On June 8 at the Vernon Township Council meeting, former Mayor Sally Rinker had informed the council and public that Mayor (Anthony) Rossi had ordered the removal of a memorial stone from the Vernon Township Park and Pump Track.
Her son, Jason Rinker, was the visionary who started the idea of a pump track for Vernon many years ago and was killed in a motorcycle accident at the age of 45.
Mayor Rossi had his staff remove the memorial from the park without any prior communication, intervention or consideration to the family of the deceased man. A large flagpole, American flag, park sig, and round platform also were donated by the Rinker family and are still at the park.
Vernon Township has a memorial program to honor the memory of a deceased loved one. The Memorial Program is on our township website. I am not reading anywhere that the mayor has the authority on his own to take down a memorial that had approval and was bought and paid for by a grieving family.
The removal of this memorial is an example of the government interfering in the personal lives of citizens and going after families of their critics. The right of “petitioning the government for a redress of grievances without fear of reprisals,” as written in the First Amendment, needs to be considered here.
The council provides the “checks and balances” in our form of government. The town council should take action to have that memorial returned.
Mary Ellen Vichiconti
Highland Lakes