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Friday, September 30, 2016

It’s in the water: The debate over fluoridation lives on in California and nationwide

It’s in the water: The debate over fluoridation lives on in California and nationwide 

 
Source: CaliforniaHealthline | September 28th, 2016 | By Zhai Yun Tan and Ana B. Ibarra
Note from Fluoride Action Network: While the following article was first published on September 23 in USA today and rerun in several publications across the country, there’s a focus on California in this version that wasn’t in the original. There are also deletions and rewording of some paragraphs from the original. In the middle of this story there’s a note that states, “This KHN story also ran in USA Today. It can be republished for free (details).”

Many people take for granted the addition of fluoride into public drinking water systems that aims to prevent tooth decay.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers it to be one of the 10 top public health achievements of the 20th century and it is backed by the American Dental Association and the World Health Organization.

But fluoridation is not nearly as universally accepted and practiced as one might think – often because of public perceptions that it is harmful, not cost-effective or no longer necessary.

At least seven cities or towns across the country debated the issue just this summer.

In Healdsburg, Calif., voters will revisit a ballot question in November regarding whether to stop adding the mineral to the water supply. In fact, Healdsburg is the only city in Sonoma County that currently adds fluoride to its water. The city of about 11,000 people has done so since the 1950s, according to city clerk Maria Curial.

This KHN story also ran in USA Today. It can be republished for free (details).

The Healdsburg ballot measure would require that a toxicological report confirm the safety of fluoridating chemicals used in the city’s water. But examining every batch of these chemicals is not realistic, Curiel said, and the measure ultimately would force the city to stop fluoridation.

California law requires water systems with 10,000 or more service connections to fluoridate water. But suppliers must find their own funding to fluoridate, so it doesn’t always happen right away.
San Jose, with a population of more than 1 million, is the largest metropolitan city in the country that does not fluoridate its water. The Santa Clara Valley Water District, which provides the city’s water, will only begin delivering fluoridated water in some areas this coming December, after many years of debate and four years after district officials first voted to go ahead. The district has since been raising money and retrofitting water plants to prepare for the change.

Dr. Sara Cody, the Santa Clara County public health director, explained that cities in the county receive their water from different sources, and while neighboring cities have fluoridated water, San Jose has been the exception.

Communities such as East San Jose, a traditionally low-income neighborhood, tend to have worse health outcomes, Cody said. Those are the communities that would benefit most from community fluoridation, she said. “If everyone had access to regular dental care, that would be great, but that’s not the world we live in,” Cody said.

“There has always been periodic discussion,” said Steven Levy, a dentistry professor at the University of Iowa. Levy is involved in an Iowa-based longitudinal study that tracks fluoride intake and its effects on children’s bones. “We are seeing more challenges now because of the communication explosion with the internet.”

The debate over fluoridation started well before 1945 when Grand Rapids, Mich., became the first U.S. city to add fluoride to its water supply. In the decades since, opposition usually has stemmed from concerns that fluoride intake by children lowers IQs, creates higher rates of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and can lead to toxicity.

Although fluoridation has become a fairly common practice, with about 74 percent of the population receiving fluoridated water from community water systems, the intervention continues to raise grassroots concerns. These arguments range from casting fluoride as unnecessary and ineffective to portraying the mineral as “mass medication” and a “damaging environmental pollutant.”

“Fluoridation is not safe or cost-effective,” said Bill Osmunson, director of the Fluoride Action Network, a national organization against fluoridation of water supplies, adding that people should be given the freedom to decide so they can avoid ingesting excess fluoride.

Report details how Hubbardston tax collector allegedly stole $500K

  Report details how Hubbardston tax collector allegedly stole $500K
HUBBARDSTON – On the day Cynthia Washburn-Doane appeared in Worcester Superior Court on embezzlement charges, officials released a review detailing how the former tax collector allegedly stole more than $500,000 from the town over a decade.

Ms. Washburn-Doane's appearance in court was brief and no action was taken. She is due to return to court on Oct. 25.

