Woodstock CT Café

from John 

WVG, Your persistence in your last comment about having been here before jogged my memory. I like the way you make things up as you go along. It wasn’t four years ago as you suggested in one of your first comments (maybe just a smoke screen). It was more recently that you graced the Cafe with your presence and inimitable style (I hope I spelled that correctly ). Since you are using a pseudonym now, we will leave your identity at that. You were wrong on the four year span between your two strings of commentary; no, it was not before we came out of the closet; no, you did not use pseudonyms; no, you weren’t banned; no you are not a valley girl; and yes we put you in wackety rants  for two comments … and “biblion” and “gmx” are prevocative to say the least. As for use of Siberia or Wackity Rants, our friend Con has straighten me out about that practice. It was also interesting that Ernie came back to the Cafe when you did, but that may be just a coincidence. As I said earlier, you are very entertaining and we like to be entertained. Readers sometime forget but the Cafe never forgets.

During your last visit (a couple of years ago), I had the distinct feeling that you were on a mission on behalf of someone else more local or a particular group with a political agenda. As you are from another town, why would you lower yourself to unproductive activity like blogging in Woodstock. I sort of have the same feeling about your presence now. That’s okay though because we all have missions and/or agendas. The Cafe really runs on its own as it has since October 2005 so your contributions are welcomed within reason.

It’s been an education for me to read your commentary about election procedures. I haven’t the time to check anything you have said although you sound convincing. You are certainly in a position to speak with authority though. Maybe Bill will learn something during his tussle with you.

from Anonymous

It is a slow day in the East Texas town of Madisonville.  It is raining, and the little town looks totally deserted.  Times are tough, everybody is in debt and everybody lives on credit.  

On this particular day a rich tourist from the East is driving through town.  

He enters the only hotel in the sleepy town and lays a hundred dollar bill on the desk, stating that he wants to inspect the rooms upstairs in order to pick one to spend the night.  As soon as the man walks up the stairs, the hotel proprietor takes the hundred dollar bill  and runs next door to pay his debt to the butcher.  

The butcher takes the $100 and runs down the street to pay his debt to the pig farmer. The pig farmer then takes the $100 and heads off to pay  his debt to the supplier of feed and fuel.  The guy at the Farmer’s Co-op takes the $100 and runs to pay his debt to the local prostitute, who has also been facing hard times and has lately had to offer her “services” on credit.  The hooker runs to the hotel and gives the $100 to the hotel proprietor to  pay for the rooms that she had rented when she brought clients to his establishment.   

The hotel proprietor then lays the $100 bill back on the counter so the rich traveler will not suspect anything.  At that moment the traveler from the East walks back down the stairs after completing his inspection of the rooms.  He picks up the $100 bill and says that the rooms are not satisfactory. He  then pockets the money, walks out the door and leaves town. 

No one earned anything.  But the whole town is now out of debt, looking to the future with a lot of optimism.

from Con to WVG

Because of the Title to this main Comment, I’d like to stick to that subject: What exactly about the comment is “…just plain a lot of baloney, double-talk and whining…” as your comment had stated about “most” of Frank’s primary comment? A lot of us readers do actually think for ourselves, but you must back up your assertions like everyone else.

This is NOT a pattern of everyone ganging up on you because we disagree - it’s about making completely unsubstantiated, empty assertions about the merits of a Comment. We think for ourselves and require strong back up if a comment is to be taken seriously.

Whenever I make critical comments on certain other websites, I’m often set upon first by a Haughty Admin, then followed by most readers - however, those comments are almost always immature insults, personal attacks which have nothing to do with the merits of my comment or any of my assertions in a ‘point-counterpoint’ type back and forth. All to say, you may feel similarly ’set upon’, but you won’t be insulted by me nor will I make any personal attacks. ‘Ad Hominem’ may be over-used, but does describe much of it: “…an argument which links the validity of a premise to a characteristic or belief of the person advocating the premise.”

