By Patrick Brodrick

            “Try to stay in touch, huh,” I said to an old friend that I hadn’t spoken to in almost a year as we were about to part ways after bumping into each other outside of a local watering hole. She was on her way in with a group of friends, dressed to the nines for a night on the town; I was on my way out, lost in a warm whiskey haze that had the dangerous potential of spinning completely out of control. “It’s been too long.”

            “It doesn’t seem like it’s been that long because I watch your show all the time,” she said. “You’re like the King of All Clinton Media. You’re a celebrity now.”

            “Yeah, I’ve got to go pick up my cocaine-addled supermodel girlfriend for a night of drunken debauchery the likes of which haven’t been seen since Caligula ruled before the paparazzi show up,” I scoffed before we both went our separate ways.

Celebrity…Jesus, I hate that word and every vapid thing it stands for in this media-driven sty, but I suppose, as reluctant as I am to admit it, in some twisted way she’s right. Between my prison-like time spent at the Times & Courier, at least under CNC’s soul-crushing reign, hosting “In The Loop” and hunting the monsters that roam the dark countryside of my mind and crucifying them for all to see on this blog, I’ve met more people in this town in the last five years than my previous 25. And, for good or ill, people feel comfortable enough to approach me to talk about local politics or the latest episode of the show.

And while I’ll never consider myself anything more than an eccentric recluse with a nasty deviant streak, I may have to start to learn to embrace my new found celebrity status, especially after a reader sent me the following link, www.thelocalindependent.com

Oh sweet imitation, the sincerest form of flattery. (Seriously, please take the time to click over to this link and read it – especially the part where they compare me to Hunter Thompson. That’s seriously the greatest thing anyone’s ever said about me, although I’m pretty sure that’s not the reaction the shaved monkeys were going for.)

Apparently the leeches have decided to rouse themselves from the rank and murky depths of their free-speech swamp to latch onto my status as a “celebrity.” Let this be a cautionary tale to the Heath Ledgers, River Phoenixes and James Deans of the world; there will always be vampires and human traffickers looking for any opportunity to try and live off your hide. Jesus, they couldn’t even come up with something original for a name. I mean c’mon, seriously? That’s the best you’ve got?

The founders of The Local Independent Redeux claim that they’ll report the news without the “hate and venom” and won’t use “words to assassinate the character” of certain local politicians. Of course, if I was a betting man – and I am so if you’re giving odds get in touch with me – I’d place a substantial wager that the treacherous swine that started this site are the same homophobic pigs that started a similar site, http://www.kevin-haley.com/, claiming Selectman Kevin Haley was a drunken, closeted homosexual. It sure is a good thing they’ll be getting rid of the hate and venom and won’t be using words to assassinate the character of our elected officials.

Of course I’ll never be able to prove this since, like all leeches, they don’t have the spine to put their names anywhere on the site. Say what you want about me and the things I vomit up onto this blog, at least I have the courage to put my name above each story I write. You see that’s what’s called integrity; something that’s sorely lacking from those jackals and the conniving politicians that put them up to their latest scheme.

Apparently they are still the bunch of prepubescent schoolboys in the gym locker room, cracking themselves up with whispered jokes about sodomy and getting erections while they read books about the Holocaust. They’ve just traded in the whispered conversations and locker room for secret Internet chatrooms, posting with bullshit bravado under screen names.

Normally I’d worry about the repercussions of writing something like this, but why bother. There’s not one of them that has the guts to approach me like a man to tell me they don’t like what I write or, perish the thought, try and have a rational discussion about the issues. Nope, they’d rather post about it in communication-blackout chatrooms behind secret identities. (Again, see my name at the top of the page)

That’s alright, it’s almost butchering season and the swine will have to watch as their political allies are slaughtered at the polls come May. And in true swine fashion – as anyone that’s ever butchered pigs knows – we’ll be able to watch as they run over to lap up the blood of their fallen brethren. (Hell, even if they get reelected I get another three years of writing about their bullshit cronyism so either way I win.)

But enough of this talk! It’s getting late and, like most celebrities, I’ve got to go blow lines of crushed Ambien off the backs of the strippers that have wound themselves up into a mass of writhing flesh on my living room floor, doing unspeakable things to each other with slabs of meat, as a Mexican transvestite midget looks on.

            Yeah, I think I can get used to this whole decadent-celebrity thing…

By Patrick Brodrick

            CLINTON – “Are you prepared for just how brutal this election is going to be?” I asked Jim Leblanc, who recently pulled papers to run for one of the two seats up for grabs during this year’s local elections.