The 2014 independent review, compiled for the town in October 2014, was released to the public Tuesday to fulfill a public records request by The Gardner News. The report, written by certified public accountant Eric A. Kinsherf, laid out the embezzlement scheme in detail.

The report found that Ms. Washburn-Doane would take property owners' cash payments for herself, and the accounts for which the payments were intended would not reflect any payment made.
In the next quarter’s tax bills, she would then adjust the accounts for the payments she stole, to prevent those accounts from becoming delinquent. She would apply cash payments from other taxpayers to the delinquent accounts, so they would appear paid and up-to-date. In some cases, she applied fake payments in “dummy batches” that she later deleted from the town’s accounting software, leaving no record of the transactions. She told town officials that she kept a separate, accurate list of taxpayers in 2013 who were behind in paying their tax bills, so only those who were delinquent actually saw their properties move into tax title, the report said.

Misappropriated cash and checks were applied to bring accounts current at the end of each year, the report said.

“Had the former tax collector’s scheme continued undiscovered, the former tax collector would have needed to misappropriate and misapply this sum of $540,000 against those accounts for which tax payments were received, but not posted,” the report said. “This is the amount that the former tax collector admitted to stealing from the town.

Thursday, September 29, 2016

4 States Sue To Block Obama's Internet Transition Set For Tomorrow Night

4 States Sue To Block Obama's Internet Transition Set For Tomorrow Night

Tyler Durden's picture
The US government, much to the chagrin of Senator Ted Cruz, is set to officially relinquish the Department of Commerce's oversight of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) as of tomorrow night at midnight.  ICANN is a California nonprofit that has supervised website domains since 1998, essentially under subcontract from the Commerce Department. Under the Obama transition plan oversight by the U.S. Commerce Department would end and be replaced by a multi-stakeholder community, which would include the technical community, businesses, civil society and governments.
Cruz had attempted to block the internet transition by tying the recently passed funding bill to the reversal of the ICANN turnover.  That said, apparently his harsh admonishments on the Senate floor failed to draw enough support from his fellow republicans to force a government shutdown over the topic. 
“In 22 short days, if Congress fails to act, the Obama administration intends to give away control of the Internet to an international body akin to the United Nations,” Sen. Cruz said. “I rise today to discuss the significant, irreparable damage this proposed Internet giveaway could wreak not only on our nation, but on free speech across the world.”

“The Obama administration is instead pushing through a radical proposal to take control of Internet domain names and instead give it to an international organization, ICANN, that includes 162 foreign countries. And if that proposal goes through, it will empower countries like Russia, like China, like Iran to be able to censor speech on the Internet, your speech. Countries like China, Russia, and Iran are not our friends, and their interests are not our interests.

“Imagine searching the Internet and instead of seeing your standard search results, you see a disclaimer that the information you were searching for is censored. It is not consistent with the standards of this new international body, it does not meet their approval. Now, if you’re in China, that situation could well come with the threat of arrest for daring to merely search for such a thing that didn’t meet the approval of the censors. Thankfully, that doesn’t happen in America, but giving control of the Internet to an international body with Russia, and China, and Iran having power over it could lead to precisely that threat, and it’s going to take Congress acting affirmatively to stop it.
ICANN

Supporters of the plan counter that critics' harsh rhetoric fails to recognize that ICANN will be turned over to management by an independent board with representation from all over the world with no single body holding undue influence over decisions.  According to Yahoo, the transition has drawn support from Google and several democrat senators who commented to TechCrunch that "the internet belongs to the world, not to Ted Cruz."
"The transition will further strengthen the internet as a stable, resilient and secure tool for empowering billions of people across the globe for decades to come."

Google senior vice president Kent Walker also endorsed the shift, saying it would "fulfill a promise the United States made almost two decades ago: that the internet could and should be governed by everyone with a stake in its continued growth."

