Please read Mr. Weston’s entire letter in the Reader to Reader section below. In part, he writes: “In the September 2nd issue you stated, “How come, for the first time in Stockbridge history, there are sirens being used? Who decided that and by what process?”
Mr. Weston is correct to point this out, and SU is wrong. It was never all sirens. Mary Flynn and John Beacco, Select Board members, discouraged the use of sirens, but it was not uniform. They did not discourage fire engines and EMT sirens as much as police sirens.
Flynn and Beacco were ardent about protecting the beauty of Stockbridge. For them, it was a quality of life issue as well as an economic issue. They both felt too much light and too much noise were pollutants. Thus, their attitude toward sirens and cars honking.
The Town as a whole appeared to support their position and the underlying values. I was noting that both seem to have changed and asking at whose instigation and by what process.
I wrote too hastily, created a misconception, and now correct it. I do stand behind pointing out changes in Town and posing questions about them. Those are proper functions of the press.
