At a recent Arundel Selectmen meeting, two citizens boisterously attacked me for not condemning another selectman for recently being arrested. Although I will always defend their right to express their opinion, I also see I must respond.

To those Arundel citizens who may feel I should distance myself from the accused, I would remind them he is innocent until proven guilty. That is a right we all share that has been granted by those who have fought to establish and preserve this right for all of us. I take this right very seriously.

Just as importantly for those who feel as I do, I must remind you of our great senator from Maine, Margaret Chase Smith, who as a new, relatively unknown senator, took on the powerful Sen. Joseph McCarthy. She gave the country back our conscience by reminding McCarthy and us that we have right to be assumed innocent until proven guilty, not painted by a broad brush of guilt by association cover with insinuation and innuendo. The great senator from Maine turned the tide of the McCarthy era and gave us back that right. We are forever grateful for her courage and tenacity.

This letter is support for those who have faith and trust in our judicial system and believe that it is truly based on “innocent until proven guilty” and it does not make us anything less than those citizens who would trample that right as it belongs to others.

As selectman, I will continue to support the rights of citizens to speak against my beliefs to support the right granted to us by the Constitution, the wisdom of our founding fathers and the blood of our defending heroes.

Dana P. Peck

Arundel Selectman