"The internet belongs to the world, not to Ted Cruz," Senators Brian Schatz and Chris Coons, and Representatives Anna Eshoo, Doris Matsui, Frank Pallone and Mike Doyle said in an article for the TechCrunch news site.

"If the Republicans successfully delay the transition, America's enemies are sure to pounce. Russia and its allies could push to shift control of the internet's core functions to a government body like the UN where they have more influence."
But, in a last ditch effort to block the transition, 4 state attorneys general from Arizona, Oklahoma, Nevada and Texas, have filed a lawsuit in a Texas federal court alleging that the transition, in the absence of congressional approval, amounts to an illegal forfeiture of U.S. government property.  According to Politico, the lawsuit also expresses concern that the reorganized ICANN would be so unchecked that it could “effectively enable or prohibit speech on the Internet.”  

Use your camera first, ...

Special Town Meeting Warrant is Posted!




Senate passes bill to avert government shutdown after Flint deal struck

Senate passes bill to avert government shutdown after Flint deal struck


The Senate cemented an agreement Wednesday to avoid an Oct. 1 government shutdown after House Republicans allowed a vote on federal aid to address the water crisis in Flint, Mich., removing a major obstacle in negotiations.

Senators voted 72-15 to pass a stopgap measure that will keep the government open until Dec. 9, giving appropriators time to pass 2017 spending bills. The measure also provides $1.1 billion in funds to address the Zika virus and $500 million in emergency flood relief.

Both the Zika and flood funding were subject to long and painstaking negotiations between majority Republicans and minority Democrats, but it was funding for Flint that threatened to push matters past the brink.

Democrats made clear earlier this week they would not support the spending bill unless Republicans moved to guarantee Flint aid, while GOP leaders countered the Senate had approved Flint aid earlier this month in a separate water projects bill.

The impasse was broken late Tuesday after House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) struck a deal allowing a vote to attach $170 million in Flint relief to the House version of the water bill. That bill is expected to pass late Wednesday; the stopgap spending measure is expected to pass shortly afterward.

Ryan, addressing the Economic Club of Washington Wednesday morning, said the amendment would “help unlock” the spending bill. “We should be able to move this through, I believe, before Friday,” he said.

By Wednesday morning, Senate Democrats were satisfied that, thanks to the House deal, Flint would be addressed once Congress returns after the Nov. 8 election.

“I am convinced that there is going to be help for Flint in the lame duck,” Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said on the Senate floor. “They’ve been waiting for help, they deserve help, and I am very happy it is going to come.”

Wednesday’s Senate votes capped weeks of frustration for Republicans, who complained that Democrats had engaged in bad-faith spending negotiations aimed at keeping vulnerable GOP incumbents in Washington rather than on the campaign trail.


“It’s almost as if a few Democratic leaders decided long ago that bringing our country to the brink would make for good election-year politics, and then they’ve just made up the rationale as they go along,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday.

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Congress overrides Obama’s veto of 9/11 bill

Congress overrides Obama’s veto of 9/11 bill

Congress on Wednesday voted overwhelmingly to override President Obama’s veto of legislation that would allow 9/11 victims’ families to sue the Saudi Arabian government over its alleged support for the terrorists who carried out the attacks.

It is the first override of Obama’s presidency.

The votes in the House and Senate amounted to a sweeping, bipartisan rejection of pleas from the White House to back the president, with administration officials arguing the legislation poses a national security threat by exposing U.S. officials to similar lawsuits abroad.

“Overriding a presidential veto is something we don’t take lightly, but it was important in this case that the families of the victims of 9/11 be allowed to pursue justice, even if that pursuit causes some diplomatic discomforts,” Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), who co-authored the bill with Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.), said in a statement.

Some members of Congress in recent days expressed misgivings about the bill and signaled a willingness consider changes, but that angst did little to alter the vote tallies in either chamber.
Traveling aboard Air Force One Wednesday, White House press secretary Josh Earnest called the vote “the single most embarrassing thing the United States Senate has done possibly since 1983,” when Congress overwhelmingly voted to override President Reagan’s veto of an Oregon land transfer bill.

