On July 16 the town clerk of Stonington certified the petition submitted to initiate a charter revision commission. The petition contained in excess of 1,500 signatures. The organizers of this petition would like to extend our gratitude to the clerk and the Registrars of Voters who had the time consuming task of performing this certification.

We would further like to extend our appreciation to the 67 circulators who over the course of three months gathered the required signatures, a true and honest expression of our First Amendment right to "petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Finally we would like to recognize the local press and editorial boards whose insightful and probing coverage of this process was crucial in keeping the citizens of Stonington informed about this important step in the reformation of the government of Stonington. This certification is but one of several steps that need to be taken to complete the task of a charter revision. We urge concerned citizens to write to the Stonington Board of Selectmen if they are interested in serving on the Charter Revision Commission when it is seated in roughly 30 days.