Here is who I voted for. By way of background, I don't give much sway to Democrats or Republicans. We are too small of a town to concern ourselves with national political parties. I vote for good smart people. I also attend meetings and make a point of speaking personally with candidates, so I feel like I've done my homework.

BOS
Bodner, Manners, Masters, Kozlark. All fit the profile of good people and smart.

BOF
Sutherland and Ulmer. No two finer gentlemen.

BOE
This is interesting to me. I think change is needed. I've looked around. I've spoken to a few number crunchers. Our stats aren't good compared to other districts.I decided there is nothing to lose in voting out the incumbents. A few new voices might give us a fresh perspective.

Raduazzo, Sulzinsky, Lavelle, Murray.

Yes, these four candidates have very different views, but I think this is healthy and makes for a good dialogue.

Don't be surprised to see proposed tax increase of 5% - 7% next year with the PTA firmly in control of the town finances.

So how about that, in my post above I suggested I vote for good smart people. The residents agreed, picking 9 out of my 10 choices.

I'm not too worried about the tax increases. When you think about it, what will happen is the voters will have to do the heavy lifting. The voters will have to pay attention, do their homework, and decide what they want as a tax increase. The BOF will not be making the decision, the people will. Isn't this the way it should be?

I hear your point about letting 'the people decide."
But when it comes to finance--I often think the best process is the BOE makes their wish list--the BOF then reigns them in...then they haggle between the 2.
With mandated special ed by the state--often the budget is not totally in control of anyone. Its forced on us by law. So as a result, voters might turn down a bare bones budget, not fully accepting the mandatory spending. We shall see.
My opinion is always to have at 1/3 of a BOE to be non -parents. I wish it were in the charter. It becomes a way to demonstrate how much you care about kids-rather than a balance between kids and taxpayers.

It appears to me that Charles Knoche beat Joseph Adams for Police Commission.

haha

And the people of Ridgefield have spoken..

Yes, they have spoken. There is a lot of good news in these results, but I am very troubled by losing Dr. Lyn Merrill as she is often the voice of reason. I hope Chris Murray recognizes this is not a platform to rail against national politics or try to ban evolution.

Lynn Merrill will be missed.....

I interpret the BOE results as the voters wanting a change. Someone showed me a few graphs. Our standardized test scores are not what they used to be. Have you seen these graphs? Very compelling. We used to place well compared to other towns. But year by year our rank keeps dropping. Parents don't want to see that. Sure, some parents are in denial and say the numbers are made up. And some others say test scores don't matter. But I think the bulk of parents get it. They want their kids to score well on these tests because like it not, the large majority of colleges look at these standardized test scores as an entrance requirement. There's no getting around this, test scores matter. So in the end, I think parents appreciate elected officials who will work towards the goal of improving our test scores. Let me turn it around, would you ever vote someone out of office because they want to raise your child's test scores?

"Yep, I voted against that guy because the silly loon wanted to help my kid do better on the SATs. What was he thinking? Good riddance!"

Never happens that way for a reason. Test scores are important and the voters know it. That's my interpretation of what happened in this BOE election.

Agree with you here Roger. Throwing money at issues does not necessarily result in better education. Charter schools achieve fantastic results often with 2/3 of the budget. Educating children is a venn diagram. Community, schools, family. Let's not blame teachers. Let's not blame administrators. Let's not blame community or parents. Rather, let's examine how to better utilize our current resources. The boe too often, seeks remedies through spending. Engaging the other circles of the diagram, seems to elude them.
However, let's not also get hypercritical; Connecticut mag still ranks us number 1 in education in towns 15- 25k pop. Essentially, our drg.

Steven said,

"However, let's not also get hypercritical; Connecticut mag still ranks us number 1 in education in towns 15- 25k pop. Essentially, our drg."

NO IT DOESN't! WE ARE RANKED 4th, NOT 1st, Why make crap like that up? What purpose does it serve to pretend we are better than we really are? This is a huge part of the problem, we pretend to be good even when we aren't.

