Dear Editor,

Some perspective and comments from an “old timer.” I was deeply saddened, horrified, and brought to tears reading the article about the future of the NPD in this week’s Mountain-Ear [July 28, 2022]. The following may be either hindsight or premature.

1. This is a crisis that has been brewing for 15+ years with no significant, if any, action by previous BOTs that the community knows about. Now it’s come due.

2. The current Town administrator and BOT cannot be expected to instantly fix it. However, I think y’all should apologize to the community for the past administration’s and BOT’s failures to address the issues in the Marshal’s office, much of which comes down to ongoing insufficient funding, with the inability to provide subsidized housing for those who do want to rent (or buy) in the community where they work.

3. It’s difficult to be objective and remove personalities from the conversation. I’ve been up here 40 years and until the past 10 years was acquainted with most folks in the Marshal’s office. Other than Larry, Jen, and JP, who exemplify what true community policing is about, that has not been the case for a long time. Nederland became like a short-term expensive internship program.

4. The town has about 1,283 registered voters, approximately 30% of whom vote in any given election. Yet the impact is far reaching to the community at large.

5. There are many pros to having BCSO take over public safety. Unfortunately, so much comes down to funding. And taxation, the votes of a minority of voters, and the majority votes of the BOT.

6. I’m sure the BOT is carefully weighing the reality-based comments of the experiences of those who have done and do this job in Nederland.

7. Perhaps it’s far too late. However, I wish some type of creative compromise could be found for the department as a whole; and that, if they wanted, Jen and JP could continue up here as part of the BCSO, if that proves to be the only option left for the town.

Atashnaa Medicineshield Werner

Nederlandcoupled