Clapping and cheering for their own (unopposed) viewpoint. Patting each other on the back. They walked out (Thursday) night riding high. I heard a lot of opposition to current methods of aggregate production. I didn't hear any solutions. Not from residents at least.

Cashman on the other hand stated a willingness to donate $20,000 to the local Farm Bureau to fund development of alternative methods of aggregate production. Six local farms, two in Ledyard, want to participate in a pilot project that would have farmers improve crop and pasture land by removing rocks. Stockpile the rocks for future use as aggregate and in coastal resilience projects. Will the local Farm Bureau accept the donation? Don't know. That will be decided at a board meeting in the coming weeks.

If the members of CALU (Citizens Alliance for Land Use) and residents of Gales Ferry are more than a pious, self-serving mob, content to chase a development to the border of their town, where its imperfections will remain, they'd join Cashman in helping improve the gritty processes that underpin daily life.

Kevin Blacker

Noank