JC, I think you miss your own point. When you want a nice couch for your livingroom, you pay for it. But when you want nice things for your kids at the schools, like a new uniform for the football team to cheer them up, you make everyone else buy them. See the difference? New taxes for roads used by all, good. New taxes fo cheerup a handful of kids on the football team, bad.

Veritas,
You may be right. Now that I think about it, it was crime that was number 1 and overall number 1. If we are 4th in education....then so be it. Certainly intend to mislead. Perhaps in your mind being 4th is worthy of heavy criticism. That's up to you. My attitude doesn't materially change being 4th

I think we have a very good school system being the parent of a middlle schooler and a high schooler .I think your education is what you make of it. No need to go blaming everyone else if your kid isn't doing well in school. I think both facility have excellent teachers. There are school districts with less money then we have in the budget and their kids go on to do great things. We need to work with what we have to improve things. Doesn't cost a billion dollars to do that!

Steve, first off, I don't care. Call it 4th place in education, then smile and put your head back in the sand. But the reality is, the other drg A towns are in the other size categories in the magazine survey and at the end of the day, Ridgefield is last in our drg.

Think about it. The better colleges will only accept a certain number from our drg. Who will that be? Ridgefield kids or kids from the towns in our drg that rank higher than us?

This means that ridgefield kids will get bumped down to the next level of colleges. That has lifelong consequences.

But again, not to be harsh, I don't care. They are your kids. Do what you want.

(But if ever you do care, let me know 'cause I think there is a way to make this better so your kids are more successful in life.)

Yep...on this issue I seem to be out of it.
We are in fact, last in our DRG. So, certainly something to work on.
If you read my comments from the past, veritas, and in view of this discovery, it would allow me to further my contention that this town is more about feeling good--than in doing well. No one can attack the status quo without appearing to be 'nasty'. People reject criticism as rude behavior. No one can be challenged without reacting as though they have been mortally wounded.
Some humility, and an abilty to accept criticism would be one way to move forward. I fear, however, that the culture here, simply will not allow for it. They'd rather have all A's , whilst getting 1220 on their SAT's than working hard and pushing the curriculum

wrt decline in school performance: if this new boe elects the same chairman please expect the same old horse#$%&. no decisions just reactionary. really pathetic. our children deserve better. there needs to be a complete leadership change on the boe. who is really running the show? there is so much focus on how the bof has affected the schools. reality is: the boe is a complete failure under the current leadership. the superintendent reports to the boe not the other way around. good luck to the newly elected officials hopefully you will not just get in line with the pta lobby. just because you are new to the board does not mean you should take a back seat. elect a new chairman and demand it for the sake of our children.

Congratulations to the winners! But a couple hundred votes is far from a "mandate" and the turnout we had represents barely a whisper from the "People of Ridgefield." A change in party control of one seat is likewise hardly a "sea change." I just sincerely hope that the public denial about our weak economy still being a wreck and statements from the successful BOF candidates that Ridgefield does not need to watch its spending because of a high tax collection rate is just rhetoric because it evidences such an elementary misunderstanding of our current fiscal climate and our Town Charter that it's as if they are intentionally designed to frighten those of us who ARE paying attention. Fingers crossed.

Its pretty correct to say they were elected by a whisper.
Operative word being "elected". Its not really that controversial to call a close vote, close.
My sense is that we need to escape the feel good parenting as mentioned above.
Ive heard of parents going in over and over to ironically complain about grades , schedules, and ironically, bullying. Parents who think their jobs is to advocate for their kids, at the expense of other kids and at expense of taxpayers, should be ashamed of themselves. KNowing how to game the system--demanding individual attention--this is why unions grow .

ron orsen
are you ron orsen?
Debate the points.
You are anonymous--anyone can be. Sir.
Bender-you said nothing inflammatory ---ignore this ron orsen who attacks people -without any evidence, then goes away, when his point is not supportable. Sir.

Luca?

We do know at Bender is Burgess and Orsen is Renzo. But what can't figure out is why are veritas and fields arguing.

