"Lettergate" Zoning Board Member Forced Out

The case of a Tredyffrin Zoning Board member accused of public drunkeness and disorderly conduct ended in a not guilty ruling over the summer.

The case and the verdict touched off a firestorm of controversy and led to a police investigation and an internet showdown over the First Amendment right to free speech.

The not guilty verdict was declared after two Tredyffrin Police officers failed to appear in court. A police investigation found human error, a clerical mistake, was the reason the officers did not appear as scheduled in court. That was the official finding of the internal police investigation.

The case raised some questions in the news media about whether or not the woman benefited from outside influence because she at one time dated the Vice Chairman of the Tredyffrin Township Board of Supervisors. That article, , route: {:controller=>"articles", :action=>"show", :id=>"who-has-final-approval-on-tredyffrin-wesbite"} -->and became the focus of a