Shirley A. Lane

To the editor,

In response to the disparaging remarks regarding the purchase of the excavator to replace our 19-year-old backhoe, please keep in mind we do not make “widgets” at the Alton cemetery. Our business is entirely moving dirt, excavating and refilling cave-ins. If we did not have the excavator we could not have up-righted the stones which vandals tipped over in 2008. We would have had to pay a monument company significant money to do it because the 19 year old backhoe would not have lifted the weight of those stones. Because of part-time, inexperienced caretakers, errors have been made and need correcting. The 19-year-old backhoe would not lift the weight of the occupied vaults and with the excavator we were able to correct the error instead of paying a vault company to do it. The excavator was used to install the water system in the rear of the New Riverside Cemetery. Several years ago we had an estimate of $10,000. We did it for under $2,000.

Please bear in mind the lower section only has 45 lots left to sell in it. It had become necessary to expand/complete the new section ASAP. Because of the purchase of the excavator, we were able to finish excavation and have sold 39 of the approximately 550 lots to date in the new section, a total of $30,000 in two years. The cost of the machine was $43,000. Obviously the machine has almost paid for itself in addition to the other services it has provided.

Upon researching excavator vs. backhoe, we found that the excavator was much more feasible with the workings of a cemetery. With the excavator, when we dig graves we do not have to remove the head stone as we had to with the 19-year-old backhoe. We were unable to maneuver the back hoe to the inside rows. We do not have to put the 19-year-old pick up truck on other lots in order to load it. The excavator unlike the 19-year-old backhoe has a swivel so the truck can be left on the tarred road. The 19-year-old backhoe with a front loader would cost $100,000 and still not have the capabilities of the excavator. Hmm . . . $100,000 for machinery that is not capable of meeting the needs vs. $43,000 for machinery that does. Someone please show this to the rocket scientist.

It has been said that we could use the Water Department excavator. The excavator owned by the Water Department was purchased with funds raised by meter rates and should not be used for any other department.

Remember the excavator was purchased by cemetery trust funds and can only be used for cemetery work and not for any other purposes. Likewise, these items were not purchased by the town with tax money but trust funds and funds paid in good faith to the water department and this makes a difference.

Leasing/renting is not good business sense in operating a cemetery.

In conclusion, not one member from the Board of Selectman or the Budget Committee have ever bothered to attend our meetings or called to verify any facts before they irresponsibly send out misinformation. If there has been any question as to what decisions the cemetery trustees have to make, where have they been? It is much easier to sit in a corner, point fingers and focus on the negative. Mr. MacDonald: what cemeteries are not kept up that we are responsible for? The $3,500.00 True Green bill that you referred to is from four years ago, before Mr. Divito received his license. With this kind of antagonistic behavior, it tells the story why there are so many offices open for election that people don’t want to run for. Instead of working together for the good of the community, it has become a turkey shoot for those who work so hard.

Please vote NO on Article 40 and let the Cemetery Trustees get back to work.

Shirley A. Lane

Alton