“Ultimately these senators are going to have to answer their own conscience and their constituents as they account for their actions today,” Earnest said, noting that at least one GOP senator said some of his colleagues had failed to read the bill before voting on it initially. “To have members of the United States Senate only recently informed of the negative impact of this bill on our service members and our diplomats is in itself embarrassing.”

The Senate vote was 97 to 1 and the House tally was 348 to 77.

The bill would allow courts to waive claims to foreign sovereign immunity in situations involving acts of terrorism on U.S. soil.

Obama’s Democratic allies on Capitol Hill provided scant support for the president’s position with Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) casting the lone vote to sustain the veto after receiving a letter from the president arguing the consequences of an override could be “devastating.”

In the letter, which Obama sent Tuesday to both Reid and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the president said that he was “fully committed to assisting the families of the victims of terrorist attacks of Sept. 11″ but the legislation would put military and other U.S. officials overseas at risk. The bill’s enactment, he warned, “would neither protect Americans from terrorist attacks nor improve the effectiveness of of our response to such attacks.”

Reid voted against the override despite telling reporters earlier this month that “I support that legislation” and Schumer’s efforts.

“He’s always had the president’s back,” said Reid spokesman Adam Jentleson.

McConnell spokesman Don Stewart said the president called the majority leader after the override vote was scheduled, but neither the conservation nor the letter did anything to change his mind.

In the House, 59 Democrats and 18 Republicans voted to back the president’s position.

Who Needs Cyberbullying,



When Bullying Will Do 



Templeton Planning Board Hearing 9/13/16

Forever in your DEBT...deja vu

Forever in your DEBT

Selectman Morrison asked a really good question at last night's selectmen's meeting during dicussion about the USDA loan resolution for the Pleasant St. Pump station. 

"With all of the projects Templeton has have we reached the debt ceiling yet?" 

That's a really good question! 

 
The chart above is from a DLS bulletin that contained a link to Equalized Values throughout the Commonwealth.

Based on 2014 data, 5% of the EQV=$28,574,135. If a community wants to incur more debt - up to 10% then that community(through its Board of Selectmen) would need to ask for permission from the Municipal Finance Oversight Board.

Here is form to apply for approval to borrow over 5% of EQV-

 Looks like the school project will put Templeton "over the limit" . Might want to work on getting that bond rating back ASAP! Just a thought.
 

Let the Public Know The Truth About Social Security

Let the Public Know The Truth About Social Security

During the past three decades, the American people have been kept in the dark about the true status of the Social Security program. Politicians from both political parties give out false and conflicting information on a regular basis, and nobody knows who to believe.

The basic, indisputable fact is that the Social Security Amendments of 1983 included a hefty hike in the payroll tax rate which was designed to generate large surpluses for the next 30 years.  Over the period from 1983, when the higher taxes were initiated, until 2010 when the annual surpluses came to an end, a total of $2.7 trillion in surplus Social Security revenue was accumulated.  This money belonged to Social Security, and to nobody else.  This money was supposed to be invested in “good-as-gold”, marketable U.S. Treasury bonds which would be held by the trust fund until the baby boomers began to retire, but that did not happen.  .

When the surplus revenue began flowing in, it was like manna from Heaven. It would be 30 years before any of this new money would actually be needed to pay Social Security benefits.  If the intent of the Social Security Amendments of 1983 had been followed, the money would have been invested in marketable U.S. Treasury bonds which would have been held in the trust fund until it was needed to pay benefits.  But greedy politicians, from both political parties, began to devour the surplus Social Security money as soon as it became available.  Some of the Social Security money helped to fund the large, unaffordable Reagan and Bush-43 income tax cuts.  Some of the money went to the Pentagon, and some of it was used as a giant slush fund for Congress.  Every dime of the $2.7 trillion in surplus Social Security revenue was spent for non-Social Security purposes. The money is gone. The only thing left is the government IOUs, in the amount of $2.7 trillion which are held by the trust fund., But they are just worthless pieces of paper, which are stored in a fireproof file cabinet which is located in a Federal Government building in Parkersburg, West Virginia.

