To the Editor:
Oh what a tangled web we weave! Most of you know that gmail accounts are free and controlled by the user who can change the password at any time. Secure emails (berneny.org) are secure emails and passwords are controlled by the IT company and are owned by the town.

Mr. Kevin Crosier’s email of was not a secure email at the time and therefore he was able to use it by changing the password. Mr. Crosier’s response that he hasn’t used that email since 2017 is a false statement [“Hatred is being fueled by Mr. Crosier,” Feb. 22, 2024, letter to the Enterprise editor from Anita Clayton with a response from Kevin Croseir included in the editor’s note].

These are some dates and emails that Mr. Crosier sent from the email in question:

— Feb. 4, 2022: Forwarded copies of the town utility bill to Joel Willsey;

— Jan. 26, 2023: Kevin emailed Otterback builders and again on Jan. 31, 2023;

— May 17, 2023: Emailed his attorney back and forth a few times;

— May 18, 2023: Emailed his attorney regarding Facebook page of ATV picture;

— July 12, 2023: Sent copies of the town’s Tyler Technology bills to Jeff Marden;

— Aug. 10, 2023: Sent copies of the town's Tyler Technology bills to Peggy Christman;

— Oct. 15, 2023: Emailed his campaign picture to the Albany Democratic Chair.

And here's the real kicker: On Jan. 18, 2024 Kevin sent copies of the Tyler Technology bills to Noah [Zweifel] at The Enterprise. Noah failed to mention that little piece of information in his response to my letter last week. Noah only stated he reached out to Tyler, but how would he know to do that? And Noah says “we are untrustworthy”!

Please keep in mind that all of these emails were being sent from supervisorberneny@gmail.com.

As to my statements regarding Mr. [Dennis] Palow, would the people involved with the board at that time be willing to state under oath that Mr. Crosier did not try to discredit Mr. Palow and never made any comments regarding his military career or personality?

I would state under oath regarding the statements made against Mr. Palow.

Anita C. Clayton 

Berne

Editor’s note: Like most media, we receive news tips from a wide variety of sources. We did not publish the story on the town of Berne owing money to Tyler Tech until we learned about the debt from Tyler Tech itself, to ensure the information was legitimate. 

Source protection is a right accorded to journalists under both United States and international law. The right exists because, without a guarantee of anonymity, people would be less likely to share with journalists matters of public interest. There is no reason for a principled journalist to share sources with you.

Reached for comment, Kevin Crosier told The Enterprise in an email this week, “Anita is completely wrong. To be perfectly clear, I never used the supervisorberneny gmail address to pretend or imply that I was the Berne town supervisor, after ending my term at the end of 2017.”

The Enterprise made this distinction clear in the editor’s note on Anita Clayton’s letter last week. 

Crosier went on, “I did notify the Town of the need to change the contact information for vendors and they did not do it. Anita Clayton was the Town Clerk, at the time, and it was her responsibility to make sure that changes were made to all accounts. I received inquiries from vendors and did not receive any bills except on one or two occasions which I forwarded to the town. Vendors continued to call me on my personal cell phone because they could not get ahold of anyone at Town Hall and I continued to remind them I was no longer the Supervisor.

“The fact remains that Anita was Deputy Supervisor when she and Mr. Palow conspired to deprive me of my First Amendment rights a year ago. She and the town board refused to apologize and recognize their error and now the town is being sued and she will be deposed. 

“This is yet another desperate attempt to defame me with baseless allegations and deflect attention from their unconstitutional actions and their gross incompetence administering town affairs.”