To the Editor:

In considering a mayoral candidate, I believe that one must not only look at what the candidate has done, but also how he or she has gone about doing it.

One does not need a long memory to do the comparisons.

After two Massena citizens tragically took their own life, due to scourge of addiction, Chief Currier immediately formed a task force of local and regional health and faith based initiatives in order to better address and provide services for those in need. Chief Currier understands that one cannot merely police their way out of this problem.

Chief Currier spearheaded from the get-go, the effort and initiative to bring a long overdue Boys and Girls Club to Massena, because as a life long resident and local public servant, he understands that Massena’s young people are our future, that every kid deserves a fair shot, and that no young person should have to fall behind or into the wrong crowd simply because of their station in life.

Chief Currier has also been very vocal in his disappointment with the District Attorney’s Office, past and present, for not prosecuting the dangerous offenders that he and his department worked bravely and tirelessly to apprehend and take off our streets, and he was deeply involved in coordinating recent Federal, State, and Local Law Enforcement efforts to help clean up our streets.

This is but a partial list of his achievements as a Village of Massena public servant, but the main difference is, as I see it, Chief Currier has managed to do all of this and more without isolating and dividing our community, and without bullying those in his charge into submission. He does so through example, strong leadership, and consensus building.

Chief Currier represents the progressive, forward thinking approach our village desperately needs more of. Someone who builds, not tears down.

Leland Farnsworth

Massena