Dear Felicia

Well hon, in case yew were under the impression the cold snap we had a couple weeks ago was gonna mean something, the words of Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) came to mind, “If you don’t like the weather in New England, wait a minute. It’ll change.”

Heck effen that ain’t what happened. After the coldest May on record, according to the Wag, the foist week o’ June was the hottest on record. Go and figger. As I scribe this week’s missive, schools are ready to close for the year – and what a year it’s been – and the seniors at local high schools are in the process of graduating. The WHHS was set to have its graduation on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, our esteemed editor was hacked in his personal email account, and is still pickin’ up the pieces from that. At last count – and he counted – more than 200 people contacted him via various methods in order to find out what’s up with his phony email request – which asked for a “favor.” The funny thing was he got an email similar to that from someone weeks ago, and deleted it seeing it was a hack.

Tennyrate, changing his password in his account has fixed some problems, but caused others that he’ still trying to figger out. Electronics are a great thing when they work right, but when they don’t it does put one’s life in a series of minor annoyances. That’s for sure.

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We ain’t one to blow our own horn, but sometimes yew ask a question and things get answered. Last time, I inquired as to when and what the city is doing to celebrate the centennial of our becoming independent from Orange. Up to that point thing had been a bit spotty, and, of course, we racked it up to the fact that the COVID debacle was still influencing things.

Well, it turns out there is plenty this week the city’s crackerjack publicity man, Mike Walsh, has put together the list to end all lists in a story to end all stories about the events. Anything that anyone could possibly want is in this collection. That’s a good thing, and we should be able to highlight all the events as they come alone.

Last weekend, for example, is the much-touted boat parade that sorta kicked things off. We saw many runabouts in the parade, and it was a fine thing to see. We hope the city’s future events are jest as fine. Nice thing about it is that when we asked the question, we got an answer. Goodness knows that ain’t the case all the time.

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Sammy Bluejay indicated that the big news – in fack we got phone calls about it right after – was that former Councilwoman Louise Martone was nabbed by the constabulary for allegedly selling narcotics outta her bakery establishment. Of course, the phone calls followed a certain predictable pattern with those who are political foes of her kind of cackling about it, whilst others seemed to take the “let’s see what happens” approach.

Now we all know the game of hardball politics in this berg is, but we’ve always wondered why that can’t be left at the door when something like this happens. Cobina don’t know the lady in question, and only knows what she has read so far in various periodicals. That said, she is inclined – as we think everyone should be – to let the judicial process take its course.

We ain’t ever been one to wish the worst for people – even ones that over the years were not very kind to us. Soooo, we think everyone should keep their powder dry on this until we know more, and the due process that everyone is entitled to takes place. It seems the right thing to do, political issues notwithstanding.

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Nelly Nuthatch was in t’other afternoon and said that getting around the town is getting difficult because there is more paving going on than we’ve seen here in decades. She ain’t wrong. Cobina’s daily marketing has been a bit more difficult cuz of the detours one must take to git around. Streets all over town are being milled and paved, which is a good thing. Many of the streets in question were last paved during the first Clinton administration.

That don’t make for easy travel, though, especially for those with low clearance on their vehicles. The “raised structures” like manhole covers can be a treacherous thing for one’s muffler and undercarriage. Nelly was wondering how much all this paving is costing. Iyam sure we can git an estimate. But, it seems to me until we finish all the roads earmarked for paving, we won’t get a good idea.

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Madame Olga was looking through her crystal the other day and was trying to focus on what is gonna happen in the next little while concerning the fall elections – which, sad to say, will be here before we really want it to be. Herronner made her announcement last week, and now officially puts the number of Democrats in the race at three. Everyone thought she would announce for a thoid term, but until it’s official, many things are up in the air. No so anymore.

Sooooo, Olga was trying to get a handle on the race, but said that the crystal ball was a bit hazy. One would think it could be. In the Democratic camp, the contestants are Herronner, the former Hizzoner, Ed O’Brien, and the former Hizzoner’s Executive Secretary, John Lewis.

I’ve mentioned to yew before the conundrum some o’ the party faithful are having with Lewis and O’Brien going against each other. “Fishing out of the same pond” is one expression hoid from one or two of the party regulars. Y’see, they are considered as representing one of the party’s three contending factions.

We ain’t sure how this is gonna play out, and we think that is the case for those who don’t particularly like the current administration. They don’t know how things are gonna play in the next few weeks, let alone the next few months.

The caucuses are in about five weeks and it would be a fool’s errand to bet against the current incumbent getting the nod from the Democratic Town Committee – her people run the show. There are certain to be a few dissidents, but not enuff to upset the apple cart. So, we’re fully expecting that petitions will be out for both challenge candidates, and the party will see yet another primary come the fall. Effen memory serves, this ain’t a fed’ral year, so the primary will be in September.

As are as the minority party is concerned, there is only one declared candidate, Barry Lee Cohen, Tenth District councilman. He declared about two months ago, and it was said then that there might be a dark horse candidate comin’ into the race. Well, effen that is happening, it might be the night of the caucus the way this is going. Nary a word, nary a name has been uttered as to whom this candidate might be. Maybe it was a ruse, who knows. We’ll find out in the next little while.

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So, we see that the two remaining fire districks might have their mill rates cut, but like the city budget, it is more a case of revaluation rather than costs coming down. So, the West Shore and Center districks will see lower mill rates, but the same amount of revenue coming in. Jest like the city, the revaluation hasn’t cut the tax rate in actual dollars, just in mills. All the hype about lowering fire taxes is jest that hype. It’s a mirage.

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Whilst out traversing along Beach Street last week, Cobina happened to notice that a new realtor has taken over the Debonair property. A “For Sale” sign has been out in front of that former motel for ages. We remember when it was supposedly bought out by a former big shot in the General Assembly, and a lot was made out of it. Unfortunately, it was just a paper exchange.

Soooo, it looks like a new realtor will try to get the property moved to a new owner and maybe, jest maybe, something will happen over there. With that happening, and the news that someone might actually be interested in the former Chick’s Restaurant, Beach Street will be less the wasteland it has been over the last decade.

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With that bit o’ chatter, I’ll close this time till next, mitt luff und kizzez,