Candidate Says Passover Controversy Shows Lack of Leadership
Paul Buckley, who is running for Seekonk selectmen, says, "The lack of leadership, communication, along with understanding and sensitivity for the voters is the real issue."
The big topic in Seekonk for the past several days has been the scheduling of the special Town Meeting on March 25, the first night of the Jewish holiday Passover. Selectmen will meet Wednesday to consider rescheduling the meeting. Selectmen candidate Paul Buckley issued the following statement about the issue:
I was there at the Feb. 27 selectmen meeting. The town administrator cautioned the selectmen about the date and it being a holy week. Additionally, two selectmen mentioned that March 25 was the beginning of Passover. After some discussion, which did not include the holiday issue, they all voted for the date.
It is unfortunate that they did not consider what they were voting for with some sensitivity to the Passover holiday and now we are getting headlines that are an embarrassment to the town of Seekonk.
Furthermore, it is also unfortunate that some members who voted in support of the date later did not sign the warrant and later still recanted their vote. How can an elected official speak out against a vote they previously took?
The lack of leadership, communication, along with understanding and sensitivity for the voters is the real issue. The town of Seekonk desperately needs members on its Board of Selectmen with the right qualities that avoids these types of situations.
paul
12:44 pm on Monday, March 4, 2013
You got my vote!
Doug Brown
2:59 pm on Monday, March 4, 2013
You have my vote also Paul. Teach these guys some common sense please!
Joe
9:17 pm on Monday, March 4, 2013
It is really getting stupid in Seekonk. I heard that No. Attleboro is having their town meeting on Monday March 25, 2013 and no one is going crazy over the date in that town. Really people lets wake up and stop all of the stupid bickering. April 1st (April fools day) is election day in Seekonk. Just get out and vote for your candidate and let's see who wins and what they do for the town.
Emcee of Seekonk
7:01 am on Tuesday, March 5, 2013
In our quest for 'political correctness', methinks we have become absurd. This town meeting will go down in the books as the most ill-fated of all times.
Seekonk's town meetings are attended by 1) those folks in government who need to be there, 2) those few regular attendees, mostly older citizens and former participants in government, and 3) those there to vote on an agenda that benefits their lifestyle. At best, maybe 3% of the voting population attend. Why are we putting ourselves through this much agony?
Dave Abbott
7:39 am on Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Emcee your answer about town meeting is at the end of your post, 3% of the voters can control what happens to 100% of your local tax money. Why would they want to give up that kind of control? This exercise or I believe someone used the word "crisis", is a great example of why religion and government should remain separated.
Emcee of Seekonk
8:35 am on Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Big ticket items, such as the doubling of the cost of Banna, should go to the ballot. More people show up for elections than they do Town Meetings.
I realize that yearly town budgets, cannot be decided by a ballot, and they are more or less rubber-stamped by those who attend Town Meeting as long as it stays within the 2-1/2% levy limit. When you want to bring out the crowd, just mention the word 'override'.
paul
8:02 am on Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Seekonk should have a local sequester until the regular meeting in June. No money for projects until after the election, the Banna Station can wait 3 more months. As far as communication at high school goes, every student has a cell phone, i phone or pad and so do the teachers. How many more communication devices are needed?
deb of see-attleboro
8:44 am on Tuesday, March 5, 2013
It all can wait until June, IMO.
Dave: Don't worry. We are almost there. I don't know if you are old enough to remember when most businesses were closed on Sundays. Believe it or not, many of us miss those days. Not because of it's Christian roots and the obligation to go to Church (me and my siblings HATED church) But because for most of us, it was a guaranteed day off with the potential for great fun. Maybe if we still had that one day a week off, people wouldn't have to take a "mental health day" or personal day. .
Personally, this issue has less to do with religion and more to do with the break down of the family due to the unraveling of cultural traditions. Remember the recent controversy over Wal-marts encroachment into the Thanksgiving holiday? Not good, IMO. But many people feel government should just get out of the way and let businesses do what they want. Maybe you agree.
