Woodstock CT Café

See and update on visitation to WoodstockCtCafe for the month of April

“I disagree with Mr., pardon me, Dr. Goodkind about the issue of “Trust�.

I read Mr. Goodkind’s Letter to the Editor of the Villager entitled “Trust, not Prop 46, problematic in town.â€? Putting aside the bad title, I was intrigued by the idea that “Trustâ€? is the problem. In addition, I was skeptical about his mindset in signing the article, “Thomas B. Goodkind, Ph.D.â€? What does having a Ph.D. have to do with his letter or his political position? In some regions of the country, PHD stands for “post hole diggerâ€?, so I’ve been told. So, Mr. Goodkind probably turned some readers off by invoking the apparent fact that he has a Ph.D, a title that should only be invoked in a profession. What does his use of “Ph.D.â€? mean? Does it mean that he should be automatically viewed as smart and that his ideas are always on target? I don’t think so. Read the rest of this entry »

“I became dizzy…almost puked…temporal artery almost blew…lost bowel control…”

Personally it was just another reminder to me why I shouldn’t go to meetings… I lost a good night’s sleep over nothing. Perhaps I am just a sore loser. Although there were some bright points made, there was also much grandstanding. The moderator appeared smart and sassy, but I think she forgot to drink her coffee. She was one sided at times and was condescending to Mr. Rapoport. I almost puked when Barbara Rich quoted “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.� I became dizzy when Mrs. Snow stood up and began evoking sympathy for her great husband Charlie. My temporal artery almost blew when we were blessed with the philosphy of Mr. McCrillis who to sum it up stated “what’s right isn’t always right�. I almost lost bowel control when it was implied that human error was natural and shouldn’t be confused with unethical behavior.

It amazed me to watch everyone actually believe all their Bull*&#! and walk away patting themselves on the back. There was little acknowledgemnt that perhaps, just maybe, there was something unethical that happened. Marjorie Wholean tried hard, God bless her soul, but she comes across as a mix between a 2nd grade teacher and the absent-minded professor. P.S. She raised her hand both times to vote down the motions. Oh, did anyone get the same feeling I did about Dan Very? No, not that he looked like he ate 10lbs. of old stale pastries before the meeting, but that he seems to be positioning himself, hhmm…do you think that just maybe he wants to run for the First Selectman in 2007??? Who wants to make a bet?

Despite my sourness and negativity which I apologize for, I want to congratulate members of the IWWA, builders and the other good ‘ol boys who manage to find the time to bring themselves and their spouses to the meeting. Despite my differences in opinion from theirs, Read the rest of this entry »

See Ken’s comment below, Admin.

“For our system to continue to work and improve… we (should) maintain a sense of appreciation for the willingness of those who serve, to serve.”

In the wake of all the tumult over the past several weeks - which will likely continue forward into the next few months as the annual budgets are worked through - the report on the left by “Lone Citizen” is an encouraging account and reminder of how Town matters can be civilly addressed and resolved in the Town Meeting format that has served the Town for many, many years. Read the rest of this entry »

Every day a Town meeting occurs at this website. The number of commentors is a low percentage of the number of actual visitors who read the articles at this site. There are no harangues and no glaring stare-downs. Consider the possibilities.

“…lets maintain a civil environment within (Woodstock).”

Last night, in Woodstock, we had a town meeting to consider (1) establishing an Ethics Ordinance, rather than having just a Code of Ethics, and (2) establishing the IWWA as an ‘elected’ body, rather than a committee formed by appointment. Both motions failed. As town meetings go, this meeting was well attended. There were at least 117 people present (as evidenced by the number of votes tallied), but I think it was probably closer to 130-145 people in attendance. I marveled at the process and the behavior of the participants, sensing the hard feelings in the room. People in attendance were respectful and the shouting, characteristic of the CPS’ers, was not there.

It was pretty clear from the beginning as the room filled with familiar faces, with long-time ties, that the eventual result would be to keep the status quo. On the face of it, the items on the agenda seemed to be somewhat innocuous. The town already had a ‘Code of Ethics’ as a policy, so it would have been a small step to make this “Code� into an “Ordinance.� Likewise, changing the IWWA from appointed members to elected positions would not have changed very much. One would guess that many of the current members of the IWWA would be elected anyway.

