Editorial: Van Buren Twp. underestimates museum support

One person at the Museum Visioning Workshop on June 1 said there’s always some “nay-sayers” in describing the complaints about the format of the meeting that did not allow residents to ask questions of Van Buren Township.
The township has kept the museum locked for two years and now is digging up the museum front yard and cutting down trees without public comment.
There are people in the tri-community who worked at getting the museum set up first in Quirk School and later moving into the old township hall in downtown Belleville for its first real museum.
The museum houses artifacts of the communities and those searching for background on their family properties and homes can find paperwork teaching them about early property owners.
People have donated or loaned antique family items to the museum to preserve them and share them with community members. The museum is their museum and they depend on it to keep the area’s history in tact.
We think one of the problems we’re having is that those at the township who are making decisions on the museum are not from this area originally and don’t have that deep feeling for local history.
We believe a regular, sit-down meeting with those who want to come to talk and listen should be held on the museum issue. Look each other in the eye and talk.