Every member of Congress knows that the trust fund is empty, and most of them participated in emptying it. But the truth about the trust fund has been kept from the general public for the past 30 years.  Every dollar of the $2.7 trillion in surplus revenue generated by the 1983 payroll tax hike was embezzled by the government and transferred to the general fund.  As the government spent the Social Security surplus money, the actual money was replaced with IOUs, which the government calls “special issues of the Treasury.” The public has been led to believe that the IOUs are real bonds, just like the marketable Treasury bonds held by China, and our other creditors. But the IOUs are not at all like the marketable Treasury bonds. They cannot be sold or used to pay benefits. They represent only an accounting record of how much Social Security money has been spent on other things.

Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Gravel Permit Maybe?

Gravel Permit Maybe?
One agenda item for the Planning Board meeting tonight :

 " 6:31 Brian Szoc, ANR for BC Richard Sand and Gravel"

As reported in the past on this blog, there is a large gravel operation near the Gardner Airport (located in Templeton).

 Maybe like the tree on the Tucker Building this issue will be resolved?

Veteran Homestead 9.29.16











Monday, September 26, 2016

Shedding Some Light?

Inspector general requests numerous Holyoke Gas & Electric records; city says similar inquiries taking place at 'all' municipal light departments in state
  on September 15, 2016 at 3:30 PM, updated September 15, 2016 at 3:36 PM
 
HOLYOKE — A probe by the state inspector general of Holyoke Gas & Electric that began six weeks ago, according to the HG&E, targets not just them, but "all" municipal light departments in Massachusetts.

The office of the inspector general was created in 1981 with a mandate to "prevent and detect fraud, waste and abuse in the expenditure of public funds," according to the agency's website.

"The office conducts investigations, intervenes in situations before fraud and waste occurs, disseminates lessons and best practices, and builds the capacity of public officials by providing technical training and assistance," the website states.

Back in April, the IG began reviewing South Hadley Electric Light Department documents prompted by concerns that former SHELD manager Wayne Doerpholz felt he was entitled to collect nearly $500,000 in accrued leave from the agency. 

A letter Inspector General Glenn A. Cunha made public June 1 said Doerpholz had "exceeded his authority and violated his duties to the board and the ratepayers." The agency determined that the ex-SHELD manager was owed only about $15,000. Doerpholz's employment ended on May 31.

Holyoke Gas & Electric on Tuesday provided The Republican with a letter it received from the IG dated July 28. In it, the IG requested numerous documents and communications that include any payouts to employees exceeding $5,000 in the past six years, department operations and personnel policies, accrued leave balances of employees, collective bargaining agreements with staff, and the three most recent audited financial statements.

Contacted on Tuesday, a spokesman for the IG said the agency does not confirm or deny whether it is conducting an investigation and declined to comment.

“Concealment, alteration, destruction or mutilation of any responsive document may constitute a criminal violation." 

Dilbert Creator Scott Adams Explains Why He Switched His Endorsement To Trump

Dilbert Creator Scott Adams Explains Why He Switched His Endorsement To Trump



Tyler Durden's picture
Authored by Dilbert Creator Scott Adams via Dilbert.com,
As most of you know, I had been endorsing Hillary Clinton for president, for my personal safety, because I live in California. It isn’t safe to be a Trump supporter where I live. And it’s bad for business too. But recently I switched my endorsement to Trump, and I owe you an explanation. So here it goes...
1. Things I Don’t Know: There are many things I don’t know. For example, I don’t know the best way to defeat ISIS. Neither do you. I don’t know the best way to negotiate trade policies. Neither do you. I don’t know the best tax policy to lift all boats. Neither do you. My opinion on abortion is that men should follow the lead of women on that topic because doing so produces the most credible laws. So on most political topics, I don’t know enough to make a decision. Neither do you, but you probably think you do.