            David Hennis, Leblanc’s partner of more than 20 years, sits on the floor petting the couple’s pet pug, Simon, shaking his head and mouthing the word, ‘No.’ Leblanc, who is sitting in an armchair in his spacious living room, pauses just long enough to take a sip of coffee from the mug on the table next to him before responding.

            “I try not to have preconceived notions, I try to look at things openly and I do my homework, and yes, I know it’s not going to be pretty - and unfortunately that’s the nature of politics,” Leblanc responds. “Let’s face it, part of the problem is that not everyone that runs and gets elected for the Board of Selectmen is objective, and I like to think that I am objective. But it is going to get ugly.”

            With two seats on the Board of Selectmen ripe for the taking and a controlling majority — and in turn the fate of a number of controversial issues with vehement supporters on both sides — at stake come May, this year’s campaign season is already shaping up to be one of the most vicious in the town’s sordid political history.

            Leblanc, a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, who works at UMass Medical School in Worcester, joins current Selectman Joseph Notaro Jr. as the only two candidates to have formally pulled papers to run. Selectman Robert Pasquale Jr. has been quoted as saying he would be seeking another term on the board, and former Selectman Steven Mendoza has been campaigning for a chance to return to the board since he was narrowly defeated by Mary Rose Dickhaut last year, but has yet to pull papers.

                    A Different Voice           

            So why would Leblanc, a naturally private person, decide to jump headfirst into the waters of the shark tank that is Clinton politics? One of the major driving forces, according to Leblanc, was the fact that a number of decisions regarding issues that affected his precinct were being made by people that live in other sections of town.

             “First and foremost I think voters need to have a choice, and I want to be able to give voters a choice,” Leblanc said. “Another reason why I’m running is that this precinct, Precinct 4, needs to have a voice on the board and right now we don’t have one. I also think the Board of Selectmen need to display some fiscal responsibility, especially in times of belt-tightening. The feds are saying we are heading towards a recession, but we are already actually in it. One community in California has gone into receivership and the state has said, ‘OK, you take over,’ and I don’t want to see Clinton go down that road.”

            If elected, Leblanc said, he would focus on fiscal responsibility and work with the various departments within the town during budget season. One particular area that concerns Leblanc is the rapidly expanding school district’s budget, which is calling for a 7.5 percent increase this year. He said he would like to try and work with the commonwealth to come up with ways to find funding to offset the high costs of state-imposed mandates, including using money generated by the lottery as part of the stabilization fund, which could be used for emergency situations.

            Leblanc said he would also work to rebuild relationships with surrounding communities, such as Lancaster and Sterling, that have been ruined by certain members of the Board of Selectmen whose initial response is litigation when it comes to issues, namely, the Wekepeke and Brandli Parcel, that stretch across town lines.

            “Excluding Mary Rose [Dickhaut] and Kevin [Haley], the selectmen have not exhibited a very good policy when it comes to being good neighbors,’ he said. ”They are basically saying to Lancaster and Sterling, ‘We are just going to take you to court if you don’t agree with us.’ Those are bully tactics and it has both of those communities upset. I’m sorry, but we have to do a lot better than that when it comes to fostering relationships with other communities.”

Running Against Ignorance

            But where Leblanc stands on the issues is already taking a back seat to his sexuality, as a number of residents have already started spewing bigoted venom about his sexual orientation on a local discussion forum. Stunning examples of the ignorance that permeates a swath of the town’s citizenry, and just how important it is for their chosen candidates to remain on the board to further their agenda. Leblanc, however, has no plans to engage in such juvenile attacks. 

            “First of all, sexuality has nothing to do with the qualifications of any person’s ability to do anything,” Leblanc said. “If that’s all people focus on in this election, they have bigger problems than understanding what is going on in the town. We’ve [motioning to Hennis] been together for 21 years, and I know there are some people that will have an issue with that and will say that’s not the same as being married, but apparently that’s not the same for Elizabeth Taylor, who is working on husband number nine. I’m not here to argue about what people choose to do in the privacy of their own home, I don’t really care, that’s not why I’m running, but there are people that are already making it an issue. If that’s the best that they could come up with as to why I shouldn’t be elected then that’s pretty [pathetic].”

            And while his fellow candidates can fall back on their political experience as a strength, Leblanc said the fact that he is a political novice guarantees that voters will be able to elect someone that can truly be objective when it comes time to make a decisions that affect the entire town.

