If one wants proof that as far as government is concerned that the light is on but nobody’s home, just look at the law that Congress passed that does away with Thomas Edison’s invention, the incandescent light bulb.
Oh yeah, it sounds good to do away with a light bulb that produces 90 percent heat and 10 percent light but the replacement bulb contains mercury (you know, the dangerous substance of banned thermometers of the past), and everyone I have talked to throws those light bulbs in the trash because they haven’t a clue as to where they can dispose of them.
But what doesn’t make any sense is government regulating our use of light bulbs when all one has to do is look at any government buildings (unless it’s a CIA safe house) with all the high-intensity spotlights burning thousands of watts of electricity every minute. I have a feeling that local, state and the federal budgets would be balanced if we could shut those lights off. The United States Postal Service is suffering with an $8 billion deficit and yet the outside lights on their buildings runs 24 hours a day until they burn out and someone forgets to replace them.
Speaking of burned-out bulbs, I would have never thought that politics in Windham and Washington would resemble each other but last week proved to me that is, in fact, the case. Would I have ever thought that President Obama (Democrat) is no different than Councilor Peter Busque (Republican)? True leaders do not leave a meeting in anger, they lead. Their sole function is to make Windham and America a better place in which to live and I have yet to see any proof that has occurred. As a matter of fact, all I have seen is those two posturing themselves to be in a better place personally or politically and that certainly is not in the best interest of taxpayers.
To me it doesn’t take long for elected officials to forget what they were elected to do. Just in case someone asks you, that’s the people’s business, not their personal business. Yet the president and the Windham town council vice chairman have stormed out of meetings. The only shame is that they will be back for the next one.
It’s also time for me to state that Windham needs a true economic development officer. After reading an article on how Belfast has improved its economic climate by attracting many new businesses, I now wonder why Windham continues to stagnate although it calls itself the gateway to the Lakes Region.
Economic development should not be dependent on spot zoning (which is actually illegal by state standards) and yet the Windham Town Council has allowed it. Our Economic Development Officer, Tom Bartell and Councilor Busque both agreed that our local access television station, Channel 7 on Time Warner Cable, should allow businesses to come and promote themselves to the general public. There’s only one problem there and neither of them understand how public access channels should operate and it’s more than obvious that one of them doesn’t care and the other doesn’t have a clue. I prefer to keep Channel 7 focused on town business and not about businesses in town. Let businesses advertise to keep the news media in business.
If one has watched council meetings in the past, you witnessed councilors like Busque, Scott Hayman and Peter Anania state very loudly that they are all for protecting our property rights. If you watched the last workshop where the sewer project was discussed, it becomes obvious that a very obnoxious term came up. That term is eminent domain. That’s where the government, or a quasi-government agency like Portland Water District seizes your property and gives you what it thinks it worth (wink, wink). So if you live along Route 302, Route 115 and Route 202 between the Windham High School and the rotary, I sincerely hope that you don’t lose some property.
Oh, and let’s not forget the rebuilding of Route 302 through the North Windham Business District where the road could be widened. Then remember what some town councilors stated about property rights or was it about their own property rights and not ours?
But then, this is the state where state employees appear to have priority in purchasing state property at a much lower price than what was advertised and no other bids were accepted. That leads me right back to light bulbs. Lights are on in Augusta and nobody’s home while Windham goes down the sewer. And in Windham, if one doesn’t get an answer from the lead clowns of the circus, what is one supposed to do?
Lane Hiltunen, of Windham, has noticed that when it comes to citizens’ questions, his town councilors suffer from a lack of DNA (do not answer).
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