The passion that the attendees felt about the matters before them became very clear. This was not a hypothetical exercise about differing philosophies - it was personal. Some individuals in the room felt some had been attacked, their personal integrity challenged, and their place in the community besmirched. But, there was almost no mention of these unhappy thoughts in the debate of the motions before the assembly. A few comments (unrecognized by the moderator) leapt uncontrollably from the lips of some, revealing how close to the surface the emotions were in the room. There was an undercurrent in the room detectable from the strain in the voices of some participants that spoke volumes about how deeply injured some participants felt. However, the participants support of the status quo was never combative or offensive. Read the rest of this entry »

On the subject of “You Can’t Fix Stupid” - The Villager’s Monty Python-style article on the new sport of ‘Javel Throwing? (back page, picture caption) shows that the paper is striving to reach new heights in cowpie dropping. For profession-minded students like Nathan, there’s a real need to develop one’s ability to throw the javel far and accurately, especially if one seeks a career as a Town executive or Judge. Just think about the prospects - if someone mis-behaves in a Town meeting in the back of the room, one with the skill of javel throwing can just throw the javel to the back of the room to quiet disruptors (bonk).

“Could it be that they have aspirations of being in the Selectmen’s office?”

Lately I have run across quips like these almost on a daily basis. They resonate in my mind for reasons that must be obvious to the readers at this site. Just drive by Petey Racine’s house on Route 169 and see the sign that essentially says, ‘Petey Racine Rules’. This sign reaffirms that ‘Right‘ has nothing to do with the real world. I’m sure that these perceptions - like ‘You can’t fix stupid!’ - are also foremost in the minds of many Iraqis. But, it would be ridiculous to compare Woodstock to Iraq in spite of shared perceptions. Woodstock is more like Bahrain as intimated previously in ‘In Woodstockistan‘ and the adversarial ‘clique’ is becoming better defined.

There is a swami at this site who claims ‘vast knowledge. But, right has nothing to do with the real world that ‘The Swami’ and Petey live in. The Swami and Petey have a lot in common, but I won’t go into that. Just as Café visitors have the liberty to express their thoughts and biases, we would not deny The Swami or Petey the right to express their views but this doesn’t mean that we should accept them as right. The Swami and Petey are the real world that those in the right just have to deal with.

‘Stupid’ will ultimately be fixed, but perhaps not quickly, although you never know. I would like to draw some inspiration from the source of ‘Our Vallydictorian‘ graduation speech. Faulkner spoke eloquently about what we must learn and what is really important. If we learn these things, we will not just survive, we will ‘endure’ and ‘prevail’ when ‘the last ding-dong of doom has clanged.’

For the time being where do we go from here? One option is explored under the article ‘Lets Not Stop Here.’ My preference is to have an optimally functioning Town that provides the best possible services to the community - a Town that is not divided by selfish people who have some personal agenda at stake. One example of a personal agenda would be the wish to pay little or no taxes at all. This point of view is illustrated in the article, ‘Cinquanta’s revenge.’ The same point of view is also expressed on Petey Racine’s sign where not only the victory in the latest Prop 46 referendum is regaled, but the ‘Selectmen’ are blamed. Sadly, the majority point of view in Town may have the selfish wish to pay little or no taxes at all. From what I have seen and heard, I don’t think I am creating a ’straw argument’ when I say that the majority would prefer to pay little or no taxes. There may be some level of taxation that this majority would be okay with, but taxation for what? I am not at all clear what ‘what‘ might be.

A second example of a selfish personal agenda at work in Town will not be spoken about here. It’s up to the readers to figure this out - and you will eventually.

There’s a strange irony in all of budget-related fighting. CPS’ers and The Swami will not speak up about eliminating the salaries for the Selectmen and other related costs. The Swami insists angrily, when one asks for his opinion on elimination of Selectman costs, as follows, ‘(you always) look in other places for money, i.e. (the) government side of the budget’ when instead you should only look at the education budget. Well, I’ll damn well look where ever I please! Read the rest of this entry »

See ‘Interested’s’ comment after the article “The Defeat of Reason…” and other like comments that he (almost certainly not a she) has left.

“Have you read any books on educational theory?”

