Woodstock CT Café

This piece was written in July 2005 and published by “Thought Mechanics� - then a vigorous national blog. I have seen much more thorough analyses than this, but the end-point may still be the same. After a year-and-a-half, have any of the issues changed?

More on Shi’ite Iraq

This is what White House press secretary Scott McClellan said very recently when asked about the results of a new poll taken by the Pew Research Center “I think the American people understand the importance of completing the mission”…”Success in Iraq will help transform a dangerous region.” No doubt McClellan is speaking for President Bush and his entire administration. The PEW poll found that 43% said that the US would “win the warâ€? while 32% said the US “can’t win the war.â€? A more important question to address might be - “Is the region more dangerous today than before the war?â€? If the region is more dangerous today then one has to wonder what “winâ€? means. The statements by the Bush administration and the opinions of the polled public do little to reveal the severity of the situation in Iraq. It really doesn’t matter anymore if Bush lied about reasons for going to war, or whether or not we should back our troops. The real issue surrounding our presence in Iraq can be stated quite simply - what can we do to prevent Iran from taking over Iraq or, at least, the Shi’ite dominated, oil-rich provinces south of Baghdad?

I am not an expert on the Middle East. Perhaps naively, at this juncture I see Iran’s dominance of Iraq as the only issue of importance from here on. It seems unimaginable that our pre-war intelligence and the White House would not have considered this outcome as a risk to going to war. Yet I have not heard any commentary about this scenario in talk shows or by politicians on either side of the issue of the invasion of Iraq. Could it be that we invaded Iraq because intelligence indicated Iran’s intent to take over Iraq? In deed, it is commonly known that the US supported Iraq in its 8-year war with Iran (1980-88) because it became wary of the Tehran regime after the Iranian revolution. Then Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, the US intervention, and subsequent sanctions against Iraq leading up to the US war in Iraq all but destroyed Iraq’s role in preserving military balance in the Middle East. Read the rest of this entry »

Having only lived in the town for a couple of years, I haven’t fully experienced the history and many of the issues discussed on this site. However, I have started to attend various meetings to get a feel for how events transpire, and with notable exceptions, I have not been impressed.

While every individual has the right to free speech in a democracy, some people believe that their right to free speech includes shouting down others. To date, I have been silent in the meetings I’ve attended, listening closely and taking notes. That will likely end with the upcoming year’s budget process, and I will not allow myself to be shouted down or spoken over by someone simply because they disagree with my opinion.

And while I was taught to respect my elders, that respect needs to be earned, and is not automatic just because someone has spent more years on this planet than I. Read the rest of this entry »

People used to go to town meetings. It use to be an interesting evening of exchanges and talk about all the angles of an issue.

I’m starting to think “The Villager� is just a bigger version of “Comings and Goings�. Perhaps, it should be renamed CPS Today. It seems to be attracted to our local ranters and ravers, giving them exposure on a weekly basis. In their most recent issue (1.26.07) there is an article on the front page entitled “Referendum or town meeting?� I have never met Mr. Steeves, who penned the article, but he must be new to town.

In the article, Gerry Ralston has a block quote purporting to explain the petition to change town regulations on referendums. He is quoted as saying, “At a Town Meeting, 150 people make decisions for 7,000 people. With a referendum, at least you get about 1,500 people voting.â€? But, what Gerry Ralston fails to include is that he is one of the reasons the turn out for town meetings is so low. Read the rest of this entry »

Number of new Cafe articles by month: NOV-26, DEC-18, JAN-21 so far.

Regular Board of Finance Meeting
January 23, 2007 – 7:30 PM – Town Hall

Agenda

1. Call to Order
2. Approve Minutes of December 19, 2006 Special Meeting
3. Fill Board Vacancy
4. BOS Update – Bennett Farm Environmental Problems
Municipal Advisory Task Force Committee
5. Open Space – Dawn Adiletta
6. Historical Financial Data
7. Preliminary 07-08 Budget Discussion
a. Discuss Format Changes
b. Discuss including Prop. 46 calculation
c. Discussion of Contingency
d. Discuss Distribution of Possible Revenues Available
8. Citizens Participation
9. Adjournment

Board of Finance Members in Attendance
Rapose, Hosmer, Wisnewski, Dowd, Murphy, and Alternate Cass

The order of the meeting did not follow the agenda, but all items were covered. Ms. Wholean needed to make some copies of something to give to the board and wasn’t ready right away. Ms. Adiletta had dinner reservations and had to leave early, so she was put up front.

The minutes of the December 19, 2006 special meeting were approved.

Suzanne Woodward sent a letter of resignation in order to take over as Registrar of Voters.

