Shapella ignores township farmers

Betty Jane Hunt of West Amwell
    It would be laughable if it wasn’t so pathetic to have Ron Shapella name himself the “executive director of sustainable agriculture.”
   Where was he when we were marching in Trenton to save the Department of Agriculture?
   Where was he when our five-generation farm family celebrated 100 years on their West Amwell farm?
   Why did he remove the only commercial organic farmer and the farm manager of one of the largest farms in the township off the Agricultural Advisory Board without so much as a thank you for all their service?
   To my knowledge, Mr. Shapella has never raised any crop or animals but he has passed numerous ordinances to hamper those in West Amwell that try to make their farms viable.
   Our farm community would like to know what he means by “sustainable” agriculture?” Sustain, according to Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, means “to give support or relief to.”
   I witnessed Mr. Shapella completely ignore the farmers of our community at meeting after meeting over the past four to five years, and as per the record in 2004, he stated, “He couldn’t rest easy trusting the farmers to do the right thing with their land.”
   Furthermore, the township farm fields around the municipal building are growing up in weeds under his supervision, and he is spending hundreds of thousands of our dollars needlessly in a lawsuit against the largest landowner and most productive farmer in our township.
   The word pompous, according to Webster, means “having or exhibiting self-importance.”
   Fortunately, we have a choice in West Amwell for Township Committeeman, and my choice is Tom Molnar.
   I hope you will also choose to vote on Nov. 4 for Tom Molnar who pledges to support all of the farmers in West Amwell whether they farm on large or small pieces of land, organic or traditional, as a hobby or as their main source of income.
Betty Jane Hunt
West Amwell