One thing I have aways been able to do is to admit when I know diddly about a subject. Sometimes I just admit it to myself, but most often I do admit it to others. All part of the continuous self improvement trip I've been on for some time.
The latest issue I know little about is this thing with The Sturbridge Area Tourist Association and the revenue they collect to benefit ten area towns. Seems that only Sturbridge contributes to the fund with tax revenue from Sturbridge hotels and motels.
Why only us? I am sure 23 years ago, when this was first established, there was a specific reason. Maybe it was because Sturbridge has more hotel rooms than Worcester, is a tourist destination, and they could obtain more revenue than the other towns. Eventually, the other area towns would share in the tourist growth by using the funds to market the area, and then they could begin to contribute.
Just a theory.
Anyway, after 23 years, the Town of Sturbridge Finance Committee wants to establish a local board to oversee the funds.
Why exactly?
After 23 years have the funds not been used effectively? Could they be used better? Is oversight something that is needed due to funds being used inappropriately? And, why now? Of all the times in the past 23 years, why now, at America's worst financial times since the Great Depression?
These are serious questions. I really do not know, but would very much like to learn more. In order for me to make a good decision at Town Meeting, it would be best to know the reasons behind the push for this local board of overseers.
So, I am asking those on both sides of the issue to share their pro's and con's about this upcoming article on the Town Warrant. Not only to educate me, but to educate others in town as well.
I really like to know about a subject before I offer an opinion, or judgment.
Feel free to email me at aroundsturbridge@gmail.com and I will post your information in a separate posting.
Until then, I'll work on making up my uneducated answers in case I don't get a response.
Friday, April 3, 2009
RUMBLE!!!
OK, this space is for everyone that has those last few tremors of Cabin Fever to shake out of their system.
I should make it a prerequisite to donate to the Tables on the Common Fund before leaving a comment. If everyone is soooo pro-Sturbridge, then give a couple of bucks, and enjoy a cup of coffee some Sunday morning on the Common with the family
So, for this particular post, just pick up where you left off, and slam each other. Attack each other with a difference of opinion, or personality.
Maybe, after a bit, everyone will tire out, get it all out their system, act like grownups, and eat their vegetables.
For once, give peas a chance.
I should make it a prerequisite to donate to the Tables on the Common Fund before leaving a comment. If everyone is soooo pro-Sturbridge, then give a couple of bucks, and enjoy a cup of coffee some Sunday morning on the Common with the family
So, for this particular post, just pick up where you left off, and slam each other. Attack each other with a difference of opinion, or personality.
Maybe, after a bit, everyone will tire out, get it all out their system, act like grownups, and eat their vegetables.
For once, give peas a chance.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
"The Prisoner Of Casella"
Passed on to me in an email this morning.
"To the Editor:
I am hoping that this letter will keep the village of Southbridge from making a terrible mistake. I live one half mile from the Ontario County Landfill in Stanley, NY, which is leased by Casella Waste. Our dump receives 3,000 tons of municipal waste per day. It has turned my life into a living nightmare. Where once I could enjoy the outdoors sitting in my gazebo or working in my 10 flower gardens on three acres of beautiful land in the Finger Lakes, I am now virtually a prisoner in my own home because of the horrific odor emanating from the dump. I have even written a sonnet about it. I hope you enjoy it.
Sonnet to Casella
How do I hate thee? Let me count the ways.
I hate thee to the depth and breadth and height
Your dump can reach, when never out of sight,
For the vultures, crows and seagulls roosting,
For the smell of a million rotting cabbages, and
The sound of screeching machinery after midnight.
I hate thee for the indescribable odor of chemicals
And rotten eggs that bathe my senses day and
Night. I hate thee freely, as I strive to breathe.
I hate thee purely, as I swat the flies.
I hate thee with the passion that consumes my life
And with the breath, miles and tears of all my
Strife--and if God choose I shall but hate you
Better after death.
Katherine Bennett Roll"
"To the Editor:
I am hoping that this letter will keep the village of Southbridge from making a terrible mistake. I live one half mile from the Ontario County Landfill in Stanley, NY, which is leased by Casella Waste. Our dump receives 3,000 tons of municipal waste per day. It has turned my life into a living nightmare. Where once I could enjoy the outdoors sitting in my gazebo or working in my 10 flower gardens on three acres of beautiful land in the Finger Lakes, I am now virtually a prisoner in my own home because of the horrific odor emanating from the dump. I have even written a sonnet about it. I hope you enjoy it.
Sonnet to Casella
How do I hate thee? Let me count the ways.
I hate thee to the depth and breadth and height
Your dump can reach, when never out of sight,
For the vultures, crows and seagulls roosting,
For the smell of a million rotting cabbages, and
The sound of screeching machinery after midnight.
I hate thee for the indescribable odor of chemicals
And rotten eggs that bathe my senses day and
Night. I hate thee freely, as I strive to breathe.
I hate thee purely, as I swat the flies.
I hate thee with the passion that consumes my life
And with the breath, miles and tears of all my
Strife--and if God choose I shall but hate you
Better after death.
Katherine Bennett Roll"
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
"Marge, That Darn Mouse Is Back."
I am not quite sure when this photograph was taken. Probably in the mid 1960's to early 1970's. At one time "Cheese Houses" were everywhere there were tourists. The photograph is an old postcard, and although the card reads on the backside that it is the Cheese House in Sturbridge, it is hard to believe that the Sturbridge landscape once looked like this.Quite nice, actually. Except for the mouse.
"The ...Cheese House ... was part of the Cheese House chain which had 18 cheese-shaped locations in New England. Apparently, there are only these two buildings left. The stores were built in the late 1960s and early 1970s. They were constructed of wood with a cut-out wedge for the entrance and windows. They are 9' tall and 40' in diameter. In the late 1970s, the chain disbanded due to financial problems." Source.
