That's not a rhetorical question
By Frank Glista
This article first appeared as a letter to the Westerly Sun. It is reprinted here with the permission of the author.
End the CCA spin cycle
In his June 22 Letter to the Editor "Let's not politicize drinking water in Charlestown", Mr. Mainelli takes the reader of [the Westerly Sun] newspaper through the typical Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA) spin cycle where the truth is nowhere to be found.
He starts out by saying that I was politicizing the water
situation in Charlestown (The Real Monkey in the Room in Charlestown) but fails
to disclose that he is not only a supporter of the CCA but also its President.
Then he tries to convince you that the CCA worked hard to
find water sources in Charlestown (other than my families' property) that was
put into the "capable leadership" of former Town Council President,
Tom Gentz.
The Potable Water Working Group, which Mr. Mainelli wrote
about, dealt mostly with the Quonochontaug area and provided little relief in
solving their water issues. However,
they did put out some nice Aquifer Protection signs.
If Mainelli is doubtful that my family, Mr. Ken Burke
(former Manager of the Water Resources Board) and I were attacked, as he
stated, he should go back and read some of the Letters to the Editor that his
CCA cult members wrote.
He then suggests that the Town of Charlestown made an effort
to buy my families' property but didn't have the funding. That's an outright lie. No one from the town ever approached anyone
in my family about buying our property.....EVER!!!
He continues by saying that the state paid my family $2.3
million for our Cross Mills property.
They did not.
This purchase had 3 components to it starting with my family
receiving $1,282,500.00 for 7 lots and $555,500.00 for my 3 lots which totals
$1,838.000.00. The balance of
$520,000.00 went to the former owner of the Ocean Aire Motel.
So here again, Mainelli refuses to do simple research but
instead, relies on past false statements from the CCA. He further misrepresents the truth by telling
you that the sale was, "...the highest price paid for open space ever in
Charlestown."
Our property had been sub-divided, a road constructed and
septic systems designed making its value much greater then open-space. Hence the Real Estate term, "Highest and
Best Value." Any improvements made
on a piece of property, always increases its value.
It may please the reader to know that Mainelli and I had a
conversation about the political environment in Charlestown years ago. He approached me at a Town Council Meeting
and asked, "How can we stop the rancor in our town?"
I told him about how the CCA tried to prevent me from
selling my land to the State of Rhode Island.
I asked him how he would feel if someone tried to stop him from selling
his home, his response, "I'd be pissed."
Finally, he closes his letter with this statement, "Mr. Glista included in his letter a meaningless line about people drinking sewerage...a line of no useful purpose, since all of Charlestown is on well and septic."
First, the line "You’re
drinking recycled waste water." came from Lorraine Joubert, who at the
time represented the Department of Natural Resources at URI. Second, I thought Quonnie had 2 public water
systems and Shady Harbor had another?
Again, he misrepresents the truth.
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What do you think would happen to property
values in Quonnie or Charlestown in general, if word got out about some of our
water issues?
An interesting side note; "Capable leader" Tom
Gentz recently sold both of his Quonnie homes ($2,259,500 million) and left
Charlestown.....maybe he didn't like the taste of the water.