Dear Editor: Signed by a Ticked Off Resident

The following letter was read by The Whitehall Ledger at the July Town Council meeting as requested by Terry Reed.

To whom it may concern on the Town Council and Whitehall Ledger,

I am Terry Reed, a member of the community of Whitehall for most of my life. I have asked that the Whitehall Ledger Editor read this at the Town Council meeting on my behalf.

I wish to let it be known that I am extremely displeased with the decision to put a four-way stop sign at the corner of A Street and First Street in Whitehall, Montana.

My daughter Kathryn Shelton and her husband, Billy Shelton, are the owners of the condo units at 7 North A Street, and I have been working on them for the past year. I do not see a need for this four-way stop sign to be placed at this intersection.

I called and spoke with the Mayor directly in regard to this, and she stated that it was only there because of the condo units. However, I believe she tried to put these stop signs in place way before the condo units were in place. She also stated that her brother was almost killed at this intersection because there were no stop signs.

It seems to me that it's an abuse of power and authority to use personal experiences to justify creating rules that will affect the entire community.

My daughter was almost killed walking across the street in Whitehall near the concrete plant when she was a child, but putting a stop sign in the middle of Main Street would do absolutely nothing but cause more problems and put other children at risk of being killed because people would ignore the stop sign. There is no reasonable expectation of a stop sign in the middle of a through street. There is no need for another four-way stop sign on First Street. Yield signs have been working well for years, although there will always be people who disregard those as well; we have laws to enforce yield and stop signs.

I believe that the mayor's personal desire to have a stop sign in front of her residence is the ultimate objective here, which is an abuse of power. There is no other explanation, and I desire that they take these signs down immediately and replace them with the yield signs that have worked for years.

Signed by a ticked-off resident,

Terry Reed

Whitehall, Montana