To the editor:

This is to refute the statement in the article “Land trust, family clash over land” attributed to Dexter Mead, director of the DNRT, “When the property owner later notified DNRT that they did not want DNRT to make any effort to assist in selling the house, DNRT immediately honored that request.”

Assist in selling a house that was not for sale? What Mead neglected to mention was that combining the sale of the house with the land would have solved the DNRT’s financing problem; the deal would be done at no cost to the DNRT. Assist whom?

The DNRT’s sole legitimate interest is in the land. The status of my home is none of their business. I ignored Mr. Mead’s first inquiry about selling my home. He didn’t get the message, but rather persisted, and proceeded to inform me that, "I have spoken to a few people over the past few weeks who may be interested in purchasing it.” Incidentally, these "few weeks" were prior to the Select Board handing over the right to the DNRT to buy the land. My response to Mead: "I have no interest in having people march through my home."

Yet a month later, without my knowledge or consent, Mead made a prospective offer of my home to a New Bedford businessman, "we may be looking to sell either the entire 16+ acres with the existing house...". Really? Ten more days passed before he solicited my cooperation: "I think that it is worthwhile to see if we could come to some sort of agreement about trying to sell DNRT's portion of your property together with your portion to a single buyer."

Mead still hadn’t gotten the message and apparently didn’t need the benefit of "some sort of agreement" when discussing the sale of my home with a "few people," nor when he offered it up to the businessman. So much for immediately honoring my request. The DNRT was using the sale of my home as fodder for their financing scheme. Mead’s meddlesome manner in advancing the interests of the DNRT poisoned the well.

We backed away, they sued.

Ken Goes,

Dartmouth