Dawn Adiletta addressed the board about potential purchase of the development rights of the Kowal Farm on Quasset Road. Like the Eddy farm, most the Kowal Farm is prime agricultural land with some wooded area. There is approximately 110 acres (tax assessment records indicate 109). The Kowals approached the state for the land preservation because it is important to them to preserve it as it has been in their family for quite sometime. The next generation of Kowal family farmers is not quite ready to take over yet. The Open Space Committee is partnering with the state for this purchase. Woodstock’s share of the purchase would be $163,000 (the fund currently has a balance of $225,000). The state has already approved and released funds of just under $500,000 for the purchase. Adiletta requested a motion of support from the Board of Finance. The Kowals will continue to own the property and pay taxes so this will not adversely impact the grand list. The motion was made and passed. Read the rest of this entry »

Funding of Middle School sports has just been reinstated according to an article in the Villager published on Feb. 1 at their website (see link on the side, Admin)

I appreciated Steven Giamundo’s Letter entitled “Activism critical in order to effect change� published in the Villager today (Jan. 26th). I tend to agree with Steven that the Woodstock Board of Education correctly set fixing antiquated computers and software as a higher priority than helping to fund sports now funded by the pay-to-play program (WTPT). At the same time it’s sad to hear in Steven’s Letter that families chose not to participate in fall sports, and possibly in spring sports, because of cost. Furthermore I agree with the premise stated in reference to Linda McGee and Lisa Rapose’s efforts to lobby for district supported sports that “education without extra-curricular activities…retards social development, and forgoes an important opportunity to practice being well-rounded … putting students in a clear disadvantage when competing for jobs, college admission, and greater things in life.�

In mentioning “activismâ€? Steven was talking about getting involved ‘hands-on’ with the pay-to-play sports program. I believe that this activism by adults teaches kids something larger in life than just athletics. This is part of the reason I have supported the Woodstock Academy football program with articles here at the Café and two donations … and taken the heat here at the Café as well for my thoughts *#%!. It is impressive to see parents working with kids on a weekly basis at the Transfer Station toiling with bottles and cans to raise money for the football program that has 70-80 student-athlete participants.

At the same time there has been a strong ‘activist’ element here at the Café that has expressed the view that funding of the football program by the Academy has taken away a significant amount of funding from the K-8 school system – that is, by incorporating most of the cost of the football program into the tuition rate charged to the Woodstock Board of Education budget. This seems to me to be a very legitimate concern given the tight constraints on the Town education budget imposed by the Board of Finance and the referendum-weary voting citizens of Woodstock. Read the rest of this entry »

These are the reasons why these communities were singled out as one of the 100 best communities for young people. From USA Today, “These cities have been named among ‘The 100 Best Communities for Young People’ by America’s Promise Alliance, a children’s advocacy group founded a decade ago. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell was its first chairman. More than 750 communities from all 50 states competed for the 2007 honors announced today. ” A high percentage of the reasons given in this USA Today article “100 Best Communitiesâ€? were school-related.

Municipality of Anchorage, Alaska — after-school enrichment programs
Sylacauga, Alabama — after-school and summer school opportunities
Coalition for Chandler Youth, Arizona — computer-based learning program for dropout students
Little Rock, Arkansas — community and business volunteers in neighborhood schools
Georgetown Divide, California — community outreach events to prepare children for adult life
Milford, CT — high school “life skills” programs
Norwich, CT — all students are required to participate in service learning projects
City of Greenacres, Florida — aftercare programs for children K-8
St. Petersburg, Florida — mentor partnerships between schools and businesses
Columbus/ Muscogee County, Georgia — partnerships between schools and businesses to create youth-focused initiatives
Bonneville County, Idaho — internships and dual-enrollment classes for high-school students
City of Boise, Idaho — engaging youth in learning marketable skills
Chicago, Illinois — hybrid of academic curriculum and technical skills; internships for high school students
Dubuque, Iowa — the local newspaper publishes students’ writing and artwork each week Read the rest of this entry »

Looking at the budget in anticipation of the upcoming deliberations it would seem that we should all be using the same figures (actually, this was a recent Cafe reader suggestion). So, the problem then becomes what are the figures? How do we establish what information to use? How do we interpret the information?

I checked in with at the Town Hall today and according to the figures from the Treasurer, education will receive 73.6% of the tax dollars appropriated for fiscal year 2006/2007. I’ve seen 73/27, 74/26, and 80/20 here on the site. But, that isn’t the end of the numbers. Given the treasurer’s 73.6 figure, one could see either the 73 or 74 figures. Then Mrs. Rich called to let me know that if one were to include the ‘debt’ of the school buildings, the education budget gets around 79% - so, now we can justify the 80 figure also. So, is there any clarity here? Afraid not.

