To The Editor:
Last week two young members of our Valley community wrote a letter of apology for their misconduct. The young men acknowledged acting irresponsibly over the course of several evenings, which resulted in damages to the golf course.
As we have had serious damage by others in the past, our first inclination was to prosecute anyone caught damaging Sugarbush property. These past events not only cost us considerable money, but they inconvenienced our guests as well as our team here at Sugarbush. While prosecuting the young gentlemen would certainly have been justified, the consequences of their receiving a felony conviction would have had lifelong consequences.
Both young men called me personally and came to see me. They acknowledged their actions, understood the severity of the situation and were sincerely apologetic. They personally met with our golf team to apologize, agreed to pay for the damages and wrote last week's letter to The Valley Reporter with the hope that it would help others understand that actions like these are wrong and could have serious consequences. Others in the future will not be let off from prosecution.
Both young men have been solid members of our community. Many of us made mistakes as youths and learned from them. Both the young men have learned from this experience, and I am confident they have bright futures ahead of them.
A third youth participated on the last evening and, he, too, has come forward on his own to apologize. Again, I accepted his apology and believe he, too, has learned an important lesson.
I am grateful for the opportunity to work directly with these young members of our community to solve this recent problem. I hope their example will be one for others in our community.
Win Smith, president
Sugarbush Resort
Warren
{loadnavigation}