            “I’m not entrenched and I don’t side with one group or the other,” Leblanc said. “I don’t have a problem with the mentality that people like Bob Pasquale and Joe Notaro have lived in town their whole lives, but there are people, like me, that have come into this town in the last 20 years and are passionate about this community in which we live; I think that helps balance out a board. Sometimes you need to have that perspective from someone that lives in the town but wasn’t raised here, yet loves the town and the community and wants to make a difference - and that’s what I’d like to do.”  

By Patrick Brodrick

            Three years ago, when Joseph Notaro Jr. was campaigning for a seat on the Clinton Board of Selectmen he filled out the political profile for the Times & Courier, and in the portion reserved for the candidate’s favorite quote he typed something along the lines of, “You come into this world with a cupful of integrity, and outside of a few minor spills, you should leave with the same amount.”

            The attribution to the quote was simply listed as a saying from a friend’s father. It’s a profound quote, and one that I’ve since tried to remember – it’s just too bad that Notaro, apparently, already seems to have forgotten it.

            When I recently read a quote from Notaro, who also serves as chair of the Open Space Acquisition Committee (OSAC), the group tasked with finding funding to purchase 62-acres known as the Rauscher Farm on Clamshell Road, claiming he had no idea the town’s failure to enact a conservation restriction on the Wekepeke land in Sterling could affect the town’s ability to secure grant funding to preserve the open space, I realized that maddening dripping noise I could hear inside my head was a little more integrity splashing over the metaphorical rim of Notaro’s cup.

            Drip… drip…

            While several of the officials I spoke to for a recent story on the repercussions of failing to enact the protective order stopped short of calling Notaro’s claims of ignorance a lie, one has to wonder if it’s possible that he didn’t know about the possible conflicts.

            Partly because of my old life as a journalist, but primarily because I was a staunch supporter of purchasing the Rauscher Farm, I attended a lot of OSAC meetings, and I clearly remember Jim French, land acquisitions coordinator for the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, mentioning the importance of finalizing any unresolved issues regarding open space. And I’m not alone; several people I spoke to that attended the meeting remember French’s comments as well.

            But French wasn’t the only one heralding the potential conflict between securing grant funding and the unresolved conservation restriction.

            At a tour of the Rauscher Farm this past summer, Ian Bowles, secretary for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, joked that “he didn’t have his checkbook with him” but the town was in a good position to secure grant funding as long as there were no unresolved issues regarding open space.

            It should be noted that Notaro chaired the meeting with French, and led the walk-through of the former dairy farm. And while I wasn’t privy to any advice offered by Sudbury Valley Trustees, one of the most prestigious firms in the state in dealing with land acquisitions and was working with the town in its efforts to buy the farm, I’d be surprised if its representatives didn’t raise any warning flags as well.

            Drip…drip…drip

            But the question isn’t who knew what and when, or even how could the chairman of the Open Space Acquisition Committee not know about this possible calamity.

            The question that needs to be asked is, what does this mean for the town? And, in my humble opinion, a wrong decision regarding this issue could spell financial doom for Clinton.

            When efforts to purchase the Rauscher Farm were beginning to ramp up, supporters, including Notaro, trumpeted the better-than-average chances the town had of securing funds through the Self-Help Grant.

            And now that the state came through with more than $350,000 in grant money, the same people that all but promised us that funding are using slight-of-hand tricks to pull it off the table like some crooked three-card-Monty dealer.

            Chairman of the Board of Selectmen Robert Pasquale Jr. said at the board’s last meeting that, “voters approved purchasing the land for $2.6 million.” And while he is correct, voters were assured the town would get that grant money by officials and private residents lobbying for votes.

            Could you imagine if those same officials stood up at Town Meeting and said, “Well, we have a good chance at getting more than $350,000 to help offset the cost of purchasing the land, but if we do we might not accept it because we don’t like some of the rules that are attached to it.”

            Whatever official even tried to toe that line would have been lucky to make it out of the building without being skinned alive.

            Refusing to enact the conservation restriction is also putting in jeopardy the millions of dollars that could potentially come pouring into town from Nestle, the world-renown chocolate manufacturer looking to harvest water from the Wekepeke, who is lobbying to have the conservation restriction put in place to protect the water quality.

            The possibility of losing that small fortune alone would cause any rationally thinking politician to wake in the middle of the night, soaked in sweat and a scream trapped in their throat at the political repercussions of such a colossal misstep.

