I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely apologize to Mehlville School District parents for the letter that your children received from us last week and take a moment to explain what exactly happened.

As you may know, Dennis Skelton was running as a write-in candidate for the position of director for the Mehlville Fire Protection District board.

Another candidate who had filed to run for the position was forced to remove his name from the ballot. Rather than have one name on the ballot, Mr. Skelton felt that the taxpaying residents of the district should have a choice of persons to choose from for the position to better ensure a voice in the direction of the Mehlville Fire Protection District.

Running for any public office as a write-in candidate is an incredible undertaking, but doing so with only 14 days from filing date to Election Day is nearly an insurmountable task. Mr. Skelton knew that he would have to seriously consider what persons to appeal to in an effort to ensure that this message got out.

That’s why he chose the parents of both the Mehlville and Lindbergh school districts. Currently, Mehlville Fire Protection District board member Aaron Hilmer has actively worked against both districts. Mr. Skelton felt that they would already be aware of the damage Hilmer is trying to inflict on schools and better understand what Hilmer was doing to the fire district.

We were able to obtain a student/parent list from both the Lindbergh and Mehlville school districts that was available under the federal public records law. Due to time constraints, the information was forwarded to a local mailing firm that incorrectly addressed the envelopes to the name of the Mehlville students instead of correctly address the envelopes to Mehlville parents.

Because the information provided by the Lindbergh School District was formatted differently, the envelopes were correctly addressed and sent to the parents — not the students. It was a mistake that we did not direct and had no control over — plain and simple.

We understand the anger that some of the parents feel and sincerely apologize for this mistake. It was never our intent to invade anyone’s privacy, only to notify you of what is going on in your community be-fore it destroys your children’s future.

Although Mr. Skelton was not successful in his run for the board, we feel encouraged by the number of people we were able to inform about the Mehlville Fire Protection District.

We will continue to monitor the activity of the district and encourage you to do so as well.

Robert Chandler

treasurer

Committee to Elect Dennis Skelton