By Patrick Brodrick

            Nestle, the Swiss-based, world-renown chocolate manufacturer may be able to boast that it “makes the very best” when it comes to sweets; its proposals for harvesting water from the Wekepeke Reservoir in Sterling, however, leaves something to be desired, according to the Clinton Board of Selectmen.

            On Wednesday, selectmen voted unanimously to reject Nestlé’s proposal to use water from the Sterling reservoir, which is actually owned by Clinton despite its geographic location.

            “I’ve given it a lot of thought and I don’t think the risk versus reward is a fair tradeoff, especially with the amount of money to be had from the deal,” Selectmen Joseph Notaro Jr. said.

            Nestlé’s proposal called for harvesting about 230,000 gallons of water a day from the Wekepeke aquifer to be used in its bottled-water line. Nestle had planned to pay Clinton between $200,000 and $300,000 a year, or $2.55 per 100 cubic feet, under the proposed agreement. The proposal also stipulated that Nestle would pay an up-front fee of $100,000 during the first year of the contract, and an additional $20,000 a year for the next five years, that Clinton would use to repair the earthen dams on the 564 acre Sterling property. Clinton is required to repair the dams to make sure they meet state standards, which could cost upwards of $1.5 million.

            “We are under a mandate from the state to repair the dams,” Selectman Anthony Fiorentino said during the meeting. “I think this situation has been over-engineered and I’d like to see it addressed in a more simple solution; this is the only plan we have in place unfortunately.”

            The deal with Nestle drew the ire of a number of residents in both Sterling and Clinton opposed to entering into an agreement with a multi-national corporation regarding water rights on the land. A group of Sterling residents, led by Attorney Jim Gettens, stated they were prepared to move forward with a lawsuit against Clinton if it accepted a deal with Nestle. Supporters of the suit alleged Clinton would be violating the terms of its agreement with Sterling, which the group believes clearly states the town is only allowed to use the water for its residents.

            Selectman Kevin Haley agreed with both Notaro and Fiorentino and said he had a number of concerns with Nestlé’s proposal.

            “I’d rather look at a different option for the Wekepeke and see if we can’t come up with another way to repair the dams,” Haley said. “I would make a motion that we don’t accept Nestlé’s proposal, and look at other options that are available to the town.”

            Notaro seconded the motion.

            “The risk versus reward doesn’t justify this arrangement now,” Notaro said. “I do believe that Clinton, even though that land is surrounded by other communities, has autonomy over that property, and we have control of the natural resources on that land.”

            Notaro went on to state that he would like to see a legal review conducted to determine just what rights Clinton has to that property and the water supply, both above and below ground.

            “We need to be able to come to some terms as to what we can do with that property,” Notaro said.

            Haley agreed and said he’d like to see the review to encompass what rights the town has in possibly selling the land.

            Selectmen voted unanimously to reject Nestlé’s proposal.

            (Editor’s Note: Well, it took seven months but Selectmen Robert Pasquale Jr., Joseph Notaro Jr. and Anthony Fiorentino, along with Kevin Haley and Mary Rose Dickhaut, finally did something that I think they should be commended on – their rejection of the Nestle proposal to harvest water from the Wekepeke. It would have been easy to get seduced by the lure of the money being waved like a carrot on a stick in front of the town, but the board collectively realized what The Independent has been saying all along – the money being offered by Nestle is a pittance compared to what that land and water is really worth. Included in the board’s request is to have town counsel review Clinton’s legal standing in regard to selling the land; however, any efforts to relinquish the town from controlling that land should be met with fierce resistance. That land, and more importantly the water on the property, is going to be worth far more than the land will fetch on the real estate market.

            “To more than two billion people fresh drinking water is more valuable than gold.” – National Geographic)

“My one intention is the [political] destruction of the undesirables who continue to make miserable the life of ordinary people…I have paid them back in their own coin.”

– Michael Collins

By Patrick Brodrick

“Notaro said this week he has no connection with that site [www.kevin-haley.com] and he does not condone personal attacks on public officials. ‘It’s not appropriate to do that to anyone,’ Notaro said.”— Times & Courier, March 6 

“I think it’s pathetic that who I thought had one of the most professional non basis opions [sic] when it comes to reporting has turned into a one sided Davey vs Goliath brute with regards to his new career as a blogger…All I can say is Pat Broderick [sic] says a lot of fancy nothings in his opinions, and he is definitely way off track with his facts, and so what if one person was smarter than he was with regards to this blog crap!

