the alberton papers

Name:
Location: alberton, mt., United States

I am a retired steamfitter and vocational instructor, Current member, alberton town council, having served two terms previously, several years ago. Resident of alberton almost 28 years. I am fiscally conservative and socially progressive, a free thinker and an advocate of good, responsive, honest government.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

alvinville, chapter two

The Alberton Papers, Vol. V, #II
By Dick Darne 9-18-07
Alvinville chapter 2
"Looks like good news and bad news from Alvinville, boys,"exclaimed Bill. "We’ll put aside the old news for now and think about this today."
"O.K., what’s the bad news?" asked Johnny.
"Bad news is they have been hit with an unfunded mandate. Even after spending 1.2 million dollars seven years ago, jumping through all the hoops, etc., building a new sewer treatment plant according to all the state and federal rules, they now must spend mucho bucks to disenfect the treated effluent before it goes to the river." explained Bill.
"Aren’t there lots of other needs in Alvinville that, if they did have the money, are more urgent?" asked Johnny.
" Oh yes, lots of things." answered Bill. "They can join a list of just about every small town in Montana, big towns too. For that matter, most states in the USA."
Todd jumped in. "There’s no money because the country has been and is being looted. About a Billion dollars every ten days or so spent in Iraq, most of it going to private contractors."
"Crony capitalism’s finest hour!" exclaimed Gno, who was never one to mince words. "Connect the dots and you’ll see the tentacles reaching into the highest levels of the executive branch. They are breaking the system on purpose, then more crony capitalism to fix it."
"So, what’s the good news?" someone asked.
"Alvinville has had enough. Instead of just rolling over, they have decided to wait and see. It appears as though every town in the state has had enough. Maybe in the country. The Organization Of Towns Of The State is going to protest to the EPA." said Bill.
"It all hinges on the solidarity. Or ‘solidarnosk’ as they would say in Poland. People’s struggles need solidarity as a few readings in labor history would affirm." said Todd. "Remember, it was not crony capitalism that defeated the ‘evil empire’, but solidarity."
Until next time, SOLIDARNOSK! dd

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

The Liberty Tree vol5 #1

The Alberton Papers Vol V, # I
By Dick Darne 9-11-07
The Liberty Tree
"Where’s Dick today?" one of the thinkers asked.
"He’s working on his new best seller, ‘Albertville’." someone replied.
A booming voice from the rear said, "Viggie had to go back for now, but we’ll keep it going. Anything to add anyone?"
" I do. It was Nemi. "None of the perps of the present day mess has had to pay up yet. No one was fired, some were promoted, some received medals and most got richer. Especially old number two. He came close once, but had ‘scooter’ take the fall with his silence signed, sealed and delivered with a presidential pardon. I doubt he’ll ever be applying for food stamps."
"But can’t you do something yourself, I mean isn’t that your job to see that the bad guys get what’s coming to them?" someone asked.
" No, that’s not to say they won’t do themselves in eventually, which is too late to recover their ill gotten gains, but rather it is your job as citizens to do it. Your founding fathers anticipated most of this and provided remedies such as impeachment. Of course it all depends on a functioning legislative and judicial branches and to some extent on a functioning ‘fourth branch’. They are all either broken or badly bent and a lot of it falls squarely on the shoulders of the citizenry. Almost everybody agrees that we have a real mess, high crimes and misdemeanors, wholesale looting of the treasury, erosion of our precious liberties, private armies running amok and the evermore concentration of power in a very few dangerous men. But who voted them in to begin with? A lot of stupid decisions on the part of the citizenry. I can only try to raise awareness. You must do the job." said Nemi.
"What if we can’t get the votes to impeach?" someone asked.
"Remember the words of one of your founding fathers: ‘The tree of liberty must
be refreshed with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is it’s natural manure.’ answered the Lady. "and don’t forget the oldest of the founders who said: ‘any society who would give up a little liberty to gain a little security, will deserve neither and lose both.’ look at what we have given up already just to be less safe."
"What in the world has ‘Albertville’ got to do with this, has Dick gone off his rocker?" One of the regulars asked
"Not really, he’s got a theory that Liberty, Truth and Justice begins at home. If people can’t take care of things at the local level, then things will get worse at the national level" answered the Lady. Pay attention. Ask questions. Think! dd

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Alvinville, chapter one

The Alberton Papers, Vol. IV #XX
By Dick Darne 9-05-07
"Professor Berkowitz kinda piqued my interest in Alvinville and since I had a little free time, I checked it out a little further. A fine example, indeed, of the populace sleeping while the inmates run the asylum. It should never happen to anyone and I wonder if it could happen here." said Bill, the retired logger as everyone settled in for some serious thinking.
"How do you go about checking out these things? Asked Johnny.
"Most of it is public record." replied Bill, "The rest is general knowledge in bits and pieces obscured by drowsiness. There’s usually one or two people who are trying to get the truth out, but it’s a tough slog sometimes."
"You mean to say that if people don’t think a particular issue affects their pocketbook directly, they tend to not think about it much, if at all?" asked Todd.
"Exactly!"replied Bill. "Take the magnificent fifty thousand dollar Wildcat machine, most people thought it was covered by a grant. Not so, unless you consider the State’s benevolence in loaning them the money at interest a grant. That twice a year payment is the biggest part of the ‘cost of ownership’ that Sven was talking about"
"Not to mention some hidden costs associated with alienating most of Alvinville’s contractors." added Johnny.
"There’s lots more," replied Bill. " while everyone in Alvinville snoozed, they managed to empty the funds in the treasury that could be used for amenities. First quite a few thousand dollars went to a not-so-reliable contractor, who was paid before completion, and left. It sits today, in beautiful downtown Alvinville as a monument to mismanagement. But, a bigger monument yet sits there, a pile of deteriorating material for this huge gazebo that was to stand for all time, lovingly built with an outpouring of widespread community support that must exist only in the delusions of grandeur swimming through the minds of the dunderheads."
"But, isn’t there something that can be done?" asked Todd.
"Probably so," replied Bill, "seems as there was federal money involved, misuse of that is serious business. Since the feds have been lax on prosecuting the big crooks, they’ll probably jump on this one with a vengeance."
"Haven’t they had any elections?" asked Johnny
"Sure did, the new mayor, Harold Olaf, kicked the old mayor’s butt by a two to one margin, but the council still had two holdovers, one of which was appointed by the old regime and refused to stand for election. Needless to say, not much could be done to fix things. Then came the dirty tricks."answered Bill.
"Dirty tricks? I thought that only happened at a much higher level. What kind of dirty tricks? Asked Todd.
"Well, for one, right after the election, the U.S. Census officer shows up in Alvinville, ostensibly to see if Mayor Olaf actually resided in the town limits. When have you ever even heard of the Census man ever showing up between censuses? There’s lots more, lets break and pick up the trails next week. You guys keep thinking!" said Bill
Do as Bill says. dd