DanMargarita.com

I had a few ideas of what to write about, but nowhere to go with them, and thus my predicament. I had all day to write, but I wanted to get it written before Town Meeting. Then it occurred to me; what could possibly have more comic potential than a town full of concerned citizens arguing over its future?

It was hot and stuffy inside the gymnasium of Stoneham High School where Town Meeting had been moved to due to last weeks overwhelming turnout at Town Hall. By the way, I don't understand the grammar rule that says it should be referred to as "Town Meeting" instead of "The Town Meeting." That's kind of like saying "I'm going to concert tonight."

The first issue of the night was an article to procure funding for drainage work in the Robin Hood area. It seems that since the building of a housing development the neighborhood has been the scene of some post rain flooding for many area homes. The good people of Stoneham voted in favor of the drainage work and there was no anti-drainage lobby to fight it.

Then came the issue that all had been waiting for (except the people whose houses had been flooding), the funding of $6 million to continue with the reconstruction of some schools.

Several town officials began to make the case in favor of the funding. I got the gist of it, but there were more graphs and charts than Ross Perot's 1992 presidential campaign.

This is about when I began to drift off. My mind wandered back to when I attended this school in it's previous capacity as a junior high. I thought of this very gym where Mr. Giannino would tell one of two selected squads to "turn to blue." The designated team would remove their reversible t-shirts and switch to the blue side of the shirt and become the "blue squad." This practice ended a year or two later with the introduction of co-ed gym.

I remembered how a year or two later, during co-ed gym a vaulting mishap nearly made me a co-ed.

The floor was thrown open to debate and a motion was made to have a secret ballot, to the consternation of many.

One citizen opened his remarks by saying, "Do me a favor. Don't stop loving your kids." Good advice for those that were considering that option. He than began to draw jeers from the crowd when talked about the problem of "alien children" having entered our schools. The moderator admonished him for straying from the subject at hand, which was fortunate for the citizen because I think I saw a few of the alien parents ready to vaporize him with their phasers.

The doors were locked and at 9:32 I voted, if for no other reason than to stretch my legs. The motion was carried overwhelmingly 1065 to 239 and the crowd erupted with applause at hearing the final tally, or perhaps the fact that they could leave.

The wait to leave the high school premises brought to mind an issue that I hope may one day be taken into consideration: another entrance/exit to the high school grounds.