If you have any old postcards, or photos of Sturbridge, and would like to share them here. Let me know.
It's easier to know where we're going if we know where we've been.
"Snatch The Marble From My Hand, Grasshopper"
If you stick a bunch of little marbles into a bag you end up with a big bag of marbles.
Brilliant. I wasted my time reading this you are asking yourself. No, you didn't. Sometimes the most obvious can be broken down into the simplest of forms. Take for instance building a stone wall. One stone just doesn't cut it, but if you get a lot of them, pile them on top of each other in a line, and about so high, you get a wall. Depending on ones skill it can be a good looking, functional wall, or just ruble in line. Either way, it is still a wall, and no longer just a stone.
I don't mean to sound like the screen writer for "Karate Kid", but this is a basic premise of most everything we do. Now, take the above analogy a step further. If we each did something small, doesn't matter how small, for a common goal, then the sum of all those little steps would result in moving closer to that goal, and eventually obtaining it.
I know. A bit too heavy for your morning coffee, but bare with me.
This week I took one of those little steps. Actually, a baby step. I made a decision to undertake a simple project for the betterment of our town. I figure I can't just sit back, and let my fingers fly around the keyboard, and call it a day. I need to be proactive. I need to be an example of what one can do. This is a switch since most of my life I have been the poster child for just what not to do.
It is a very small step, but this is the way one learns, and eventually, I'll pick up speed. It won't take me away from other things in my life, it won't compromise my work, or home life. So, it was pretty much a no brainer to stand up, wobble a bit, and then take that step.
Now, how does this relate to you? Well, it may or may not, depending on where your head is at at the moment, but if your head is open, then it may serve as an example of what a little effort, a little time can do for a greater good. Sounds Woodstockian, or Earth Day-ish, I know, but it is a truth that has been around for a few Milena.
This is how it works: I see others giving of themselves to a cause, and they are happy, and nothing bad has happened to them as a result of their spending that extra energy. So, after a bit, I feel I can something , too. Someone else sees that I haven't exploded because of my actions, and they feel they can do a little something, too. And, so on, and so on.
Little marbles filling the bag.
Little things like volunteering at the library to read to the kids on a regular basis. Volunteering at the Senior Center, or in the class room, donating flowers for the flower pots that decorate our towns roads during the spring and summer, helping to clean up the Common after an event, assisting a neighbor paint their porch, dropping off a case of Huggies, or formula to the new mom down the road. These are all small steps, but together they move us toward a common goal: a happier existence, and a better place to call home.
OK, I'll step down from my pulpit. I don't have to preach to the choir. There are many here in town that give both their time and money to a variety of causes, I just want to acknowledge them, for they inspired me, and hopefully, I will inspire others.
Today, I am hoping that some of you out there will take that little step. I know we can do it. I know we can make our home town a better place without having to rely on board meetings, votes, and agendas to set the pace.
Face it, most politicians have lost their marbles, and we still have ours. It's time to start filling the bag.
Brilliant. I wasted my time reading this you are asking yourself. No, you didn't. Sometimes the most obvious can be broken down into the simplest of forms. Take for instance building a stone wall. One stone just doesn't cut it, but if you get a lot of them, pile them on top of each other in a line, and about so high, you get a wall. Depending on ones skill it can be a good looking, functional wall, or just ruble in line. Either way, it is still a wall, and no longer just a stone.
I don't mean to sound like the screen writer for "Karate Kid", but this is a basic premise of most everything we do. Now, take the above analogy a step further. If we each did something small, doesn't matter how small, for a common goal, then the sum of all those little steps would result in moving closer to that goal, and eventually obtaining it.
I know. A bit too heavy for your morning coffee, but bare with me.
This week I took one of those little steps. Actually, a baby step. I made a decision to undertake a simple project for the betterment of our town. I figure I can't just sit back, and let my fingers fly around the keyboard, and call it a day. I need to be proactive. I need to be an example of what one can do. This is a switch since most of my life I have been the poster child for just what not to do.
It is a very small step, but this is the way one learns, and eventually, I'll pick up speed. It won't take me away from other things in my life, it won't compromise my work, or home life. So, it was pretty much a no brainer to stand up, wobble a bit, and then take that step.
Now, how does this relate to you? Well, it may or may not, depending on where your head is at at the moment, but if your head is open, then it may serve as an example of what a little effort, a little time can do for a greater good. Sounds Woodstockian, or Earth Day-ish, I know, but it is a truth that has been around for a few Milena.
This is how it works: I see others giving of themselves to a cause, and they are happy, and nothing bad has happened to them as a result of their spending that extra energy. So, after a bit, I feel I can something , too. Someone else sees that I haven't exploded because of my actions, and they feel they can do a little something, too. And, so on, and so on.
Little marbles filling the bag.
Little things like volunteering at the library to read to the kids on a regular basis. Volunteering at the Senior Center, or in the class room, donating flowers for the flower pots that decorate our towns roads during the spring and summer, helping to clean up the Common after an event, assisting a neighbor paint their porch, dropping off a case of Huggies, or formula to the new mom down the road. These are all small steps, but together they move us toward a common goal: a happier existence, and a better place to call home.
OK, I'll step down from my pulpit. I don't have to preach to the choir. There are many here in town that give both their time and money to a variety of causes, I just want to acknowledge them, for they inspired me, and hopefully, I will inspire others.
Today, I am hoping that some of you out there will take that little step. I know we can do it. I know we can make our home town a better place without having to rely on board meetings, votes, and agendas to set the pace.
Face it, most politicians have lost their marbles, and we still have ours. It's time to start filling the bag.
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