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“You booze, you

cruise, you lose.”

Author unknown

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Recently the Windham town councilors signed onto an initiative known as the Be The Influence Collaborative that is already supported by the RSU 14 School Board, Cumberland Country Sheriff’s Office, the Windham Police Department, the town of Raymond and others. It’s an initiative to be an influence to reduce drug and alcohol abuse, especially in regard to younger people. I think it is a great initiative but the question is how long will it last? The town of Gorham might have just signed on to the same initiative by voters approving a change to their town charter that allows for the removal of town councilors if they commit certain crimes.

The changes to the town of Gorham town charter came about because of two town councilors being stopped for driving under the influence of alcohol. Windham’s town charter calls for town councilors to be removed from office for committing acts of moral turpitude and no definition is given as to what crime or crimes fall under moral turpitude. I personally feel that stupid should be one of them because if one drinks and drives, I believe that they are really, really stupid. Or dumb. Or brain dead. So I have to wonder when the town councilors in Windham will begin the process of sending an amendment to the town charter to the voters which includes a definition of the term moral turpitude. I have to believe that the town charters of both towns were probably written that way just to protect the councilors, which coincides with the fact that Windham voters cannot recall a town councilor.

Maybe moral turpitude should also include being absent from so many Town Council meetings in a set period of time instead of three consecutive meetings in a row. If a town councilor attends every other meeting, there is no method in which to remove that councilor from the council.

I pay attention to Windham’s council meetings and have come away with the feeling that Windham now has a part-time Town Council. Yes, I understand that some have conflicts with whatever business dealings that they have and that family emergencies do happen and God only knows what other things can come along. Windham has a council made up of seven council members that should attend most of the meetings and yet that is not the case for my town.

What I see as a major problem for the citizens of Windham is that there have not been any serious debates among the Town Council candidates because there are hardly any sitting members of the council or school committee being challenged. That just happens to coincide with all of the vacancies on town committees in Windham including those which have absolutely no members at all. Is that because no Windham residents want to be the influence and is it because the town government stymies participation?

A perfect example is the committee that ran the Windham Summerfest that almost died of a lack of committee members and luckily was saved by caring volunteers. Then, recently, there was the sewer committee that lacked anyone opposed to the taxpayers paying for a sewer they would never use. I think if the town councilors want us to be an influence, they should look for ways to ensure more volunteers come forward.

What I do hate to mention is our local, county, state and federal governments are going to influence us in other ways that will make our wallets even thinner. Cumberland County taxes are now proposed to rise 5.2 percent, which for someone with a home appraised at $200,000 would have their annual property tax bill increased almost $140 a year. I am positive that will be an influence to have some citizens moving, not only out of the county but the state as well. Only God knows what will happen to our property taxes if Raymond departs from RSU 14.

Lane Hiltunen, of Windham, wants to be an influence by informing people that half of the proposed Cumberland County tax increase is for the Cross Insurance Arena (former Civic Center).