William Ryan has studied finance, economics and environmental science. Wow! He should have studied geography, too. He would have learned there is also a town that FirstLight pays taxes to called Erving and they constitute a large percentage of our tax base, somewhere around 80%. Mr. Ryan, Mr. Meyer and the like who have bombarded the editorial page with calls for First Light to be shut down have yet to acknowledge the financial devastation that will befall Erving should FirstLight Northfield Mountain be shut down. Our taxes will triple. That will devastate a school system that is the envy of most towns, that four of my sons attended and my grandson now attends. FirstLight has provided Erving the opportunity to build a beautiful senior center, a new library, upgraded our fire departments and more. Seniors on a fixed income would be hit the hardest.
FirstLight certainly can do a better job at managing its operation. My son has a boat so we spend a lot of time on the river and yes, there were times when the river was so low we couldn’t get out of Barton Cove. My grandson also likes to fish and last summer caught two 16″ rainbow trout just south of Northfield Mountain. There are fish in the river. Instead of using all those big degrees to try and close the facility, maybe they could try to solve some of those issues and not devastate an entire town. People are more important than fish but I believe a solution that works for all points of view can be found. Any dialogue about shutting down FirstLight’s Northfield Mountain has to include compensation for the Town of Erving to mitigate a potential economic disaster.
Craig Kuzmeskus
Erving