USA - Ballot question passes by slim margin
City OKs fluoridation
Ballot question passes by slim margin
By STEVE URBON, Standard-Times senior correspondent
NEW BEDFORD — Voters approved fluoridation of the municipal water supply in yesterday's election, giving proponents a victory they never expected after abject defeats of similar measures in Worcester and Springfield.
The hotly debated ballot question passed 10,893 to 9,638.
At the headquarters of the anti-poverty agency PACE Inc., about a dozen supporters who were gathered around a radio cheered when they learned that Precinct 4B had gone their way. When told they had won the whole city, they erupted in celebration and popped champagne over a decision they felt could easily have gone to the opposition.
PACE director Bruce Morrell toasted the gathering, saying, "People today won't realize what we've done today to save their teeth." He repeatedly expressed his astonishment at the outcome, given that Worcester voters recently rejected fluoridation by a 2-1 margin after a half-million dollars was spent by opponents.
Mayor Scott W. Lang, whose opposition to fluoridation prompted the City Council to send the measure to a popular vote, told The Standard-Times, "I'm an opponent to adding fluoride but a very strong supporter of the idea that people should make this decision.
"It shouldn't be left to the Board of Health with a very few people in attendance. Twenty thousand people participated in this vote, and I'm certainly going to support that."
Ballot question passes by slim margin
By STEVE URBON, Standard-Times senior correspondent
NEW BEDFORD — Voters approved fluoridation of the municipal water supply in yesterday's election, giving proponents a victory they never expected after abject defeats of similar measures in Worcester and Springfield.
The hotly debated ballot question passed 10,893 to 9,638.
At the headquarters of the anti-poverty agency PACE Inc., about a dozen supporters who were gathered around a radio cheered when they learned that Precinct 4B had gone their way. When told they had won the whole city, they erupted in celebration and popped champagne over a decision they felt could easily have gone to the opposition.
PACE director Bruce Morrell toasted the gathering, saying, "People today won't realize what we've done today to save their teeth." He repeatedly expressed his astonishment at the outcome, given that Worcester voters recently rejected fluoridation by a 2-1 margin after a half-million dollars was spent by opponents.
Mayor Scott W. Lang, whose opposition to fluoridation prompted the City Council to send the measure to a popular vote, told The Standard-Times, "I'm an opponent to adding fluoride but a very strong supporter of the idea that people should make this decision.
"It shouldn't be left to the Board of Health with a very few people in attendance. Twenty thousand people participated in this vote, and I'm certainly going to support that."
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