Straight Talk

The election is over … The machine triumphed (at least at the polls)

However …

It is time to get back to work.

Straight Talk takes to the airwaves again on Sunday, November 8.  You can find us on CATV 6 (Comcast Cable), WHDD AM & FM (1020 & 91.9).  We are LIVE on Sunday morning, and rebroadcast on CATV during the week.  We will also be available in podcast at Robinhoodradio, as well as making the audio of the show available for download at the Straight Talk website. 

The Straight Talk website is under renovation.  It will remain available through this process.

Join us on-air or on this blog … Remember … We go LIVE on November 8 @ 8 AM!

Since I have become a candidate for public office, I am suspending activities with the Straight Talk site and blog.

Please come and visit us at www.flint2009.com

You will find our campaign blog there …

I will work to keep you posted.

Mike

Take our Survey concerning the Destruction of Our Town Grove in Salisbury …

The Town Meeting is on Tuesday … April 21 … Spread the word …

They have only recently posted the ‘preliminary’ plans … Preliminary MY FOOT! 

Want an idea of what has been planned?

They have a deadline to use the money they applied for … so … they plan to ’shove it at you’ in the USUAL way!

We are talking about a $1,000,000 project!

What will it do for us?

Destroy the Grove as we have known it … and … create another abomination similar to the Town Hall that was created after the devastating fire!

I was watching the April meeting of the Salisbury Board of Selectmen …

It appears they are making all the decisions for the SSRRA (Surprise!).

BTW … The Town of Sharon meets April 17th (7 PM) to deal with this issue again … you know … take care of the language that the Lawyers missed in the LAW!

Oh … also to ‘borrow’ money to giveto Salisbury … for Sharon’s share of the land that will belong to the SSRRA … Or will it belong to the boards of Selectmen?

Sorry … I am a bit confused … Of course … I AM NOT A MUNICIPAL Attorney … much like the guy who was at the Salisbury Town Meeting!

Oddly … I pointed out parts of the LAW that he and his staff obviously missed when they were ‘advising’ Salisbury’s First Selectman and company …

Do you ever get the feeling that the First Selectman of Salisbury (Along with his sidekick) are running the show for BOTH town’s on this issue?

Ever wonder who actually wrote the SSRRA ordinance?

Ever wonder if the people are actually paying attention?

After all … where is the ‘outrage’ over $100,000 missing from the Salisbury Central School?

Why doesn’t anyone ask about what the final test results for pollution were at the future site of the Lakeville Hose Company?   What is actually happening on that site?

Why are they tearing down the Town Grove Main Building?  Has anyone ever given a REAL explanation as to why this has to happen?

I guess we just follow the Leader and His Puppet …

DOWN THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD!

Maybe we should rename this place …..    OZ!

I attended the Region One Board of Education meeting this evening …

The Board voted to send the budget on to the voters …

I will have more to say about tonight’s meeting later this week (and on my Sunday program) …

However … I should like to ask you to take the following poll …

Last evening, I witnessed a Town Meeting that reached a NEW low … at least from my point of view.

A Town Meeting is suppose to be a legislative meeting, where the citizens of the community debate and ultimately decide on laws (called ordinance at the town level).

The Town Meeting is ‘regulated’ by local ordinance, or in the absence of a specific ordinance, Roberts Rules of Order.  The idea is to keep debate organized, civil and germane to the issue on the floor of the meeting.

A ‘moderator’ is chosen to keep the meeting organized and to insure that the rules are being followed.

At the Town Meeting in Salisbury (April 3, 2009), the moderator actually chose to ignore the rules of order.  The Meeting approved a motion to take a vote concerning the formation of the SSRRA by paper ballot.

After the ballots were placed in the box, he then called for a voice vote on the same issue and declared it passed.  Some people in the room were not aware of what was happening at the front of the room, including myself.

After voting on the second issue of the meeting, they were preparing to close the meeting with no intention of counting the paper ballots that had been cast on the first issue.

When called upon to count and announce that vote, the looks that came from ‘the Bosses’ of our Town were … well … let’s say quite demeaning.

The votes were counted and the actual vote was announced.

For a moderator to ignore a previous vote at a meeting and call for the vote in a different fashion, at his own discretion, shows that the moderator is ignoring the proper process of the Town Meeting.

Frankly it should disqualify that individual from serving as moderator at any future Town Meetings.

This is one of multiple events that raise questions about the conduct of (what used to be) our most sacred institution, the Town Meeting, and how it is being ’dismantled’ by our public officials …

More to come …

I have just returned from witnessing one of the most blatant mockeries of the Democratic process I have EVER seen …

The Salisbury Town Meeting about the SSRRA and the WPCA …

Just for the record … the vote WAS NOT UNANIMOUS …

I forget the actual result, however I will roll the ‘hard drive’ and report it to you in the morning …

I will have much more to say about this on Sunday … too!

I will also be writing about it in the morning …

I am too tired and ‘sickened‘ by our ‘leaders‘ and their sheep at this moment to make any sense at all …

I attended multiple meetings between the Selectmen of Salisbury and Sharon … None of which concluded anything more than ‘we will see what the lawyers advise us to do’.

The ordinance for the SSRRA is flawed in many ways.

One should not take ‘lightly’ forming what is basically a legal entity similar to a Town.

The SSRRA should be a body that governs the operations of Waste Disposal between the participating entities.

The board should be comprised of appointed and elected representatives.

The board should NOT be compromised by having the Boards of Selectmen as its board … this is a conflict of interest.  For ONE member of the Board of Selectmen from each Town to hold a seat would be acceptable.

Like any government agency, the SSRRA must abide by the Freedom of Information act.

The SSRRA has all of the authority of a Municipality, including the ability to buy and sell property, borrow money, and negotiate with whomever it wishes in order to insure the proper disposal and/or recycling of the product it receives.

The ONLY obligation the participating Towns have is to be the ‘backers’ of any debt the SSRRA should incur and only in the event it dissolves or becomes insolvent.

The SSRRA should be run like a business, not the political toy of those in power.

This is a serious ordinance that is being considered.  IT SHOULD NOT BE TAKEN LIGHTLY!

I would suggest that we table this ordinance and send it back for modification, which should include public hearings concerning the following issues:

1.  Composition of the Board … Appointed and Elected members

2.  Dismissal from the Board WITH cause.

3.  A property LEASE as opposed to a property GIFT/PURCHASE.

4.  A proposed set of bylaws to be viewed along with the ordinance.

5.  The naming of ALTERNATE Board members.

6.  A strategy plan of how this project is to be executed.

These are some of my suggestions … Maybe you have more.

I hope you all show up at the Town Meeting and do what you are suppose to do … Discuss, debate, question …

I intend to place a motion on the floor to table this ordinance based on what I have written above …

Maybe someone will second that motion and allow this ordinance to be crafted in public, by the public, and for the public.

What a BIG surprise … !?  (It is the second part of THIS editorial)

They obviously get their talking points from the Head Office in Salisbury Town Hall …

Basic summation of the LJ Opinion …

It may not be right, but we can always fix it later. 

That’s the way to do Town business … Right on!

Just like everything else that comes to Town meeting in Salisbury … So much work has been done, but … we still don’t have all of the details … however … TRUST US … we will work them out later!

And … of course … in its usual fashion, The Lakeville Journal sings right along with the choir.  Wonder why that is?

Not to mention … they (The Journal) remind us that we can always ‘throw them out’ at election time if we don’t like it …

This constant challenge from the Salisbury Town Hall is beginning to make me ill.  They might want to remember that they were elected to SERVE the people, not to challenge and battle them!

I will be making a few more notes here later this evening …