Editor,

I ask that you print this open letter of apology in your next issue. After reading the editorial by John Balentine in your Feb. 24 issue “A real croaker of a proposal,” I was both emotionally and physically sick over what I had done in my youth. After reading about Vernal Pools, or as intelligent people would say “mud puddles,” I realized that in April of 1967 in a peaceful field off of Cottage Place in Westbrook. Three other young people and myself put an end to the innocent existence of a family of fairy shrimp.

All we wanted to do was have a baseball game. But as we lay our T-shirts down for bases we found a small puddle between third base and home plate.

It sickens me to have to tell you that with no regard for Greenpeace, or for that matter the entire planet, we filled the wet spot with sand. If Richard Nixon had told the truth about Watergate he may have been able to stay in office. If Bill Clinton told the truth about Monica, he would have avoided impeachment. So it’s with a heavy heart and great shame that I take the path of Teddy Kennedy and say I’m so, so sorry.

I ask my family, my friends and all of my co-workers to please forgive my past behavior. I ask that my partners in crime please turn yourselves in to free your soul of this horrific burden. And last but not least I ask all of the people who have built homes over the decades in this killing field, rip those houses down and get on your knees and ask for forgiveness.

John Freitas

Standish

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