‘Interested’ I’d like to answer your question and ask you a few in return. You ask why parents of school children did not support the Amendment. I’m sure parents did support the amendment- the question really is, why does it appear as if some parents voted “no” at the polls? Part of the answer to that question is that parents have limited information. The only newspaper in town is littered with inaccuracies. Both sides of an issue are never explored in any depth. Parents can’t get accurate Minutes to town meetings because they are not posted on web sites or easily obtainable. All the parents I know work for a living and can’t attend meetings that run to midnight. They hear (or hear about) uninformed ranting citizens at Town Meetings who have a questionable level of understanding of what Prop 46 actually says. This is about communication; this is not about parents sharing your opinions and questioning accountability. Read the rest of this entry »

“…lets elimininate (some) costs…”

Here’s an opportunity for all of us to unite on one cause - shouters and non-shouters, CPS’ers and non-CPS’ers alike. There is one significant cost of the Town of Woodstock that we can do away with without any loss in services. We need to put together one more petition - not one of those puny 25-signature petitions, but a 200-plus (why not 400-plus) signature petition. I would sign my name at the top. This petition is intended to cut as much as $200,000 from the town budget thereby reducing the mil rate and lowering the tax burden of the tax-paying citizens of Woodstock.

I propose that we circulate a petition to convert the three Selectman positions to non-salaried Board positions just like the positions on the Board of Education and Finance. When you look at the hefty work of the Board of Education with a budget three times that of the Town operation budget, one has to wonder why our Selectman positions are salaried and the BOE positions are not. Furthermore, during the reign of our last First Selectman, her salary was raised 40% but I never heard anything about this until it was a done deal. It seems to me that there should have been some public discussion of these significant increases in compensation of all three Selectmen. This dialogue might have elicited some interesting discussion about what these people actually do. It also seems to me that all we really need is a Town Clerk, a Treasurer preferably with strong financial expertise, a Town Assessor, and the remaining miscellaneous positions that we have to manage the day-to-day business of the Town.

I say lets eliminate these costs - the Selectman salaries, their fringe benefits, and the position of Executive Administrative Assistant, their office supplies, and the cost of the useless Town web site that is an embarrassment to all and save the taxpayers as much as $200,000. By doing this we may also avoid expensive pet projects like reduction of taxes for the elderly (yikes, that’s me!), the Town cop, the Town planner, bird feeders, and bird feeder supplies, etc. Who knows… we may even save more than $200,000. Read the rest of this entry »

Election Results – The amendment fails 673 YES, 1536 NO!

The failure to amend Proposition 46 is a stain on Woodstock.

Since no other Town in Connecticut has a similar Proposition, Prop 46, itself, is also a stain on Woodstock. The Proposition should not exist for the simple reason that the Town Budget ultimately has to be approved by the electorate. Now, valued teachers will lose their jobs and others will lose funding for classroom supplies that will be less than adequate… without any debate over the specifics. Why don’t we put the laid off staff in a horse-drawn cart and parade them through town like the witches of Salem - after all, they are inherently evil as one well known nay-sayer has intimated. We might add carts for the school age children as well. We will now continue our slide into the third world below towns like Eastford, Killingly, and Brooklyn that rank higher in standard test scores and that are willing to donate more to their youth than Woodstock.

Who do we have to thank for the defeat of this amendment? One person that stands out is our First Selectman, Margaret Wholean, who provided no support for the amendment… although stating that she supported this amendment. I noticed that she had a YES sign tactfully positioned upstream from her house as though she wished to disassociate herself from the sign. I wonder how she actually voted? Ms. Wholean also failed to show up on the WINY talk show with Steve Adams and Everett Shepherd.

I don’t know how anyone else in town feels about this, but I would like the citizens of the Town to demand a First Selectman who stands for something. For that matter, I would like to have three Selectmen that are willing to let their positions be known; then follow up with clear-cut advocacy one way or another. If a Selectman is willing to take a position, any position, and state their reason for their position, then one can respect them for doing so even if one doesn’t agree with their position. However, Woodstock has three Selectmen that hide in City Hall remaining mute on the issues to the populous of Woodstock. This is about as low as an elected official can sink – mute to the citizens who elected them.

Why do we pay these people? We do not pay the members of other Boards and committees. Delpha orchestrated a very large raise for herself and her successor, in spite of the well-known fact that she saw herself only as an administrator (of what, I don’t know). Given their non-performance over the issue of Prop 46, we must work hard to remove all three of these people from office in the next election. We need to start now to expose these losers by educating the citizens of the Town about what should be expected from town officials (I use the term loosely). We can start by pointing out their shallow performance at every instance, and do everything possible to squash their pet projects like tax relief for the elderly, the town cop, etc, that only create problems like further loss of needed tax revenues, initiation of a crime wave, and, oh yes, those ridiculous bird feeders. And, why have a Town Planner if there is nothing to plan?