Given the uncertainty about each candidate – at least in my own mind – I have been saying I am not smart enough to know who would be the best president. That neutrality changed when Clinton proposed raising estate taxes. I understand that issue and I view it as robbery by government.

Read more here...

2. Confiscation of Property: Clinton proposed a new top Estate Tax of 65% on people with net worth over $500 million. Her website goes to great length to obscure the actual policy details, including the fact that taxes would increase on lower value estates as well. See the total lack of transparency here, where the text simply refers to going back to 2009 rates. It is clear that the intent of the page is to mislead, not inform.

So don’t fall for the claim that Clinton has plenty of policy details on her website. She does, but it is organized to mislead, not to inform. That’s far worse than having no details.

The bottom line is that under Clinton’s plan, estate taxes would be higher for anyone with estates over $5 million(ish). I call this a confiscation tax because income taxes have already been paid on this money. In my case, a dollar I earn today will be taxed at about 50% by various government entities, collectively. With Clinton’s plan, my remaining 50 cents will be taxed again at 50% when I die. So the government would take 75% of my earnings from now on.

Yes, I can do clever things with trusts to avoid estate taxes. But that is just welfare for lawyers. If the impact of the estate tax is nothing but higher fees for my attorney, and hassle for me, that isn’t good news either.

You can argue whether an estate tax is fair or unfair, but fairness is an argument for idiots and children. Fairness isn’t an objective quality of the universe. I oppose the estate tax because I was born to modest means and worked 7-days a week for most of my life to be in my current position. (I’m working today, Sunday, as per usual.) And I don’t want to give 75% of my earnings to the government. (Would you?)

3. Party or Wake: It seems to me that Trump supporters are planning for the world’s biggest party on election night whereas Clinton supporters seem to be preparing for a funeral. I want to be invited to the event that doesn’t involve crying and moving to Canada. (This issue isn’t my biggest reason.)

4. Clinton’s Health: To my untrained eyes and ears, Hillary Clinton doesn’t look sufficiently healthy – mentally or otherwise – to be leading the country. If you disagree, take a look at the now-famous “Why aren’t I 50 points ahead” video clip. Likewise, Bill Clinton seems to be in bad shape too, and Hillary wouldn’t be much use to the country if she is taking care of a dying husband on the side.

Citizen Petition Submitted

Citizen Petition Submitted

The following citizen petition has been submitted to the Templeton Board of Selectmen for the October 20, 2016 Special Town Meeting:

To see if the town will vote to rescind Article 1 of the November 9, 2015 Special Town Meeting:
ARTICLE 1 DEBT AUTHORIZATION: TEMPLETON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
To see if the Town will vote to appropriate, borrow or transfer from available funds, an amount of money to be expended under the direction of the Templeton Elementary School Building Committee for the purpose of paying the costs of designing, constructing, originally equipping and furnishing a new Templeton Elementary School located at 17 South Road, Templeton MA, including the payment of all costs incidental or related thereto (the “Project"), which school facility shall have an anticipated useful life as an educational facility for the instruction of school children of at least 50 years, and for which the Town, through Narragansett Regional School District may be eligible for a school construction grant from the Massachusetts School Building Authority ("MSBA"). The Town acknowledges that MSBA's grant program is a non-entitlement, discretionary program based on need, as determined by the MSBA, and any Project costs the Town incurs in excess of any grant approved by and received from the MSBA through the Narragansett Regional School District, shall be the sole responsibility of the Town. Any grant that the Town may receive through the Narragansett Regional School District, from the MSBA for the Project shall not exceed the lesser of (1) 62.84% of eligible, approved project costs, as determined by the MSBA, or (2) the total maximum grant amount determined by the MSBA.
We the undersigned registered voters of Templeton, do hereby petition the Select Board to include the above Article in the Warrant of the next Town Meeting.