Mark Stanton
11:01 am on Tuesday, March 5, 2013
I find that by scheduling this meeting for March 25th they displayed a complete disregard for the Jewish Faith. It was blatantly disrespectful. Rescheduling the meeting to June will not do any harm! Let the money sit and earn some interest. I'd rather earn a few shekel's then possibly offend approximately 500 practicing Jews in Seekonk. Bad politics!
Emcee of Seekonk
11:54 am on Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Most Christians don't know or understand Jewish holidays. I don't think it's a question of wanton disrespect.
I won't ask you to name the 500 practicing Jews in Seekonk, but that is about 450 more than I would have expected.
Carol Bragg
11:18 am on Tuesday, March 5, 2013
It's not about separation of church and state. It's about respect. Otherwise, the Seekonk schools would not list on their calendar "Good Friday holiday."
Deb: My sister and I traveled to Norway 12 years ago. Nothing, absolutely nothing, was open on Sundays. In Norway, the Lutheran Church is the state religion. Most Norwegians don't go to church these days, but on Sundays all the businesses are closed. Sunday is a family day. I, too, miss the days when stores were closed on Sundays. People like to talk about the importance of families teaching values. Families in this country are not together long enough without distractions to teach values.
deb of see-attleboro
11:29 am on Tuesday, March 5, 2013
If I am not mistaken, Norway rates quite high in quality of life indexes. Go figure!
Dave Abbott
12:07 pm on Tuesday, March 5, 2013
This will quickly come off the rails of the topic at hand but if you want to take a Sunday off- then do it. Don't select a job with a shift on Sunday's and don't go shopping. However do not use government to enforce what you "believe" is the way "all" people should spend their Sundays. I worked a 4 and 2 week the majority of my life. My Tuesday was just as enjoyable as my Sunday, because I chose how to spend it. Ms. Bragg my family values are just fine thank you very much, even with all of this scary technology.
deb of see-attleboro
12:27 pm on Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Dave: I don't think we are talking about a Sunday off. We are talking about how government decisions affect our quality of life.
Carol Bragg
1:40 pm on Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Dave: The point is about teaching values, respect and sensitivity. I think you have little idea what it's like to work at the Interchurch Center in Providence and have the outside of the building spray-painted with a swastika because your husband is Jewish and then come home to Seekonk and listen to machine gun fire on your telephone answering machine. I do. The death threats continued over a number of days. I was pregnant at the time and miscarried. The FBI arrested a member of a neo-Nazi group in Pawtucket with a whole arsenal of weapons in his apartment. Other things the group had done -- including sending congratulations cards to Jewish families who had just experienced a death in the family -- were despicable.
It IS the business of government to promote sensitivity and solidarity among its citizens of different religious traditions. We see the consequences of government failure to promote sensitivity across religious lines in the pogroms in Europe, the Holocaust, and the persecution of Christians and other religious minorities in some Muslim nations. Seekonk's elected officials and candidates are showing genuine leadership on this matter, displaying the courage to unite across their political and personal differences. They deserve a round of applause.
Dave Abbott
1:04 pm on Tuesday, March 5, 2013
The less I am told how I have to live my life, the more my quality of life improves. Overly simplistic I know but I digress. The BOS made a poor decision due to the conflict with Passover and have since corrected it, end of story. I am am strongly in the "let's not blow this out of proportion" camp.
Dave Abbott
3:03 pm on Tuesday, March 5, 2013
The train has fallen completely off the tracks when you start bringing the Holocaust into this and telling me what I do or do not have ideas about. You don't know a thing about me. Peace out.
Carol Bragg
3:48 pm on Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Different religious, racial and ethnic groups have history that shape who they are and how they respond to situations. Oberlin College canceled classes yesterday after several hate incidents were followed by a person being spotted in Ku Klux Klan garb. The Holocaust is part of my family history and that of a number of people who live in Seekonk. Maybe you do know what it's like to be targeted with hate crimes. I apologize for suggesting otherwise.