I am compelled to respond to the letter written by Peter Petrosino in the July 26, edition of The Citizen, as it was full of errors and completely misleading.

First of all, Mr. Petrosino, I never attacked your family as you allege. I never once mentioned your family name, neither at city hall or in my communication, nor did I mention the address of the party. If you have an issue with your family's name being in print, then I suggest you take it up with the newspaper.

I did however find fault with the Auburn Fire Department for attending a party while they were on duty, especially since the headline in that day's paper read “Fire department OT over budget by 72 percent.”

Because of that headline, I thought it was highly inappropriate for the firefighters who were on duty, to attend any personal function not related to their work.

Next you accused me of having a personal agenda.

You failed to mention that my personal agenda was the $620,000 the city's taxpayers spent on overtime in the fire department. This has absolutely nothing to do with your family.

As I stated in my prior communication, I am sure there were ample firefighters who were off duty who could have attended that gathering.

That is the issue and considering the financial problems the city is facing, I would think the fire department would take that into consideration.

Finally, I would also like to inform Mr. Petrosino that I never pitted the fire department against the police department, nor any department for that matter.

I was at city hall and saw scores of street workers, sewer department workers, and police officers scared to death about losing their jobs. What I didn't see was one firefighter offering any suggestions as to how we could save one position.

So if anyone pitted the fire department against them, it was the fire department. It wasn't Jerry Morgan.

And I would also like to ask you, do you know how many firefighters were on overtime the day of the party?

Jerry L. Morgan Sr.

Auburn