Rink handling showed lack of competence, courage
By Canton CitizenDear Editor:
On the one hand, to know that we were the home of Commodore John Downes, who sailed on the first voyage of the USS Constitution, makes me very proud. At age 23 he served as a lieutenant aboard the USS Wasp (a later version of which my father helped design for our World War II effort in Newport News, Virginia). As commander during the War of 1812, Downes captured three British ships.
Fast forward to March 2015. We are under fire from a frigid winter with dangerous snow threatening our roofs. Obviously, someone at Metropolis Rink was observant enough to know that we were in danger from that roof collapsing. So various state and town officials gathered there to determine what to do. Sadly enough, their judgment was terribly lacking, a function of the good ol’ boy mentality that substitutes for competence among our town leadership. If ever there was a reason to seek non-Tweedledee-and-Tweedledum selectmen, here is one. None was brave enough in that group to say, “Well, looks like it might come down. We need to have a better look next week, but we better not take a chance. We close it tonight.”
We “dodged a bullet?” That bullet was of our own casting, caused by a group of town officials who didn’t have the courage to speak out against the gang and say, “We need to close that rink so those kids won’t be at risk.” Several other towns had the same problem and chose to close their public buildings.
As a result, we don’t have deaths to report across the Boston area, but a lot of unfortunate misjudgment here in Canton.
My grandsons learned to skate there, pushing their chairs across the ice at the age of 5. That picture is still in my mind’s eye.
Two hours after this hideous collapse pictured in the Citizen, children were going to have their photos made and hundreds more kids would have been there. I’m in terror of what could have happened to them, and it’s not to the praise of these guys in charge of our safety that there was not a death or serious injury.
We need to hire a professional engineer (PE), not just a structural engineer. My father was both and there’s a big difference in training and testing. I’ll be glad to pay the increased taxes: better that than a smooth-talking know-nothing who acts like he knows everything.
Our town election is coming up. Folks, look at those candidates and see if you see any who would be willing to go up against the popular opinion of the others. They may have to step forward at some time and speak up against mob-think.
Alice C. Brown
Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=28908
Posted by Canton Citizen
on Mar 19 2015. Filed under From One Citizen to Another, Opinion.
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