Reflections on Special Town Meeting

Dear Editor:

Having experienced the twilight zone, aka the Special Town Meeting of November 20, a couple of things are apparent. If you vote a liberal out of office, be prepared for the backlash and chaos from the small percentage that don’t accept that their view is not the majority opinion. Unfortunately, the chaos and backlash didn’t begin with the death of John O’Keefe, but with the defeat of the liberal Select Board incumbent last April. The victor in that election was totally put through the ringer by the incumbent’s supporters. Yes, he was involved in a fatal car accident many years ago, but the matter was adjudicated and he served his time. He has since raised his family in town and supported many causes in the community — something that many seem to have been forgotten. Not only is he entitled to a second chance, but he is not a [expletive] killer as he was demonized as at a recent board meeting. He is totally unacceptable to the liberal crowd because he is of a different mindset.

Let’s be honest, if the liberal candidate were re-elected, the town wouldn’t be so untrusting of the leadership and police force. John O’Keefe’s death is a smokescreen created by a few moon bats in the media and a blogger (not even a resident of Canton) who created this conflagration. It’s my opinion that the vote to audit our dedicated and exemplary police force and chief is a waste of the town’s resources. Officer O’Keefe’s death will not be resolved by this investment, which is something that I don’t think supporters of the audit quite understand. Rather, this an audit of the process and procedures of the CPD (which have proven to be exemplary as demonstrated by the many other audits they are subjected to). It is not an audit of the Karen Read murder case — a criminal proceeding that must be litigated through the courts and not by the few who have used media reports and blogger opinions to draw their own conclusions. It is unprecedented that a state DA has to hold a press conference asking for civility and patience as a criminal undertaking is being adjudicated though the court system.

A second observation from this twilight zone meeting is that this type of town government is not prudent when there are “hot-button issues” that require the attention of the voters. If Canton had a representative town meeting, then those elected by the voters would be well informed of the issues and could gather in one location to deliberate and vote (rather than spread across three separate rooms as we were at the November 20 STM).

I was in the cafeteria, where we had a professional town moderator (Richard Stati) keeping us informed and guiding us through the issue that was being voted on. Having spoken to folks who were in the gym, they were not afforded that same guidance, and with the technical problems they encountered, it was unclear as to which issue was being voted on and what the outcome of the vote would determine.

The Citizen’s report of the meeting did not report on the insanity of the meeting, including the technical issue and the confusion that many in attendance had experienced, but only on the results of the warrant articles — and mainly on the result of the one vote that supported the liberals’ position. Also, the Boston Globe only reported on the outcome of the vote with no details about the crux of the meeting and the chaos and confusion.

Thomas Taylor

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