 

State Tax Revenues Plunge In Q2

State Tax Revenues Plunge In Q2



Tyler Durden's picture
The latest confirmation that the US economy continues to deteriorate comes not from the Federal Government but from state-level data, where year-over-year growth in state tax revenues slowed in the first quarter to its lowest rate since the second quarter of 2014, according to the latest data published yesterday by the Rockefeller Institute of Government. Worse, preliminary data for the second quarter show an outright decline in state tax collections relative to the second quarter of last year.

As SMRA notes, state tax collections were up 1.6%, year-over-year, in the first quarter, the smallest increase since the second quarter of 2014. After adjustment for inflation, revenues were up 0.4%. Personal income tax collections, which account for roughly 36% of total state revenue, increased 1.8% in the first quarter, down from 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Sales tax collections - the second largest source of state revenue - increased 2.4% in the first quarter, up from 2.0% in the first quarter.


The trend deteriorated further in preliminary Q2 data with personal income tax tumbling nearly 5% Y/Y.

Corporate tax receipts, which account for less than 5% of state revenues, were down sharply for the second consecutive quarter, while motor fuel taxes, which also account for just under 5% of revenues, were up 2.0%, down from 3.5% increase in the fourth quarter.


According to preliminary estimates from Rockefeller, tax collections will be down 2.1% in the second quarter relative to last year, reflecting a decline of 3.3% in personal income taxes and a 9.2% plunge in corporate tax collections. 

Meetings the Week of September 26, 2016


Meetings the Week of September 26, 2016

Monday  9/26/16
BOS                             PCS Town Hall*               6:30 pm


Tuesday 9/27/16
Planning              PCS Town Hall*               6:30 pm

Wednesday 9/28/16
Economic                  PCS Town Hall*                9:00 am
Adv. Comm.              PCS Town Hall*                6:00 pm


* Pauly Cosentino Sr. Town Hall

Sunday, September 25, 2016

Trouble to the East



Battenfeld: Allegations dog Charlie Baker’s EEA

A troubling environment

Joe Battenfeld Thursday, September 22, 2016

Credit: Nicolaus Czarnecki

MORE TROUBLE: New allegations claim Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration leaned on a state employee at the Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs to get her fiance to drop his challenge against incumbent state Sen. Donald Humason Jr. (R-Westfield). Staff Photo by Nicolaus Czarnecki

Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration is facing a new investigation into explosive claims that GOP operatives at a patronage-laden state agency harassed and retaliated against a staffer after her fiance launched a campaign to unseat a Republican state senator, the Herald has learned.

The staffer claims she was first warned by a Baker loyalist currently at the Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs that she would face retribution if her fiance, J.D. Parker-O’Grady, went ahead with plans to run against incumbent state Sen. Donald Humason Jr., (R-Westfield).

The day after Parker-O’Grady launched his campaign, the staffer, Cynthia Lewis, who worked for the chief of the state environmental police, former Baker campaign driver Col. James McGinn, was told she was being transferred to a registration outpost in Fall River, according to a letter from Lewis’ lawyers.

“They told her if I were to hand in my signatures they would make her life miserable. And they did,” Parker-O’Grady told the Herald in a brief interview.

Lewis, a former staffer for GOP state Sen. Bruce Tarr, declined comment when contacted by the Herald.

But according to a “cease and desist” demand letter sent by her former attorneys to the EEA’s legal counsel, and obtained by the Herald, she was “subject to harassment, threats, coercion and intimidation” by Baker appointees in an attempt to get Parker-O’Grady to call off his Democratic challenge to Humason.

The letter says “within an hour” after Parker-O’Grady announced his campaign on Facebook, Lewis was contacted by EEA “personnel officer” Jared Valanzola, a failed GOP legislative candidate whose cousin Michael Valanzola, another failed GOP candidate, was appointed by Baker as chief operating officer at the agency.

Tree. No Tree!

Tree.     



No Tree!
 

