Breaking News: Mark Carron Convicted on DUI Charge – Gets 6 Months

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Ken O’Brien
Former state representative MarkJ. Carron was ordered to serve 6 months of a 2-year jail sentence after beingfound guilty of driving while under the influence of alcohol.
He was arrested on the charge Feb. 2 after Auburnpolice said they found him asleep in his car about 2 a.m. Police said he failedseveral field sobriety tests.

Mr. Carron was found guilty of the charge after ajury trial in Central District Court. Police said at the time of his arrestthat Mr. Carron had three prior drunk-driving convictions, and he was chargedwith his fourth offense. 
Mr. Carron waived his right to a separate jury trialand admitted to two prior drunken driving convictions, one in 1987 and theother in 1991.
Judge Charles Groce III sentenced Mr. Carron to 2years in the House of Correction, with 6 months to be served. The judgesuspended the balance of the sentence for 2 years with probation.
As conditions of probation, Mr. Carron was orderedto undergo a substance abuse evaluation and any treatment deemed appropriate bythe court, to attend four Alcoholics Anonymous meetings a week and to remainalcohol-free with random screens. The status of his driver's license will bedetermined by the state Registry of Motor Vehicles.
As proposed by his lawyer, Michael H. Erlich, andSpecial Prosecutor Michael Russo, Judge Groce agreed to recommend that Mr.Carron serve the committed portion of his sentence at the Western MassachusettsAlcohol Rehabilitation Center in Springfield.

The iPhoney 5

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Ken O’Brien
I don’t know who to feel sorrier for, Barack Obamaor the American public.
Mitt Romney is like some kind of freakishFrankenstein’s monster created by Steve Jobs as a parting joke.
Last night we witnessed the unveiling of the all new iPhoney 5. Let me take you for a moment through this product line’s evolution. 
The iPhoney 1 debuted in 1994 as a candidate toreplace Ted Kennedy as US Senator from Massachusetts.
The iPhoney 2 gained prominence in 2002 when it waselected Governor of Massachusetts.
The iPhoney 3 was a candidate for the Republican nominationfor President in 2008 before being outsold by McCan’t reboot.
And, just prior to last night, we witnessed the dominanceof the iPhoney 4 on its long march toward gaining the Republican nomination forPresident in 2012, eclipsing the McCan’t reboot with its Palin 1.0 add-ons.
At each stage following the iPhoney 1, subsequentmodels acquired new affectations (Affs) while shedding previous, outdated (i.e. inconvenient) ones.By the time the iPhoney 4 rolled out it was totally unrecognizable as whatstarted out as the iPhoney 1.
That brings us to 9 pm October 3, 2012 and theunveiling of the iPhoney 5. Gone was the tax plan Aff, even though it was claimed to remain the same,  but with different computational algorithms employing irrationalnumbers.
The Health Care Aff from the iPhoney 2 had returned,but it was genetically modified so that it could escape proof of parentage tothe current Affordable Care Act.
A new mapping and global positioning Aff was viewedby knowledgeable insiders as defective, but the public accepted its ability to be simultaneously in multiple positions all at the same time.
These, as well as a number of other innovative Affs, known to insiders as the smoke and mirrors upgrade, confounded the competitor and its sales and technical support staffs leaving them dazed and disoriented, victimized as they were by a commitment to facts, logic and common sense.

As a result the new iPhoney 5 was lauded as aremarkable improvement by the preview audience whose willing suspension ofdisbelief was more accurately described as extreme gullibility.
Once again the creators of the iPhoney 5 havevalidated the venerable dictum of P.T. Barnum of how frequently a particularpersonality type is born.


A REMINDER ABOUT "SECRET PLANS"

The Petey Shuffle

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KenO’Brien
On Wednesday The O’Zone reported thatState Representative Peter Durant had accepted an invitation from challengerKathleen Walker for a series of debates. According to an update received fromMs. Walker events had been scheduled for Charlton, Dudley and Southbridge.
Later that same day we received adetailed set of rules for the first event in Charlton.
 ON:OCTOBER 9, 2012 Candidates’ Debate AT: CHARLTON OVERLOOK COMMUNITY

