HATFIELD — Since moving to Hatfield in summer 2021, Dr. Timothy Menz has made his views known on a variety of topics, speaking at a Board of Health meeting about the importance of masking as a means of reducing the spread of COVID that first year, campaigning for a seat on the health board the next year and placing a Black Lives Matter sign and various other political signs at the edge of his driveway.

But even after dealing with what he describes as an abrasive neighbor on Bridge Street during his initial campaign for the Board of Health in 2022, having sent out promotional mailers that the person apparently objected to, it wasn’t until last year, winning a seat on the Board of Health and posting a sign advocating for passage of the town’s Proposition 2½ override to support education and other services in Hatfield, that the first anonymous letter arrived in the mail.

That letter, a typewritten note in an envelope with no return address, told Menz and his family to “go back to where you came from,” asked “how dare you try to change the town” and “you don’t know anything about what Hatfield is all about.”

“That was a little jarring,” Menz said.

At around the same time, garbage was thrown into the driveway, perhaps to supplement the letter, including a bag filled with dog feces.

“It was really kind of sad,” Menz said, explaining that he turned over the letter and reported the incidents to Hatfield Police.

Now, in the midst of a presidential campaign and showing his support for Vice President Kamala Harris, another letter, much the same with no return address and typewritten, came last Monday, calling Menz and his wife, Tania, “liberal socialists” “We do not want your kind here,” this letter states.

Such actions are raising concerns for Menz and his family, including four children.

Police Lt. Clinton Phillips confirmed that the department has received the letters and the most recent remains under investigation. Phillips notes that there were no threats of harm or violence toward the Menz family.

“The Hatfield Police will still be investigating the incident at this time due to the harassing nature of the letters received,” Phillips said.

Phillips added that the contents of the letters were an expression of displeasure toward another political view “and how the sender does not want that in the town that they live in, which in turn is the senders’ political view.”

Stealing and vandalizing political signs often occurs before elections, and on Elm Street various homemade signs set among pumpkins in support of Harris, with portions of the display reading “obviously” and “chump,” have been spraypainted over.

Select Board Chairwoman Diana Szynal said Hatfield is a welcoming community where people should feel comfortable in expressing their beliefs.

“That behavior completely surprises me,” Szynal said. “I don’t think it’s at all representative of Hatfield.”

Menz said he worries that more letters and inappropriate methods of responding toward political expression will continue, in both the lead up to the presidential election and potentially even after, depending on the outcome. Even with the concerns, it hasn’t fazed the family, who have let others know through social media, and the contents of the latest anonymous letter are now on display among the pro-Harris political signs.