Woodstock CT Café

One other point worth mentioning is that many folks get involved only around budget, voting, and election times. They are quick to pass judgement and criticize at that time without having the full context of understanding of how decisions are made, budgets are formulated, and needs prioritized by the various departments and boards. Trust me, I understand, I’m as guilty as the next person. However, I do recognize that to gain this broad perspective and to build trust and understanding the taxpayers must continue their engagement throughout the year or their criticism often becomes flawed and their perspective unfairly biased.

I recently had the pleasure of attending the BOE meeting on Sept. 13. Unlike the prior meetings of spring and summer which were filled with heated budget discussions, unpopular proposals, accusations, and frustrating communication, this meeting was quite the opposite. It was very refreshing and actually focused on the true work of the BOE: the meeting of educational goals. And in this sphere of work, I can proudly say that Woodstock is very fortunate to have this BOE and Lindsey Paul is an exceptional leader. These goals were developed over many months and adopted May 24, 2007. They are as follows:

1. Promote measureable academic improvement while challenging each student to reach their full potential.
2. Develop well-rounded and creative citizens by promoting and assessing their physical, social and mental well-being.
3. Promote the allignment of curriculum grades K-12
4. Improve student achievement by providing continuing improvement of quality instruction.
5. Encourage community ownership of the Woodstock Public schools. Read the rest of this entry »

PUBLIC NOTICE
Town of Woodstock
Application pending on this property before
Planning and Zoning Commission
PUBLIC HEARING DATE: Thurs. Sept. 20, 2007
TIME: 7:30 PM Woodstock Town Hall
415 Route 169, Lower Level
FOR: A special permit application to use two existing fields at the Bentley Athletic Complex on Route 169 as a practice field and an overflow parking area
FOR INFORMATION CALL: 860.928.1388

In this string, several of you have jumped on the lack of funds as the issue and it’s true that revenue sources are a challenge, but more money in an of itself doesn’t address the issues (comments posted under “..Reconfiguration of the Academy…”).

First, let me say it’s my sense that most of the leaders (including many who contribute to this blog) who have sought to make change in the community and those who are struggling to maintain the status quo truly love the community and believe they are acting in good faith to make (or keep) Woodstock a wonderful place to live. Somewhere in the process, as a community we’ve come to believe that anyone elected to government from the “otherâ€? side has personal vendetta, an ax to grind or a disingenuous motive. Maybe it’s naive but as I’ve come to know many of those I have disagreed with, I’ve found that they do have the community’s interest at heart. Unfortunately, the truth is, conspiracy theories by their nature can’t be disproved. And there are those in this community that play on that.

Regardless, when we look at addressing the issues that are at the forefront in this election, it’s important to keep in mind that the specific proposals being debated are a means to end. The end being to assure we live in a great community. Here is a short list of the broad attributes of our community that I believe the various groups are trying desperately to address and that we need to balance (some but not all of which have been noted above). Read the rest of this entry »

Borrelia burgdorferi transmitted by the deer tick is the bacterium that causes classic Lyme disease. Also, the Ehrlichia bacterium is transmitted by deer ticks causing Ehrlichiosis, a similar systemic bacterial infection to Borreliosis. If you are tested and score positive for Borreliosis or Ehrlichiosis, then you become a statistic compiled by the Center for Disease Control (CDC). In previous years I have been diagnosed with Lyme Disease and Becki has been diagnosed with both Lyme disease and Ehrlichiosis but no confirmatory test ever proved these diagnoses. In each case Becki had a very high fever and rash where the bite occurred, while I had a rash and a mild fever.

In July I developed a more insidious Lyme-like disease that went untreated for three weeks. Then as in the past after I noticed an oblong rash presumably from a tick bite (near where I was feeling a focused muscle ache in my upper right arm), I received a prescription for doxycyline, the standard antibiotic treatment for tick-borne bacterial diseases. In each case, most of symptoms went away within 3 days after I started taking doxycyline but, this time before those 3 days passed, I developed a severe headache in the back of my neck and head, and upper shoulder pain. One night I felt like I was hit in the back of the head with a baseball bat (that’s exactly how it felt). Then as the pain in my arm subsided my shoulder pain and headaches continued at a lower intensity. I was taking 4 or 5 ibuprofens a day to get through work and sleep at night. It actually took me until late August, six weeks later, before I started to feel better. Then I got influenza which lasted longer than the usual 3 days because of my weakened condition. About a week and a half ago I started to feel normal again. Read the rest of this entry »