As a Penns Valley native settled 50 miles east, it’s been impossible to explain the motivation behind the “No Ram Centre” signs my neighbors passed on trips west.

Rational, community-minded people found the controversy irrational and ugly. The wind blows to the east, and the odor from Penns Valley is foul.

Chris Hosterman is my father. Repeatedly, he sacrificed of himself for the betterment of the community. At the behest of the school district he started the process that birthed the idea of the Ram Centre.

As thanks, he has been subjected to lies, outright harassment and abuse. The school board then surrendered to a noisy minority, allowing a singular opportunity for the community to go to ruin at the confluence of ignorance, deceit and cowardice.

Another disgusting storyline is the treatment of Alan Darr, a good, caring, generous man, a self-made success attempting to best serve the community has been horribly vilified.

Darr was subject to viscous personal attacks in public settings, with no recourse to defend himself. The fiction created surrounding Darr’s character and intentions perfectly embody this entire pathetic sequence of events.

What a precedent for the school board. It has very publicly greased the screaming wheel — regardless the facts, common sense, the greater good or consideration for those it allowed to be trampled while running its errands.

The Penns Valley Community Action Group sacrificed for victory integrity, the truth, civil discourse and the public reputations of good men.

Nathan Hosterman

Lewisburg