Plea to Nahant's Town Administrator

Mr. Barletta,

If you haven’t yet killed the coyotes in Nahant, you have a chance to be carried high on the shoulders of the people begging you to do what’s right.

Likely, Nahant is currently home to three or four coyotes; members of every family naturally disperse at the beginning of each year. In the past month, your townspeople have had no conflicts, and sightings of the small group are way down. As things are calmer, use the time to think about why you’ve dug in your heels.

After reading over 700 pages that included your overly deferential emails to David Wattles, I see why it became easy for you to make your decision. The many revelations in those documents, regarding your thoughts on the situation and residents involved, are intriguing. Also illuminating is the obvious desire by Mr. Wattles and other employees of the agency to promote the protocol of indiscriminate coyote killing. Even more telling is Mr. Wattles’ condescending opinion of you and the Geres. Having put all of your trust in him has brought you to this ignominious point, and will lead only to more chaos.

You could be a hero to many in your community who, because of threatening encounters with residents and nastiness on social media, have been afraid to voice their support for the coyotes. They’ve been too quiet, but they’re there. Your decision should not rely on who is loudest or on the misconception that you need to save your reputation with those who are happy to see wildlife destroyed. They’ll forever be at you to kill every group of coyotes who move into Nahant each Spring - - - or any other species they consider inconvenient.

Think about what you want for your legacy. I doubt you’d enjoy being remembered as the first town administrator in Massachusetts to authorize killing coyotes, but if you follow through mindlessly, you’ll be that guy.

Picture yourself pulling the trigger.

Sincerely,

Deb Newman