Open forum 4/26

The Human Services Committee held the Alcohol Awareness Forum tonight. I attended the beginning of the event before having to leave. Anybody watch it on TV? I'm sure it will be rebroadcast.... I found the comments of the first participant (a girl from CHS, but didn't catch her name) to be surprisingly honest, if disappointing... finally, here's an image of the front and back of a business card that was being handed out:

As you can probably surmise, the Sam Spady Foundation has a mission of stopping underage drinking.

This Sunday, Chris Murphy will participate in an Earth Day hike in Cheshire with members of the Connecticut chapter of the Sierra Club... no word on where.

And the '08 Congressional races are already heating up. State Senator Dave Cappiello, 38, is planning to challenge Murphy, 33, for the CT-5 (Danbury News Times). My take right now is that I have yet to notice Murphy doing anything of particular concern to me... good or bad, although he is getting around the district. As for Sen. Cappiello, I don't know much about him at all... although coincidentally, I saw him on CT-N recently speaking about CTs financial woes (as an accountant, I'll say our state is not forthcoming with the serious nature of our financial troubles) and felt he made the case very well. I think we need more of that in both Washington and Hartford.

I got a letter from Gov. Rell today. She was advocating her 3% property tax proposal... I found it a bit ironic that she was asking me to support it... but appreciated the request nonetheless.

Back to Presidential blogging... I haven't heard back from any Dem candidates yet. And for Rs, it's been Newt, Gilmore, Tommy (not Fred) Thompson and my man, Congressman Ron Paul, M.D.! Seriously, whether you're a D or R, if you watch the upcoming Republican debate, give him a chance. I've never seen him debate, but if you've never really heard much about him, then I'm certain that he'll surprise you.

Here's the Herald's take on the fund balance meeting (by Leslie Hutchison) from Tuesday night.

Another person asked me about the pool consultant report today... nothing yet.

With Seymour's turf having been rejected at referendum, the town has an alternative. $33,000 to buy an "aerator" machine and $5,000/yr in annual operating supplies. Together, they'll be used to improve all town fields.

Hopefully, telecommuting will begin to pick up some steam.

This Sunday morning there will be a pancake breakfast fundraiser at the Masonic Temple. Proceeds will go to a variety of charitable causes.

As always, if you're interested in writing something, I'd be happy to publish guest posts here... coming up with user-generated content can be time-consuming. So I appreciate it when others offer well-written, thoughtful posts. And I think others appreciate it, as well.

With Memorial Day fast approaching, don't forget you have the opportunity to help bring the Vietnam Memorial Wall to Cheshire. Email Ralph Zingarella at RZingarella@CheshireCT.org.

What else is happening?

Tim White
Town Council, 4th District