I’m asking for an argument from you ‘which links the validity of a premise’ to the actual subject matter and proves it out - I’m not linking anything to your apparent dislike/vindictiveness toward Frank C. Read the rest of this entry »

Tomorrow is our special day, the day we got hitched; but when tomorrow comes, our special day will have already passed.

On Sunday February 28th, 1988, Becki and I drove up to the Hyatt at North Lake Tahoe and spent the night at the slots ’till about 2 AM. The next day, Leap Day, we drove over to Carson City NV. We found the local court house and a  parking place with a meter that still had 40 minutes on it. There was no line at the wedding license desk so we stepped right up, paid 15 bucks, and headed back to our car with license in hand. Seeing that we still had  about 25 minutes left on the meter, we decided to take a stroll a block or two down to the wedding chapel shown below. We knocked on the door and were met with a waft of chicken soup as the door opened up. The owner of the chapel was standing at the door along with her toddler son with broken leg in a cast, and he also seemed a little agitated by the situation. She ushered us in saying that she would call the minister who lived a few minutes away. During that few minutes she insisted in showing us the three optional rooms that were available for our marriage. All the while, as we toured the establishment, we insisted that we weren’t interested in an elaborate wedding - we wanted the $20 version plus $5 for the witness. So this was settled as the minister arrived. I hardly remember the ceremony, but after all, our life together had been splendid already. We thanked all for attending our wedding and headed back to our car. The meter was barely out of time. So we headed back to Tahoe and then on to Palo Alto to finish an otherwise typical spring day (where spring arrives in January and February).

from Mariah Leavitt (her blog)

Mariah with (another Academy girl) Stephanie Corey’s son Nathan last summer.

I’m sitting in the airport waiting for my flight home to Virginia, but I hate leaving California. A very large part of me wants to stay out here, move out here, to live near my family. But leaving Virginia would be hard as well.  I feel really torn. I think the solution will be to come live out here for a few months at some point, find a job, just to see if this is where I need to be.

I think the hardest part of not being in California is not being able to watch Chris and Hannah grow up (younger cousins).  While I was here I got to go to Hannah’s gymnastic practice and Chris’ baseball games, I wish I could go every day! Hannah is so talented. I know that when it comes to your own family its hard to see them not being the best, but I truly think that with Hannah’s raw talent and dedication to what she is doing already (she is only 9 years old) she could go very far with it. And if you know me at all, you know my addiction to baseball. Chris seems to really like it. I think it would be fun to work with his teams.

Boy do I miss baseball. I moved to Virginia to try to get further in baseball, to do something to accomplish my dreams. Unfortunately, living expenses got in the way of my dreams. You have to have a job to pay for food; unfortunately that job takes up so much of my time. And now I have been away from baseball for two years. I almost feel like I’m setting myself up for failure, how can I succeed in baseball if I’m not working in baseball. Read the rest of this entry »

We don’t normally pay attention to the Woodstock Untruth website but this conversation is very interesting, especially Preston Shultz’s comment. Since few will ever see this commentary, we thought we would give it some wider coverage. Preston, Could you ask Craig to explain the recent Summary Judgement in Craig’s case with Citibank? Maybe it should be on his resume for the next election to the Board of Finance. He might also address the outcome of his other cases as well. Who among you are “people persons” Preston???

