Letter: Town should have sold Tracy Lewis House

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To the editor,

I read with great interest the article “Beacon Falls to burn Wolfe Avenue home” (Citizen’s News, April 23, 2020) about the pending burn down of the historic Tracy Lewis House on Wolfe Avenue in Beacon Falls, owned by the town of Beacon Falls.

The house, purchased for $425,000, was never put into town use but just sat idle in disrepair. Instead of a sale, town officials have now decided to set it on fire for Beacon Hose Co. No. 1 to conduct a live burn training. A sale would have provided some sort of revenue for the town budget.

Some time ago I met with a financial adviser to discuss the final disposition of my historic John A. Wolfe home also on Wolfe Avenue. My adviser first recommended that I gift the home to the town of Beacon Falls as a tax deductible donation, but later advised against it and sarcastically joked while laughing that the town would most likely just let it sit idle, let it go into disrepair and then burn it down. He joked that in appreciation the town would probably let me light the match.

James W. Woodward

Beacon Falls