I’m so glad Windham’s cable TV is up and on air again. Good job, folks! I especially like the weather scroll. And to another department, public works, I’m not happy about the mailbox getting crushed and buried, but I’m awfully glad the road is bare and dry. I can deal with the mailbox. And the all-volunteer Neighbors group of folks is continuing to help people with critical needs and that’s a very good thing indeed. It’s a pretty good town!

I bet a lot of people were surprised last week to hear that newly elected Town Councilor Warren has a plan to restructure the town of Windham and set its course for the future.

To think that all the time and citizen input spent on the approved Comprehensive Plan and Design Guidelines may have been for naught is unbelievable.

While I was clerk for the Planning Board over the past 10 years, I heard dozens of people at public hearings, protest change (or development) saying they had moved here because they loved the town the way it was and didn’t want it to change. Since I graduated from high school here, a little over 50 years ago, 10,000 people have moved here. In addition, businesses have settled, based on national marketing firms deciding Windham was a good place to bring their company. We must be doing something right.

One would think that, before becoming a councilor, Warren would have been involved on the Comprehensive Plan Committee or one of the many other volunteer groups already dealing with issues of the future of the town.

Frankly, it’s discouraging for many of us to watch Windham Town Council meetings and almost weekly, hear that our town, its citizens and leadership over the years, is second rate in the opinion of relative newcomers.

On the one hand, we have economic development experts touting the many attractions and reasons to live here and on the other hand, we hear that the town is doomed unless we follow the lead of someone with little or no history in the town. At the post office the other day I heard a councilor telling someone that nothing is getting done because no one wants to change. Well, I can tell her that whether we want to or not, many of us have had to change and deal with a tremendous amount of change, in order to survive and stay in our hometown.

It’s appalling to hear town employees publicly flayed each week for the manner in which they conduct the business of the town. It’s easy for someone not involved in the day-to-day routine of a department, to criticize. Many of us are guilty of that. Dealing with the public on a one-on-one basis, as most of the town employees do, is a challenging situation and we’re lucky to have the personnel we do.

After 70 years in this town, and having served on more than a dozen volunteer committees, I have observed many who, once in a position of authority, denigrate and criticize the way things have been done and think everything should change. Usually, this attitude changes after more homework is done as to the reasons policies and practices have been put in place.

Change happens. It is never one person who affects this, but the majority. And it doesn’t happen overnight.

Liz Wisecup’s recent letter was appreciated. She reflects the opinions of many who don’t feel comfortable writing letters to the editor or speaking up in public. She speaks for the silent majority of taxpaying citizens.

See you next week.