On the topic of taxes, the raising of taxes is burdensome, especially when it is inevitable that there will always be mismanagement of it. When you are talking about thousands of dollars a year for a family, the subject becomes more passionate. Its like giving your teenage child a blank check and trusting that it is going somewhere intelligent. And even if it is, that within that decision, it will produce a "wow" outcome and make a huge difference. Since 80% (I heard that and did not confirm, so forgive me if that is wrong) of the tax revenue goes to the Ridgefield educational system, you would expect "wow" somewhere, somehow. I am not wowed. I think the primary educators in a family is the mother and father. That said, we should have a hell of alot more say in the curriculum than given us since our children are in school for 6-7 hours a day or more. Over the last 10 years, I've seen unnecessary, urgent "fires that need tending" proposals because "we have to! its the latest and greatest! Area towns are doing it!" and have been disappointed because I'm certain the quality of education and curriculum has not improved. Its like throwing McDonalds at the kids because its fast and easy, instead of thinking about what they are consuming and the consequences. The same goes for education. Think beyond the now.

You can throw money at McDonalds, or go for a higher class of education with a focus on core academics like the days of yore (and I'm not that old).

rosemary with her venn diagram implications of family and school sounds like fields. which then rosemary is me. and im veritas and fields and rosemary is all of us plus resident.
roger just accuses--thats his schtick. Offers nothing but accusations.
You think he will ever offer an opinion or a suggestion? Nope. His thing is to accuse. Even though its beyond all logic.

ha
right
roger is the guy who is worried about integrity and accountability. but also the guy who is fine watching lurid heinous crimes and feeling that a call is good enough --even while the terrible acts are committed.
i cant get my head around how mccreary can witness such a thing and not pound the guy away from the 10 year old boy. but old roger sherman says the only thing he did wrong, was not call the police. weirdness. but he wants accountability -on a blog. awesome set of priorities and perspectives.
The guy is everythng that is wrong with this world/lite.
Does nothing really at all--but forms judgements.
so now we are rosemary, veritas luca resident? im fine with being any of those people.
veritas corrected me. thats fine with me. doesnt mean i am him(or her).

actually--luca resident, veritas and rosemary.
do any of them ever agree with me?
I dont know..but roger thinks we are 1 blogger. Honestly--whatever...but just to say--i dont get the point.

Ron, I agree, taxes will go up. But what really happened here? My take is that a certain faction that wanted to reduce taxes actually had their tactics backfire on them. If they had come out and said, please. let's be mindful of residents without children in the system, that would have been one thing. But instead some of the tax foes came out and said the "schoolies" are "rabid" and things of that nature. I think this only served to galvanize the "schoolies". They were willing to be reasonable at first, but the name calling did nothing more than create a buzz of anger within the school community, encouraging them to come out and vote in larger numbers. Epic fail on the part of the anti-tax residents.

And there will always be those that cry after an election when they don't get their way. The majority spoke. C'est la vie. Get over it and move on.. or move out if all you can do is complain. Cheers :)

You can't please all the people all of the time Rosemary. I'm sorry for your hardships. We're all feeling it and it has a lot more to do with just this election. I do hope things get better for you.

Ron, towns are constantly changing and the older generations will continue to complain about the younger ones. And so it goes..
The majority of voters spoke. Perhaps you should take it up with your pals who dropped the ball on you and didn't vote. Maybe you need to ask yourself why the majority of the voters disagree with you. Maybe those are the things you should be discussing so you can move forward from all this anger. Why not put your energy into your cause instead of insulting Ridgefield mothers? I hope you find your peace with all of this.
Have a great weekend Ron and Rosemary :)

I look at the way some forum denizen try to pretend they know who every poster is in real life and I roll my eyes. The childish psychology of some people on the internet is so easy to parse.

There are people in life who need control. These are the people who constantly interrupt others in a conversation. This tactic might work well against their spouse in the kitchen, but here on the internet the controllers are powerless. The rest of us can type out our well conceived paragraphs and there isn’t anything the controlling person can do about.

