Personal Vendetta Accomplished

We watched in disbelief at the actions taken by our Town Councilors Tuesday evening.

At the direct action of Fran Monroe’s opinion of Paul Proudian, Gary Foster, Skip Crane and Andrew Upham voted against the renewal of volunteer committee member Paul Proudian to the Cable Committee.

We are appalled at the seemingly predetermined predisposed decision of the COUNCIL THREE. Who is next? When will this personal vendetta stop? Are we on a COUNCIL THREE’s hit list because we were part of the recall effort? Where do we go from here folks?

If our Town Council is going to abuse their power in this fashion, there will be few volunteers left and even fewer folks to come forward to volunteer.

Do we not live in a democracy? Do we not enjoy the freedom of speech here in Gray? Where is the attitude of gratitude for our volunteers? What kind of town are we becoming when wonderful hard working volunteers are treated with willful disregard?

This is more of the same shameful behavior like that of Andrew Upham displayed toward the Community Economic Development Committee Chair Julie Sheets of late 2005.

We feel our Town Council (3) has done a disservice to the core of our volunteer efforts here in Gray.

We welcome & value your opinionPlease feel free to contact us.

Lewie & Debbie Mancini
657-2878
debmancini@hotmail.com

Gary Foster loves to blog

Gary Foster, our illustrious Town Council Chair, seems to think blogs are bad. Unless he's the blogger of course.

Check out - http://www.asmainegoes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=267353#267353 for Gary's thoughts on the recall of Andy Upham.

Gary makes it pretty clear what he thinks about the recall effort!

And if you read elsewhere in the blog, you'll find some interesting thoughts from Gary about other issues . . . such as John Welch.

Nathan Tsukroff

Prata is looking out for our well-being

Thank goodness we have the good citizens of Gray looking out for our well-being.

That's how The Current's newest cub reporter, Liz Prata, presented her reason for calling Andy Upham back in April to tell him Town Manager Mitch Berkowitz was in the Town Hall.

Forget the fact that Berkowitz was still officially the Manager. And forget the fact that he had every right to be in Town Hall as the Manager. In a response to a question at tonight's Town Council meeting from Cheryl Welch, wife of former Town Councilor John Welch, Liz said she was driving by town hall on the morning of Saturday, April 8, when she say Berkowitz's car in the parking lot of Town Hall, along with the car of the town's attorney, Bill Dale.

Liz said she was "curious about why Mitch was in town hall" and immediately called Chair Gary Foster to ask if he had authorized the situation. When she was unable to reach Foster, she then called Upham, she said.

Liz said that Upham immediately came to Town Hall and Berkowitz promptly left.

Thank goodness we have Liz watching out for us. Because if the Town Manager, who was still the manager and a month away from the end of his tenure, was in the Town Hall without permission, that would have been trouble.

Or was Liz trying to make trouble . . . ?

Nathan Tsukroff

An investigative reporter

The Current newspaper's newest cub reporter, Liz Prata, told the world tonight at the Town Council meeting that she's "an investigative reporter."

I say the first thing she should investigate is the whereabouts of her journalistic abilities.

In my opinion, she's either a really bad journalist or just plain doesn't know how to report a story. After all, she couldn't even get the basic facts correct about my traffic duty at the high school.

First, I can't quit a job that comes to an end in a couple of weeks. Remember - I was appointed for a one-year term that ends June 30. I simply am not renewing . . . end of story, no big deal, and certainly not the headline news she pretends it is.

Unless, of course, all you want to do is throw mud at someone who revealed that Council Chair Gary Foster broke the law by deleting a year's worth of emails. Take a note, Liz - that's not my opinion but a ruling from the office of the Maine Attorney General.

I encourage Liz to keep at this investigative journalism gig. It will take some time and hard work, but if she keeps at, she'll be a professional journalist some day.

Nathan Tsukroff

"We don't want you"

The Council of Three spoke loud and clear tonight, telling Paul Proudian that he is not wanted as a volunteer in the Town of Gray.

After breaking down the list of volunteer reappointments into individual "orders", the council promptly voted against Paul's renewal as a volunteer on the Cable Committee.

I guess speaking your mind and trying to do what's best for the town is now a punishable offense.

Foster, Upham and Crane should be ashamed of themselves!

Nathan Tsukroff