I am so disappointed in our community.

A headline article of what should be no news because it reads like an afternoon soap opera script appears on the front page of the local paper.

No facts. No proof. All gossip. A lot of “allegations.” I am so disappointed.

In its front page, top of the page article there are allegations of misconduct, abuse of alcohol, and personal misbehavior — all given as though we are on the Facebook level of gossip.

Can Dunkirk sink any lower? Can we be the laughingstock of the county to a greater degree?

Everything in the article is gossip. Not one single fact is present — and if everything in the article were to be factual, none of it belongs on the front page of the local paper. Why? Because it is personal behavior, except for the actual firing.

Right now our mayor and the common council have one of the hardest jobs in the state. For 40 or more years of mismanagement, infighting, and high school level of behavior our city has suffered to the point of being brought to its knees. Refusal to raise taxes in a calm and orderly way, over reliance on certain businesses to bear the burden of city finances, people entrusted to positions of authority who were unequal to the task — all that and more resulted in the need for the present mayor and common council to raise taxes over 80%. So now she is hated — and certainly more so than any previous male mayor who committed some of those earlier transgression in leadership. All of that has existed here in those 40 years, and more. I myself have experienced the “good old boys” method of leading this city. I myself have been told stories of mismanagement and outright illegal actions over the years.

Did I publish those allegations (please note how many times the article uses the word “allege”) in the local paper? No. Why not? Because all of it is gossip, ugly gossip. Unless I have absolute proof of any of the allegations I have heard, it does not legally exist. If I could not file a legal document which would be accepted in a court of law with specific laws broken being noted, such that someone could be arrested or fired legally, I need to keep my mouth shut. Oh, yes, “allegations” have been “circulating publicly”. Now the mud slinging gossip was deemed fodder for more gossip so it is printed on the front page of the paper.

Here is the article I would have printed:

“A local former employee of the city was sued by the mayor over allegations made in public against her by that former employee. That employee in turn has responded angrily with 169 pages of more as yet unproven allegations.”

End of article.

All of our elected officials struggling to keep this city afloat have been effectively made to be ineffectual. No one in this city should run for office. And let’s not put the city in the hands of a control board either. The state should hire a committee of professionals to run the city for 25 years.

On Facebook someone suggested this city be pushed to be part of a list of destination ports for a Lake Erie cruise ship. This article is proof why this city will never be on any cruise line’s port of call.

Diane Andrasik is a Dunkirk resident.