To the editor:

During the early '70s, a group called the Plum Island Town Study Committee spent two years attempting to discover if Plum Island could be its own town. The committee determined that the island could incorporate with tax revenues to spare.

Plum Island would have its own police and fire departments, school, a desalinization plant with water to spare, state-of-the-art trash and sewerage services. The form of government would be determined by the islanders.

The idea was supported by then-Sens. Sharon Pollard, Nick Costello, and U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy. Regular updates were made to islanders via mailings. There was substantial radio, television and newspaper coverage. The study group members were referred to as "the secessionists" by out-of-towners and "pie in the sky dreamers" by local opponents.

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