19 July—In May 2021, when Gayle Carr, Barbara Ellis, Roberta Witty, and Todd Johnson staged a write-in putsch to take over the Borough of Litchfield Board of Warden and Burgesses (BOLBOWAB), I ended a letter to Litchfield.bz:

“And just what would the write-in quartet do if elected and able to dominate the Board of Warden and Burgesses? Nobody knows. Not the write-ins, anyway. What would they do with the Green, for instance? Exploit it like a fairground? Sell it? Pave it for parking? Anybody’s guess.

“One of the write-in candidates celebrated Joe Biden’s victory last November by energetically dancing on her front lawn while beating a drum. She mustn’t be given a chance to do that after Monday’s borough election. Borough voters would do everyone a favor—including the self-confessed uninformed write-in candidates themselves—by not writing in any names and, rather, sticking with what and whom they know and trust, whose names are already printed on the ballots . . .”

Unfortunately for residents of Litchfield’s Kremlin, the maleficent quartet pulled off its know-nothing putsch and the putschers—now a trio, since Todd Johnson had the good sense to move to another part of town—have done all in and beyond their power to cement their place among the petty tyrants of history.

Take Roberta Witty, for instance. Please. At an historic joint meeting last night with Litchfield’s Board of Selectmen (BOS), convened by the BOS with the hope of getting some cooperation out of the autocratic, intransigent BOLBOWAB on several matters of mutual town-borough concern, Burgess Roberta Witty, Litchfield’s bizarre nonwhirling Dervish, taking exception to an explanation (not even a comment) by Selectman Jon Torrant, rudely interrupted, sharply ordering him, “Shut up!”

As Torrant remarked on his way out, “Obviously, there’s no respect for me as a selectman. But this was just symptomatic of the way they [the dreaded BOLBOWAB] treat people in general.”

Right on, Jon!

On the essential and critical issue of ownership of the Green, Acting Warden Carr insisted that the BOL owned it: “As far as I’m concerned, the Green is under the purview of the Borough. If you want to challenge that, challenge that.” Gayle’s a lawyer. Selectman Jeff Zullo riposted, “I would challenge it.” Jeff’s an engineer.

Right on, Jeff!

It’s long been believed that even though the borough maintains and arbitrarily controls it, the town really owns the Green. Beats me why a title search has never been authorized or commissioned.

Beats me, too, why the BOL wasn’t canned decades ago . . .