To the Editor:
The fevered shibboleth of the far-right wing has been invoked again — Switzkill Farm!

A lawsuit has been filed against the town of Berne seeking to overturn the town’s purchase of Switzkill Farm, which occurred some six years ago.

There are so many things wrong with this absurd lawsuit — both factually and legally — that even the most benighted first-year law student would find it laughable.

And who is a principal plaintiff in this farce? Our very own homegrown corrupt former Supreme Court judge and convicted felon, Thomas Spargo.

One has to question why, at this late date, the purchase of Switzkill Farm is being resurrected.

Could the seven serious Notices of Violation of safety standards by the Public Employees Safety and Health Bureau, (PESH, the state’s counterpart to the federal OSHA, Occupational Safety and Health Act) after the tragic death of an employee in the town’s highway garage be the impetus for this absurd distraction?

We’ll never know and the town supervisor and highway superintendent aren’t talking. They are too busy actively destroying Switzkill Farm.

The public no longer holds wedding receptions there; there are no educational programs for our children there; there is no effort to secure dark-sky certification and there is a mystifying refusal to see Switzkill Farm as a potential driver of economic development. Revenue could be garnered from the public use of Switzkill Farm — etc., etc., etc.

Instead this wonderful asset is being left to rot and decay and the public’s enjoyment of it is being intentionally cancelled. The town’s fiduciary duty to protect and maintain its assets is being ignored.

This is like the 2-year-old who is jealous of your new toy and when allowed to play with it — deliberately breaks it. Infantile.

Here are the incontrovertible facts:

— 1. The town funds used to purchase the farm were surplus funds; no money was borrowed;

—  2. The use of surplus funds does not necessitate a permissive referendum;

— 3. Even if it did, the time to complain about the lack of such a referendum was many years ago; and

— 4. Mr. Spargo’s frivolous lawsuit is nothing more than the continuation of the present Republican-backed town board’s ongoing efforts to destroy this precious public asset.

This is not a principled debate between conservatives and liberals or Republicans and Democrats. Simply put, it is the politics of resentment.

Such politics inexorably result in divisiveness, intentional abandonment of community participation in local governance, and the willful destruction of community assets — such as Switzkill Farm.

Infantile!

Lawrence Zimmerman

Berne

Editor’s note: Lawrence Zimmerman is a member of the Berne Planning Board.