The recent sales tax increase proposal has certainly got the ire of the citizenry up. As one who voted in favor of the income tax repeal I can gladly say “I told you so.” Please enjoy your helping at the Crow Mart.
I contacted several legislators on this issue and the response has always been the same. In fact - exactly the same. “It pained me to vote for it.” “I saw no alternative.” “I have filed legislation to address reforms.” All the legislators were Democrats since they have a monopoly on the legislature and the few Republicans have the good sense to realize a fiscal con game. As far as those responses. If it hurts so much don’t do it! As my doctor would say: “If it hurts doing that don’t do it.” The alternative is simple - get the reforms out front. Most of us common folk know what has to be done. The filing legislation is the biggest joke it politics. The ready made excuse. How much legislation is “filed” and never gets acted upon? Another linguistic con game. Taxes are the government cost for “doing their business” but a good portion of us in Massachusetts now seriously question how this business is run. When your government appears to have all the integrity of Lehman Brothers and ENRON there are problems.
The Green School issue has certainly stormed ahead. The money count is rising rapidly and some are stepping up with resources such as the painting contractor offering services. Some wish to play the blame game on how we got here and that is quite easy to do but does not resolve the issue. What this will come down to is feasibility. In the meantime contact Lincoln Andrews about contributions either fiscal or other.
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48 comments:
What difference does it make how we "got there"? Town projects are like house projects. You get to them one at a time. It's overwhelming to look at all problems at once. I wonder how those negative people who are so quick to criticize others manage their own lives.
OK, Bogo, 4-2 on the home stand. Papi now at .195 but still in first place. Long road trip. Be a miricle if they are still in first when they return home.
What's the point in going to a Town Meeting when you have to vote on articles based on information we can't trust. Who got screwed on this ladder truck sale, Middleboro or Lakeville? If Lakeville gets it up and running, then we wasted $900K at a time when we could least afford it. Town Meetings? Bogo was right. They're a pointless waste of my time.
"The ladder truck did not pass the certification test. Repairs will cost approximately $150,000. The company who has prepared the report does not want to do the repairs.
Selectman Rogers noted that $130,000 was spent on repairs for the truck three (3) years ago.
Chief Russell said issues had been brought up immediately. The biggest issue is the twisting of the ladder when it is extended. The pistons are leaking, cables are rubbing against it, and there are cracks in the frame.
Chief Russell said there is also a problem with the heating system requiring about $5000 in repairs."
By all accounts sounds like the town of Lakeville bought a money pit. Unless they are going to use it for parts to a sister ladder then they made a smart move.
Chief Russel is quoted as saying these type trucks are rare and parts are hard to find.
"Who got screwed on this ladder truck sale, Middleboro or Lakeville?"Could be THE question of the year.
Check out these used ladder trucks.also
Another used fire truck company.Some towns are obviously buying these.
Fire Truck LimoI looked into what it would take to make it into a limo, wrong kind of truck.
Church fire pcitures here
Counting dimes on critical equipment is a mistake.
Spending half as much on repairs is foolish. Go new and get 20 years out of the beast.
TM is where I don't show.
Use Boston as an example of when you try to use the band-aide approach to vital equipment. IMO lives are in jeopardy with equipment that may or may not function.
Big road trip and 5-5 is a must and anything more a bonus. Sox are 9-12 on the road and that is not acceptable. Papi is finished at this point.
Hal
Thanks for the update.
Great pics of the fire, Hal. Who says you wouldn't make a great photojournalist?
Such a shame to lose a New England historical icon. Saw the out of town fie trucks headed to town early this morning, but just assumed they were going to take part in the parade.
That steeple looks ready to topple. What is the damage?
The last I heard at the fire when I left at 11:30AM was that it started in the walls (electrical) in the back, and that the building could be saved.
Here's a 9 minute video show from a friend.
It shows the flames as they spread, something I got there too late to photograph.
Thanks for the complements on the photos.
In some of the photos it looks like the steeple is leaning. They need a demolition crew in there tut suit. Also, I read that churches, unlike other buildings, are not required to have sprinkler systems. Does that make sense?
