To the Editor:

I want to sincerely thank the Watertown Times, the Courier Observer and reporter Larry Robinson for picking up on my articles in North Country This Week, not only for relaying them to a larger audience but also for expanding upon them with reference to the actions of the NY State Attorney General.  

They helped considerably in keeping the whole affair from being dusted under the rug, something some of our village leaders love to do.

The responses of Mayor Tischler and Deputy Mayor Garner to the absence of a performance bond on this project are typical.  Let me quote: to Mayor Tischler it was “maybe we should have, but that’s water over the dam” -- curious statement considering it really is water and it is a dam that was supposed to be producing electricity in 2008 and has not yet lit a single light bulb.

And Mrs. Garner -- “you don’t need one (performance bond) for that small of a project.” Small?  Over a million dollars of taxpayer money and still counting?  Wow!

At any rate, the latest on this is from the Attorney General in a letter to me on March 8, and they are turning it over to the Division of Legal Services in the Office of the State Comptroller for “whatever action they deem appropriate.”

Time will tell.  In the meantime, my thanks to all of you who consistently urge me to keep writing.

Dick Hutchinson

Potsdam