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Student
Thieves Return Stolen Signs
So vicious was the environment created by the “TUFF” group that political signs were stolen from people’s lawns, shouting matches broke out at Board of Selectmen meetings and a campaign of misinformation was launched against individuals associated with NATA. Anyone who believes that the anger and pettiness of the override proponents subsided when the override failed (by a 2-1 margin without teacher layoffs) may have overlooked the zeal and fervor of those embarrassed by its outcome. One “TUFF” member, Cindy Jalbert, was still so bitter about the override election in 2002 that she lashed out at members of NATA during last month's Annual Town Meeting. “If we allow referendum elections to overturn the spending at Town Meeting, we would have to campaign,” she said in her opposition to Article #33, which would allow the voters to override the spending of special interests at town meeting. “Who can afford to campaign? Look at the people supporting this. They own a newspaper, a printing press, they have a radio show. We can't compete with that," she said as she and her cohorts applauded the defeat of direct democracy. This environment of scare tactics, personal attacks and using any means to an end has now carried over to the y oung people of North Andover, who naively bought into the “they don’t care about the children” mantra of TUFF. This resulted in an organized gang of students from the high school partaking in criminal activity to support “the cause.” Following the Examples of Adults Last week, some of the “No Override” signs, stolen two years ago from the homes and businesses of North Andover residents, were placed under the car of another NATA member, Ralph Wilbur. The signs were placed on his property under the rear bumper of his car (see picture) with a note that read: “Ralph Wilbur, “The students who stole these signs obviously have no respect for democracy, our political system, or their fellow citizens,” Mr. Wilbur responded in a letter to the media. “They are apparently just a bunch of spoiled kids, infatuated with their own self-importance. They think that stealing signs to obstruct the voting process is the solution to advancing their cause. Their casual and self-congratulatory attitude toward lawbreaking should distress any parent.” Wilbur says that the issue is not so much the value of the stolen signs, but that the children of North Andover have been sent a very dangerous message with the hostile political environment created by “TUFF.” “Where did they learn it is OK to trespass and steal someone else’s property?” Wilbur asked. “Did their parents teach them that their own passions trump the rights of others? When did they learn that our democratic processes were not to be respected? Instead of participating in honest debate they were shown that propagating lies and hate are OK if it helps your cause. What’s next? If winning is all that matters will these juveniles grow up thinking that voter fraud is acceptable? Do their parents teach them any moral lessons, or are they so focused on their own special interests that they encourage and condone lawbreaking and subversion of our democratic process?” “The petty crime of
stealing political signs,” Wilbur told The Valley
Patriot, “cannot be made the issue here. Nor is
debating the fallacious issues raised in their letter.
These are people who obviously do not want to be confused
by the facts. This is about so much more than that.
It’s about whether we, as citizens of this town, are
going to accept or not accept lying, stealing and
personal attacks as legitimate political discourse.”
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NORTH
ANDOVER- Bitterness and petty politics still dominates in
North Andover nearly two years after a failed and
unneeded $4 million proposition 2 ½ override election
caused controversy in town. At the time, members of the
North Andover Taxpayers Association (NATA), who opposed
the override, were inundated with insults, accusations
and dirty political tactics from the “TUFF”
(Taxpayers United for the Future) group who supported the
override. Trying to whip up emotions and scare town
voters into supporting the tax hike, “TUFF”
claimed that 47 teachers would be laid off and that those
who opposed the override were simply “against the
children.”