The leaning steeple is a trick of perspective from the photo.
It wasn't leaning at all, though when the clouds both in the sky and from the billowing smoke where moving there was the disconcerting illusion that the steeple was swaying.
I was told by a fire fighter that dating back many years church steeples were designed to collapse straight down in the event of a fire. I assume catastrophic church fire were quite common in "the old days" before modern fire fighting equipment.
Sounds to me like the electrical wiring wasn't updated for eons, was probably brittle, and voila. Either that or, unlike the benign ghosts of the Town Hall, the Church was visited by poltergeists. Sounds like maybe VV visited there recently and left some bad karma behind. A few years back a Benedictine monk visited Middleboro and claimed he felt the strong presence of evil in our town.
Anonymous:
Looks you got your answer to "Who got screwed on this ladder truck sale, Middleboro or Lakeville?" Ironically the Fire Department did ladder tests on the church.
I did not see Lakeville there with a ladder truck.as I said on BB's blog:
IMO it is unreasonable to expect a firefighter to come and save me or my property with equipment that jeopardizes the firefighter's life.
The old ladder truck was substandard by all accounts.
Ladder trucks are very complex machines. Hydraulics, pumps, intricate electrical wiring, bearings, wear plates, unseen stress fractures all with a two men on an extended ladder cantilevered over a building.
Lakeville can have the old truck. Our firefighters can be on the new one.
****Central Congregational Church***
This is a prime example of when community needs to come together. A perfect place for The Church to meet would be upstairs of the Town Hall or the Nichols Middle School Auditorium.
The Town Hall Auditorium would be a perfect place due to its proximity. The church staff already has janitorial services which could keep the space clean.
I would suggest all townspeople, secular or otherwise to support this position. We need to provide them time to sort out their difficult position while continuing their services. The time frame could initially be every Sunday morning for one year, with a possible extension of 6 months to one year.
To those of you that think this would violate the separation of church of and State my reply is simple: Ba humbug
Religious services are integral to our community.
Lincoln Andrews
Screw the ACLU. The constitution also guarantees us the right to worship as we please. Humanity supercedes legalities. I agree that we offer our support and empathy to this displaced congregation of our neighbors and friends.
An interesting question re. the separation of church and state part of the Constitution, so I looked it up on the website of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
There would seem to be no problem:
"Public Venues: Can churches and other religious groups use public facilities?
The U.S. Constitution allows governments (federal, state, and local) to open up their public facilities — such as public-school buildings and public libraries — for use by religious groups. But governments must give religious and secular groups access to those facilities on equal terms. For example, a public school may permit religious groups to hold meetings in its building after school hours, but it may not allow those groups to use the building for free while charging a fee to secular groups, and vice versa."
ReferenceThe only issue would seem to be that the church would have to pay a comparable amount to similar secular organizations.
My reaction to the "Ba Humbug" and the preemptive "screw the ACLU" is that the United States Constitution is nothing to dismiss so lightly.
Just to be clear, Hal. I have no problem with the constitution. I have a problem with the ACLU, an organization that defends the rights of Neo-Nazis and the KKK...both hate groups. Yet they regularly treat religious organizations as "oppressive".
IMO if the Founding Fathers saw us today they would have canned that foolsih revolution thing.
I picture the ACLU as a group made up of kids who sat at the geek table and this is their revenge.
Judicial activism has run amok.
If you can't make out the thumbnail, it's the United State Supreme Court engraving "Equal Justice Under Law".
Sure, the ACLU "works to extend rights to segments of our population that have traditionally been denied their rights, including people of color; women; lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgender people; prisoners; and people with disabilities (their website)" and perhaps tellingly does not mention the fact that they have and will sometimes defend members of neo-nazi groups ( see for example) and the Klan (see for example).
I have had second hand experience with the ACLU and I have seen that when someone has the lawyers of a government agency arrayed against them when you file a civil discrimination lawsuit having an experienced ACLU team does tend to level the playing field.