POSITION for: MASSACHUSETTS STATEREPRESENTATIVE INCUMBENT CANDIDATE: PETER DURANT CHALLENGER CANDIDATE: KATHLEEN WALKER CHAIRMAN: BARBERA DELANO MODERATOR: JAMES ALEXANDER TIMEKEEPER: CARL SWANSON
 RULES1) TOTAL DEBATE TIME WILL BE 1 HOUR
2) QUESTIONS FOR TONIGHT HAVE COME FROMRESIDENTS OF 4 TOWNS: CHARLTON, SPENCER, SOUTHBRIDGE and DUDLEY
3) NO QUESTIONS WILL BE ALLOWED FROM THEFLOOR
4) EACH CANDIDATE WILL HAVE 2 MINUTESFOR THEIR OPENING STATEMENT
5) EACH CANDIDATE WILL HAVE 2 MINUTES TOANSWER EACH QUESTION
6) AFTER BOTH CANDIDATES HAVE ANSWERED AQUESTION THE 1ST TO HAVE ANSWERED CAN HAVE A 30 SECOND REBUTAL IF HE OR SHEDESIRES
7) TIME MUST BE STRICTLY ADHERED TO BEFAIR TO CANDIDATES
8) AT THE END BOTH CANDIDATES WILL HAVEA 2 MINUTE CLOSING STATEMENT. THE 1ST CLOSING STATEMENT WILL BE FROM THECANDIDATE WHO GAVE THE 2ND OPENING STATEMENT
9) WE WILL DRAW A NAME FOR 1ST STATEMENTAND QUESTION
10) WE WILL ALTERNATE CANDIDATES FOR 1STANSWER TO EACH SUCCESSIVE QUESTION
11) AT THE CONCLUSION OF THE FORMALDEBATE CANDIDATES WILL REMAIN IN LOBBY TILL 9 PM TO CHAT WITH AUDENCE MEMBERS
So it came as somewhat ofa surprise when we opened yesterday’s Southbridge News to a front page articletitled, “State rep forum sparks controversy”, and read:
Overlookis hosting a candidate’s night for the 6th Worcester District state representative’srace Tuesday, Oct. 9 — but whether both candidates will be there remains to beseen.“Asfar as I’m concerned, this event is up in the air,” said incumbent State Rep.Peter Durant, R-Spencer. “We haven’t agreed to anything, and we need to agreeto several things before we participate.”Specifically,Durant said “red lights started going off” when he discovered two of theorganizers were donors to his opponent Kathleen Walker’s campaign and wants thethree people screening questions to be a Democrat, a Republican and an“independent.” He alleged Walker “had to know” her supporters were doing this.
Walker explained that one of those involved hadindeed contributed to her campaign and immediately withdrew when the issue wasraised.
This appears to be little more than the kind ofshuffle that Durant engaged in during his last campaign. He is clearlyuncomfortable in any environment where he lacks the support and control of hishandlers.
It will be interesting to see if he does show up.

The First Debate: Mitt Romney's Five Biggest Lies

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Ken O’Brien


Mitt Romney turned in a polished performance in the presidentialdebate – and revealed himself to be an accomplished and unapologetic liar. Inan evening where he sought to slice and dice the president with statistics,Romney baldly misrepresented his own policy prescriptions, made up numbers tofit his attacks and buried clear contrasts with the president under a heapingpile of BS..Here are Mittens’ five most mendacious statements: 
1. "I don't have a $5 trillion taxcut." Romney flatly lied about the cost of hisproposal to cut income-tax rates across the board by another 20 percent(undercutting even the low rates of the Bush tax cuts). Independent economistsat the Tax Policy Center have shown that the price tag for thosecuts is $360 billion in the first year, a cost that extrapolates to $5 trillionover a decade.
2. "I will not reduce the taxespaid by high-income Americans." Romney hasclaimed that he will pay for his tax cuts by closing a variety of loopholes anddeductions. The factual problem? Romney hasn't named a single loophole he'swilling to close; worse, there's no way to offset $5 trillion in tax cuts evenif you get rid of the entire universe of deductions for the wealthy that Romneyhas not put off the table (like the carried interest loophole or the 15 percentcapital gains rate.) The Tax Policy Center report concludes that Romney'sproposal would create a "net tax cut for high-income tax payers and a nettax increase for lower- and or middle-income taxpayers." Moreover, some ofRomney's tax cuts are micro-targeted at American dynasties, particularly hisproposal to eliminate the estate tax, which would reduce his own sons' taxburden by tens of millions of dollars.
3. "We've got 23 million people outof work or [who have] stopped looking for work in this country." Romneyis lying for effect. The nation's crisis of joblessness is bad, but not 23million bad. The official figure is 12.5 million unemployed. An additional 2.6 millionAmericans have stopped looking for jobs. How does Romney gin up his eye-popping23 million figure? He counts more than 8 million wage earners who holdpart-time jobs as also being "out of work."
4. Obamacare "puts in place anunelected board that's going to tell people ultimately what kind of treatmentsthey can have." Romney is reviving Sarah Palin'sold death panels lie here. Obamacare does establish an Independent PaymentAdvisory Board to help constrain the growth of Medicare spending. The body hasno authority to dictate the practices of the private insurance marketplace. Andthe law also makes explicit that this body is banned from rationing care orlimiting medical benefits to seniors.
5. "Pre-existing conditions arecovered under my plan." In the biggestwhopper of the night, Romney suggested that his health care proposal wouldguarantee coverage to Americans with pre-existing conditions. This is just nottrue. Under Romney, if you have a pre-existing condition and have been unableto obtain insurance coverage or if you have had to drop coverage for more than90 days because you lost your job or couldn't afford the premiums, you would beshit out of luck. Insurance companies could continue to discriminate and deny youcoverage, as even Romney's top adviser conceded after the debate was over.

