Letters

Taxes are on everyone’s mind here on the East End. At the February 13 meeting of the Southampton Village Board, a discussion ensued about piercing the 2 percent tax cap, pros and cons. The board also discussed the hiring of a new attorney. These are hot topics in the village.

However, in her reporting on the meeting, Kitty Merrill described the 2 percent tax cap matter as “innocuous” and said the board had “finally” gotten an attorney. Is this really for her to say? I notice that she doesn’t use terms like this in some of her other reporting.

As a former student of media communications, I believe it is not the job of reporters to lean one way or the other or to weigh in.

To me, the real story is why it took four months to obtain an attorney? Or why our elected officials are consistently at odds with one another? The voters have to figure this out and decide where they stand on these issues, not your reporter.

I have always approached my work on the Planning Commission, and when I write a letter, with as much as objectivity as possible, even though I could certainly be personal and subjective. As the old expression goes, there are two sides to every story — your reporter should present both, or none.

Joseph R. McLoughlin

Southampton

The addition of “finally” in that story actually occurred during the editing process and was not part of Ms. Merrill’s original story — Ed.