Woodstock CT Café

Disclaimer: I know practically nothing about municiple matters and politics in Pomfret. The only thing I know about Tim NcNally is that he made a typo in his zoning issue surrounding the right of bloggers to blog – he left off the “b”. The only thing I know about Jim Rivers is that he abhors anonymous bloggers. This puts him in the same club as the last three First Selectman candidates in Woodstock – Walker, Wholean, and the CEO Valentine. Before today I knew nothing about David Smutnick except that someone told me that McNally and Rivers don’t communicate with him. Today he gave them good reason. John

David Smutnick is a Selectman in Pomfret. His Letter to the Editor of the Villager today tells us why many citizens of our towns pay little or no attention to municipal affairs, and punish towns at referendums with NO votes. A fair percentage of Smutnick’s Letter was quotes of Tim McNally (Selectman) and Jim Rivers (First Selectman) tape recorded statements at two consecutive Selectman meetings in late June and early July. If you read the tape recorded statements by McNally and Rivers, you gain some respect for them and lose respect for Smutnick who comes off like a schmucknick.

In the first meeting McNally refused to second a motion on a gun permit application (he abstains from all gun permit actions) for someone he knew indirectly and Rivers was absent. Smutnick pressed him on it so McNally elaborated and his statement was recorded. For Smutnick, this was a ‘gotcha’ moment. He ended up playing the recorded statement to the applicant and the applicant called McNally.

It should be noted that Smutnick did not quote anything he said to McNally or Rivers or the gun permit applicant.

I don’t know the particulars of what was said in all three conversational interactions. What I do know from common sense is that Smutnick has a mission to undermine McNally and Rivers (rightly or wrongly), and those two will not be having any further conversations with Smutnick.

We have the same situation here in Woodstock with our Board of Education, the most important Board in every northeastern CT town. Smutnick is doing the same subversive thing with his Board as Steven Rosendahl has been and is doing with the help of two ridiculous litigants, Craig Powers and Preston Shultz. Rosendahl now sits on the Board of Education and is a conduit of information to Powers and Shultz who continue to litigate against the school system. These three are more sophisticated than Smutnick because they have every facial expression and statement on videotape.

The common thread between Smutnick and the three stooges of Woodstock is weird conspiracy theories. These people live in their own imaginary world.

Would somebody explain to me what is going on in Pomfret? Contrary to Rivers’ belief, no names are required. The truth will shine through. 

Tim McNally once said that Woodstock has its “Sunnis and Shiites” implying that Pomfret didn’t have the same problem.  I was amused by this characterization because I had already written “Woodstockistan.” I guess that Pomfret has its share of Sunnis and Shiites also.

John Leavitt

Rich – This argument, both sides, and your specific complaint are literally as old as taxes. We have heard it all before and it’s a lot of fun going through all the different arguments, but in the end the sole reason that your complaining has zero effect, and that your argument holds no water, is that as a citizen of the United States you have given implied consent to participate in the system. Rich’s argument is ultimately an argument for inequality, but with Rich in position to decide who gets what; or at the least deciding who is a ‘Scumbag’ and who is not. To repeat words used for centuries to those who think they can do this, Rich: Only God can decide that; if there is no God, then no one gets to decide. Continue reading 2 paragraphs below for more on this.

You pay for the system and you partake of it’s benefits. In their wisdom, those who created and designed the system understood that their would be inequity in it’s application, but that the benefits accumulated far outstripped the costs accumulated. Therefore, the only choice a citizen is given is whether to participate or not. Libertarians argue that they have innate rights to participate on a case-by-case basis, but the system is not designed to accommodate that. It remains ‘Yes or No’. Read the rest of this entry »

One comment to those that want to rely on private schools. I know that many of the lay teachers that the catholic school system hires just could never get a job in a public school system because they are not qualified. My sister in law has a bachelors degree in psychology from a third tier college and took a catholic school job as it was the only professional job she could find. She teaches literature for $24K a year. She downloads all of her lesson plans from the internet and admits that she has no idea what she is doing.

Obviously though, sending a kid to a place like the Pomfret School for $25K a year would be a great opportunity but very few people have those resources (hmm, here is an example of where more money does lead to success for those people that say that more money does not result in a better education).

The reason why cheaper private schools (e.g. Catholic or other charter type schools) succeed is that their parents care, making it more likely that the kids care, resulting in a better environment and motivated students. They would not succeed at their current funding levels if they had to take all of the kids the public schools do.

Regarding the comment that teachers make more money than “smart” engineers, I would disagree (as one who hires engineers). We hire graduating MS engineers for more than $50K a year with ZERO experience. Teachers salaries range from about $35 to $65K with Masters degrees. Teachers near the bottom of the scale are paid about what clerical staff get paid. Comments like that are just hyperbole, typical attacks against public school teachers as an excuse to reduce taxes at any cost.

Dean