That would be a good start. I know some people have suggested changing the voting day from Tues to Sat.

marny i agree that is why i have talked to pshooter and bob brady to get a greatest hits highlights dvd to show people the lack of respect from the bos and town moderator towards residents, bob bradys breakdown of legal fees and pending court cases 38 current i believe and lawyer fees on top of that because of the bos and its lack of public records transparency and public records disappeariing in my case, i want to show this dvd to other a picture is worth a thousand words and hard to deny the evidence..

All very interesting folks. People register to vote in state elections and don't get involved at the local level. I've said all along that you must educate people. The Courier and ST don't get to every house. So we need to figure out a way to get the word out.

Here is an example of information apathy--a neighbor was walking by our house yesterday and stopped to chat with my husband who asked if she was getting ready for hurricane Bill. The woman had no clue what he was talking about. Now, it's been on the local news channels for days, and in a coastal community, hurricanes can be a big deal. If people aren't interested in local and national news, why would they care about the town they live in?

Here is where we must get creative. The ad in the paper for the community meeting was good. The turn out was fine, but not when you consider that many of the people in the audience were the "choir" and didn't need to be preached to. There were some bos supporters, so those don't count as the people we really want to educate since most have their minds made up. How many were newbies wanting to learn about what is happening in their town? We need ideas and we need bodies.

Last edited by Molly (2009-08-21 07:00:37)

Molly, 
What's wrong with the choir ?  I've always been of the mindset that if you have a great choir, more people will want to sing along.
You've identified the needs but no suggestions.  Can you bring your neighborhood together for a grassroots meeting ?  This is what its going to take to bring more folks to the choir.
What other methods would you suggest to get the word out and what are you willing to do to make that happen ?
Enough talk...we need doers.  We've got plenty of talkers.  Look what lip service has got us.  We need to change that with new leaders that "do".  We've heard more than enough about "vision".  Everyone has great "vision" but it doesn't appear (pun intended) that anyone is seeing.  We've got to make them see.

There are several things in the works at this point. First, I know we are organizing a meeting of our local community. I'm not sure how many people will turn out , but if 15 people turn out and half of them learn something that will make them angry or educate them on the current Selectmen, then we have more people than we started with. If those people turn around and tell more people, we can grow this effort. If we can bring people together in their own neighborhoods and begin the process to present what is happening now, and why we need change,

I know there are many who either want to remain in the background or have good concerns to NOT speak out in public, but those are still votes we can count on. Hopefully, there will come a time when the fear mongers are gone and everyone can speak openly. The only way to achieve this through effort on our part.

Bill W's site has been the catalyst for change. It allows all of us a voice in this movement. Now we have to go forward and use that voice to make change a reality.

There are several people gathering facts to present at the meeting. Just because it's a local community meeting, it doesn't mean you can't attend. I plan to attend a few of these. Facts are important in making the case!

We have important warrants on the town meeting and an election to prepare for. Let's make this work!

Dan,
You also have to account for the number of hits Slager makes daily while writing his articles :) I would also suggest the Selectmen and Bonehead moderator visit this site.

I do agree there are several people in the woodwork that have much at stake and would prefer not to be openly associated with this movement. Those people will vote for change.

I think what is critical is just to get people to vote. The hype lately in this town is helping that, but we need to take it a step further and educate the people. There is a DVD in the works (which should be great), tshirts, meetings, and a big meeting coming in October right before the town meeting.

I am curious about the Onset community and we will know more when we have our community meeting there!

Molly wrote:

All very interesting folks. People register to vote in state elections and don't get involved at the local level. I've said all along that you must educate people. The Courier and ST don't get to every house. So we need to figure out a way to get the word out.

Here is an example of information apathy--a neighbor was walking by our house yesterday and stopped to chat with my husband who asked if she was getting ready for hurricane Bill. The woman had no clue what he was talking about. Now, it's been on the local news channels for days, and in a coastal community, hurricanes can be a big deal. If people aren't interested in local and national news, why would they care about the town they live in?

Here is where we must get creative. The ad in the paper for the community meeting was good. The turn out was fine, but not when you consider that many of the people in the audience were the "choir" and didn't need to be preached to. There were some bos supporters, so those don't count as the people we really want to educate since most have their minds made up. How many were newbies wanting to learn about what is happening in their town? We need ideas and we need bodies.

Probably unlikely to happen, but wouldn't it be nice if we could get part of our message out on the billboards by Hwy. Concrete and Onset Ave..  Maybe a partial message board with a phone # or email address put up on the grass on the corner of the Rte 28-6 bypass and Depot Street, where they advertise the movies in Onset, etc. or we could take out an ad in the Observer.  Sorry, couldn't resist.

LIZdaGNOME wrote:

Molly wrote:

All very interesting folks. People register to vote in state elections and don't get involved at the local level. I've said all along that you must educate people. The Courier and ST don't get to every house. So we need to figure out a way to get the word out.

Here is an example of information apathy--a neighbor was walking by our house yesterday and stopped to chat with my husband who asked if she was getting ready for hurricane Bill. The woman had no clue what he was talking about. Now, it's been on the local news channels for days, and in a coastal community, hurricanes can be a big deal. If people aren't interested in local and national news, why would they care about the town they live in?

Here is where we must get creative. The ad in the paper for the community meeting was good. The turn out was fine, but not when you consider that many of the people in the audience were the "choir" and didn't need to be preached to. There were some bos supporters, so those don't count as the people we really want to educate since most have their minds made up. How many were newbies wanting to learn about what is happening in their town? We need ideas and we need bodies.

molly i have said i will pass out flyers on cars s&s, walmart, shaws hell ill even sit outside these places for a few hours on the weekends and chit chat up our meetings i want a highlights dvd to make copies and handout, ill walk neighborhoods door to door also, have get to gethers at houses talk about it, i tell everyone i come in contact with(grocery store employees, dunkin donuts, gas stations) the sqeaky wheel will get heard... i have found out even more things going on in our town the past few weeks from talkin to others and hearing thier stories..

And I bet what you are finding out hasn't been publicized anywhere. I can understand not speaking of anything that involves litigation.  I have to agree with you, because from where I sit, once you get me started on "the powers that be", people are so angry that the stories that come out are almost unbelievable.  Some that are never reported to the police or BOS.  Some things are how they were treated by Department heads and their staff.  Others are complaints about a particular one or two police officers, not those who patrol, either.  No, not any LT..  Crime Watch sets off a tornado effect with a lot of folks.  Mainly Coleman & 1 or 2 of "his Officers".  The rest are mostly very nice people who volunteer and these people will tell me that it's not the whole Crime Watch group.  Tuesday, I had the rare occasion to be driven along Weaver St. in W.Wareham. This particular part is where you enter from Main St.. And low and behold what did I see - but a white & blue sign saying Crime Watch Community.  This is no joke, apparently this end of town has been a "Watcher" for years.  Onset Community Crime Watch, Inc. - you may now disband your Corporation and you only need to put up signs with the watchful eye and just watch your neighbors home.   Simple!