Remarkably, Barbara Bentley complains about the “tone of voice” used by her neighbors at the SMP meeting on Orcas.

Remarkable, because this is the same person who sat down at our table at that meeting, looked at the person sitting to her right, said “I can’t sit next to you!” and left, presumably to find more like-minded company. That doesn’t sound either open-minded or neighborly.  This is the same person who stood up during the meeting and scolded her “neighbors” for asking questions about the clearly controversial claims being made by the SMP consultants – because she believed them. This didn’t sound like she was welcoming “differing points of view.”

Finally, this is the same person who, in her letter, reprimands her neighbors for holding opinions formed without “open discussion, careful thought, and thorough evaluation of all the facts of an issue.”

What I heard at the meeting were a lot of island people who were both informed about the issues and concerned about the community, and that gave me hope for the island’s future.

Peg Manning

Orcas