Happenings in the Sunday papers:
Cape Cod times profiles a “Katrina family” who have resettled in Provincetown
Quincy straight man claims sex bias; Company would give benefits to partner if he were gay, but he lives with a woman
Globe does nice investigation of predatory mortgage brokers
In the Berkshires, “Tensions run high at meeting.” Sounds like BMG. Don’t bother to click. As the kiddos say, it’s the “most boringest” tension I’ve ever read.
Sub teacher crisis in Worcester.
GGW Bonus commentary: Not enough subs. Gee, I wonder why.
Tesia Wheeler, a sixth-grader at City View School, gave this description of her classmates behavior last year at Harlow Street School when there was a substitute: They were all rude to the substitute. They wrote on the board, they swore at each other, she said. My substitute just read a book and sat at the teachers desk.
Luckily, MA has the “2nd or 3rd best schools in the world!”. So: not to worry!
Adams is a tough town for local politics, and there are many old stories behind the “tension” story in that link. The good news is that the Town takes pride in its relatively new town hall, being at the center of the Ashuwillticook bike path, and the downtown revival sparked by revival of an old theater, now called the Topia Arts Center. There is a statue of William McKinley prominently displayed on the main street – a BMG pat on the back to anyone who can track down the reason for its presence in this great little town.
According to Berkshire.com, the statute of McKinley was commissioned to honor him for his visits to Adams and for his economic policies which helped Adams to prosper.
Yup, he was a friend of the Plunkett family (also mentioned in the link) and they saw eye-to-eye on how to protect the textile industry.
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I love oddball history!
A better example – also in today’s Cape Cod Times – is the Wooten family, now settled in Plymouth after living at Cape Edwards right after Katrina.
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Both have survived a New England winter and Yankee reserve, and are now trying to bring their adult daughters to Cape Cod as well, from crime and rape ridded New Orleans – per Parick Wooten, who says his daughters are in danger there.
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These are the black folks that Ray ‘Dieu et Mon Droit’ Nagin says are obliged to return to N’Awlins, but they’re never going back, and they’re helping others to get out.
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Story HERE – http://www.capecodon…
Peter P, they may never go back, but their kiddos might:
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The tensions may seem “boring,” but some of the details about the discussion indicate there may be a lack of understanding by some of the Adams Select Board members about the Massachusetts Open Meeting Law and/or the Massachusetts Public Records Law, something that happens far too often in local communities.
There are some very dedicated elected officials in Adams who perform thankless tasks on a daily basis. I believe that most of the officials in the town are familiar with the laws you cite, but your observation is very interesting.
Sorry, I did not mean to imply that the elected officials in Adams, or elsewhere, are intentionally breaking the two laws, or that they do not care about following the laws. (And I think people who serve at the local level should be commended for their service which comes with no or very little compensation.) However, even though officials are familiar with the Open Meeting Law and the Public Records Law, some officials do not have a good understanding of these two very important laws. Although I do not know for sure, I think there may not be sufficient training provided to public officials. (In fact, is there any training available?) Maybe John Bonifaz can fix that when he becomes Secretary of State.
Instead of using the doubel standard for gays to attack gay marriage people should instead use this to support the idea of extending benefits to all couples who seek them.
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More importantly this wouldnt happen if the government lifted the burden of healthcare off of buisness and instead funded universal healthcare.