How About Some Respect?

To the Editor:
I am not given to echoing the sound bites we are inundated with by our unending news services. I believe this feature (Letters to The Editor) in our local paper is a wonderful opportunity to share concerns for local issues. I have no writing skills, so you are not stuck with me trying to show them off.
What I am is someone who has been an advocate in our community for many years. My past endeavors were not motivated by politics but were born of concern for our community, regardless of whatever party was in power. I still speak to the issues affecting our community. One that I find quite disturbing is the disrespectful treatment from our elected officials and their appointees to our concerned citizens.
I have been attending meetings for many years. From Township Committee to Freeholder meetings, as well as Planning and Zoning Board meetings, I have never seen citizens treated so shabbily. Several women who work diligently for our issues have been treated horribly by committee and even allowed to be abused by a certain citizen in the audience. Still, the worst I have ever seen was the disgraceful behavior of the Chairman of the Planning Board. He was arrogant and abusive to these women. Talking over them while they were testifying, telling one of them, “I’m done with you,” because her time was up, even though he spoke through much of her attempted presentation.
These women have a better understanding of the housing issue than all the committees and boards combined. They have sought and received documents from numerous state agencies. It is their right to seek clarification when the documented facts are contrary to what these panels have communicated to the public. It is their right to speak. We do not always have to agree but we do need to always be agreeable. Some of these representatives need a crash course from Emily Post.
The writer of this letter is a democrat running for mayor of Middle Township.