Letter to the editor
To the editor:
And the spin is on again. First, we are told to believe that a four-lane, divided state highway, is good ol’ hometown main street and is not intended to move heavy traffic. Then we are told to believe that a brand new, $50 million four-lane bypass, decades in the making, is intended to only bypass a narrow portion of traffic from certain undersized roads not all traffic even if it makes sense. Now we are to believe that the illegal removal of detour signs is "justified" and the complete fault of others. Now that is from the Clinton school of politics. Marc Lippman’s letter last week ("Aughenbaugh broke sign promise," May 3, 2002, Page 14A) was not only completely ludicrous, it was downright laughable. And I’m sure that the spin machine will have more letters in the paper this week. Councilwoman Mironov’s statement that she thought the signs were in error and that she didn’t know about the revitalization project is completely dumbfounding. The signs were written in English. And besides, where has she been for the past few years?
What Mr. Lippman and Ms. Mironov fail to grasp is the seriousness of the actions they and the East Windsor director of public works undertook. Do they know that one of the leading causes of highway construction worker deaths is from workers being struck by vehicles? Certainly the director of public works should have known this. The detour signs that were posted are a serious matter they are not "hullabaloo" they save lives. To speak of so-called "broken promises" and "rock throwing" is just downright childish. I would think the director of public works should be, at the least, reprimanded for obeying such an irresponsible order and, at the most, should be discharged. In fact, I am appalled that the DOT and the State Police are not pursuing any legal action for the ordering and removing of these signs. Citizens should be demanding, in writing to the DOT, that something be done. This cannot be laughed off as "much to do about nothing." If any ordinary citizen perpetrated this act, they would be persecuted to the fullest extent of the law and everyone knows that. If the shoe was on the other foot and borough officials had removed detour signs for a township project, you can bet that Mironov and Lippman would be singing a different tune. So why should Mironov and others be treated any differently?
Janice Mironov created this situation, Mr. Lippman, no one else did. The so-called "division" between these communities never existed before Ms. Mironov arrived on the scene in the early ’90s. Hightstown and East Windsor were communities without boundaries we all worked together. How anyone can support shared services with the current "administration" in East Windsor is beyond me.
Jack Aughenbaugh
Hightstown