Constitution in Cheshire

I got a chance to do my "real" council job tonight (lol).

The Boy Scouts needed to meet with an "elected official," so one scout (David Dickinson) asked me to attend his troop meeting and discuss two general topics: our constitutional rights as citizens and community activism. I hadn't prepared anything, so I jumped right into it and started asking questions of the scouts.

We quickly found the crossroads of the Constitution and community involvement in one general topic... the right of students to petition. They told me a number of stories in which they circulated petitions among the students, yet they felt they were ignored by the administration. And while I told them that I was uncertain about supporting some of their grievances, there were some that seemed quite concerning. But rather than injecting myself into the schools, I suggested they do two things: 1) tell their parents (rather disappointing to me... when I asked if they had told their parents, several of them seemed puzzled by the question and said "no" in disbelief that I would even ask that question. Although that's nothing new.) and 2) write a letter to the editor.

And there I stumbled onto the juncture of Constitutional rights ("Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech... or the right of the people... to petition the government for a redress of grievances") and community activism (school bus schedules!). Special thanks to Mark Dickinson, Jim Kirby, Art Lavorgna and everyone else in Troop 1, especially the scouts... for having me.

Separately, my dad told me this evening that Tom Ruocco will be the headliner at Dodd Middle School on Liberty Day this year (former featured "performers" include Mayor Matt Hall and unannounced Presidential candidate Tim White). Liberty Day is an event that's been sponsored by the Lions and organized by my dad for several years now. The basic idea is to have an elected official speak to 8th grade US history students on the constitution and America... similar to what I did with the Scouts tonight.

Tim White
Town Council, 4th District