(from Tim Dickinson in Rolling Stone)

Why The Open Meeting Law Violation Matters

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KenO’Brien
There are those who feel that my open meeting lawcomplaint was a minor matter undeserving of any serious attention.
I profoundly disagree with this view for numerousreasons. The most fundamental reason is that it relates directly to therelentless effort to amend the town charter on terms that are beneficial toparticular political interests. I can only imagine the outrage of many of thosepursuing this agenda if a similar campaign was mounted, with analogouspolitical chicanery, to alter the U.S. Constitution. 
Beyond this basic philosophical issue, there are anumber of specific matters at stake.
The first area is related to process. Under thisheading I would focus on four specific matters.
Number 1 is the inherent hypocrisy of the vice-chairon the matter of the Open Meeting Law. For those who can recall, she made amajor issue of all town appointees as well as elected officials to take anonline test and provide certification of having passed it. This was during thesame time that the Charter Review Committee was pursuing its delegated task.Since that time her devotion to the matter has been shown to have been atriumph of style over substance.
Number 2 is the abject failure of the council chairto adhere to proper procedure, whether relating to the open meeting law or, asI’ve pointed out on numerous prior occasions, town council rules or RobertsRules of Order,
Number 3 is the town manager’s never-ending tendencyto minimize his own ineptitude by attempting to “spin” such shortcomings asminor matters rather than incompetence. This ranges from attempting to passthis matter off as merely an “administrative matter” to his reference to hisrelentless pursuit of the landfill road that he inadvertently termed himself “theKhyber Pass.”
Number 4 is the failure of any councilor at themeeting to point out that this action was in fact a violation of the openmeeting law. They are elected in part to exercise this kind of oversight ratherthan leaving it to private citizens.
The second area is related to the content of thelegislation in question and has at least two elements.
Number 1 is the ongoing effort by the town manager,going back to the original proceedings of the Charter Review Committee, toincrease the number of votes required to remove him from office.
The foundation of his argument is that it takes sixvotes to remove the council chair but only five to remove the town manager. Inhis opinion, and that of his acolytes on the council, the threshold for bothshould be the same.
The argument is fundamentally fallacious. Thecouncil chair is elected in two stages; first to the council by the public andsecond to the chairmanship by the council membership. The chair is designatedby the charter as the head of town government.
The town manager, on the other hand, is a hiredemployee. It is not too far-fetched to say that the argument would be likesaying that removal of the head of the postal service should require the sameprocedure as that for the removal of the President.
Number 2 has to do with the composition of the Boardof Health. This has been an ongoing tap dance by administrations since theBoard was first illegitimately stacked by Clayton Carlisle.
Citizens attempted to garner a court verdict on thismatter, but, as I’ve again written about in the past, this was stymied by thetown and its attorneys using our tax dollars to delay any action until thecitizens’ financial resources were depleted.
Also, whereas the original vote was to go to anelected BOH, who can forget councilor Regis’ sudden reversal on that matterafter receiving “dozens of phone calls.” PLEEZ!
The third area relates to the consequences of votingto further this legislation, and it also has two components.
Number 1 is the addition of ten separate questionsto the June election ballot. This is, of course, in addition to the regularelection matters of town councilors, school committee members and other townoffices. I can guarantee chaos on the matter.
Number 2 is the fact that the vote would take placein June of 2013. The charter mandates the appointment of a new Charter ReviewCommittee just one year later. 
This has reached the point of absurdity. Why consumeany more time and effort on doing something that may potentially be undone ayear later?
Further, having seen how the work of the priorCharter Review Committee was casually cast aside, who of any substance andintegrity would want to serve on such a body?
The fourth and final area has to do with politicalconsiderations.
Number 1, the town is injecting itself into thecurrent race for state representative in the sixth Worcester district. Clearlythe original oversight of the special legislation was mishandled by theincumbent, or there would be no need to move to this step. Now we are going torequest action by a potential lame duck to remedy the original screw up.
Number 2 is the simple matter of the mounting degreeto which our town is being viewed with ridicule. The incompetence with whichthis matter has been handled, the unrelenting stream of open meeting lawcomplaints, the constant onslaught of lawsuits against the town and numerousother matters have already made us a laughingstock in many quarters. Is therereally any need to add to the list with this?
For these reasons I believe that my action in filingthis complaint was anything but dilatory.
Similarly, I believe that, based upon theseconsiderations, item number 20 on Monday’s council agenda should be voted down.

