I would like to clarify a point I tried to make in The Good Word of Oct. 19 when I suggested that Windham’s Town Council had inconsequential issues under discussion.

I was not referring to agenda items, but rather items brought up which are not on an agenda. I was referring to off-hand, personal ideas, often having nothing to do with what’s on the agenda. These types of issues or personal opinions should, it seems to me, be discussed in the area called open forum. And that is my personal opinion.

When something is printed in a newspaper, some readers take it for gospel truth – even though the following week a retraction may be made. It’s the same with public meetings. If it is said, or perceived, some people will repeat it as though it was a done deal, even though it was not on an agenda and no voting was taken.

There were times in the past when I didn’t agree with former town councilor Mike Shaughnessy, but I agree with him on the community park issue. For some of us who have lived here a long time, more than 10 or 20 years, seeing our former country town turn into a haven for housing developments, drive-thru restaurants, big box stores, and lots of paved places, has been distressing. Most of us have learned to live with it. However, all these houses and traffic have cut deeply into the fields and woods we grew up with and it’s too late to bring them back.

You can no longer just stop beside the road and walk down a banking to the brook. Nowadays, the big, unfriendly no trespassing signs make this venture a thing of the past. It seems like the first thing that happens when someone buys property and moves in is that the signs go up. The farmers of old never minded if you picked flowers or fished as long as you didn’t break the fences or chase the cows.

I know many fellow senior citizens who would welcome a park or just a corner of a park, where we could meet a friend and share a picnic lunch or listen to a Sunday afternoon concert. What’s the alternative? We have no senior center or community building in which to gather.

Not all of us enjoy walking in enclosed structures (high school, mall). Walking along any road is a reason to get more insurance, which we can’t afford. I suppose we could meet in the parking lot of the library but that is often filled with a spill-over of cars from various athletic programs.

We seniors could really adapt to an all-age park. The noise of kids playing is not as offensive to older ears as those of younger people. We know if you can hear the kids and/or see them, you know what they’re doing. I’d rather see kids doing their BMX bike stunts in a safe place, away from traffic, than along the roads and sidewalks, as is now the case. I still recall having two or three ramps jury-rigged on my lawn, using sheets of plywood and large boulders. It ruined the lawn, but those kids “getting air” were out of the traffic. And safe.

As for the cost of such an all-age encompassing project, I always think of one of the biggest volunteer projects we ever did in Windham – Dundee Park. That was accomplished in 1966 when the town, in response to citizens’ desperate requests for a waterfront park, established a Park and Conservation Commission. Land (valued at $31,000) was donated by S.D. Warren, and with a matching $31,000 grant and a tremendous amount of volunteer work by a variety of groups and many individuals, the park was built.

Windham Public Library, which opened Dec. 27, 1971 was another project accomplished with many donations from organizations and residents. The later addition was accomplished in the same way.

When the veterans in Windham needed to build a meeting place, Windham companies and individuals came forth generously and now the Veterans Center is open.

If it weren’t for our long history of volunteers and donations of time, equipment and funds, Windham would indeed be a different place. We ought to have a plaque erected somewhere listing those long-standing Windham companies and people who have driven bulldozers, loaned equipment, furnished whole rooms in public buildings, volunteered their expertise and given time and money to projects for all the people of Windham to enjoy.

I do not want to believe that the people who live in town today would not support a project which was really important to the whole community, just as has been the “Windham Way,” as Dave Ennis used to say when he was a councilor.

See you next week.