The thing to understand is that most judges are political appointees. In Massachusetts that usually means giving a political contribution and on the Federal level in means spouting the party line.
The SCOTUS is bound to offend someone since they make decisions that are in many cases real hot button issues such as with an election, abortion, individual rights and so on. The interpretation of the constitution - IMO - has become an exercise in political and personal ideology.
What upsets some about the ACLU is their ability to pick their spots with what they choose to do battle about. I believe the organization had its roots back in WWI under another name and I am too lazy to look it up. Had to do with war issues and Felix Frankfurter was a founder.
In the 20s and 30s they were all over the map as far as political and social philosophy was concerned with civil liberties always being the cornerstone. Made no difference as to ideology just if the case would be of individual or group infringements of personal rights. Selectivity has since become a trademark and IMO that seems to go along ideological lines. I have seen less of the willingness to defend the really outrageous extremist - especially from the right. They are - naturally - under no obligation to do so. IMO the ACLU is viewed by the mainstream as a far left organization and that has always been good for some political points for the Republicans. Didn’t Bush play off that in 1988?
Bozo - why are you posting on BB's blog? What happened to your usually high standards? Same with Suo. Didn't you two drive him nuts enough before.
I agree on the ACLU. Consider me one of those mainstream people who thinks they go out of their way now not for the quaility of an issue but to make waves. You'll see a lot less of it with Obama in office. Why pester a soul mate?
Bogo. Sox look OK. Still in first place but the Yankees are charging hard.
Read the McDevitt books you suggested. Great reads.
The ACLU needs to pick thier battles better..
"The ACLU has continued its fight to secularize every facet of American life by having a memorial which stood in that location since 1934 either removed or torn down," said Mark Seavey, assistant national legislative director for The American Legion, days ahead of Memorial Day.
Erected by World War I veterans to honor the nation's war dead, the seven-foot-tall memorial cross is currently being challenged for removal by the American Civil Liberties Union and Frank Buono, a former National Park Services employee who lives in Oregon. They filed a lawsuit in 2001, claiming the memorial is a religious symbol and violates the Establishment Clause.
The District Court and later the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the ACLU, ruling that the memorial is unconstitutional. The case will be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court this fall. In the meantime, the cross – which is located in the 1.6 million acre-Mojave National Preserve near the California-Nevada border and accessible when driving on a two-lane winding road – has been covered with a plywood box.
"If the plaintiff is so offended by the possibility of seeing that cross some day in the cemetery, I wonder if the plaintiff when next in Washington, D.C., will be offended when he drives by Arlington National Cemetery and sees headstones of hundreds of thousands of men and women who gave their lives for their country, headstones with a cross or a star of David," Sims posed.
Kelly Shackelford, chief counsel of Liberty Legal Institute, says tens of thousands of memorials across the country are threatened if the Supreme Court upholds the appeals court ruling.
Shackelford and veterans present at Thursday's press briefing made it clear that the Mojave Desert memorial was not erected as a religious symbol or with the intent of conveying a religious message. It, along with thousands of other war memorials, was simply put up to honor those who had spilled their blood and given their lives for their country.
Just drove by what's left of the urned out Church. Have to disagree with Jane Lopes assessment tat the building is salvageable. Way too much damage interiorly and exteriorly. Needs to be leveled and rebuilt, though I believe the steeple appears undamaged.
On another note, doubt enough interest in tonight's Town Meeting has been stirred up to meet a quorum. A rather ho-hum agenda.
Enetrprise article had the fire captian praising the new ladder truck as partially responsible for putting down this fire and keeping the damage from being total. I'd suggest some of the long time ladder critics ask the church members if the ladder expense was worth it.
LMAO
I post anywhere. Heck, BB obviously has no standards if he posts my comments. Just look for an interesting topic and The Green School and the ladder issue is an example. The ladder issued was tossed about over a year ago on the nemasket site with general disapproval of a new purchase. Now that can be commented upon and reflected upon. I like the way Hal has his board set up and would like to see more posters take advantage of it.
As far as posting my primary focus is not these foolish town, state and national issues but baseball. Now that is serious stuff!
