MY TWO CENTS

I started last month’s column with, are we done with the snow….as I type my column, I’m watching it snow outside!! So the answer…apparently not!

I thought I would talk about the police department and our appointment of Lt. James Trombetta as permanent police chief, effective July 1st. If you didn’t know, we have been operating for the past four years with an acting police chief. Lt. Trombetta has been on the police force over 30 years. He was appointed acting when the former chief was placed on administrative leave and his contract was not renewed. The acting chief receives a small stipend while performing the duties of police chief.

For me, I want a police chief that stands up for his men and woman at the same time takes the necessary steps to insure that the police force is operating to its fullest in order to insure public safety. You also want a police chief who will stand up to the board of selectman if he/she feels that public safety is being compromised in any way. This is not always easy since the Board ofSselectman sign the contract and are considered the “police commissioner”. (My father gets a kick out of the fact that I’m the police commissioner…he’s probably a little concerned for all of the residents of Rehoboth too.) You want the police chief to discipline as needed, change policies that don’t work the best and who loves his job and town he serves. Well, in my opinion, we found that in Lt. Trombetta.

Several years ago our police force was under attack, my opinion, lies and false allegations such as corruption, imminent arrests…all later proven to be big fat lies. Lt. Trombetta is not afraid to stand up for his men and woman when false allegations are being made either by the media, elected officials or anyone else. In four short years, morale has improved dramatically. Last year he had to make some severe cuts to the police department due to budget cuts. He opted to take a shift so that no overtime would result…do whatever it takes to insure public safety.

So, the choice to appoint Lt. James Trombetta as police chief was an easy appointment…he has already being doing the job and doing it well. And a special thank you to all the men and woman who serve on the police department for their service to the town. We have seen many extra efforts, team work and heroic acts in the last few years. They were always there, we just didn’t hear about it.

This is the last year of Joe Tito’s term as Selectman. I haven’t always agreed with Joe (how could I, he’s a Democrat), but enjoyed working with him. I also owe him a big thank you ( and all of the town residents do too) for stepping up and into a fire storm when he decided to run four years ago. The town was a mess, in my opinion. Back then, if you disagreed with a few, a line was drawn and an all out campaign of lies, false accusations (crazy stuff) was launched against you and your family. Joe stepped up…it was a hard, long fight that got so nasty. He received disgusting anonymous letters, all in the little town of Rehoboth….still mind boggling to me. Joe crushed his opponent (thank God!) and over the last four years the town has gone back to what I call “normal”. You go to meetings, discuss, argue but you don’t launch a campaign of hate just because you disagree with someone.

So thank you Joe for your service!