To the Editor:

It’s time for a change in the town of Berne. 

A previous town supervisor plainly stated, “No one in Berne will have cable unless everyone has cable.”  I knew then that would not happen. 

All these years later, the town has not successfully negotiated with Time Warner, other cable companies, or Verizon to provide cable and Internet to the more rural sections of this town.  Why?

We have a World War II Monument in this town that is a wonderful thing.  However, it does not include all the veterans of the town of Berne who served.  Why? 

I was shocked to learn the current highway superintendent is not running on the Democratic Party line in the upcoming election.

Ken Weaver has served this community extremely well over the past 35 years.  As an employee, he gained valuable knowledge of the operation of the highway department.

He has done an excellent job running the highway department for the past four years.  He has dealt with some very extreme weather events, including hurricanes, floods, and the six-foot blizzard.  He and his crew worked together as a team and got town roads repaired and open quickly throughout all of these events.

Prior to the time when Ken Weaver became highway superintendent, I had to drive out Schreiber Lane three-quarters of a mile on a snow-covered, uphill town road and hope that I could reach Sickle Hill to go to work.  Since Ken has been in office, the battle has been reversed.  I now drive out a plowed town road and arrive at the county road and find that the county has not plowed. 

Sickle Hill is one of the most treacherous roads in town.  Therefore, I am forced to drive miles out of my way to Route 85 and, even then, I can’t be sure that it has been plowed by the county.

I am extremely opposed to the consolidation of the highway departments.

I truly applaud the effort to provide better cell phone coverage in the town of Berne.  But the problem still has not been resolved.  When will all areas of Berne have good cell phone service?

It is time for the residents of the town of Berne to start voting on the merits and achievements of a candidate versus voting the straight Democratic line.

Joyce Schreiber
Berne

Editor’s note: See Berne election profiles.