Regarding the issue at North Yarmouth Fire Rescue, it is important to reiterate that this is not about washing cars. Bill Young was illegally fired for exercising his right to petition the government. But as town leaders have chosen to focus on their ill-intentioned policy of not allowing NYFR members to clean their vehicles after using them on emergency calls, some points need to be addressed.

In the print version of the story, there is a paragraph from Steve Palmer that was not in the online version. Palmer carefully crafted his words sent to The Forecaster via email. He was disingenuous to say the least. Palmer first states that no member of the board of selectmen has had anything to do with the car washing policy. He then contradicts himself by admitting that he crafted the entire situation with probationary Town Manager Rosemary Roy.

Clearly Palmer and Roy worked together while keeping other members of the board – several of whom have stated they knew nothing of all this until last week – in the dark. Roy has already been caught lying.

Palmer states that selectmen are somehow forbidden from speaking with “employees.” He seems to forget those employees are also taxpayers. Show me a law that prevents elected officials from answering questions from their constituents? This is North Yarmouth, not North Korea.

Again, this issue is not about car washing. It is about the rights all of us, as Americans, share.

Jeff Toorish
North Yarmouth

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