Board seeks compromise
By Caitlyn Kelleher JOURNAL REPORTER

Westminster Selectmen met with members of the Jones family and the Historical Commission on Wednesday, Jan. 2, to discuss the ongoing debate about what to do with the memorial benches that Selectmen approved for the Town Common.

Selectmen agreed to have the Jones and the Historical Commission come back to their Wednesday, Jan. 30, meeting with a compromise after a very tense meeting. Board Chairman John Fairbanks said he hoped the compromise would include the Town Common.

"I think it should be on the Town Common," said Selectman Nick Hay.

The second proposed project for the Town Common is no longer being considered. The Ashburnham-Westminster Rotary Club withdrew their proposal for a Veterans Garden on Academy Hill before the Wednesday meeting through a simple letter.

"It is with great regret that the Ashburnham-Westminster Rotary Club is withdrawing its plan to create a Veterans' Memorial Garden in honor of Westminster's 250th anniversary," states the letter. "In addition to not meeting the Rotary's 4 Way Test, the confusion and controversy surround our proposed gift has led us to this decision."

The Historical Commission has expressed concern about the benches and previously the garden because they are charged with preserving the Town Common. The selectmen did not ask for a recommendation from the Commission before giving approval to either project.

"One we feel awful for the confusion," Fairbanks said.

The Commission after meeting with the Selectmen in December presented Selectmen with a list of eight other sites where they would prefer to have the project located.

The Jones want to have the benches placed on the Common in memory of their son, First Lt. Ryan Patrick Jones, who was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq in May 2007.

Elaine Jones said she has ordered the 10 benches that she had received permission to place around the Town Common. She said she was willing not to make a path to contact the benches but she would like to be able to do that.

Selectman Tom O'Toole said part of the problem was that Jones had not come back to the Selectmen with amore detailed plan after she received initial approval this summer.

"We conceptually approved the benches," O'Toole said.

In other business:

• The Selectmen approved the use of Crocker Pond on Friday, May 23, by the robotics class at Oakmont High School for a student competition.

• The board voted to give a one-month extension for the earth removal permit that was issued for the Westminster Business Park. Fairbanks said the board wanted more time to have their experts review the submitted information and the project's engineer Charles Scott said the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act review process would be completed by that point.

The project will be discussed at the board's Feb. 6 meeting.

• The Selectmen will begin meeting with the Advisory Board to discuss the 2009 fiscal year budget at their first meeting in February.