At issue in Upper Freehold is why many men have to “run away” and cancel meetings to avoid one woman with whom they disagree on environmental preservation, tree conservation, and land planning issues. I frankly can’t understand why my strong stands force people who control the committees and are in political power, to flee.

I still intend to serve on the Tree City USA Advisory Committee and welcome the inclusion of people who actually want to meet and accomplish concrete goals. We live in America, not in the Soviet Union, where we have the right to speak our minds and advocate for the environment.

Since 1999, I have volunteered my time to benefit the township of Upper Freehold in the areas of open space advocacy, environmental protection, tree preservation and supporting the creation of a scenic byway. I have not used my public service to make any money off our beautiful town.

Volunteerism to protect our community is important to me as both a member of this community and as an owner of an award-winning business recognized on the national and state levels. Therefore, it saddens me that neither the mayor nor the liaison to the Tree City USA Advisory Committee could inform me of the letter received by three colleagues that attacked my role on this advisory committee. I had to learn about it from a reporter in an e-mail at 10:40 p.m. Thursday night. On Friday, I called Barbara Bascom to ask the mayor to schedule time for me to address the Township Committee during its July 21 meeting on this matter.

Through my volunteer leadership, I have donated over $1,500 of my money to “shoot” and develop photos for the award-winning Upper Freehold Vanishing Vistas Project for the Upper Freehold Environmental Commission. As you know, this project resulted in the first and only statewide environmental award received by the Upper Freehold Environmental Commission. I also donated hundreds of dollars of printing materials and my time to shoot over 200 photos of Upper Freehold for the Upper Freehold Vision Committee, where I serve as the vice chairwoman.

On the matter of credibility, my leadership speaks for itself. In May, I joined with the leadership of the Upper Freehold Vision Committee and led a PowerPoint presentation I narrated and produced. This PowerPoint was received with applause and accolades during the Township Committee [meeting]. Furthermore, I was asked by Committeeman [Stephen] Fleischacker to speak during the township’s Earth Day program to honor former Environmental Commission Chairman Bill Metterhouse. It seems that Upper Freehold has a schizophrenic relationship with me: I’m liked when I agree with the environmental positions of township officials and farmers who support development; I am disliked when I disagree and share my opinion in committee and in public.

There appears to be no room for disagreement on any Upper Freehold Committee or free speech. It seems that the men I have served with expect me to be a woman who is intimidated when someone yells at me or laughs at me in a meeting. There is only one viewpoint, and it is usually the one that opposes my viewpoints and wants to slow down any action I have proposed. Well, I’m tired of doing only publicity stunts and, if we actually meet, just talking.

Sadly, on June 20, I sent Committeeman Fleischacker and the mayor an e-mail indicating that I was tired of having meetings of the Tree City USA Committee canceled at the last minute by the chairman.

The chairman scheduled a dinner in Philadelphia for himself and friends, and canceled the May meeting, and then he canceled the June meeting because he was volunteering at a local church that night. The same chairman did not schedule a meeting from summer 2004 to January 2005. I had to go to the Township Committee asking for a meeting, and the Tree City USA Committee then finally met for the first time in over seven months.

I criticized this group for being good at one thing only: organizing an annual publicity event for Arbor Day. There is serious business to be done on Tree City USA — to assess and protect trees on public lands with our forester. Apparently, I am the only one who wants to do it because I am the only one asking for meetings, getting upset when meetings are canceled, and having prepared written ideas requested by Committeeman Fleischacker of all members at our April 11 meeting.

So, I ask that Upper Freehold stop having a tyranny of the majority in power, and allow all viewpoints to be heard. If anything, the resignations [of three Tree City USA Advisory Committee members] and the action by the mayor to schedule this matter without a balanced presentation are embarrassments to our township.

Sue Kozel

Upper Freehold Township

Resident says criticism of board appointee is divisive

I read with great interest the comments from Ray Murray regarding the appointment of Lisa Herzer to the Board of Education. The truths that exist within the eyes of the beholder do not necessarily reflect the facts as they are. As I recall the election results from earlier this year, Ms. Herzer won three of four districts in the election with a 3-to-1 margin of victory in District 2, where a large majority are parents with children in the school system.

While Mr. Murray points out that Ms. Herzer lost in the election, she was in fact the third largest vote-getter and in the most obvious way, a clear democratic process, appointed to the post. To suggest to the educated public that this is petty cronyism appears to me to be a divisive potshot at elected officials and reeks of further attempts to play politics while not keeping the goal in mind. The goal of this board is to serve the township toward the betterment and education of our children and not to banter about one’s own political agenda.

Let’s rise out of the sandbox and help support our elected officials who are

doing the best they can to serve their

community.

David Lange

Upper Freehold

Resident says U.F. official promoted his own interests

I write to applaud Deputy Mayor Bill Miscoski for doing something few career politicians like him ever dare to do: he told the truth.

After years of denying he was using his position on the Upper Freehold Township Committee to promote his own private interests, there it was in print (Examiner, July 7) and it’s all about protecting the development value of his golf course. Now we finally know why he shouted an obscenity at the Township Planning Board when they dared to consider 6-acre zoning.

In Miscoski’s own words, “What scares our family is the rhetoric about 6- and 10-acre zoning. If our land equity is cut in half, I don’t know what we’re going to do.”

Before we shed any tears for Mr. Miscoski’s plight, we should remember that he teamed with his political allies, Mayor Sal Diecidue and Committeeman Stephen Fleischacker, to appoint members of the township boards that will have to consider the Miscoski family’s application to develop the Cream Ridge Golf Club and adjacent land.

Equally interesting is that for the 20 years that Miscoski has been trying to sell his golf course, he has been voting on every zoning change to come before the Planning Board or Township Committee. He has consistently opposed every effort to increase lot size. Now he has told us why. An honest man is hard to find!

Mr. Miscoski again spoke the truth when he said my wife Sue Kozel and I would oppose his efforts to use his political influence to turn the golf course into a town center or high-density housing. He showed his famous sense of humor when he said Sue and I are “detrimental and negative to the town.”

Let’s see, while we have been holding him and other politicians accountable for their self-serving actions, what has he been doing?

In just the last two years: He pleaded guilty to charges arising from his fight with and arrest by the New Jersey State Police. He has been found guilty of violating the state ethics law for using his public position to financially benefit his business partner and mother.

He allegedly committed a “spit-and-run” directed at me in a parking lot.

He tried to torpedo the middle school referendum by dangling his land as a possible school site in private meetings with voters.

So, who is it who is negative and detrimental? I have some advice for Mr. Miscoski. Resign and promote your development interests as a private citizen. You can’t serve in township government and use that government for your own private gain. He can join the rest of the development industry ding-dongs in the audience who make township meetings so colorful.If he doesn’t step down, perhaps it is time for residents who are tired of his antics to initiate a recall petition to remove him from office come January.

Chris Berzinski

Upper Freehold