Orate less, perform more

To the Editor:

Apparently, members of the Rumford Selectboard used recent meeting time to attack me personally because I've made it clear they've failed in their responsibility to do something about the condition of Strathglass Park.

Interesting: a private citizen, a volunteer, urging the town to do its job is attacked by the same public officials who are the ones who failed to do that job. Not a bad way to try to draw attention away from their own failures.

Given its current sorry track record - higher taxes, higher sewer rates, economic development at a standstill, Strathglass Park revitalization stalled, blighted town-owned buildings left standing and open to vandals in several parts of town, (just to start the list) - perhaps the board might think about orating less and performing more.

A first step would be to move the meetings away from the grand tribunal at the front of the auditorium and back to the more workmanlike discussion table in the back, a site less conducive to bloviating and chest thumping for the camera.

Phil Blampied