To the editor,

I have been awakened from my 16-year blissful retirement by the actions of the Board of the Village of Barking Dogs, otherwise known as Spring Valley.
The Board has been enmeshed in recent controversies. They have decided that one of their fellow members, Matt Huepfel, cannot fully participate due to his passionate representation of citizens that run counter to their opinions. This action disenfranchises me and others who continually elect him to office.
Village Board members and staff allegedly feel threatened by him. I find that to be preposterous at best and self-serving retaliatory accusations at worst.
Matt's offenses?
1. Successfully shepherding the Board into doing something to replace the damaged Glade Avenue Bridge. (Gone after the Home Depot truck yet that caused major damage to the bridge?)
2. Using science and medical knowledge to fight efforts to discontinue fluoridating our drinking water.
Regarding fluoridation, my lovely wife and I had a recent conversation with the Public Works Director about the issue. He was telling us things that were misinformed. That the DNR and EPA considered fluoride to be a poison.
That is false. Like numerous substances and drugs, benefit-detriment is dose dependent.
He said that staff were tired of sharing the responsibility of coming to work briefly during weekends to monitor dosage to ensure safety for residents and that there were no automated systems to do so like other water quality parameters. Again, false.
There are several companies that provide equipment to do so.
Our conversation ended when I informed him that my knowledge of this came long before my hair turned gray, when I was an Environmental Health Specialist/Epidemiologist for the U.S. Public Health Service and a small part of my work was supervising several community water systems, including fluoridation.
I have joined more than 300 other Village residents signing a petition to reinstate Matt to his committee assignments. We refuse to be silent. Are there no other Board members that see the unfairness of this? Speak up! We want to hear from you!

James Hulbert
Spring Valley