I started wondering because it would appear that all the figures I’ve seen have been, to some degree, supportable. In other words, each figure is right! How can that be? It just is. I think we need to readjust our proportioning to include another figure, debt service.
I appreciate the effort of the Treasurer to give me the additional figure that reflects the debt service of the school buildings. But I think I’d like to change the way we look at this allocation process altogether. Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday was a typical no-new-article day with 161 unique visitors and 446 page turns. The visitors include four readers from “Connecticut Local Politics” (see link). Admin

I have to tell you that the last couple of weeks have been more than enlightening. Apparently, a jackass (only my opinion … which is protected by the Constitution) has hacked into my personal email and the email account used by the Café administrators. Why? I’m assuming that ’so-and-so’ decided that since he doesn’t like the conversations and has been unpersuasive at the Café, he is going to prove how smart he is by outing me as an administrator of the Café. Apparently ’so-and-so’ has been running around town with reams of ‘proof’ in the form of copies of emails from my personal account and emails from the Café Administrator account. I can’t imagine a more boring read.

I’m not worried about anyone seeing those personal emails. They are personal, but there is nothing that would embarrass me or portray me as someone different from the ‘Becki’ you already know. Again, as a reminder and a caveat, these emails are personal and as such protected free speech. The emails from the Café Administrator account are management type of emails … such as “this misspelling needs to be corrected”, “posted as a comment”, “…would make a good article”, “press release (public information)”, etc.

Reminiscent of “In Woodstockistan…”

There isn’t any smoking gun. I am associated with the Café, have forwarded emails, and have done some editing. Most of what I do is delete lots of spam everyday, an unavoidable consequence of hosting a blog. In doing this, I do try to be very diligent to avoid deleting bona fide comments during this process, but it remains a possibility that this might occasionally occur (let us know if you think this has happened). I have assumed that my association with the Café would be recognized by others and indeed this has already happened several times over the last year. Read the rest of this entry »

Please visit the new website of the Woodstock Education Foundation - Barbara Wright is President. We we will add their link on the right. Admin

Yesterday, a Sunday, normally a slow day at the Cafe, we had 177 unique visitors and 591 page turns. Admin

In the year of its existence, the Cafe has provided an immeasurable service to the Woodstock community. The benefit is information, generally of high quality, much higher, as most agree, than the Villager provides. False information is quickly challenged, and the truth tends to be distilled through a process of on-line debate. What a change from the days pre-Cafe when information was controlled by the insidious conspiracy spinning of the CPS newsletter.

Anonymity, of course, has been key to the success of the Cafe. In addition to the example of the Founding Fathers debating design of the Constitution, George Kennan, pre-eminent U.S. diplomat of the 20th century, designed the “Containment” policy that provided the foundation for U.S.-Soviet relations in the famous “X” article published anonymously in Foreign Affairs in 1947.

So Cafe contributors are in good company with those who created and protected our democratic society. Anonymity in Woodstock is also neccesitated by the small scale of our town, so that one may comment on the actions or statements of others with whom we interact. And, of course, comments can be made without fear of recourse by the CPS crowd. (I spoke recently with the woman I had heard stories of for years who was hit by an angry man in a pickup truck in the town hall parking lot). Or fear of the CPS personalized rumor campaigns which have discouraged many who have contributed to our town. Read the rest of this entry »

As social beings the full range of our lives exist within the framework of society. The effort of some to diminish the need for investing in the maintenance and continual strengthening of that structure is ungrateful and shortsighted at minimum. Whether we like it or not, we are all integral parts of the social framework, and because we benefit from that structure, we are obliged to keep it healthy.

Education is the first conscription of society. Long ago, very wise people affirmed that it was to the advantage of everyone in society that as each generation is added, knowledge is passed on and augmented in an organized way. It is essential that education equips successive generations with a broad understanding of how the social structure works … as with this education, those generations will be ready to participate and be productive members of that society.

Education’s role is vital because it is the foundation upon which all other social structures depend. In a prolonged atmosphere of ignorance our very way of life would eventually collapse. Education, being the behemoth it has become, moves slowly. Yet, its role is becoming ever more crucial given the increasing pace of change.

The changes that occurred in the 20th century were many - each built on the shoulders of earlier changes. Technology’s crescendo, at the close of the 20th century, has been eclipsed by the changes in just the first few years of the 21st century. The importance of this pace of change cannot be overstated. Computer technologies outdate themselves every couple of years, as opposed to the decades it took for technologies of our childhoods to change. The consistent resistance to acknowledging this as a fact of life is the equivalent of sticking our heads in the sand. Read the rest of this entry »