To the Editor:

In the wake of the annexation debacle, it seems to me there are two lessons to be absorbed from it when the commissioners seek a new course.

First, they should look beyond our immediate locale for good ideas. A commissioner admitted to me that they did not look into what similar towns in the 46 non-forced-annexation states were doing to improve/maintain their viability. Thats a terrible admission.

Sticking your head in the sand only gets ears full of the gritty stuff. Second, whenever a viable approach appears, at that point and until a conclusion is reached, a constant stream of information needs to be made available to the citizenry by all means available a drumbeat of reporting to the town of the whys and wherefores of the selection and, perhaps, some discussion of other approaches that were considered and rejected, and the reasons therefore.

Last-minute efforts obviously didnt work.&bsp; I think, when people are made knowledgeable of the whole picture, they are more likely to at least accept, if not support, a decision, even if it has some unhappy aspects.

Ty Martin