To the editor:
After our respective families heard that my late husband and I had decided to move to Presque Isle where he would set up a pediatric practice, all our horrified relatives told us that we were out of our minds. Why in the world would we ever want to go up into the Arctic Circle to live with sled dogs, polar bears, out houses, and payments with chickens and vegetables? Nothing in the predicted lack of amenities dissuaded us from moving in. Although we see sled dogs, we have yet to see polar bears, and out houses. Horace was always paid with cash or checks. Moose meat, deer meat, bear meat, and trout were brought to our door as a bonus by grateful and neighborly people.
In all my years of living here I have seen Presque Isle hit with hard times, but the people took it in stride as most know no other way to live, pulled themselves up, and went on. Ratty buildings, many looking as if they had been built before the arrival of The Acadians, have been replaced, the streets and roads are kept up, new construction has taken place this last year, and it is still going on. Opportunities for getting excellent educations abound. We have seen people in Presque Isle, and the surrounding communities all over The County and New Brunswick give a hand when dire needs arise, be they people burned out of their homes, or faced with adverse medical conditions, or for some other serious situation.
Reading that the Presque Isle City Council decided to give the current manager the heave ho is distressing, and quite out of character for most of the people living here. Telling Mr. Stevens to shape up or ship out because, “we have decided to go in a different direction,” is a poor excuse to give anyone with whom the City Council members have become disenchanted.
There has to be more to the story. The inhabitants of Presque Isle need not know what the whole story is, but they do need to know that Mr. Stevens is given a fair deal whether he goes or stays. Mr. Stevens, should he persuade the Council members to back off, will have to decide if he would want to stay employed as the city of Presque Isle’s manager, and to continue attempting to work with a hostile group. The Council members will have to decide if they want to keep working with a known quantity, or to replace him. The Council members have no guarantee that a replacement will do better, or that they will be more satisfied with him, or her. Deep thinking must take place for a mutually satisfactory resolution to come forth.
Castle Hill
