Council action ?a disservice ?to Windham

I was always taught that if you can’t say something nice about someone then you should not say anything at all. Well, I am going to take exception to that in this letter because I am totally shocked and disgusted with the way the sitting Windham Town Council appointed a new member. Being a member of Windham-Raymond School Board and chair of both the Zoning Board of Appeals and Windham Human Services Advisory Committee, I know how boards should operate. The council led us to believe that this was a fair way to appoint a new member even though the council member who resigned did so immediately following the last election, which gave them the option to appoint the next person who ran and received the next highest amount of votes, which was Dave Nadeau, my significant other.

They asked for applications to be submitted with answers to questions that they thought were pertinent to fill this seat. The understanding was that there would then be an interview with each applicant. On the night before the deadline the town manager mentioned at the meeting that only one application had been received, which was from Dave Nadeau. Then coincidentally the next day two more came in.

On “Speak Out,” the councilors said there were certain criteria they were looking for but did not expand on what it was, but did say they would pick the most qualified even if it took time to fill this position. I guess it did not take much time because an appointment to this seat was on the agenda for Dec. 28.

Calling a council member I asked how this was happening without any conversations with the applicants and I was informed that they were probably not going to interview the applicants and were not going to appoint anyone at that meeting but were only going to discuss it. He somehow forgot to mention that they had already made their decision. Not nice to lie to your constituents!

During this whole time Dave Nadeau, not sure about the other applicants, had not heard from anyone on his application. I thought it was odd that the applicant was in the audience and evidently after reading the paper’s account of that evening he had been told that the seat was his. I apologize if I am rambling but I am furious at what I feel is a disservice to the town of Windham and a weighted council that takes the position of only taking into consideration what’s best for businesses in this town.

Frequently, they show disregard to residents’ concerns, and their main goal is to make sure they have a council that agrees on everything. I guess treating people with dignity and respect is a thing of the past.

The council has continued to act in a self-serving manner and, for me, this was the last straw. Dave Nadeau is the most qualified and the voters would have put him in that seat had their votes been taken into account. I know the Town Council can legally do what they want but he has devoted his time and experience to help Windham and has put many, many hours into volunteering in numerous capacities in this town. I do not say this to reflect badly on the appointee, as I do not know him. My comments are directed only toward the council members and how they have chosen to do the town’s business.

The council should take this opportunity to update or amend the rules so that a person who is runner-up in an election gets the vacant seat since obviously, he/she would be the people’s choice. The way things are now there is no way to escape favoritism.

I love this town and will continue to serve its citizens as will Dave Nadeau. Thank you for letting me vent my frustrations. I was told that writing this letter might put my volunteer positions in jeopardy. If that is the case, then we have really done a disservice to our freedom of speech.

Marge Govoni

Windham

Thank you

The Windham Food Pantry wishes to thank everyone for the very generous support received this past year. With your support we were able to provide food to 373 individual families during the year, 309 children with Christmas help of which 67 were teens, 244 families with Thanksgiving baskets and 173 families with Christmas baskets.

To all the schools, churches, banks, fraternal organizations, businesses, and private citizens who so generously gave you have made a significant difference in the lives of Windham families. To all who adopted families for Christmas a sincere thank you.

Special recognition to Town Clerk Linda Morrell and her staff for the gift cards, movie passes, and certificates for our 67 teens requesting help this year along with sincere gratitude to Ron Eby and Sen. Bill Diamond for coming to the rescue and collecting 329 gifts in a slim two-week period for the 159 families requesting help with Christmas.

To all the ladies who spent their time knitting hats and mittens, thank you. To all the volunteers for their time and lastly to our local papers for getting the word out there for events and/or changes during the year, thank you!

Madeline Roberts

director

Windham Food Pantry

Remember ?local vets ?this new year

On behalf of all veterans in the greater Windham area, we want to say to each other and to the greater Windham community who supports our work at the Windham Veterans Center: “We hope you had a Merry Christmas and we wish you a very Happy New Year.”

The year 2011 will be a very special year for all of us who celebrate Veterans Day. It will be a “once in a lifetime” event (unless we live to be over 100 years old) – we will be able to write the date and time for Veterans Day using only the number 11 as in 11/11/11. The next time this will happen will be 2111.