To cope, the controlling person desperately tries to fake control.

One approach, the controlling person tells all the anonymous posters he knows who they are. As if it’s an implied threat, “If you don’t stop disagreeing with me I will come over to your house and rough you up.” Nothing short of bullying. It also reminds me of a 5 year old on the playground taunting, “Na na, I know a secret and you don’t!” An immature attempt to lord something over the others.

(continuing in next post)

Another approach used by a controlling person to assuage his own ego, decree that all anonymous ids are the same person. The controlling person can’t deal with the fact that more than one person might disagree with his views, so he tries to dismiss the dissenters by saying there is only person posting under multiple ids. How ridiculous and embarrassing though. Steven, Luca, Ron, Rose, Martin, CW666, July, Jack Burden, AdultNoKids… we all know we are not the same person. It’s only the controlling person who refuses to accept that fact. Sad really.

I look at a recent election. Some controlling people tried to claim that the forum posters who did nothing more than pose questions to a particular candidate must be just one single individual using multiple ids to intentionally trip up the candidate. (Asking questions was deemed to be an attack to trip up the candidate? Maybe they were residents wanting to know the candidate’s position? Ya think??) To diminish the impact, the adamant claim was made that there couldn’t be more than one person asking questions -- they all must be the same person using multiple ids. Some went so far to say that the single lone gunman asking the questions must be mentally unstable with a multiple personality disorder. Step back and take a deep breath, paranoid much??

But ooops, how do they explain the candidate losing by so many votes in the polls? Did this lone Sybil person have access to 1,500 fake drivers licenses which she used to vote over and over again?
Ridiculous.

Internet forums require a certain degree of maturity. Unfortunately, so often it is lacking.

freud 2--great post.
i agree. who cares if its one poster, or mulitple. if the questions and commentary are intelligent--then only a weak person, with no proper response, looks to attack the messenger.
As to the point about figuring out who is posting. Spot on. Its an intimidation tactic.

ok ron.
did you used to call yourself renzo?
by the way, i agree with freud. But my agreement is coming next to fields so now sherman will look to attack me.

ron--maybe you missed it. You are for being 'correct.'
did you used to call yourself on patch, renzo?
thank you sir

Doesn't take a brain surgeon to know that Ron is renzo or z28 or in the real world, Tom Falconieri, hater of democrats, liberals, PTA members, schoolies or anyone who moved to this town and in his eyes ruined it. Did I leave anything out? Cheers.

Thanks Tom, I needed a laugh this morning. I've been reading your ramblings long enough to know not only the style in which you write but the things you ramble about, including in your most recent post, the argument Nickie got into with Marconi, Barbara Manners and her unfortunate words about the pizza place in town and Di Masters working for the community center and being a selectwoman. You've gone off on these topics so many times in the same manner it's easy to see it's you. If I cared enough I could go back find these posts and find them to be almost identical, except for perhaps the fact that you are not CAPITALIZING everything!

My name is Tom Falconieri if anyone thinks i have been posting on this site please E mail me at RIDGEFIELDSTINKS@YAHOO. Stop telling people it is me that is doing this stuff.

This is so funny. What did one sockpuppet say to the other sockpuppet?

But good news, Tom is back!!

weber

seems like you nailed it.

Only because this fellow appears out of no where, and old ron orsen disappeared.
Nice detective work.
And tom, if that is you, and you claimed to be in vietnam for the soul reason to win a point during the hurricane, id love to email you. Just let me know it it was you, or if you are not strong enough to admit it. Thanks.

