To the editor:

As a longtime subscriber to the Phoenix, one of the subscription benefits I enjoy is the opportunity to read all of the East Bay Media Group's local newspapers from surrounding towns online, as it allows me to access stories which interest me that I might normally miss.

A perfect example of this was a front page story in last week's Barrington Times, which reported that the Barrington Town Council recently voted to change the name of Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day, and at the same meeting also voted to officially adopt June 19th as the Juneteenth Holiday.

While I applaud the Barrington Town Council for having the courage and foresight to make these decisions, unfortunately I do not have the same confidence in the Bristol Town Council in making the same sort of decisions. With the current conservative majority controlling the Bristol Town Council, I hold out very little hope of them making the changes that their colleagues in Barrington made, and with the November elections right around the corner, the conservative members who control the council would not dare make those sorts of decisions for fear of alienating or angering their conservative base, which they depend on so desperately for votes.

And while the conservatives control the present town council, keep in mind, they hold that power by only a slim 3-2 majority, and at next month's election, Bristol voters will have the chance to elect Democrat candidates who will be a voice for all of Bristol's citizens, and not just the conservative constituency. Voters in Bristol have a clear choice at next month's town council election-stay with the same status quo conservatives, or elect Democrats who will move the town forward instead of living in the past.

Mike Proto
245 Chestnut St.