I read with interest the recent letter to the editor sent by one Dorothy Boucher. My interest comes from the fact that I attended the Meet & Greet sponsored by Rep. Ruth Briggs King and know that Dorothy Boucher was not there. Accordingly, her long winded letter was obviously based on the hearsay of others, even though they were not identified.
Actually, Rep. King has been a frequent visitor to the Long Neck area of her district, and has conducted both large and small meetings to discus residents' concerns on a wide variety of important subjects such as crime, gun ownership, slot machine locations, government services and waste, manufactured home ownership, etc. Her knowledge, candor and willingness to listen are impressive.
It would be useless to address the arguments in Dorothy Boucher's letter since they are obviously based on a hidden agenda and contain much bitterness and personal name calling. However, one portion of her letter, also incorrect because she wasn't even present at the meeting, was a false accusation of a “raid” by Rep. King on the State Relocation Trust Authority.
In truth, the subject of the Relocation Trust was raised by an individual attending the meeting, not Rep. King. Public records show that the money in the trust fund exceeds $5 million. That's a lot of money and records also show that next to nothing is paid out for relocation purposes, while a considerable amount is spent on “administering” the fund year after year. The suggestion was made that the fund be reviewed for the possibility of using a portion of the money to assist truly needy owners of manufactured homes.
I have learned on the internet that Dorothy Boucher is an activist in the Delaware Manufactured Homeowners Association, a group with a checkered past and the subject of serious scrutiny. Perhaps in the interest of transparency she should have disclosed this in her letter.
There are two sides to almost every issue. I feel it is to the credit of elected officials such as Rep. King that they personally visit all of the issues that concern their constituents, listen to their opinions, and make every effort to arrive at informed decisions. Bitterness and name calling do nothing to assist in this process.
Gerard Cunningham
Millsboro
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