I thought McKinnon's attempt to cut off citizen discussion --
( see Heckuva ---
considering his stance about the Gavel Queen and the BOS not letting residents have their say...
was quite hypocritical.
Wasn't Jessie holding his sign? She was the one that labeled Marsha "The Gavel Queen." Maybe she can comment? LOL! Maybe Steve wanted to get home and watch the Sox game?
Just a point, Hal. Does your view have anything to do with his politics? You did have a post on his yard signs.
Yes, as you can see in the thumbnail, Jessie did hold a McKinnon sign and did post about Marsha being the "gavel queen" (here).
I disagree big time with McKinnon's political views on immigration and don't like his sarcasm.
I also have had some disagreements with Adam Bond.
I complimented Adam in the same sidebar as I criticized McKinnon.
I don't think McKinnon's calling the question could be considered anything but hypocrisy.
True, his doing so left it up to a vote, and maybe he'll do some damage control and say this is all he was doing. If you were there waiting in line to have your say I think you'd resent having him ask if the majority wanted to "shut you up".
Anyone could have called the question and he's the one who decided to do so.
Press one for English.
BOGO,
I was at the limo lot yesterday I had a long wait for a flight, the drivers waiting room has about 50 seats tables and a tv, I brought my laptop to work and I was reading your blog and hit the "press 1 for english" I was surrounded by middle eastern men talking their native tounge LOL! "English is my language" comes blasting out, All eyes in the room turn to me LOL!
Whats that tv commercial "If I could only be somewhere else right now".
Its just not right! Who is feeding all these kids?
Desmond Hatchett, a 29 year old who lives in Knoxville, Tennessee, has fathered 20 (maybe 21) children with at least 11 different mothers.
The kids, who are between 11 months and 11 years old, require food, clothing, etc. which doesn't come cheap. That's a problem for their minimum-wage earning father.
When I heard it was a Latino Judge going to be nominated I first thought of Judge Perez! I watch a lot of day time tv.
Read why I think Adam Bond kicked off his campaign for BOS at Town Meeting.
Nice New Website
Very good Pro Casino website they just need a message board LOL!
Nice site Mike. May not agree with the objective but it looks fine. I'll post when a board is open. Look for the union label!
Why is this site suddenly starting to tank?? Because people don't laugh here anymore.
On the new pro-casino website - while well put together it lacks a straightforward explanation of which organizations are part of the coalition.
This is in contrast to Casino Free Mass (here), which clear lists the organizations that comprise the membership.
We presume organized labor has put this together, with or without other casino interests.
However, one way to judge a website is always to look at clarity and honesty in who exactly has published it.
"Why is this site suddenly starting to tank?? Because people don't laugh here anymore."
True. What is needed is MR or BB to do something stupid so we can have some fun. I think Bozo is off with his baseball sites all day.
Seems not much going on at any site.
One possible reason is because I have been busy and not picking apart BB's comments. Then again perhaps BB is not providing as much fun material. Probably a combination of the two.
Bogo seems a little less irreverant these days as well. Eveything in life has its ebbs and flows.
Well....I can add some humor. Get my brakes done - $600 and my daughter borrows my car - a Grand Prix. Says it was "acting funny." Yeah...like ha ha funny your tranny is gone. So just before a trip to California I get hit with 3K for a new one or 2K for a rebuilt. Looking at some trucks until I realize the sales tax and excise tax would probably pay for the tranny.
I think Suo and a few others are correct in not much doing. We need someone - anyone - to screw up so we can all go into a feeding frenzy.
I have been on a few baseball boards as the yankee fans are coming out of hiberantion now that their team is doing well. A few more losses and back into the closet for most of them.
May change my banner for a week or so to celebrate Green School.
You call that a clarken banner?
This is a banner.
Where, by the way, Bogo and I are having a discussion about whether or not Adam Bond can really take over town government in a year or two.
Bond no longer the stealth candidate...
you may not see him yet and radar will miss him, but you can bet he's got control of town government programmed into his JDAMs.
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