Connecticut western news., 1911-07-06
Letters From the People
A Protest From East Canaan

Editor News: Your editorial in last weeks issue on Good Roads and Bad was timely and we'll taken. The road north through Sheffield IS i'll abomlnable condition, partly owing to the work of | trolley construction and partly to gen. eral neglect, but the town of Sheffield will no doubt give some attention to road building as soon as the trolley line is completed. It is obviously impossible to build trolley lines and good roads ad- joining, at the same time.
 | If it is permissible, tbe writer would advise that we stop "knockinR" our neigkbors to the north and look little more closely into the condition of some of our own towns highways. To quote from the before mentioned editorial "At that point (Hoag's crossiug) north bound travellers by auto or wagon, find it very much like emerging abruptly from parlor floor to ploughed field" Let me enquire if the writer of those lines has ever "emerged' from the state road at East Canaan school house and continued through the village eastward | to the Norfolk line and if so, what was the nature of his sensations From a parlor floor to a ploughed field is not a strong enough simlle. It is three miles from the Norfolk line to East Canaan
 
 busy section of our town and It is no exaggeration to say it is travelled over as much as the road through Sheffield, yet it's condition is no better and in places it Is worse than the latter road.
 It has always been the policy of many Oanaanites to ignore the attractive will lage Of East Canaan and to pay no rnore attention to the needs of it's people than they would to those of another township. Nevertheless we of East Canaan are loyal to our town and take pride i'll our enterprising business center of Canaan. We take pride also ill the fine state roads in the village of Canaan but when our esteemed editor grasps his pen to 'brag" of Canaan's good roads We would gently remind him as to the location of East Canaan and the condition of our main street Tn this village which is just S much part of North Canaan as is Main Street, Canaan. North Canaan derives a considerable share of her income from taxes from the eastern part of the town but when it comes to the expenditure of that income we of East Canaan get no ''fnger in the pie." This, notwithstand- ing the fact that two of North Canaan's s selectmen reside ln East Canaan.
 If MT. Macdonald is not going to give us a state road to Norfolk why don't our own road builders devote more attention to the road toward Norfolk, especially through the center of our village, where the road surface consists of dust and sand to a depth of two or three feet? Instead of continually adding to the dust by drawing on more, as has been done for years, why do not the proper author ities remove the top surface and replace with good gravel. an abundance of which can be obtained from the riYer-bed of the upper furnace dam.
 While we are spending a little of the towns money up here and while the editor is passing East Canaan school | house we would like his opinion regard ing that edif1ce. Canaan's school build 1 ing is an ornament and building to be proud of while East Canaan school | house-the less said the better. It speaks ' for itself. And yet East Canaan is tha3 second school district in town in point 1 of size and number of pupils. We have heard much lately about further enlarg ing the school building in Canaan i; has anyone heard word about repairing, re- novating or even painting the East Ca- naan schoolhouse?
 Now MT, Editor while you are making such laudable efforts for the good of our good old town don't forget that the boundaries of the town are not Bennett's Hill and the end of West Main street, and please think once in a while of your neighbors in East Canaan when you print such sentiments as Get To- gether. Pull Together. That's the way to do 1t :" Yours truly I
 East Canaan, July l. KICKER"