The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1913-02-25
MAC DONALD'S
EXPLANATION
WON'T ANSWER
Redding Folks Say His Statement
Issued at Hartford Doesn't
Clear Up Their Case
MacD Donald Danced to Piping of
! Secretary Plump, but 1t Was
Not the Whole Town
Band That Played

| Macdonald danced in the matter of
forsaking his own program for State
road projects in Redding and taking
| up with the seer etary's darling
schemes for the immediate building of
| two crosstown highways Only to the
commissioner the piping seemed to be
| not a solo but the whole Redding Pro-
I tective League in full orchestral ex-
preston. Therein Mr.. Macdonald was
deceived and therefore his defensive
! explanation in the Hartford Courant
/ is based on a foundation of things
mostly not so. The commissioners
says in short that in abandoning two
| fundamentals of policy he had
| adopted and repeatedly proclaimed
| the policy of finishing one set OF i'm
! provements before starting Others and
| Of connecting the centers of popula-
| ton before building the lass impor-
| tant roadside did so, because the Pro-
! tective league asked him to do so.
| The league never did anything of the
kind. There was never even placed
| before the league for consideration
the question OF what hlghways shouIo
be selected for State reconstruction.
The league never endorsed or even
discussed at any of it's meetings the
report of the good roads committee
which was made public about q year
ago. And that committee was not ap-
pointed by the Protective league but
was the outcome Of general public
tiOnS of our road repair system and to
devise some plan for better methods
which for one thing should result in
repairs productive of greater perman-
ency.
Indirectly Mr.. Plump named the
committee, that is he suggested list
Of names which the chairman accept
ed. Anything like a full meeting of
this committee was never held Re
peated efforts to assemble the mem
bers failed, but towards spring four
of the eighteen were got together and
gave their approval to the draft Of
report which Mr.. Plump submitted.
Copies were then sent to the other
members. All but three appended to |
it their signatures, most of them hav- |
ing given to the document merely
perfunctory examination. The three |
who repudiated it did so after care
full elaboration and because they felt
in a satisfactory way the real prob |
lem before them and had made of par |
amount Importance a comparatively |
foreign issue not conducive TO the in
tereStS of the towns as a whole.
This was the general estimate of
the report, SO pronounced being the
public disapprovaI that apparently
Mr.. Plump abandoned his own off
spring. Neither the league, the select
men nor any town meeting was ask
ed by NJ. Plump to endorse the re-
port, probably because he realized |
that attempt at such endorsement was
foredoomed to failure. And yet this
ed upon Mr. Macdonald as the voice |
of the Protective league representing
the intelligence and the material in |
terests of the town and the stupen- |
dous bluff seems to have worked.
Granting, however, that Mr.. Mac
donald was the innocent victim of de- |
ceptive methods his course in the
matter needs much better defense |
than he has offered to place him in
favorable light A law which he was
instrumental in securing makes him
the sole and final judge of what sec |
tons of road the State shall select |
for improvement. The selectmen or |
any. citizen or body of citizens may |
advise, but nothing more. various |
advisory suggestions relating to the |
building of roads in this town have |
been peremptorily turned down by the
conform to the system he had. fixed |
upon He knows all about the high
ways of Redding from personal in
spection and before Secretary Plump |
got after him had decided upon a To-
cal program which would call for all |
the money available in the next three
ed in this program were the finishing
of the hometown road to Bethel and
the Putnam Park section of the
idgeport-Danbury route over Red
ding Ridge. The former has been in
abominab1e condition since last
spring while the Putnam Park road
needs widening at several dangerous
bends as we'll as a new surface.
Now in forsaking delaying these
projects to take up those urged upon
not only does violence to his own
earlier and better judgment, but
he is guilty of deception with the
selectmen: Last spring he assured
First Selectman Sanford that he
would do his best to have the Lone
town road built during the summer
and that the next work taken up
would be the Putnam Park road. The
assurance was repeated in various
forms during the summer and until
the 1ateneAe of the season made it
apparent that nothing could be done. |
Meanwhile he gave the selectmen no
inkling of any change in his designs |
The first intimations of a change
came last fall when his men made a
survey of the road from the Center
to Library corner. Within the last
few weeks surveys have been extend
ed from this corner southwestern to
GeOr getOwn and northWeSterly to Red
ding station. The surveying party
announced that these lines were to
be the next placed under construc-
ton and this means no other work
over these two lines is probably not
one TWEEN tieth of that over the other
roads referred to and probably never
will be.
The Courant interviewer certainly
indicates that Mr.. Macdonald had de-
roads. Nevertheless he recently told
Representative Sanford that it had
always been his intention to first
build the other roads and he suppos-
ed that his surveyors were aware of
this. So that the commissioners con-
ira dictory utterances show a waver-
ing mind or an intent to fool some
body In either case his conduct
should serve for another count in the
proceedings brought before the Super
Tor Court for his dismissal.