To the editor:

In an effort to have Tiverton Town Council candidate Randy Lebeau commit being for or against the town’s linear park proposal I visited him at his gun range today.  For those who don’t know, the abandoned rail line along Mount Hope Bay in Tiverton has been made available to the town to be used to create a linear park.  The linear park would be used by Tiverton residents and others who would like to walk along the waterfront area and enjoy the view of the bay.

Randy Lebeau finally has committed to being firmly against the new park proposal and stated to me that he and all of his neighbors are apposed to the park because it will undoubtedly bring crime to his neighborhood.  I would like to challenge Randy Lebeau to poll neighborhoods along the linear park that joins Bristol, Warren, East Providence and Providence to confirm that parks like these breed crime.  Outrageous.

 “Not in my neighborhood”, is often good enough reason to oppose any proposal that would benefit the vast majority of residents in the area.

Furthermore I would like to challenge Randy Lebeau to question his other neighbors like me who live near Randy’s gun range on Haskins Avenue.   Specifically I would like candidate Randy Lebeau to ask my neighbors if, given the option, if they would have preferred the sound of a walking path over the constant boom of large caliber gunfire.

John Nery

Tiverton