To the Editor,

Back in the 1600s one of the colonists told Roger Williams and his followers that he disagreed respectfully with some of their policies. He felt that women should be treated as equal to men, so much so, that they should be allowed to even preach Sunday sermon.

He also believed that slavery should only be “temporary” and that slaves should be set free after a certain period of time.

His name was Samuel Gorton. His beliefs were considered so radical that Roger Williams stated, “If I have to put up with him for one more day, I’m going to exile myself to Prudence Island!” Gorton was arrested and sentenced to death but later had his sentence reduced to a public whipping that almost killed him.

Gorton decided to leave the Providence area and he moved to Portsmouth and helped set up that government. However, they also felt he was too radical and he was asked {ordered} to leave that town as well.

So, Gorton decided to buy some land from the native Indians and create his own settlement south of Providence. He informed Roger Williams of his plan and was told “Hold on! We don’t “buy” land from the natives. We just take it by executive order.” Gorton couldn’t go along with that unfair treatment. He couldn’t sleep at night knowing that there was such an unfair treatment to the natives. He decided to sail back to England {6-weeks, one way} where he met with the King of England and the Earl of Warwick and came back to America with a document allowing him to “purchase” the land. In or about 1642, he did just that. Out of respect he decided to call the land “Warwick.”

Samuel Gorton was a man of integrity and vision. When faced with a problem, he didn’t back down. He couldn’t sleep until he found a solution, no matter how much effort he had to put into it. Samuel Gorton was the best Mayor Warwick has ever had. Until now.

Fast forward almost 400 years.

In 2016 then Mayor Scott Avedisian was faced with a real tragedy. A 6-year-old boy drowned in City Park Beach. The tragedy was unpredictable and unavoidable as record numbers of beachgoers swarmed the beaches due to overwhelmingly high temperatures. Mayor Avedisian responded by eliminating the two lifeguards for the remainder of the season. His decision was met with great criticism by many but the feeling from Warwick Government at that time was “What else can be done? Mother Nature is unstoppable.”

Enter Frank Picozzi.

Mayor Frank Picozzi, who like Samuel Gorton is a man of integrity and vision.

Sadly, the inevitable happened again. This time a 10-year-old girl. This time Conimicut Point Beach in 2021. But this time Warwick had a Mayor who refuses to accept failure; a Mayor who “couldn’t sleep at night” until he had a solution. He researched the requests of the Conimicut Village Association who asked the City for a warning system costing $50,000. That request was denied. So, Mayor Frank, using his own technology skills, some Yankee ingenuity, and a bunch of spare parts from old police cars, existing school components and Amazon put together an early warning system costing the taxpayers under a thousand dollars. Everyone has applauded Mayor Picozzi for finally, after 400 years, finding a solution to this repetitive and deadly problem. This proves that Mayor Picozzi is the best Mayor

Warwick has had since ... well...Samuel Gorton.

Richard Corrente
Warwick