Unemployment Drops to 7.8% - Lowest Level Since January 2009

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Ken O'Brien

The unemployment rate decreased to 7.8 percent in September, and total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 114,000, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment increased in health care and in transportation and warehousing but changed little in most other major industries.

Household Survey DataThe unemployment rate declined by 0.3 percentage point to 7.8 percent in September. For the first 8 months of the year, the rate held within a narrow range of 8.1 and 8.3 percent. The number of unemployed persons, at 12.1 million, decreased by 456,000 in September. 
Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (7.3 percent), adult women (7.0 percent), and whites (7.0 percent) declined over the month. The unemployment rates for teenagers (23.7 percent), blacks (13.4 percent), and Hispanics (9.9 percent) were little changed. The jobless rate for Asians, at 4.8 percent (not seasonally adjusted), fell over the year. In September, the number of job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs decreased by 468,000 to 6.5 million. The number of persons unemployed for less than 5 weeks declined by 302,000 over the month to 2.5 million. The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was little changed at 4.8 million and accounted for 40.1 percent of the unemployed. Total employment rose by 873,000 in September, following 3 months of little change. The employment-population ratio increased by 0.4 percentage point to 58.7 percent, after edging down in the prior 2 months. The overall trend in the employment-population ratio for this year has been flat. The civilian labor force rose by 418,000 to 155.1 million in September, while the labor force participation rate was little changed at 63.6 percent. The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) rose from 8.0 million in August to 8.6 million in September. These individuals were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job. In September, 2.5 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force, essentially unchanged from a year earlier. (These data are not seasonally adjusted.) These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. Among the marginally attached, there were 802,000 discouraged workers in September, a decline of 235,000 from a year earlier. (These data are not seasonally adjusted.) Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them. The remaining 1.7 million persons marginally attached to the labor force in September had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities. Establishment Survey DataTotal nonfarm payroll employment increased by 114,000 in September. In 2012, employment growth has averaged 146,000 per month, compared with an average monthly gain of 153,000 in 2011. In September, employment rose in health care and in transportation and warehousing. Health care added 44,000 jobs in September. Job gains continued in ambulatory health care services (+30,000) and hospitals (+8,000). Over the past year, employment in health care has risen by 295,000.In September, employment increased by 17,000 in transportation and warehousing. Within the industry, there were job gains in transit and ground passenger transportation (+9,000) and in warehousing and storage (+4,000).Employment in financial activities edged up in September (+13,000), reflecting modest job growth in credit intermediation (+6,000) and real estate (+7,000).Manufacturing employment edged down in September (-16,000). On net, manufacturing employment has been unchanged since April. In September, job losses occurred in computer and electronic products (-6,000) and in printing and related activities (-3,000).Employment in other major industries, including mining and logging, construction, wholesale trade, retail trade, information, professional and business services, leisure and hospitality, and government, showed little change over the month.The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls edged up by 0.1 hour to 34.5 hours in September. The manufacturing workweek edged up by 0.1 hour to 40.6 hours, and factory overtime was unchanged at 3.2 hours. The average workweek for production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls was unchanged at 33.7 hours. In September, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 7 cents to $23.58. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have risen by 1.8 percent. In September, average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees increased by 5 cents to $19.81.The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for July was revised from +141,000 to +181,000, and the change for August was revised from +96,000 to +142,000.

