MANVILLE: Meeting attendee stands by his report

To the editor:
      I’m writing in response to the letter submitted to your newspaper by Manville Mayor Angelo Corradino on Aug. 29.
   First off, I’m very flattered that there was such immediate response to my letter. It shows me that at least people are starting to pay attention when citizens have had enough of inappropriate behavior, and injustice committed by officials.
   Second, my letter was written when it was due to the fact that I carefully took the time to go to Manville school board meetings to inquire about the entire incident that occurred in May. I do not just fire off letters without seeking truthful answers first.
   As for the recess-calling incident, I simply asked if it was proper or not to go into recess without approval from the entire governing body.“’”
   In fact, after reading the Manville Borough Policy, it states that any borough employee or appointed official who makes an open threat towards any persons must be immediately removed from that position. So, in fact, everyone was wrong on that one, according to borough policy. And the citizens who attended the meeting that night truthfully know that the Borough Attorney wasn’t asked if the letter could be read, a direct statement was made by the Mayor.
   Also in the mayor’s letter, he stated that I “accused” people of not taking the incident seriously. If he accurately read my letter, I actually made a simple statement hoping that this incident be taken seriously. Seems like my words were taken out of context and twisted around intentionally.
What truly concerns me most about this situation is that law-abiding citizens who have asked tough questions and demanded justice are being portrayed as criminals, while the people who jeopardized our borough’s well-being are portrayed as the victims.
   After reading the official police report on this incident, if I were in their shoes, I would be worried over those matters and the un-truths that have been used to distract citizens from the real truth. But if there is any more doubt, the public can see for themselves by going to the actual report, which is an open public record at http://ogtf.lpcnj.org/2012/2012243uf//ManvilleReport.pdf. Anyone with any doubts about my concerns, can be assured of their truthfulness. We should all breathe a major sigh of relief that something of a greater matter did not occur such as an accident or a serious injury to one of the many children present that day.
   And on a final note, Mayor Corradino is 100 percent correct that our town has enough pressing issues. Instead of using time up to falsely go after one citizen, it would be nice to see this effort concentrated on addressing those issues.
Joe Lukac
Manville 