            But those greenbacks are a pittance to what Clinton would lose if our elected officials simply turned their noses up and walked away from $350,000 in grant money. We’d never see another dime of state money. In fact, you’d be able to hear the screaming laughter from the statehouse every time a grant application came in with a postmark from Clinton.

            Make no mistake about it, if officials refuse to sign the Conservation Restriction it will spell financial ruin for this town.

Drip…drip…drip…drip…

            Like a full-scale prison riot, this situation has the dangerous potential to spin completely out of control, the only difference is in this instance it’s the residents of Clinton that are going to get screwed.

            There has been talk of holding a special Town Meeting because voters “didn’t know what they were voting on” when they approved placing the Conservation Restriction on the Wekepeke several years ago.

Are you kidding me? Since when do town officials get to hold vote after vote until they get the desired result they are looking for?

            People have said this is a complicated situation. I disagree. In fact, I think it’s frighteningly simple. The voters have spoken. They want a Conservation Restriction placed on the Wekepeke, and any elected official trying to spin this situation to make themselves, or the town, look like a victim need to fall the fuck in line.

            And for Notaro’s sake I hope the revelations come soon because otherwise that cupful of integrity he mentioned several years ago is soon going to be empty.

            Drip…drip…drip… drip…drip….

By Patrick Brodrick

            During the spring and summer months Clinton’s Central Park serves as both a public gym for fitness junkies and a social club for many people, but once the snow begins to fly the park quickly becomes a desolate winter wasteland. A number of residents and town officials, however, believe there is no reason why the public shouldn’t have access to the park year-round, and said a large reason for the park’s inactivity lies at the feet of the department tasked with caring for it – the Parks and Recreation Department.

            On Wednesday, selectmen met with several members of the Parks and Recreation Commission to bring attention to several complaints lodged by residents upset by the shoddy condition, including the complete lack of snow removal, of Central Park during the winter months.

            “We’re not trying to stick our noses in your business, but we have had a citizen coming to us complaining that he isn’t getting any help from your board,” Chairman of the Board of Selectmen Robert Pasquale Jr. told commission members. “We have two complaints on record and we have a citizen that wants an answer to why the sidewalks in the park are not being shoveled and sanded. The town bylaws state that the park has to be shoveled and sanded.”

            Commission member Michael Sheridan, who attended the meeting with fellow members Richard Thompson and Ed Verrier Jr., said any complaints were filed against the Parks and Rec. Department were never brought to his attention.

            “I don’t think any of our board members have seen anything in writing,” Sheridan said.

            Several board members, however, said a complaint doesn’t have to be in writing to be taken seriously.

            “If someone comes and speaks to you in person that’s as good as a letter,” Selectman Joseph Notaro Jr. said.

            Sheridan informed the board that his commission addressed the issue of snow removal in Central Park at their last meeting, but were told by Director Daria Janda that the department didn’t have the proper equipment to undertake such a large project.

            “I’m not trying to be a wiseguy, but how is that beautiful park not considered a walking park,” Pasquale said, after hearing that Janda labels the park as a passive park and not a walking park.

            Selectwoman Mary Rose Dickhaut said she understood the importance of having the proper equipment to do the job.

            “I understand when you say you don’t have the right equipment, and when you plow, and I know because this happens at my house, it can tear up your grass and that could cause some serious damage in the park,” Dickhaut said. “But why can’t your department borrow some equipment from the DPW [Department of Public Works]?”

            Sheridan said Parks and Rec. has looked into purchasing a Bobcat to plow the park, but the cost is outside of the department’s budgetary limitations. As for borrowing equipment from the DPW, Sheridan said he was told, because employees in the DPW are union and the Parks and Rec. employees are not, equipment could not be transferred between departments.

            “We don’t have a big enough snow blower,” Verrier said. “If we snow blow, then we have to sand and we have to carry it up there and it can’t have any salt in it because it will kill the grass.”

            Dickhaut said there should be no reason why the Parks and Rec. couldn’t use equipment from the DPW.

            “Our DPW has loaned other communities our equipment so I don’t a problem lending a town department a piece of equipment,” Dickhaut said. “That park is a quarter-mile around and a Bobcat should plow it fairly quickly.”

            Sheridan said he would speak with the DPW about borrowing the equipment.

            “What it all boils down to is people want to use the park,” Selectman Anthony Fiorentino said.

            Department of Public Works Superintendent Chris McGown, who attended the meeting for a different issue, showed up after the discussion with the Parks and Rec. Commission.

            “They can have any piece of equipment they want,” McGown said, when asked if his department would lend out its snow removal equipment.