 2/5/2010 1:12 PM Margaret Wholean wrote:
Why do we pay our administrators so much money if they have to constantly ask for legal advice on how to perform their job and how to deal with daily issues? Why do they need to receive strategy advice from the attorneys on so many of the issues? Don’t they know the right thing to do?
2/5/2010 1:27 PM Admin (e.g. Craig Powers) wrote:
A very good point Margie, and a question more citizens and parents should be asking, in my opinion.
2/5/2010 4:52 PM A Taxpayer wrote:
I think Margaret’s question is a good one as well. In many ways I don’t blame our BOE and Superintendent for seeking legal consult. We not only live in a litigious society, but the rules that govern it have become increasingly complex. I don’t think anyone can keep current with all of its laws. However, that being said, if local boards and administrators lose their efficacy and strength as a result, then perhaps there is no reason to continue with the same structure. Perhaps regionalization of local offices and administrators should be considered-not only as a matter of practicality, but also as a matter of cost savings. If an administrator’s role has become merely one of a legal go-between, then we need to ask ourselves if they are they really worth their salary. For instance, perhaps there should be one Superintendent of schools for all the Academy sending towns.
2/5/2010 7:47 PM Admin (e.g. Craig Powers) wrote:
Tax, I don’t disagree with all you have said; however, I have to ask myself what would be the reason that the adminstration would ask what their authority is to override a teacher’s grade? Is there a problem with the teacher? Were they trying to appease parents? There doesn’t seem to be a good answer. Moreover, why would Frank be asking about PAC contributions? It would appear that he was asking on behalf of the ‘Attack PAC’- this is public money we are talking about and I don’t care if it’s a nickel- IT IS WRONG! Just a couple of small examples, but goes to the core of the issue which is there is something systemically very wrong with our school system and it starts at the top.
2/8/2010 2:48 PM Preston Shultz wrote:
People do not sue at the drop of a hat. People sue when they are frustrated to the maximum. Every time anything comes up, he calls the lawyers- every day.
 
An example of such is calling the lawyer rather than a parent that was not going to allow their child to be detained after school. Shouldn’t the first call be made to the parent to engage in a dialog? Other times when it comes to SPED and  IEP’s and PPT’s where the parents are supposed to be equal in the process on educational decisions be made for their child, you see in the legal bills that each “strategy” is being scripted by Shipman. If the parents are equal partners then no one needs an attorney much less using one that the parents do not know about.
 
Why do you think he is taking legal strategy on the bus drivers , the teachers, the custodians…He is not a people person and he has a real problem when it comes to speaking the truth.

Last night Becki’s family and friends held a surprise party for Becki at our favorite Mexican restaurant. Becki was aware of this surprise but not the real surprise. Casa Isabelle’s is rather dark but you can still figure out what happened.

Watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bzcDDtLQiY  

The Miller’s Fairvue Farm would like to generate clean energy from fermentation of manure in 2011. The Cafe wishes the Millers great success in this endeavor.

Here is the beginning of an article (below) on this system that is already in place in Vermont. See the original article . Also here is another article on “Cow Power“. Dave Brown alerted us to these two articles.

A third article in the Norwich Bull today provides some details about the Miller proposal. The Millers have 1000 cows and feel that they can generate electrical energy in excess of their own usage from this methane digester system. Imagine all dairy farms in Woodstock doing this to help their profitability.

From the first article: “Like many top dairy producers in Vermont, Brian and Bill Rowell attribute their success in large part to their ability to think outside the box to maximize available resources to maximize profits. Cow comfort ranks high on their agenda, as does communicating effectively with their 15 fulltime employees and using sustainable practices to protect the environment and preserve the land for future generations.

The owners of Green Mountain Dairy LLC, a 1,050-cow operation in Sheldon, Vt., also embrace changing technologies to improve their herd average and increase revenue from their cows beyond what they get for their milk. Installation of an anaerobic methane digester system two years ago enables them to convert manure produced on the farm into renewable energy. The Rowells milk 900 cows on a twice daily milking schedule in a double-15 milking parlor, shipping their milk to the St. Albans Cooperative Creamery…”

One of our favorite activities in San Francisco was, and still is, walking the Golden Gate Bridge (Becki is there this week). Whenever my kids who lived in Odessa TX would visit, we would make a point of spending a day in San Francisco and having a date with the Bridge.
(click to enlarge the small pictures)

In May of 1987, I noticed that the 50th anniversary of the bridge was going to be celebrated in the evening with a spectacular fireworks display and a concert at Chrissey Field (near the Presidio) with the bridge lit up in full view for the ocassion. So Becki and I reserved a room at the Stanford Court on Nob Hill (our favorite hotel in SF) for the nights before and after the event. Six months earlier we had spent 5 days at the Court as the guest of Ryoichi Sasakawa, a billionaire Japanese industrialist who was visiting Linus Pauling.

