In response to “”Pride in Property” which appeared in the June 15-19 issue of North Country This Week: While most of the responsibility is on the property owner, the code officer and town board also have some responsibility. In many towns there are laws/codes already on the books that can deal with these messes. A weak town board, tends to turn the other way (like in DeKalb), allowing junk to continue to expand throughout our town. The response of a board member when questioned was, “if we made so and so clean up their mess we would have to make everyone clean up their mess.” Correct! You were elected to do a job and that job includes making not only feel good decisions such as a library, but also tough decisions such a code enforcement. Enforce the rules you have in place. Direct your code officer to do their job and back them up when they do. This is for the good of our entire town!