Out and about before the threatened Nor'easter this evening and fell into conversation with someone while waiting to check out about, of all things, tomorrow's professional football game between the New England Patriots and the NY Jets. He had little doubt, regardless of the weather between now and then (Sunday afternoon) the game would be played in Foxboro, Massachusetts. His feeling was it might be a little chilly to be playing football and he was surprised when I told him the guys he worried about were paid MILLIONS to suit up and go out there, regardless of the weather, and that my concern was for the morons (the word I used, I think) who would troop into the open-air stadium, consume beer by the kegful and sit for four or more hours in the cold and in the dark while these guys 'played.' My ability to say the right thing at the right time has always been a faithful ally and a resource I've called upon time and time again.
Smiled reading a front page story in one the two dailies this morning (it'll be in the other paper, probably by Wednesday or as quickly as the rewrite desk gets to it) on the enforcement locally of the snow-shovelling/sidewalk clearing ordinance across the area. Great quote from a Norwich police LT who's obviously left his pen in his other uniform as I drove across the city this morning, I passed dozens of homes whose sidewalks were piled high with snow that stopped falling Thursday night. He talks about how police officers in uniform continue to write citations. I doubt if, in the last five years, the police in the City of Norwich have written more than ten tickets, TOTAL. And quite frankly, why should they have to do it all?
The ordinance in Norwich was written on behalf of all of us and, theoretically at least, with our knowledge and consent. If we don't care enough about our own, and one another's, safety to clear our sidewalks of snow and ice than we should have to live with whatever happens to us.
Cannot wait to see what the sidewalks of Norwich will look like by tomorrow night, after the next storm blows through the area. Maybe we can get some of those Patriots and Jets football players to grab a shovel and lend a hand? Or perhaps, they can just hire somebody else to do it? And if they don't do a good job, we can call the cops because that's what they're for. That and to make little kids eat all their vegetables.
-bill kenny
PS: Speaking of knowledge and consent, the first real meeting of the new Norwich City Council is Monday night in City Hall. If you hadn't already figured out that the election in November was only a START, then Monday's a good time to stop in and see how well all of us are playing six weeks into "the change".
The Mayor and the City Council wasted a moment on the 4th of December when all that agenda called for was swearing in of new alderpersons and thanking former members. Looks like everyone wants to roll up their sleeves and have a second chance to make a good first impression come Monday night at seven. We have a long way to go and a short while on this earth to get it done. Now is the time. We are the people. Go Us!
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