s knowledge. All are Audubon enthusiasts. Once they were positioned on the committee they voted to have Tom Hall be the facilitator, ensuring that their majority opinion would not be in jeopardy.

Now, however, a new concern has arisen. During the general comments at the March 19 council meeting I was not allowed to express my concerns and how I reached my conclusion. We as the citizens of Scarborough have now been told that we are prohibited from raising these concerns, even though there is no other public forum that allows us to present them to the council. So, who is really out of order? Is it the council who tells the citizen to sit down because they don’t want to hear what they have to say or like how they say it? Or is it the citizens who bring their concern to the council and are told they can’t speak on that topic? Richard Sullivan may not like my wit or delivery, but he cannot deny the importance of the content of my statement.

Citizens of Scarborough, please come to the April 2 council meeting and voice your concerns.

Pammela Rovner

Scarborough