We heard there was going to be a bridge walk starting at 6 AM on Sunday when the bridge would be blocked off to cars. So we got up early to take a cab over to the bridge because of our uncertainty about parking. Becki stood at one block corner and I went to the next corner to hail a cab; but there were no cabs to be found. Then another fellow showed up at my corner and we discussed the surprising fact that there were no cabs. I said to him that I have a car but I’m not sure where I would park. He responded that he was a VIP and had parking tickets for the ocassion. So his family of four and Becki and I piled into my 4-cylinder Mustang, which barely made it up to the top of Nob Hill, to head over to the bridge.

When we got to the parking area next to the bridge, we realized why there were no cabs. Everyone in San Francisco was taking a cab to the bridge. The organizers of the bridge walk had grossly under-estimated the appeal of the ocassion. Several hundred thousand showed up. Becki took the picture below of shadowy figures at about 6AM entering onto the bridge at sunrise.

We were two of the first to make it to the center of the bridge. That’s me on the left making some wisecrack to Becki. Standing next to me is the son of my VIP friend who was representing Bethlehem Steel which provided the steel for construction of the bridge. That family had never been to San Francisco or seen homosexuals before and were concerned about what they might catch. So they kept close to us thinking that we would offer them some protection. That’s Becki below with the hills of Marin County in the background before the crush. As you can see we weren’t crowded at the center at the beginning. We were oblivious of the happening that was developing. Little did we kow that we would be at the center of the bridge until mid-afternoon. A huge crowd was marching toward the center from behind us and in front of us from the Sausalito side. Read the rest of this entry »

On November 16th in the year 1993, Mariah, her dog Lickity, and her mom and dad drove out of Palo Alto CA on their extended tour across the nation and back. Mariah had expressed the desire to see her Granny June and Grampy Peter in Woodstock CT and other friends and relatives scattered around the country. She also wished to drop in on Bill and Hillary at the White House. Thus we embarked (pardon the pun) on a four-week road trip chronicled here.

(click pictures below to enlarge)

We drove down through southern CA by Bakersfield and Barstow to Kingman AZ - then down past Tuscon and into NM to Las Cruces - then to El Paso TX to our first destination, Odessa TX. We arrived in Odessa on the eve of Nov 18th in time to see big sister Elizabeth (16 yrs old) inducted into the National Honor Society. Eliz obviously inherited her dad’s intelligence . Unfortunately she also shares with her dad the accomplishment of totalling the family car in her first year of driving.

The following night Elizabeth, Mariah, and mom and dad attended the way off-Broadway production of “Gloweena” staring Mariah’s other sister, Christina (13 yrs old). Christina played a budding holyhock in the production. The musical ended dramatically with Mariah entering stage-left to join her sister on stage. At that point Mariah’s parents adopted anonymity until the entire audience had left the theater. Several years later, as a senior at Odessa High, Christina went to the Texas state finals as the lead in her acting troup only to lose because they went over the time limit. Christina’s success is chronicled in “Friday Night Lights” in the left side-bar.

The next day, Saturday, Mariah, Lickety, and her mom and dad drove to San Angelo TX to see her brother Drew and his soccer team play the arch rival Purple Gang in a soccer tournament. After the game which ended tragically, we took Drew (left) and his teammate and mother to lunch. At this point, we sadly said good-bye to Drew and drove on to Irving TX near Dallas. A few years later brother Drew graduated from Plano High with the graduation ceremony taking place in Texas stadium where the Dallas Cowboys played.

The main event in Irving was Mariah having a much need bath with cousins Emily and Michael while mom and dad visited with Auntie Julie since uncle Andy was away on business in Colorado.
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We saw cotton growing from CA to Tennessee. Mariah finally got to walk in a cotton patch (left) in western TN. After we got back into the car Mariah memorialized this experience with this illustration (right).
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We then drove to Rowayton CT about 40 miles up the Long Island Sound. Dad grew up in Rowayton which is a wonderful beach town in Fairfield County. We stayed with auntie Phoebe and cousin Danielle. During this stay Mariah learned several new methods of impishness from cousin Danielle. Danielle later graduated from Woodstock Academy and Eastern CT State.
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