My, my honeybunch! By the time yew git this missive it’ll be the 14th o’ June and this lit’le seaside community is still wondering where the warmth it. Yeah, it’s better than it was four or five weeks ago, but between the low temps and the sea breezes, a body still needs a jacket or cardigan to git around in. Cobina was out in her gassamobuggy a few mornings ago, and had to pop on the heater. The lumbago was actin’ up.
Needless to say the Cobina rule of inversion ain’t been seen on the beaches lately, but there’s still a lotta time. Yew remember our little rule: The age and corpulent nature of a person on the beach is usually in inverse proportion to the wearer’s amount of coverage. In other words Cobina’s law states that the older and heavier the person, the less they have on as it regards swimwear. We’ve seen some very un-self-aware types over the last few years, so we know wherein we speak.
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Madame Olga tells me that Merlie Mae, who was injured in a house fire a few weeks back is on the mend, and has been moved to another facility from the burn unit she was in. But Olga told me there’s been another setback and Merlie now has more hurdles to overcome.
Keep her in yore thoughts and prayers, sweetie, she needs ‘em about now, and was always willing to give her own prayers to those who needed help. Methinks she’s got a lotta people who’ll be willing to lend an Amen or two.
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Sammy Bluejay sez that several politicos in town are a bit wary of MARB and its threat to put the city in Tier IV status. In fack, their fears are noted in today’s editorial, we are told. The way Sammy tells it, politicos in the city are happy their eleventh hour changes to the budget met with approval from the state review board, but they still are concerned the panel wants a bit more control than it currently has.
That kind of became an isshew when the panel, whilst approving the cutting of the budget and raising of the mill rate, would not take dropping the city from Tier III to Tier IV status. To put it in their words, it’s “still on the table.”
That’s got more than a few local yokels wondering effen the panel is looking for a reason to put the city in the lower bracket. It’s all a question of control. As was put to Sammy, the people on the board are less politicians and more bureaucrats, used to getting their own way. The messy dealings they have to have with elected officials might be a bit to grating on their collective nerves.
It’s much easier to drop the city into the lowest grade and make the decisions by fiat, making the City Council a rubber stamp for its decisions.
This ain’t an attitude held by the majority of politicos in the berg, but it’s being discussed by enuff o’ them that the talk should be taken seriously.
Remember, effen the city drops to Tier IV all contracts, finances and even the tax rate are under the control of MARB. What it sez goes. So, some politicos are concerned that the other shoe is gonna drop on something and the city will find itself under outside control.
I guess we’ll find out soon enuff. Just know that some elected officials hereabouts are not happy, and especially miffed that they weren’t told about the MARB coming into town BEFORE they voted for the bonding that paid off the longstanding deficit. That consternation is yet the topic of another conversation.
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Speaking of the city’s financial crisis, word is that on June 29 the city is closing down for the day. In fack, a story from the Actors Colony came our way explaining that. Sooooo, all non-essential employees – those except police, fire, and emergency personnel – will get the day off without pay. It’ll save the city a few kopecks.
That means effen yew are expecting to do something that concerns city business, don’t schedule it for June 29 cuz it ain’t gonna happen.
I don’t know how many o’ these “furloughs” the city is planning, but I do know that it ain’t a good thing. What good comes out o’ it has to do with the fack that John and Jane Q might really get a flavor for what is really going on. It ain’t something abstract, but concrete.
We shall see how it goes and how the public reacts to it.
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Crikey, all this talk about the Cove River getting a new gate had Cobina’s thoughts turn back to the time when the gate that’s there now – the one that don’t work – was put in during the Johnson administration effen mem’ry serves. It’s been a long time since it has, in fact, worked, but it was a big deal when it was put in.
It still amazes this ole gal how much these projecks cost. This one has a $3.9 million price tag on it, and that really ain’t considered a whole lotta moolah.
Oh, and I guess Dorinda Keenan Borer took charge on this lit’le projeck. Interesting. We’ll give the devil her due. She and our esteemed editor bumped into each other recently. Let’s jest say they’ve had a bit of a rocky relationship over the years, and it ain’t gonna improve any time soon…which is OK.
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Speaking of the Cove River, Nelly Nuthatch tells me that the foundation o’ the new entrance of the high school has a few people in the school ranks’ hearts aflutter. They’ve been excavating the old courtyard area over there, and I guess they set the concrete slab up for the foundation to start some kind o’ construction.
Yew can’t really do much than set a concrete slab dearie. The water table there is about six inches from the surface and things git soaked in a drizzle. Sooo, now we see what’s gonna happen and maybe git a feel fer what the new “footprint” as they like to say nowadays will look like.
With all that going on, we can only think of something somebody said when all this was beginning: It’s all about the bronze plaque.
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Meanwhile, Iva Lootey has been trying to keep tabs on the Charter Revision Commish to see what’s goin’ on over there. They’ve been meeting, and the members seem to be taking a crash course in Civics in order to understand what they are about to revise.
The group seems to be getting along famously, and they seem to be doing some good work, according to Iva. He seems to think they’ve kind o’ isolated some major topics and are gonna work from big to small and threshing out the good ideas from the not-so-good ones as they go along.
This sounds like jest what the doctor ordered for our charter, which, as I have said before, hasn’t had the real look-see it’s needed in a long time. Too often, the politicos try to hijack the proceedings. This time, however, they seem to be keeping an arm’s length…or maybe they are being forced to an arm’s length. Either way, things seem to be getting done.
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With that bit o’ chatter, I’ll close this time till next, mitt luff und kizzez,