The easy way out

Ihave written, called, Twittered and Facebooked asking [5th District] Representative [Tom] Garrett to hold inperson town hall meetings. My requests have met with silence. Simply no response to my questions.

Instead, he held two Facebook Live events on Monday and Wednesday, Feb 13th and 15th. This type of town hall meeting excludes every one of his constituents that is not Facebook literate, have an internet connection, or enough internet speed to participate.

I did, so I tuned in. While he makes wild claims — in the thousands — as [to] the number of people participating I watched the entire time and only saw a maximum of approximately 700 people on the live feed at any one time.

Mr. Garrett’s lack of willingness to address the questions sent to him via Facebook and his avoidance of real answers shows me that this type of town hall meeting is a cowardly way to address the issues of his constituents.

It’s time Mr. Garrett scheduled real town hall meetings in front of real people answering pertinent questions. His commute to Washington, D.C. is short enough that he could hold town hall meetings in the northern part of his district even while Congress is in session. WENDY MURDOCH Washington