roger as to your point about mccreary being the only one there--I have no idea what you are saying.
It doesnt take a genius to understand that its never appropriate to sodomize a young boy. McCreary is not a small man, physically speaking. He understood it was wrong, hence all his actions after leaving.
If you always want to give people the benefit of the doubt, then please be more consistent. On this site, which I think is part of Mr. Fields' point, is that you leap to judgements all the time. Hell--you have yet to correct anything you have said--and you continue now thinking that I am fields, the resident, then veritas and now freud. Strange that you leap with both feet to condemn anonymous bloggers, yet defend a man on the weird basis that he may not have been in possession of enough facts to act? What more did he need , in order to determine he should intervene?
Be consistent roger. You either are a man who is free of judgement, like you want to say you are in this case....(in order to defend not doing anything except calling after the fact, which is what you do)--or you are not--which you establish by nearly every post on every subject. You rarely respond with an opposing opinion, --you simply want to judge people on who they are or what they are attempting to achieve.
So--rogie , old boy, gain some consistency. Ok? Got it now? Even though you say you got it--seems like you dont.

lookie --lookie
When renzo got caught --he went and deleted all his posts. all of them.
whoa--big surprise--ron orsen went and deleted all his posts.
"i have always been called ron" really? This is the guy who is trying to get me--as being multiple people. (him and the coward roger sherman --who never answers questions that might reveal how weak his points are-- he would rather not answer than admit he made a mistake---not a strength rog).
anyway--glad to see ron go. Wonder what new name he will come up with in 3 days. until then -ron/renzo--see you later -fake vet. Slime.

Keith,
Sorry to disappoint, but I'm not Bender. I don't blog and the few times I have commented on these types of pages, I use my own name. Good luck discovering who the real Bender is.
- Irene

Roger Sherman

8:57pm on Thursday, November 10, 2011

Luca?

We do know at Bender is Burgess and Orsen is Renzo. But what can't figure out is why are veritas and fields arguing.

why ron?
people are bored? Because you got --once again outed?

By the way-I emailed you at the ridgefield stinks-and of course you didnt get back to me.
May I make a very respectful suggestion?
How about dont lie. How about dont pretend to be something?
If you have opinions -just state them--without trying to tell people you get a bigger say--based on total b.s.
And I say this, because you have to come to grips with the fact you are not that smart. And you get caught a lot, not being smart but lying all the time.
its a constructive suggestion--and addresses your desire to be heard, but also your limitations.

I never got an E mail from you Sir so what the hell are you talking about

Nice try Tom...

right.

Its just amazing. You go back erase all your posts---there is one from tom--and ummmm you dont know what im talking about.
Sir. You dont have to pretend to be ignorant. You are. So stop pretending.

Lets see ignorant. Yes it seems that a Luca Abelino who ever this person is. He or she wont say has a following on many other patches. Some on those sites seem to think this person is really Ignorant. Here is a list of parches i have found that this person who ever he or she is. Seems like this person has a reputation of making people angry. So here is the patches i have found

Darien
Wilton
Stamford
Norwalk
Trumbull
Greenwich
Shelton
Westport
Ridgefield

Now call me what you want and i don't care but it seems like you have a following of posting Rubbish on many sites. It seems like you need some professional help. I would suggest you get it. With that i bid you and your friend who ever he or she is also. That would be Webber. So i don't know who the hell both of you are and i could care less. But i for one don't give a dam.

Wait?
Could you care less? Or give a dam? (it's couldn't care less. Think about it. You cannot care less than you already do.)
What are you bidding for?
Im so confused. You write so eloquently.
I never said I was popular. Or that my opinions are meant to get everyone to agree with me. But what I dont do, is claim to be someone Im not. Ok , El Slimeball. And if youre going to act all tough by giving me your email address and making it seem like thats a difficult thing to follow through on, then at least have the courage to answer it. Ok---what happenned to all your posts, Ronny? Decided you need to erase them again, like you did with the Renzo garbage?
Dont you get it dude? Probably not. You fool no one.

Ron
I just thought about it.
You got me.
1) I never realized I post on more than just Ridgefield. Thanks. That certainly goes a long way to proving my ignorance.
2) If that wasnt enough--you pointed out to me that I post Rubbish. Ok--now Im essentially nabbed. You should be on the Harvard debate team. Between those 2 very well reasoned arguments, I am without a doubt, ignorant.
Thanks Ron. Up until just then--I was unaware. You are the Man. I wish I could give you a big hug for your enlightening commentary.