Sunday Photo-‘ Toons 1.25

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KenO’Brien
As the October chill envelops us likea foreclosure notice on the warmth and comfort of a home in the New Englandsummer, we review the tumult of the prior week.
Local events of note were relativelysparse, eclipsed by the week’s developments on the national scene.
We did have the spectacle of thestate representative accepting an invitation to debate and then beginning totap dance around petty points of contention. We also learned that our newMiddle/High School was in a wireless dead zone. But not to worry. Likeeverything else in Southbridge, we can buy our way out of it. Let’s just hopethat nothing critical requiring such resources happens in the meantime.
Of course the big news of the weekwas the Presidential debate and the Bureau of Labor Statistics report for themonth of September. Surprisingly, the biggest news of the debate may have beenMitt Romney’s announced Fatwa against Big Bird, a proven job creator.
The monthly jobs report led to another roundof conspiracy theories by the righties  to supplant their rapidly evaporatingconspiracy theories about the legitimacy of national polling.
As usual The O’Zone has concocted itsown perpendicular view of these events.
So join in reviewing them as I laydown on my floor to have a Hasselhof-Burger washed down with Old Milwaukee.



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CRIME AND PUNISHMENT IN TWO ACTS

A Weekend of Art by Dolores Kosciusko

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Submitted by 
Monika Agnello 

Springon the Quaboag by Dolores Kosciusko

Please join QVCAH for aWeekend of Art by Dolores Kosciusko,October 13th & 14th, 2012. 
On display throughout the galleries will be a retrospective ofthe artist's work.  
Born and raised inSouthbridge, Dolores Kosciusko now lives in Dudley and has been painting forover 50 years. She has been included in numerous juried shows and has exhibitedher work throughout New England and Hawaii.  
The majority of Kosciusko's works are watercolors with subjects rangingfrom still life's, landscapes with barns & historic homes, and the seashores of New England.  
This weekend exhibitionwill also include work in colored pencil & acrylic and oil paintings.  
The artist will be present to speak withvisitors during the exhibit which is free to attend & open to the public.  
Please join us at QVCAH for the show!  

Gallery Hours:      

Saturday  Oct. 13th  11 am – 6pm

Sunday  Oct. 14th   1 – 5pm
Monika Agnello Programs ChairQVCAH, 111 Main Street, Southbridge, MA 01550phone:  508.764.3341    email: m.agnello@qvcah.org
TheQuinebaug Valley Council for the Arts & Humanities, is an all volunteer, non- profit organizationserving 25 towns within South Central Massachusetts and North EasternConnecticut.  

