by Joseph A. Lypowy 1/28/07

    Thomas Jefferson said in 1776, "Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.". Jefferson also wrote in 1800, "It behooves our citizens to be on their guard, to be firm in their principles, and full of confidence in themselves. We are able to preserve our self-government if we will but think so" and later wrote in 1821, "Let the eye of vigilance never be closed." We have in our community people who volunteer their time to be the “eye of vigilance” on behalf of the public at large.
   Recently, these public watchdogs have been critical of the policies of the Toms River Board of Education and Superintendent Rittaco’s “tax and spend” policies. They have been on the forefront of two recent victories for the taxpayers, first in the defeat of the school referendum and most recently in the reduction of Rittaco’s outrageous salary by $80,000 per year for five years, saving the taxpayers $400,000. The money saved from this salary reduction alone exceeds any proceeds made from the TomsRiverFests.
   In retaliation to these victories for the taxpayers, Rittaco used his corrupting powers to turn the January 22 BOE meeting into a giant pep rally for himself. The citizen activists I speak of have done nothing but utilize their constitutional right to question policies of the Board. As a result, these patriots were subjected to catcalls and insults by Rittaco and his lackeys. Rittaco was presented a list of questions by the Citizens Alert Committee and he arrogantly replied by saying “Who is the idiot who wrote this”. Two speakers at the dais even ranted that if anyone doesn’t like the superintendents policies, they should leave the room and don’t belong in our town. One teenage daughter of a one of the activists and a student in the system was intimidated by a few teachers who hissed at her while making clawing gestures like a cat.
   Rittaco and his lackeys are attempting to demonize these courageous citizen activists and reformers by saying they are “bad people” who are polarizing the community. The reality is, it is Rittaco and his comrades who are creating the polarization by acting like they own the community and the people. While Rittaco refers to some as “Bad people”, let me remind him that it is “Bad people” who use their power and their position to create reprisals on people who attempt to use their freedom of speech.