Rep. Donna Walsh reports progress on Charlestown issues

NEWS RELEASE FROM REP. WALSH (please note that this is now past tense - these are subjects she brought before the Charlestown Town Council earlier tonight):

At tonight’s Charlestown Town Council meeting, Rep. Donna Walsh (D-District 36) will report on how the recently ended regular General Assembly session will affect Charlestown.

She will carry good news on two problems that have plagued Charlestown for several years.

Residents’ complaints about the terrible condition of Route 1A should be a thing of the past by November 18th, when the re-paving of 1A from the town line to Route 1 at the Charlestown liquor store is scheduled to be completed.

The funding - $729,100 - for the state to carry out desperately needed dredging of the Charlestown Breachway basin was retained in the state budget signed by Governor Chafee – and the work will commence – after Rep. Walsh’s dogged advocacy of the project.

Rep. Walsh’s Charlestown colleague Rep. Larry Valencia said “I appreciate all the work that Donna has put in over the past five years and was happy to help push it over the finish line. This will be a great boon to aquaculture, fishing and recreational boating in Charlestown.”

Charlestown will still need to spend the $300,000 it has committed to complete this clean-up that is an essential part of maintaining the health of the salt pond.

Rep. Walsh will also report on the enactment of three bills she sponsored that are of special interest to Charlestown.

Municipal Court. The General Assembly has given its final approval to Charlestown’s new Municipal Court, empowering it to handle traffic cases and violations of municipal ordinances, especially housing violations. The town has already selected Westerly lawyer Margaret Lenihan Steele as municipal judge. The court can impose fines of up to $500 and jail terms of up to 30 days.

Blue Alert. At the request of the previous Town Council, Rep. Walsh introduced a bill to create a “Blue Alert” system that would activate special alerts to all area police when a police officer is killed or gravely injured by a suspect. Former Charlestown Officer Brian Jackson had joined the Dallas police force when he was killed in the line of duty. Dallas activated its Blue Alert system and the suspected cop-killer was apprehended within hours. The General Assembly passed the bill on July 1.

Repeat Offenders. Since the tragic death of Charlestown’s Colin Foote just over a year ago, Rep. Walsh has worked with his family and traffic safety advocates to reform state laws that allow repeat offenders to stay on the road. Rep. Walsh introduced new legislation that would close one loophole repeat offenders use to stay on the road by requiring them to appear in court after the third offense in any 12 month period. Colin Foote’s killer, Laura Reale, concealed her traffic record by mailing in ticket payments rather than going before the traffic judge. The General Assembly gave final approval to this bill on June 29^th.

“We left a lot of good legislation on the table, including two other auto safety bills I sponsored.” said Rep. Donna Walsh, “But I was pleased to be able to deliver for Charlestown. When we reconvene, I will continue to push the jobs creation, fair tax reforms and environmental legislation that didn’t quite make it this time.”