Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Rhode Island State Law Trumps Local Law

"The Daily News" tonight speaks of the plan for a new charter review commission. It mentions the one that we had a few years ago & the 2002 vote on some of its suggestions. One of them concerns having a library Board of Trustees. The suggestion is that we can vote NOT to have a trustee board or change its format. Au contraire, that vote was just to formally acknowledge the library laws that the State Legislature had passed a number of years ago. This board is set up by the State. The council appoints members but that's it (it also approves its budget, but the town takes a hit from state funding if it's reduced). The purpose is to keep politics out of the library. And that's what is has done, despite some current opinion. All the rest that you've heard is just conversation (I'm using the nice word for it here).

I keep saying, Barbara Camedeco would make an excellent director. She's a-political and has strong community connections. She'd also be inclined to support improvements in the Childrens' Room which sorely needs it.

Town Clerk Nancy Mello of Tiverton would like some help & wants a Deputy appointed. Evidently everything that needs her official signature just stands still unless she's there. There is no backup. I'd back her anyday after I saw the 4th grade voting program she put on in the Fall. All the clerks there participated - they did their own jobs & took on all this extra work. Keeping 6 classes of 9 year olds happy ain't easy. And they not only did it, they did it well. Give her that clerk!

Spruce Acres in Middletown is up for sale. Only last yr. in conversation with the owner he said that his family would never sell. Too bad. It's a tough business. A number of farmers converted their crops to Xmas trees years ago when there was a shortage & they had no other cash crops which they could survive on. But trees are a labor intensive crop. I remember buying one there 2-3 years ago & finding a deserted bids' nest in it while I was decorating. Too bad. How much longer will we have tree farms or strawberry fields or blueberry bushes? The orchards & fresh cider are gone. And I miss 'em.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Commenting on the headline: Rhode Island State Law Trumps Local Law.

Not if you ask the folks over at the Portsmouth Concerned Citizens corporation. They've been advocating the notion that the Portsmouth charter trumps state law, particularly the Caruolo act.

They are, of course, wrong about that.
It's this kind of thing that leads to confusion in the media coverage and misunderstandings among members of the public.

Anonymous said...

The local newspaper thrives on this kind of seemingly public-backed controversy while it's a far more symbiotic-type relationship fueling the relationship. The "confusion" of the media is either planned or due to poor reporting/editorial coverage. Either way it results in the "misunderstanding" of the public, making for darn good press.