A letter was written to The Chariho Times last week purportedly authored by James Mageau that criticizes others and myself for being members of the Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA). Many of the people he named are not members of the CCA, however they are recipients of the CCA e-mail list and I believe they approve of CCA's efforts. Despite not being members of CCA, they are all among Charlestown's finest citizens. He goes on to say that the CCA is a special interest organization and that this is somehow a despicable thing. He doesn't define what CCA's interests are except to say that he is against them. The only "interest" that CCA has, is to protect Charlestown's natural resources and low tax rate, to promote honest and transparent government and to keep casinos and other high stakes gambling out of town. That Mr. Mageau is against these things is of course no surprise. Charlestown is indeed a very special place and it deserves our special interest. Anyone else who has a special interest in our beautiful town should send an e-mail to mail@CharlestownCitizens.org and ask to be added to the e-mail list. Being on the e-mail list does not make you a member of CCA, but it does entitle you to receive issue alerts, times and places of important meetings, links to newspaper articles and so much more. Recipients of the CCA e-mail list have become the best-informed members of our community.

Ruth Platner