— Selectman Robert Pasquale Jr. Times & Courier Blog 

     I’ve always considered myself a student of irony, so I can’t help but smile when two of the most deplorable politicians to ever be elected in Clinton preach about the importance of taking the high road, while at the same time painting themselves as helpless victims.

     Shortly, and I mean days, possibly even hours, after he was elected, Pasquale, a life-long Democrat suddenly switched his political affiliation to be closer to Notaro, a registered Republican. In turn, Notaro lobbied his allies on the Republican Town Committee to indoctrinate Pasquale as a full-fledged member. It was such a controversial move that the chairman of the committee threatened to resign in protest. (It was actually kind of sweet; can’t you just picture Notaro and Pasquale driving full-tilt over the edge of a cliff, hand-in-hand like some bastardized version of Thelma and Louise? The only problem is the rest of the town is trapped in the backseat during this hellbent joyride.)

     And just like that, one of the most devious political pacts since Lucifer and Judas was forged in a baptism of bullshit.

     But just how attached at the hip are Notaro and Pasquale? Well, when I worked at the Times & Courier I routinely spoke with both men on the phone, and I used to play a game, unbeknownst to them, where I would throw a verbal Molotov cocktail that I knew would piss them off. If I called Pasquale, within days, sometimes hours, without fail, I would get a phone call from Notaro repeating exactly what I had just said, verbatim, and grilling me on my intentions.

     Within days of the story on Kevin Haley announcing his intentions of running for a seat on the Board of Selectmen I got a call from both Pasquale and Notaro.

     “What? He doesn’t think we’re doing a good job?” a petulant Notaro said, upset that anyone would have the gall to seek a seat on his board. “He’s a big drinker you know.”

     Pasquale essentially said the same thing, “He’s a big drinker you know.”

     I couldn’t help but feel that each politician was trying to entice me into doing a smear piece on Haley.

(To his credit, once Haley trounced the candidate Notaro was backing during last year’s election, he called and said he was wrong about him; however, in my opinion Notaro’s mea culpa had all the high-gloss sincerity of a cereal box. So you’ll have to forgive my barking laughter when I read quotes from Notaro claiming he doesn’t condone “personal attacks” on elected officials.)

     So when I discovered, with the help of readers, and exposed a Web site created by the rotten base of these two pillars – and I use that term very lightly – of the community, I immediately thought back to those phone calls. The story was eventually picked up by the Times & Courier, which produced one of the most slanted screeds of journalism this side of Fox News and completely missed the point of the story, further cementing my opinion that the paper has simply become a puppet for Notaro and Pasquale’s propaganda. If the executives at Gatehouse Media are wondering why the Times & Courier is hemorrhaging subscriptions, I would offer that story as one of many smoking guns.

Six Degrees of Separation

     While I’m not making allegations that either politician is behind the smear site, their supporters clearly are, so it’s hard to imagine that Notaro had no knowledge of the Kevin Haley site.

     In his disjointed, and poorly spelled, ramblings on the Times & Courier blog, Pasquale said I am “way off track with my facts.” Well, here are the facts that I’ve been able to prove, which until now have been ignored by the “mainstream media” in Clinton.

     Notaro’s faux Local Independent site was designed by a company named Jesco Inc., and has an administrative contact listed on Devenwood Lane in Clinton. A quick search of the corporate records at the Secretary of State’s Office has no listing of a Jesco registered in Clinton. I’m sure it is purely coincidental that Notaro’s brother’s in-laws live on Devenwood Lane.

     Coincidentally, the person responsible for designing the Kevin Haley site was named Jess. And Jess is quite the entrepreneur, selling the Web site to the highest bidder. If you’re interested, simply contact her/him over at a certain free speech swamp that is riddled with close friends and supporters of Notaro and Pasquale.

     But the Kevin Haley site isn’t Jess’ first foray into the sleazy world of URL selling. Nope, she has a number of other gems for sale as well including thatfagfromclinton.com and queerpondpeople.com. And, apparently, there is such a cash windfall to be made selling domain names that Notaro decided to try his hand in the cyber-sleaze market by selling thelocalindependent.com.

     Since my last post, detractors have said that these twisted ramblings are the work of someone with an agenda, and they’re absolutely correct. My agenda is the political destruction of the undesirables that continue to make miserable the life of ordinary people. I say there is no room for these hypocrites and their smear tactics, bigotry and ignorance in Clinton politics, let alone Clinton, and come May voters will hopefully decide that it’s time to pay these swine back in their own coin.   

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

            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.