Feb 18th 2008

Today we celebrate our most loved president's birthdays. why do you think we still hold them in such high regard? i think it's because they always remembered what they were supposed to be doing. they didn't get too into the minute arguments and heated debates that consumed some of the citizenry. they realized that there were really big things that had to be taken care of if this great country was to survive. holbrook is very small compared to the whole country of course but it is all we have. if there is one thing i hope we get out of this race for selectman this time i hope we can focus on our problems and how to solve them and also on the great things we have and how to preserve them. i realize that we are in need of money and we need upgrades to schools, roads, equipment, and most of all our atititudes. please don't jump in panic one way or the other. a friend of mine says haste makes waste. it always agravated me when he said it but it is so true. we need to move there is no doubt about it but once we do we cannot go back. i honestly believe that if we send a message to the selectmen to do some more due diligence before signing anything on the trash transfer station we can get a solution that will be good for holbrook and will serve us well for years to come. did anyone see in this past weekends paper that Braintree, Quincy, and Weymouth are looking to join together for their trash needs? What if Holbrook, Randolph, and Avon either joined them or did the same thing? We own the land at 3 phillips rd. Who says we need someone else to run the transfer station? has the board even talked to hanover or any other town that runs one in house? we have the rail line and could get rid of it as easily as HELP could . if you look at their proposal and calculate how much money we will actually get under the present draft of the contract, i think anyone would really pause and scratch their head. when you take into consideration the indirect costs involved such as reduction in property values for this whole section of town, which will result in less taxes, the wear and tear of the roads, and the loss of quality of life for a large segment of citizens, there must be a very large amount of money comming in to offset that set of circumstances. i'm not looking to demonize mr walsh or bill merrigan or anyone else; we just have a long way to go before we can say that this is actually good for us in the long run. in a paniced state any amount of money is more than what we have, that is true, but true leaders don't panic. they work and work until they are sure they've done the very best they can do; then and only then will we get the best result for holbrook.