Op-Ed

Bamboozling some well-intentioned local residents of Barnstable

Recall election actually has very little to do with Greg Milne

By Ron Beaty

As a profoundly concerned Barnstable Citizen who has had productively active involvement in the recent local public debate over identifying alternative funding mechanisms for the controversial (Hyannis) Stewart's Creek Sewer Expansion Project, I am writing relative to the December 17th recall election of Precinct 13 Barnstable Town Councilor J. Gregory Milne. The truth of the matter is that this recall election actually has very little to do with Greg Milne's performance on the Town Council or with any potential 100% sewer betterments, and much more to do with the latest pathetically desperate attempt by a small local fringe group of politically obsessed online Barnstable bloggers who have attempted to disrupt and coerce Barnstable Town Officials for years.

Attempted hijacking of Barnstable Town Government

At every opportunity they have tried to inappropriately interject themselves in order to gain undeserving public attention much the same way an addict craves illicit drugs. Their respective colossal appetites for self-promotion are insatiable. They thrive upon intentionally propounded misrepresentations along with the ensuing chaotic confusion and angry frenzied turmoil.

They have even succeeded in bamboozling some well-intentioned local residents of the affected area to take part in the current recall process. For that has been their unscrupulous stock-in-trade as well as their unprincipled shameful legacy of the last four years.

Whimsical turnover of dedicated public servants is a pricey and time consuming practice.

No one supports 100% betterments being forced

As far as any potential 100% betterments being forced upon the good and wise inhabitants of the Hyannis Stewart's Creek area to fund the proposed sewer project, it has been clearly and unequivocally communicated to me that NOBODY with decision-making authority in this Town now supports such a strategy. That is exactly the reason why the Town is actively pursuing a serious fact finding and review process to come up with an alternative funding vehicle for the aforementioned proposed sewer project which will be as fair, equitable and economically benign as pragmatically possible for the residents of the impacted area.

Yet again, with this most recent recall election what we are witnessing is a disgruntled diminutive faction of local online Barnstable bloggers hell-bent on pointlessly burning taxpayer dollars. It takes additional time for the Town to prepare and print ballots and make copies. Town employees are forced to utilize extra time organizing for a recall election rather than performing their day-to-day tasks. In addition, it costs the public extra funds when new councilors have to be educated in a variety of municipal issues and mechanisms required by local policies and regulations. Whimsical turnover of dedicated public servants is a pricey and time consuming practice.

It's time for Barnstable voters to bang their fists down and declare "No more!"

It's time for the preponderance of registered Barnstable voters to bang their fists down and declare "No more!" What is being done by this local recall group of political wannabes and extremist online Barnstable bloggers amounts to the attempted hijacking of Barnstable Town Government to satisfy their own deranged need to be noticed to the detriment of all others. Hyannis Precinct 13 voters must not let a small, yet vocal group of militant fanatics dictate to them who is or is not going to hold elected political office. Councilor Milne is yet the latest casualty of this fear-mongering group's unwise and unbalanced political antics. For the good of the Town, voters must reject this recall effort, not only for the Town Council but also for the other Barnstable Town offices and boards this radical group of political misfits is hopeful of disrupting and grid locking further down the road.

I hope and pray that the sensible voters of Precinct 13 do the prudent and right thing in advancing ahead, rather than backward in this process. On December 17th, please send an unequivocally clear message to the above-noted radical fringe element out there, and stridently reject the recall of Precinct 13 Barnstable Town Councilor J. Gregory Milne!

Ron Beaty, 245 Parker Road, West Barnstable, MA 02668