RSU 5 is on the move again! Just when we thought we had “finished it off,” the monster that is RSU 5 arises from the ashes, yet again! The “peasants” arose in Freeport and said “Nyet, nyet, nyet” to the RSU 5. But is that enough? No! You will now build a committee (and pay them, of course) to “study” it. Then you can vote on it again. Now it must be the number of voters in some former election. Next time, it will the election of 1820, then 1812, then 1612, etc., until the force that wants the “improvements” gets what they want. Three voting rounds, and they lost; but like any good “benign dictatorship,” the will of the people will be obeyed if it complies with the will of the powers that be. RSU staff and flunkies think they are anointed, not appointed.

The Tri-Town Weekly bangs on about the “statues” of RSU 5. I took a quick look at it via the Internet. The law looks like a model for the Patriot Act. What I did not see was a whole section devoted to penalties for non-compliance. Where are they hidden? Does violation of one section get you an IRS audit? Or another section gets you a free year’s worth of spying by NSA? Or perhaps writing against the RSU 5 will get you a free vacation to sunny Cuba (let me pack my Speedo, first, please).

I noted also the Durham town officials seem nervous to the point of hysteria. They are rightly concerned that if they go along with the plan and raise the taxes to pay for that which we, the Durham voters, did not agree to, they will be: A. out of office; B. have a gaggle of lawyers running up and down their leg; C. have a Shays Rebellion (in anti-RSU garb) on their hand; or D. all of the above. What town officers want to be bullied into a position where they are “required” to raise taxes to support a project that the voters vetoed?

In sum: Where is the end of this “Ed Wood” horror show that is RSU 5? Who will be Durham’s new Daniel Shay? If we stop now, we will be taxed into poverty to support this boondoggle. There is too much money at stake to allow those who will really benefit from the project to allow the problem to fade away.

Charles Anthony

Durham