Letter: Inappropriate forum

I just received my quarterly copy of The SALT Communicator from Milton Township. Fortunately, in spite of being a senior, I do not use or need any of the "touted" services - provided mostly by volunteers - always highlighted in this publication. Interestingly, the elected Milton Township Trustees and supervisor are making salaries and benefits accounting for more than $200,000 per year. But, if you read this publication completely and regularly as I do, the activities are mostly done by volunteers.

Secondly, in this particular Winter Newsletter, of the four substantive print pages, 25% were dedicated to our elected sheriff, Mr. Mendrick, and highlights of his December presentation to the SALT Council. Not only is this publication sent to all residents of Milton Township, it is offensive to read only Mr. Mendrick's platform railing against the SAFE-T Act in this article. Fortunately for all of us readers, this time (December 2022), he didn't have the opportunity to express his own civil disobedient "feelings" about the common-sense, Illinois Assault Weapon Law.

I don't know what the township does for me as a senior and taxpayer. Many of their services seem perfunctory and duplicative of other forms of local government. But putting that aside, why do I need to be exposed to a minimally transparent political article about our sheriff's criticisms of state and federal law? Just tell us how he is serving our communities.

Again, in this article, void of any community service accomplishments, I found Mr. Mendrick's comments ironically only serving as a prelude to his disturbing recent behavior regarding the new Illinois High Powered Assault Weapons Law. As a taxpayer, I take great offense at Mr. Mendrick being given his own forum by Milton Township to promote his personal political, single-party agenda. With an unclear township mission anyway, our communities and residents surely deserve better from their tax dollars.

Dennis Terdy

Glen Ellyn