As you enter Millstone, welcome signs are posted indicating the amount of open space and farmland preserved: 3,424 acres. And if you attended township meetings before 2004, you frequently waited for those meetings to begin because executive sessions were packed with new open space proposals.

Numerous discussions focused on maximizing your quarterly open space tax receipts, our partnerships with state and county agencies to reimburse our town for their share, and obtaining additional funding. As land prices continued to escalate, some landowners even agreed to help fund the program through acceptance of short-term notes (until state and county reimbursements were received) to expedite their closing.

Prior to 2004, our township committee wisely leveraged your open space tax receipts and aggressively saved vast amounts of acreage. In fact, it seemed rarely a month passed that we didn't have an ordinance reading for bonding, saving more land. And you voiced your approval of our efforts by increasing Millstone's open space tax to its current 5-cent level.

So I was rather surprised that Committeeman [Elias] Abilheira has repeatedly made false and misleading statements about the open space program. First, his claims about bankruptcy were proven false by information received from township officials. In Abilheira style, his latest letter stated, "In 2003, the open space program ran out of money." This is another false statement since the 2003 year-end audited financial statements reported a positive balance of $591,445 in the Open Space Trust Fund. And with the state and county reimbursing us as our attorney and staffers completed the appropriate filings, by the time I left office in 2004, there was a whopping $1,383,012 positive balance reported.

And since 2004, our quarterly tax payments have added over $1.5 million of your taxpayer deposits into the Open Space Trust Fund. But there's a more troubling issue. During their time in office, Abilheira and [Nancy] Grbelja have not preserved any additional acreage. And with land prices escalating, Abilhiera's and Grbelja's inaction will penalize us by paying significantly higher costs for future land preservation purchases.

With the township chief financial officer, the Open Space Council and the township attorney all sharing responsibility for completing and filing the necessary paperwork for county and state reimbursements, why is Abilheira making false accusations about myself and Mr. [William] Nurko for paperwork that may or may not have been submitted correctly? Must be election time in Millstone!

Another of Abilheira's multiple attacks against me was an alleged resignation letter read by a co-committeeman during a public meeting several years ago. It dealt with the resignation of two open space council members.

Here are the facts: I was a very outspoken opponent of two "sweetheart" insider deals presented for funding consideration. The first parcel presented was located directly under multiple high tension power lines, and the second was a land-locked parcel attached to an already preserved piece of property. It was my opinion both of these parcels would be a misuse of township funds given other superior properties being considered.

Did I forget to mention that one parcel was owned by a family member of the individuals who resigned, and the second was owned by a family friend of the same individuals? A few weeks after my outspoken opposition of these two deals, which ultimately led to their defeat, the resignation letter was received.

Due to the derogatory and defamatory nature of the letter, I requested a signed copy for consideration of legal action. Mysteriously, no signed copy existed. I made a formal request of the township clerk for a signed copy and to this date no signed resignation letter has been produced. By the way, both parcels still remain undeveloped today. In my estimation, my actions saved our town over $500,000 by my refusing to go along with "sweetheart" deals for properties I considered less than desirable.

So, folks, prepare yourselves for the onslaught of lies and personal attacks that have become the trademark of my opponents. I, however, will continue to make myself available to discuss the issues, the solutions and the facts that are important to our town.

John Pfefferkorn

Millstone Township Committee