Way back in March of 2005, Wells College president, Lisa Marsh Ryerson received a letter signed by the Mayor

of Aurora, and 3 of the 4 members of our Village Board. This letter respectfully yet emphatically requested that Wells College and Pleasant Rowland not include the Fargo Bar in their takeover plans for the village. It pointedly asked for Ryerson's " support in keeping the Fargo operating independently as a locally owned and operated business. " The only member of the village board at that time who would not sign that letter was Ryerson's husband. Not only did Ryerson refuse the request contained in that letter, she also lacked the common courtesy to reply to it in any manner. At the same time, a petition expressing that same wish was submitted to Rowland. It was signed by approximately 200 community residents. That petition, too, was ignored, and was never responded to by either Rowland or Ryerson. That those heartfelt efforts were put forth by so many people in our community - and then amplified by the involvement of the representatives elected by the citizens of Aurora - is indicative of just how beloved the "old " Fargo bar was in our village. That those efforts were so callously ignored by Rowland and Ryerson is indicative of the disregard and disdain those two had for the wishes of people of this village. When Andrew Roblee authoritatively declares in the Citizen that the Fargo "used to be a place where you would regularly find piles of sawdust on the floor to cover up the patrons (sic) lack of alcohol tolerance", he is outrageously wrong. With this assertion, he is denigrating the former owners of the Fargo and the many customers who enjoyed their time spent there. I am one of those customers. I was an enthusiastic patron of the Fargo - and was someone who appreciated the people who frequented there - for over three decades. Mr. Roblee, there was no sawdust on the floor of the Fargo. That is false information you have put before your readers. And when Roblee then implies that this imaginary sawdust was being used to cover up, I suppose, the imaginary vomit of the Fargo's customers, that only compounds his insult. The old Fargo was neither fancy nor proper, but it was not a place where people threw up all over the floor. The old Fargo was colorful, irreverent, and fun, and was a place that had become, over at least 60 years, the unofficial center of the community for many people here. The current Fargo - Ryerson's Fargo - is geared for tourists. It is unfortunate that with his column, Roblee has resurrected this ugly controversy after so much time has gone by. But upon reading his nasty and false accusations, I could not let them pass without refutation. And in a way, it is fitting that this kind of maligning misinformation and/or deceit was included in his smarmy tribute to Lisa Ryerson's work at Wells, as those propaganda tactics mirror her approach in Wells' dealings with the village and its residents once Pleasant Rowland showed up in town. And, contrary to Roblee's claim, Aurora is not yet in the " post Ryerson era". That will be coming in May 2013. No small number of us look forward to that time, with the hope that the incoming president will approach her or his position with a more cooperative and less despotic attitude towards the village of Aurora than the one we have long endured from Lisa Marsh Ryerson. Jay O'Hearn Aurora, NY