Citizens’ Outcry Gets Select Board’s Attention

An incident Monday in Springfield sparked 100 concerned citizens to attend this month’s meeting of the Springfield Select Board. A Springfield man was arrested after an altercation at a Main Street intersection where shots were fired.
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Citizens’ Outcry Gets Select Board’s Attention Submitted by VT Journal on Fri, 07/27/2012 - 9:43am By Cindy Johnson SPRINGFIELD, VT -An incident Monday in Springfield sparked 100 concerned citizens to attend this month’s meeting of the Springfield Select Board. A Springfield man was arrested after an altercation at a Main Street intersection where shots were fired. Response to the incident was so great that the meeting was relocated to the auditorium at Riverside Junior High School where community leaders and local business people took turns speaking out on issues for which they want action. Although everyone agreed that the placement of police patrolling on foot was an improvement, most felt that more should be done to curb problems particularly on Union Street in Springfield. Ethan McNaughton spoke about growing concerns over violence and drugs. He felt that since the problem emanated from the Union Street area, at stake was the abandoning of that part of town. “It’s not about casting blame, it’s about solutions,” he told the Board. He called on the Board to take specific action at that meeting to combat the problem. Christian Craig, director of the Edgar May Recreation Center, expressed a large level of frustration. Lori Muse spoke about her concern over property values on one street in Springfield after a recent deal fell through after potential owners became nervous about the residents of a nearby house. No one who spoke felt that the problem was wide spread. The issue was with a small group of individuals who were at the center of a wider problem that extends into Union Street School. Some residents expressed concern that these people have created an atmosphere such that locals are afraid to swear out a complaints for fear of retaliation, which creates a difficult situation for the police who require witnesses to come forward in order to meet legal requires for surveillance at problem locations. Several people spoke of feeling threatened. Some people expressed an irritation at the idleness of individuals at the heart of last week’s trouble and expressed a wish for limits to be placed on the state financial support these people receive. Business owner Patrick Kelley took issue with paying for the “lifestyle” of those not working. Select Board Chairman Kristi Morris thanked the Springfield Police Department for their work in apprehending the suspect in last week’s assault and complimented them on their work with the Sate Police and other law enforcement agencies in making an arrest. He reminded Springfield citizens that if they felt the punishment for crimes was not adequate, the District Attorney who prosecutes offenders holds an elected position. He also informed the group that specific action would require that the Board meet in a deliberative session; and that before an official commitment could be made toward keeping police on foot patrol a consultation with Police Chief Johnston would be required. However he reassured the concerned citizens that when the Board meets again on August 13th the issue would be on the agenda. He also expressed frustration with the problem, stating that he personally had spent 6 hours in the last week in meetings with law enforcement regarding the Main Street incident. He also reminded the leaders who came to speak that he had attended several meetings over the last year on the issues mentioned at this meeting. Chief Johnston said that he had intentionally avoided the first of three meetings held over the last year to allow those who had issues with the police to speak freely, but that he had attended the subsequent two meetings. Earlier in the year Chief Johnston had requested funding to hire a drug enforcement task force officer. An $80,000 warning allocation for a drug detective, which included salary, benefits, social security, and $3,000 in equipment, was removed from the budget after much debate. Chief Johnston said that anonymous tips could be called into the police department or logged on-line www.springfieldvtpd.org. The SPD also has a Facebook page where citizens can post comments, get information from police reports on specific incidents, and other law enforcement related announcements can be viewed.