Who else do we have to thank for the defeat of this amendment? There is an element in Town whose specialty is abuse. I’m not necessarily talking about the Citizens for Prudent Spending (CPS’ers) per se. They have a right to organize and express their views, and they have done so effectively. Just as I would ask Ms. Wholean to come forth and advocate her position, either way, and explain why, I would have to grant the CPS’ers their right to take a position and publicize their views – so I am not speaking about the NO’s in particular. I am talking about the ABUSERS (who may or may not be CPS’ers). They could also be called the town bullies. These people are easy to spot. These are the people who try to shout down their opposition at Town meetings. Thank goodness the voting is anonymous. You may recall the pugilistic behavior of one candidate at the last election. These same people abuse others around them obsessively for different reasons. These are people that have lost all power in town, and perhaps in their personal lives, accept for the shred of control that they hang onto through their installation of fear, through dissemination of mis-information, and through their transmission of anger and incitement among their dimwitted cadre.

One of these people persuaded our First Selectman, Ms. Wholean, to hold a referendum with a petition of twenty-five people. Ms. Wholean announced in the Villager that she preferred to have a referendum rather than a Town meeting because she did not like the negative exchanges that occurred in these Town meetings. The irony of all of this is that she was persuaded to go to referendum by the very people who incite the shouting at Town meetings. I don’t think that she is capable of realizing that she was manipulated with the singular goal of manipulating the Town citizenry. By sending the petition to repeal Prop 46 straight to referendum without the necessary number of signatures, she, more than anyone, ineptly and unwittingly undermined the attempt to amend Prop 46 before this amendment was ever conceived. Read the rest of this entry »

“…he fails to recognize that NO Towns in Eastern Connecticut have a Prop 46 except for Woodstock.�

Mr. Bird, Editor of the Villager, spoke about “loosening of the reigns (sic)� in his editorial this Friday (Apr 21st) in telling Woodstockians that they should “Keep Prop. 46 as it is in Woodstock.� He says, “…loosening the reigns would spell financial disaster.� Was he trying to tell us that we should or should not eliminate the reigning clique that has controlled Woodstock for the last decade? It’s never clear what is actually being said in the Villager articles because its articles are filled with inaccuracies, mis-spellings, and grammatical errors…not to mention ignorance of the issues facing Woodstock managers.

For example, he goes on to talk about Prop 46 as a “safeguard for wild spending� as though wild spending was a sure thing – this is the straw man for his argument that Woodstock should “Keep Prop. 46 as it is in Woodstock.� Does he even know what IS is? Stating a premise that does not exist and is not possible, then knocking it down is a downright stupid exercise, given the fact that the Woodstock electorate ultimately approves the budget.

He touts the importance of Prop 46 and the Massachusetts Prop 2 ½ as safeguards against “wild spending.â€? He is apparently ignorant of the fact that Mass Prop 2 ½ has an annual escape clause, or annual over-ride, that can be approved by the electorate whereas Prop 46 does not. He apparently does not understand that no annual over-ride exists so it’s pointless when he asserts that, “displeasure with the (inadequate) school budget can be registered.â€? The only way possible that I can think of expressing displeasure is to take a leak on the side city hall. Read the rest of this entry »

Our First Selectman, Ms. Wholean, turned down the offer to join the discussion.

An editorial in the Norwich Bulletin urges amendment of Prop 46 in the upcoming referendum

“Previous leadership on the BOE and BOS - their failure to act responsibly - has put the Town in the situation that it is in today, and divided the Town’s electorate in the process.�

I took time off from work this morning (Fri, Apr 21st) to listen to Everett Shepherd and Steve Adams on WINY talk about the amendment to Prop 46 going to referendum on Monday. I was impressed by the clarity with which Everett and Steve articulated the need to make a change in the way Prop 46 is written. I also learned things that I did not know from Mr. Shepherd’s recounting of the history of Prop 46. As a permanent citizen of Woodstock, I thank these two men for such a masterful presentation on the radio. I can only hope that most of the electorate was tuned into this discussion. Read the rest of this entry »