Many notorious personalities throughout history believe rules don't apply to them. They either change the rules if possible or simply ignore them and consequence. To the victor go the soils and of course history is often twisted and re-purposed from time to time, to fit circumstance benefiting a desired out come. The process has unintended consequences with benefits befitting a novel written by Stephen King. But only in a King novel do these consequence and benefit become preordained in some twisted and planned manner to entertain the reader, a laudable goal with economic benefit flowing to the author.
Contrary to the well thought out King novel, New Fairfield Senior Center will not stand the test of time. Why not, you ask. It has to do with one small man's myopic vision of the future in a bedroom community defined by a traffic light at the intersection of two state roads. A community more defined by tradition and volunteerism summed up in the old New England motto of "live and let live" with an out stretched hand ready to assist those in need. Special interest in this community has always been defined not by the reward being offered, rather by the individual satisfaction of knowing a need is being filled by those many out stretched hands ready to assist. A local politician has "poisoned the well of trust and good intentions" by redefining in his myopic vision - volunteerism. This politician pits special interest against special interest such that the heritage of civility and caring has been subverted into an blood sport. A Town Meeting is now considered a "special interest" meeting and is attended by those with a beneficial interest in the outcome of the particular issue at hand. The attendance at a Town Meeting is poor, maligned and not representative of a population of 15,000 residents. Cost and expediency, of a Town Meeting as opposed to a Referendum, with a guarantee result are but a few of the hues and cries coupled with the deceptive rhetoric we read and hear by the local Citizen News columnists. That's because the 'politician' is totally oblivious to the fact that our larger economy supporting our bedroom community is on life support and any new tax revenue created from an expanded tax base is on a morphine drip.
The results of these Town Meetings and alleged innuendo, like a Stephen King novel always end the same twisted way. Those that can move, those that can't suffer in abject silence on a saline drip muttering between medication doses. Who are the real losers? No one in particular but as the social fabric thins everyone and especially the New England tradition and heritage of extending the hand in trust and assistance, a tradition of generations. A further lost in unintended consequence is "confidence" in the political system operating under the Connecticut General Statutes ... would a Town Charter be any different or better?
Stay tuned to a full disclosure of the semantic and syntax of resolutions and the "Annual Hosing of the Taxpayer" ...