The First Debate: Mitt Romney's Five Biggest Lies

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Ken O’Brien


Mitt Romney turned in a polished performance in the presidentialdebate – and revealed himself to be an accomplished and unapologetic liar. Inan evening where he sought to slice and dice the president with statistics,Romney baldly misrepresented his own policy prescriptions, made up numbers tofit his attacks and buried clear contrasts with the president under a heapingpile of BS..Here are Mittens’ five most mendacious statements: 
1. "I don't have a $5 trillion taxcut." Romney flatly lied about the cost of hisproposal to cut income-tax rates across the board by another 20 percent(undercutting even the low rates of the Bush tax cuts). Independent economistsat the Tax Policy Center have shown that the price tag for thosecuts is $360 billion in the first year, a cost that extrapolates to $5 trillionover a decade.
2. "I will not reduce the taxespaid by high-income Americans." Romney hasclaimed that he will pay for his tax cuts by closing a variety of loopholes anddeductions. The factual problem? Romney hasn't named a single loophole he'swilling to close; worse, there's no way to offset $5 trillion in tax cuts evenif you get rid of the entire universe of deductions for the wealthy that Romneyhas not put off the table (like the carried interest loophole or the 15 percentcapital gains rate.) The Tax Policy Center report concludes that Romney'sproposal would create a "net tax cut for high-income tax payers and a nettax increase for lower- and or middle-income taxpayers." Moreover, some ofRomney's tax cuts are micro-targeted at American dynasties, particularly hisproposal to eliminate the estate tax, which would reduce his own sons' taxburden by tens of millions of dollars.
3. "We've got 23 million people outof work or [who have] stopped looking for work in this country." Romneyis lying for effect. The nation's crisis of joblessness is bad, but not 23million bad. The official figure is 12.5 million unemployed. An additional 2.6 millionAmericans have stopped looking for jobs. How does Romney gin up his eye-popping23 million figure? He counts more than 8 million wage earners who holdpart-time jobs as also being "out of work."
4. Obamacare "puts in place anunelected board that's going to tell people ultimately what kind of treatmentsthey can have." Romney is reviving Sarah Palin'sold death panels lie here. Obamacare does establish an Independent PaymentAdvisory Board to help constrain the growth of Medicare spending. The body hasno authority to dictate the practices of the private insurance marketplace. Andthe law also makes explicit that this body is banned from rationing care orlimiting medical benefits to seniors.
5. "Pre-existing conditions arecovered under my plan." In the biggestwhopper of the night, Romney suggested that his health care proposal wouldguarantee coverage to Americans with pre-existing conditions. This is just nottrue. Under Romney, if you have a pre-existing condition and have been unableto obtain insurance coverage or if you have had to drop coverage for more than90 days because you lost your job or couldn't afford the premiums, you would beshit out of luck. Insurance companies could continue to discriminate and deny youcoverage, as even Romney's top adviser conceded after the debate was over.

(from Tim Dickinson in Rolling Stone)

Southbridge Town Council Agenda - October 15, 2012

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TOWNCOUNCIL MEETING
COUNCILCHAMBERS
TOWN HALL
October15, 2012 – 7:00 PM

AGENDA
1. Pledge of Allegiance
2. Roll Call
3. Consider and accept Town Council Meeting Minutesof Monday, September 24, 2012 
4. Subcommittee Reports:     (a)General Government     (b)D.P.W.     (c)Education and Human Services     (d)Planning and Development     (e)Protection of Persons and Property
5. Chairwoman’s Announcements
6. Town Manager’s Announcements
7. Swearing In / Presentation     a)Presentation: Second Chance Animal Center     b) MassHighway State Snow Plow Champions – DPW Director, Tom Daley     c) MaddieDaoust, Town Clerk
8. Citizens Forum
9. Vote to ratify the appointment of Michael P.Sullivan as Sergeant in the Police Department to fill an existing vacancy inthe sergeant rank.
10. Vote to acknowledge the Bicentennial SteeringCommittee as the official committee in charge of this event.
11. Vote to accept the Warrant for the StateElection on Tuesday, November 6, 2012
12. Vote to ratify the Memorandum of Understandingand to enter into agreement with Mr. Kurt Jackson, owner of HampdenCommunications Corporation, to supply power to radio equipment on his celltower in accordance with the attached agreement.
13. Vote to ratify the contract between the Town ofSouthbridge and Cargill Deicing Technology through June 30, 2013 for treatedsodium chloride road salt at $73.92/ton at a minimum of 1,125 tons and amaximum of 1,875 tons at a total cost of $83,160.00.
14. Vote to ratify the Grant contract between theTown of Southbridge and the Commonwealth of MA Executive Office of Energy &Environmental Affairs in the amount of $286,100.00 for tornado recoveryprocess.
15. Vote to ratify the Grant contract between theTown of Southbridge and the Commonwealth of MA Division of Conservation (DCR)in the amount of $50,000.00 for tree planting.
16. Vote to ratify the contract with Peterson OilCompany effective 10/5/12 through 6/30/13 at a firm price of $3.29 per gallonto furnish and deliver heating oil to various town-owned buildings.
17. Vote to approve proposed amendments to By-lawChapter 6, Section 6-100 “Licenses and Licensing Regulations for the Town ofSouthbridge” for secondhand junk, precious metals and old metals regulations.            SecondReading
18. Vote to approve the Town Manager’s request tofund the office renovations in Town Hall for carpeting and renovations to thehandicap bathroom off of Council Chambers and said appropriation request of upto $15,000.00 to be funded from account 1.190.5700.0.746 Reserve for PropertyRepair, Maintenance and Demolition.
19. Vote to enter into contract with PioppiConstruction of Southbridge in the amount of $47,415.00 for the CDBG FY11Roadway Construction Project for the reconstruction of Morton Roadway.
20. Vote to amend Section 2 of the speciallegislation for the 10 Articles adopted by the Legislature and approved by theGovernor and to change the year from 2012 to 2013 in conjunction with theTown’s annual election of June 2013.
21. Vote to resolve the Open Meeting Law complaintsubmitted by Kenneth O’Brien related to agenda item #20 above regarding the9/24/12 Town Council meeting.
22. Councilors Forum
23. Discussion of next meeting date – Monday,October 29, 2012 at 7:00 PM in Council Chambers.
24. Vote to Enter into Executive Session accordingto M.G.L. 39 §23B to review Executive Session Minutes regarding collectivebargaining, litigation, purchase, exchange, taking, lease or value of real property,discipline or dismissal brought against an individual, and, if matter isconcluded reconvene vote to release said minutes.
25. Adjournment

