Yesterday, I took part in a historical town meeting which was held on the local high school ball field in temperatures soaring over 90 degrees, with high humidity to boot. It was interesting to say the least, with a comedic value that still has me laughing about it today.
Perhaps the most noteworthy part of the meeting was the level of disrespect shown mostly by the proponents. There were people yelling while others were speaking, saying things like, "If you don't like it move" and "Boo hoo, need a tissue" when someone else got a little emotional during their speech. You know, I don't know why this surprises me (not necessarily that it was the proponents but the disrespect in general) given that I have been a regular attendee of town meetings lately, but its alarming and disconcerting just the same. I was most impressed with the opposition, who, when members of the other side were speaking, granted them the respect that they, and anyone else expressing their opinion deserved. Seriously, it's still shocking to me how rude people can be.
Aside from that, the meeting was something akin to a circus, complete with the tents and performers, all of whom really fine tuned their skills for the big day. I was impressed with the level of security in place but found it humorous when the town clerk was brought out with the vote count in hand, in a golf cart escorted by police officers.
Something also struck me at the meeting, and the chair of the casino gambling committee hit the nail on the head when talking about what some feel will be the loss of the rural country character of the town.
"You don't get more rural than holding a town meeting on a ball field."
2 comments:
I wish I'd been able to go just to watch the antics. People fascinate me. Given the weather, though, and the size of my ankles right now, I decided that I'm Just. Too. Pregnant. for that sort of affair. I didn't even go to the party we were supposed to be at. And meeting wise, I was afraid of two rather opposite things: a shortage of water, since you couldn't bring a cooler, and a shortage of toilet facilities.
I think it's rather remarkable that anything can get done at all when the format is several-thousand-people-in-a-field.
I guess it just depended on where you sat.
I was in the thick of those in opposition and they did their share of booing when the yes group were speaking.
Both sides behaved badly, just one group was larger than the other so you could hear it more.
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