Leo Mainelli: Please Stop The Madness Of Misinformation

The following letter by Leo Mainelli was printed in local newspapers. Mr. Mainelli is President of the Charlestown Citizens Alliance.

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On October 31, I received a letter from Clay Johnson, and rarely have I seen a letter with so much misinformation and derogatory innuendos. The letter was dated October 14, so it was probably timed to minimize any opportunity to respond.

It is difficult to address all the problems with the letter in such a short space so I will focus on one issue at this point.

Mr. Johnson put this item near the ending of his letter, clearly to be inflammatory, but it has no basis in fact. He claims that North Kingstown is putting kitty litter in the bathrooms for students that identify as cats.

Please, Mr. Johnson, fact-check your information. That rumor was completely discredited and explained in an edition of The Independent on Sept. 15, 2022. Furthermore, the originator of the comments, Mary Brimer, admitted that she never spoke to any school officials in North Kingstown.

The rumor is one that has been circulating nationwide, regarding various schools, for almost a year and has no basis in fact.

The Chariho School system has never seen this, nor would it condone any such action. Mr. Johnson, you mention, “stop the madness.” The madness that must be stopped is the wanton publication of unsubstantiated stories designed to inflame people who do not take the time to uncover the facts.