A Coalition Of Bigots, Morons, And Moral Putty Manipulated By The Fat Cats And You Can’t See It? Or Are You Part Of It?

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Ken O’Brien
In regard to an ongoing debate today one of The O’Zone’sfrequent commenter’s said,“People don't vote with their brains, they vote with their hearts!!!”
I’ll let the right-wing nutjobs who have worked fortwo years to destroy the only major economy that has moved forward while therest from Britain to France to China have regressed, deal with the policydictum of Senate Minority Leader  MitchMcTurtle that his, and his Party’s, main objective was to guarantee that BarackObama was a one-term President.
The facts are there.
I’ve pointed out elsewhere the five major lies thatRomney told in his debate with Obama.
Long before that I pointed out that Romney was aflat out LIAR who apparently assumed that the American public was as stupid or as ignorant as the German public in the 1930’s.
I’ve shown that Romney’s record as Governor inMassachusetts was a disaster.
Others have shown that his “success” in the Olympicswas just another government bailout.
Now we are told that Romney 15.0 is “The Real Romney”.Give me a break!
I listened to Romney’s “MAJOR” foreign policy speech today. It was crap! He says that Obama was wrongin pulling out of Iraq. IF he had his way we would have an indefinite presence inAfghanistan. Sure, Obama got Bin Laden, but he has weakened America. Obama has “ledfrom behind” but we should get others to support the rebels in Syria.
If you look at Romney’s domestic policy positions(at least what they were last week in the debate), and his positions in today’s“Major” foreign policy speech Ireally want the righties to tell me what the differences are from Obama.
Really, what are the differences now that Romney hasshaken the Etch-A-Sketch?
Is it that the African-American couple is defilingthe White House?
Is it that you’re just Homer Simpson and Bart istelling you how to vote?
And then there’s all you moral Christians whosimpered at the foot stool of Rick Santorum but now wll throw your support to aMormon candidate who you originally dismissed as a cultist and who supported awoman’s right to choose before it became politically inconvenient.
Quit telling me about your moral principles. Theyamount to crap when your financial overlords put the money in to support thecronies who will go their way, no questions asked.
Let’s face it. If you righties were any moreflexible, you’d make Mr. Fantastic – Reed Richards – look like a stiff.


The truth is that your new found enthusiasm isbecause you can vote for a white, semi-Protestant, business guy candidate whoisn’t Obama.
I guess the response to my commenter is, if you voteaccording to your heart, just how diseased is your heart?

Third Brown Warren Debate Tomorrow Night: Recent Polls Show Conflicting Results

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Ken O’Brien
The third debate between incumbent MassachusettsSenator Scott Brown and challenger Elizabeth Warren will be held at 7pmtomorrow night, October 10, at Symphony Hall in Springfield. It will bebroadcast live on C-SPAN and New England Cable News.
The debate comes as Warren has maintained a lead inrecent polls. A Sunday poll released by Western New England University (WNEU) / MassLive.com showsthat Warren is maintaining a five-point lead over incumbent Sen. Scott Brown(R), 50 percent to 45 percent.
However, a poll released today by WBUR shows analmost opposite result. The new WBUR poll (PDFs — topline, crosstabs)finds a turn in the U.S. Senate race. Republican incumbent U.S. Sen. ScottBrown now leads his Democratic challenger, Elizabeth Warren, 47 to 43percent. The survey, conducted Oct. 5-7, has a 4.4 percent margin of error.

