I am the commander of Hadley American Legion Post 271. As veterans, we have never taken a position on the construction of the new library or senior center in town (“Legion sues in bid to block senior center,” April 12). We were drawn into it because of unforeseen circumstances. Until this winter, it was business as usual, providing our veterans and their families with needed services.
We provide space for many nonprofit groups in the community and their charitable activities at no cost.
We have never forgotten our main goal of honoring past and present veterans. The Memorial Day festivities have grown to one of the largest parades in the area. This is followed with family activities and reunions on the town common. The participants in the parade and visitors to the town has grown into the thousands.
We didn’t have any complaints until the construction project on Route 9 took over our parking lot as a staging area. The Hadley Select Board voted to provide this area — a space used for Legion activities — at a very minimal fee to the construction company. We were never contacted or compensated for the major disruption to our business, nor to the damage to our existing parking lot.
The town was not required to provide this area nor any other area to the construction company. It was up to the company to find offices for the state engineers and their equipment during the construction period.
We remain neutral on the library and senior center building projects being proposed. It only became evident to the Legion in February of the location for the senior center building. The plans indicate that the upper parking lot, used by the Legion since the early 1950s, was going to be taken and used by the senior center.
This is when we were thrust into a situation in which we really didn’t want to participate. With the taking of the parking lot, the value of our property would decline drastically.
American Legion Post 271 and its veterans still believe a compromise can be reached to resolve this. At the same time, we must remain steadfast to protect our interest and assets.
On May 3, we ask all veterans and their families and friends to take part in the annual Town Meeting. Let democracy work the way it has since 1776.
Richard Witkos
Hadley
The writer is commander of American Legion Post 271 in Hadley.