We have never had a town parade in Windham on Veterans Day but we have already heard the new commander of VFW Post 10643 (Bob Akins) talking about adding a parade to the agenda for 2011. We began holding Veterans Day ceremonies at the Windham Veterans Center in 2005 with a reception following in the hall, and each year people who attended have commented that the event gets better every year.

The first year we dedicated the entrance road as Veterans Memorial Drive and we dedicated the land beside our building as Veterans Memorial Park. The following year, we dedicated 11 granite benches placed in the park by community people in memory of a family veteran, and the following year we dedicated Veterans Memorial Gardens. Each year the community could see the visual transformation that turned that drab piece of land beside our building (thanks in great part to Windham’s Joe Gagne) into a “thing of beauty” to behold (especially in the spring, summer, and early fall) each year (thanks to our in-house gardeners).

However, my guess is that this year 2011, the community is going to “again” call our ceremony the “best,” but, it will be more because of the Veterans Day ceremony itself being “better” than in former years. After all, who does not like a parade, free food, and a chance to rub elbows with and talk with some of the finest veterans that ever guarded the gates of freedom?

All of our Windham Veterans Center veterans would like to invite all of you in the community to visit our hall throughout the year. We have monthly (second Saturday) Texas Hold-’em Poker Tournaments; we are trying to find volunteer dealers to hold day-time lessons on how to play Poker (and other card games); we are looking for volunteer kitchen people so we can offer a daily drop-in “social” service; we are looking for volunteers who have been trained by Southern Maine Agency on Aging as “physical mobility teachers” for the elderly so we can offer daytime classes on exercise and mobility; we have a veterans service officer who comes to our hall on the second and fourth Wednesday each month from 9 a.m. to noon to help with veterans benefits, we have American Legion Post 148 meetings on the first Wednesday at 6 p.m. each month; we have VFW Post 10643 meetings on the second Wednesday at 6 p.m. each month; we have a Windham Veterans Association meeting on the fourth Wednesday at 6 p.m. each month followed by an AL/VFW social. And, we are meeting this week with a group who wants to discuss using our facility during some hours during the day as a “senior center.”

Please watch the calendar section of our two local papers for special upcoming events that we have throughout the year. The American Legion does a great Memorial Day service, they also do pig roasts, all three groups of WVC veterans run booths at Windham Summerfest, we all help putting flags out on the local cemeteries, the AL puts up/down the power pole flags on routes 302 and 202, the VFW does Poppy Day, all veterans gather/collect retired American flags, and flag-retirement ceremonies are scheduled which the public can attend throughout the year. The AL and the VFW have veterans who talk to local schools about Americanism.

Please remember us and our public rental function hall when you are planning your next event. Thank you greater Windham for your support, and don‘t forget to please attend 11/11/11 @ 11.

Don Swander

president

Windham Veterans ?Association

Planning process needs retooling

Many of us who are, in various ways, involved with our community, finish each year with a wish list based on observations and involvement.

At the top of my wish list for 2011 is that the process by which commercial and residential developments are approved be changed to allow those whose property abuts a potential development to be given a chance to give input as to whether that project, whatever it may be, is a good fit for their part of the community; that this be the first step in the application process and that the decision of the community in question be given significant weight in the decision process before any application is allowed to go forward. Obviously, in order to be fair to all involved, there would need to be a fact-finding process and, if needed, a third party to give an impartial opinion.

The way it works now, abutting property owners are officially notified of a project and given the opportunity to give input at the end of a long process, after the developer has already invested a sizable amount of time and money in a proposed project. If the segment of the community to be impacted then has issues with the proposed project, those residents are placed, by default, in a potentially adversarial position.

Following on this, if a project is approved to go forward based on conditions which have been arrived at between the developer, the town and those abutting the proposed project, any agreed conditions should be listed and given a specific time-line for completion, and there should be a process for all parties to review and sign off on these conditions before the planning board gives final approval.

The only other wish I have is that leaders within the town listen to the concerns/contributions of residents and respond publicly, in a timely manner, if only to initiate a process of discussion. This is particularly important when public safety is involved and more particularly when similar concerns have also been voiced by public safety officials within, or consulting with, Windham.

Louis Sinclair

Windham