Monday, February 25, 2013

What Are They Afraid Of?


The infallible Amherst Select Board

The Amherst Select Board this evening by a 3-2 "consensus" declined to place an advisory question before town voters to get their opinion on the merits of flying the commemorative flags in the downtown annually on 9/11, rather than the once-every-five-years plan currently in place.

Chair Stephanie O'Keeffe was, as usual, the deciding vote -- although she did not have the courage to actually let the board take a formal vote.

And now they have denied the people of Amherst the right to vote on this (Only In Amherst) volatile issue.

7 comments:

trussdob said...

Larry, in my opinion this issue should surely be on the ballot for the people to decide. I do wonder what the SB is afraid of, especially when the town claims to implement "open government to the MAX". Thank you for so much dedication to such an important issue that, as you know, runs much deeper than the flags themselves.

Larry Kelley said...

I'm still a little flabbergasted.

At the very least it would have given folks an incentive to come to the polls.

Now we an election without a single town wide contest. Turnout will be under 10%

Anonymous said...

aren't there 3 candidates for 2 school committee seats?

Larry Kelley said...

Not any more. Barry O'Connell dropped out.

Anonymous said...

WE SURE ARE LUCKY OUR LEADERS WON'T LET US MAKE ANY MISTAKES BY VOTING ON IT.
Was that the right font?

Larry Kelley said...

Perfect.

Because you know damn well if they thought The People agreed with them they would have fallen out of the chairs getting it on ballot.

Anonymous said...

Depressing turnout also reduces the risk of unexpected election results.

They think they're progressives, but under the hemp cloth shirts they're a bunch of one-party machine thugs.