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To the Editor:
Well, this is another letter about the infamous February Town of Rochester Town Board meeting. I thought it had been laid to rest already, but I have to respond to all the letters bashing the people stuck outside and referring to them as a lynch mob, because I was one of them.
I went to the meeting as a citizen of the town to support a woman I felt was wronged and treated improperly. I went there to support a woman who wanted to volunteer her time and sit on one of the town's commissions, a woman I never saw treat anyone with anything but respect, courtesy and common decency. I went there to see if the rumor I had heard was true, that this woman was shown sexually explicit photos by essentially strangers on the town board as some kind of proof she was connected to an adult Web site in an attempt to discredit her.
The board can ask whatever questions they want and appoint whoever they want. But in this instance, I felt the board made a mistake and crossed the line. I went there to see if it was true, and what the board was going to do next.
When I got to the town hall, the room was full and there were about 20 people standing outside. The crowd eventually grew to about 60 to 80. Everything was calm at this point because we thought the board would move to a larger venue. The town garage is in the same building and the board has gone in there when it chose to in order to accommodate overflowing crowds. But the board chose not to do this.
Did the people outside get upset? Absolutely. Did they get noisy and demonstrate? Absolutely. Because they were being prevented from participating in a public meeting they had every right and privilege to participate in.
Then we heard the board say, and I'm paraphrasing, if we didn't behave, the meeting would be adjourned. Well, I'm standing in the snow in 20-degree weather, so the threat of adjournment was music to my ears. So the crowd got louder and eventually the meeting was adjourned.
So you folks who want to cast aspersions and lay the blame on the people that were stuck outside demonstrating because they were denied access to a meeting they were entitled to attend, lay some of the blame on the town board for causing the problem in the first place, and then not being responsive to all its citizens.
Mel Tapper
Rochester
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