Saturday, September 24, 2016

Citizen Petition Editorial




Dear Ms. Farrell,

I am a concerned citizen of Templeton.  Although I am pro-school, I wholeheartedly agree with the good sense of your and the Advisory Committee’s proposed article to put a rescind option on the warrant for the upcoming special town meeting.  Many of us townspeople have serious reservations about the safety of the proposed site and the fiscal irresponsibility of moving forward without knowing our financial status.  We were sold a bill of goods that did not adequately reflect the whole situation and more and more information keeps coming to light that has changed many minds on this question.  I think we deserve the opportunity to reconsider, at which time, I would personally vote to strike down the prop. 2 ½ until we all know where we stand.  My concern with adding it as a warrant on the Oct. 20th special town meeting is that, given how divisive an issue this is in our town, further public hearings could pit neighbor against neighbor and friend against friend unnecessarily.   I also do not believe people would vote their consciences or with reason guiding, but could succumb to pressures or emotion.  If there is any way to place this question on the ballot in November or next May rather than discussed and voted on publicly, I believe people would, in the privacy of the ballot box, vote according to what they think is best in the most reasonable fashion possible for the common good. 

Please advise me how I can help make this a reality.

Thanks very much for your time, consideration, and the courage of your Advisory Committee to do some thing very difficult in the best interest of the town.  Although we are not as loud and angry, you have MANY townspeople on your side, believe me.

Very Best Regards,
Matt Valliere

E. Templeton

Friday, September 23, 2016

Vintage Car, Small Engine & Tractor Show



Vintage Car, Small Engine & Tractor Show 
September 24, 2016
10am - 4 pm

Can you turn 2 YES votes into a No vote?


Rescind the School Vote?

Do you feel you were misled when you voted on the new elementary school project on November 9, 2015  at the Special Town Meeting?

Would you have cast your vote differently if you had known the town was $1,000,000 in the hole from FY 13? 

Would you have cast your vote differently if the projected cost of the project $1.74/$1,000 is doubled?

Would you have cast your vote differently if the debt for former school projects was rolled into the cost of the new school borrowing?

Are you questioning when the financial audits of the town will be completed? 

Are you concerned about the Town's lack of a bond rating?

Here is your chance to rescind that STM vote by printing out this form: 

Citizen Petition:

To see if the town will vote to rescind Article 1 of the November 9, 2015 Special Town Meeting:
ARTICLE 1 DEBT AUTHORIZATION: TEMPLETON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
To see if the Town will vote to appropriate, borrow or transfer from available funds, an amount of money to be expended under the direction of the Templeton Elementary School Building Committee for the purpose of paying the costs of designing, constructing, originally equipping and furnishing a new Templeton Elementary School located at 17 South Road, Templeton MA, including the payment of all costs incidental or related thereto (the “Project"), which school facility shall have an anticipated useful life as an educational facility for the instruction of school children of at least 50 years, and for which the Town, through Narragansett Regional School District may be eligible for a school construction grant from the Massachusetts School Building Authority ("MSBA"). The Town acknowledges that MSBA's grant program is a non-entitlement, discretionary program based on need, as determined by the MSBA, and any Project costs the Town incurs in excess of any grant approved by and received from the MSBA through the Narragansett Regional School District, shall be the sole responsibility of the Town. Any grant that the Town may receive through the Narragansett Regional School District, from the MSBA for the Project shall not exceed the lesser of (1) 62.84% of eligible, approved project costs, as determined by the MSBA, or (2) the total maximum grant amount determined by the MSBA.

We the undersigned registered voters of Templeton, do hereby petition the Select Board to include the above Article in the Warrant of the next Town Meeting.

Name as Registered (Print)
Signature
Residence Address
Precinct
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and gathering over 100 signatures by Monday September 26, 2016 and turning them into the Selectmen's office. Please be sure to gather signatures from registered voters in the Town of Templeton.

When turning the signatures in, be sure they are date stamped and obtain copies for your own records.

Here is a link to the citizen petition form