In WBUR’slast Senate poll, conducted in September, Warren led brown by two points.
The ad war has taken a decided turn in recent days.Brown has moved away from his attacks on questions of Warren’s heritage andfocused on questioning her role in an insurance company lawsuit.
Warren’s campaign has responded with new ads featuring  victims of the asbestos claims and challenging the integrity of Brown’sattacks.

Where Was Southbridge High?

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Tammy Perreault

Ken O’Brien

Today's Southbridge Evening News carries a "Sound Off" addressing an issue that was brought to my attention prior to its publication in that forum.


Where was SouthbridgeHigh?
SOUNDOFF:
OnWednesday evening, Oct. 3, the annual “High School Night” for current grade 8students was held at Trinity Catholic Academy in Southbridge.
Thisevent brings many area public and private high school representatives to Trinitystudents and parents with information about their institutions. 
Forthe past five years Southbridge High School has been a part of this event. Theformer principal, guidance counselors, curriculum coordinators, and current SHSstudents have consistently attended, with hopes of recruiting local andschool-choice students. Last year both the valedictorian and salutatorian fromthe Southbridge High graduating class were Trinity alumni.
Itwas unfortunate that Southbridge High School did not participate at this year’sprogram. Apparently this is one of the many drawbacks when administration andguidance have no connection to the community.
I have several emails regarding this matter. The mostrelevant is one from SMHS principal Tammy Perreault responding to a TrinityCatholic Academy parent inquiring about the absence by SMHS personnel from theevent.
In that email, Ms. Perreault states, “I received nophone calls, no emails and no letters... nor did my staff. I would say that'smore reflective of others rather than SMHS.”
I think it is fair to say that somebody“has some ‘splainin’ to do.”

Where’s The Outrage Southbridge?

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Ken O’Brien

Parody post from Photo-'Toons 1.25

Last Friday the Southbridge Evening News carried anarticle titled, “Council planning to fix radio issues at school”.
It opened with the following three paragraphs:
“Almost as soon as the new Torrey Road school openedlast month, staff discovered the building gets no cell phone service.It didn’t take much longer to find that policeradios didn’t work there either.According to Chief Daniel Charette, that wasactually known earlier. Back in November 2011, he started talking with thecontractors about fixing the issue, but the individual involved left thecompany and it fell by the wayside.” 
The O’Zone has been been critical of Chief Charettein prior articles.
But I don’t think that this is really his fault.However, I do have to question why he is willing to be the point man on thismatter and potentially the fall guy.
We have repeatedly gotten reports on the newSouthbridge Middle/High School that universally ended with the phrase “onbudget and ahead of schedule”.
So, let’s deal with that outrage first.
The article goes on to say:
“That may have turned out to be a good thing.Originally, he [Charette] said, they were talking a figure of $77,000 just tosolve reception issues on the campus. Over the last week or so, though, OfficerBrian Haggerty, Fire Chief Mark DiFronzo and Charrette, plus town officials,have been testing a different radio system all over town, since bothdepartments have frequently discovered dead zones while responding to calls.Charette said it’ll cost about $57,000.”
Welcome to the “Spin Zone”. The article expands onwhy “That may have turned out to be a good thing.’
A “good thing”? Is Martha Stewart now runningSouthbridge?
The “on budget” school project is now going to costus $57,000 out of the town that should have been part of that largelystate-financed project. Oh, never mind, we’re saving $20,000 – even though nowit has to be part of the town budget.
Well, moving on to outrage two, the fact that thiswas a “dead zone” was only discovered in 2011.
Okay, so we are supposed to believe that all thosepeople walking the site, working on construction and inspecting progress forthe last ten years or so never made a cell phone call? Do you believe inleprechauns?
Finally, outrage number three.
I have spoken about this with a school committeemember.
This is the first that they have heard about it.
So we opened a school where, if there had been acritical situation, cell phone, police radios and fire department radios mostlikely would not have worked. 
This still may happen.
We could have included the cost to correct this inthe “under budget” cost of the project.
But we didn’t.
We found a way to correct it for $20,000 less – but nowit will come directly out of your hide, taxpayers.
And, of course, it won’t happen overnight, so thereis still the risk that a student may suffer because of the inability to reporta crisis condition in a timely manner. But what’s the risk? After all,according to unconfirmed reports there were only eight fights at SMHS lastFriday.
But, then again, I guess I’m off the mark again.
After all, it’s only business as usual in theBrown-Eye of the Commonwealth.