Tuesday, January 20, 2009

The torch has been passed...

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Too bad things are still the same in Amherst.

Larry Kelley said...

Come on now, look at the recent bright side: His Lordship Gerry Weiss is no longer Chair of the Select Board, Anne Awad is out-a-here; so now for the first time in five years we have a 3-2 "sensible center" majority on the Select Board.

But yeah, our current form of government is about as dated as slavery.

Anonymous said...

Still, there's much more work to be done.


We need 5 Larry Kellys.

Anonymous said...

5 Larry Kelleys...Now THAT is indeed a scary thought, as I'm sure Mr. Kelley himself would agree (too much of a good thing, and all that)

What we really NEED is for the spirit of hope & optimism that was spoken about in Wash. DC today to fill the hearts and minds of folks who have tended to lean heavily towards the negative side of the ledger when it comes to goings-ons within Amherst. You don't have to wander too far afield from the borders of Amherst to see just how fortunate the average Amherst resident is when it comes to quality of life, access to education, and the like. Reading this blog, one would think at times that folks are writing from inside of a bunker somewhere, fearful for their lives and the lives of their children. Nothing could be further from the truth, of course, but the doom and gloom persists. Why?

My guess is that Abraham Lincoln was correct when he said: "I find that most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be." Amen to that. And here's hoping that more folks choose to focus on what they CAN do to make a positive difference in the Amherst community versus focusing on the relatively few blemishes that currently exist. Now THAT would be something to get excited about...

Larry Kelley said...

Actually, at least 1 more (to replace me).

Anonymous said...

Well said ex-Townie!

Larry Kelley said...

Yeah, just gotta love his bureaucratic use of the waffling expression "relatively few blemishes that currently exist".

Sooooo, if we all hold hands while intertwined around trees, while singing Kumbaya, maybe ex-Townie will move back.

Gee, I can't wait.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the invite but I'm currently quite happy where i am right now...however, I'll let you know if that ever changes.

In the meantime...as i have said before, I am not "out to get" Larry Kelley. You serve a very valuable purpose in Amherst as, beyond being entertaining, you also provide the yin to Amherst's leftward leaning yang and good debate is always healthy.

What I have TRIED to say is that I think you should perhaps take a step back and look at your current tactics/approach because if your end game is truly one of problem-solving & maybe making the town of Amherst a better place for you and your children, then you're missing the mark. You've said that the sky is falling far too many times in recent years and all that has done is erode your credibility as a true "town watchdog." As a reader, I am now unsure when to believe you when you say something is rotten in the state of Denmark (or the People's Republic). And if - God forbid - you managed to sprinkle in a little honey with your steady diet of verbal vinegar (eg "give some credit where credit is due" when the opportunity arises) then that would make me, as a reader, buy into the LK view of the world more often & perhaps feel compelled to take action if/when called for.

If, on the other hand, your end game is to simply titillate & entertain your readership then just "keep on keepin' on 'cuz you're pretty darned good at doing THAT!

(and thanks for the spelling of Kumbaya...I always have trouble with that word)

Larry Kelley said...

"Titillate," indeed. Now that one I would have trouble spelling.

Many years ago a weekly publication 'The Valley Optimist' arose to challenge the venerable "Valley Advocate" because they thought it was too full of gloom and doom and not enough honey.

They lasted maybe two years.

Anonymous said...

No need to go overboard with the honey dispenser, just an occasional dollop would go a long way. What it would do is provide some balance to your message and thus strengthen it in the long run. We all know that we live in an uncertain, scary world filled with all kinds of bogeymen, that's a fact. But the question is (and you have kids -as do I - so I think you can understand this): What kind of picture do we want to paint of the world for our children? Is it a dark place populated by people with ill intentions or is it a place filled with hope & promise and OUR job - as both parents and world citizens - is to bring out that promise, in both ourselves and others, over the course of our short lives? Just wondering...