BUCKFIELD — Is regionalization the key to success for area towns?
The Buckfield Board of Selectmen is curious to find out how it can regionalize, or work in cooperation with other area towns, in order to conduct the business of Buckfield citizens more economically and better than they can when working alone.
What that goal in mind, Buckfield Town Manager Cynthia M. Dunn and Chairman of the Selectmen Lawrence "Skip" Stanley will join leaders from Turner, Greene, Leeds and Livermore in an afternoon meeting with Governor John Baldacci on Wednesday, February 4, at the State House in Augusta.
The goal, according to State Representative Rosita Gagne-Friel (D-District 69), who helped arrange Buckfield's participation at the meeting, is to better understand "the governor's intentions" regarding his initiative toward more regionalization.
The meeting with the governor stems from a local meeting held last December at the Turner Town Office. Local leaders met to examine regionalization at that time, but found, as Gagne-Friel states, that "They do a lot of stuff already. That's what it came down to. And it was like, 'What else can we do?'"
Buckfield officials seem to agree.
"There are a lot of things that, if you wrote it all down on paper, we are currently doing," Dunn said at a recent selectmen's meeting in Buckfield. "Fire and Rescue is one thing. We are currently under mutual aid agreements with other towns. We have run the transfer station with Sumner since 1983."
"Also, AVCOG is a form of regionalization," Stanley added. "We purchase salt from AVCOG [along] with other towns."
Buckfield officials are unsure what else they can do, but say they look to the meeting with the governor as a brainstorming session to further examine their options.
Buckfield resident Judy Berg gave one specific example.
"Look at all the fire trucks local towns have been buying recently," she said at a selectmen's meeting. "Imagine if all those towns had got together for one joint bid. Think of the money we might have saved."
"We're going to embrace it, hopefully, if it makes sense for Buckfield," said Stanley. "We want to make sure Buckfield stands to gain from it. But we are open to it."
One particular area in which Stanley hopes to take an even greater advantage of increased regionalization is in teh area of Buckfield's largest current cooperative effort: The joint operation, wuth the towns of Hartford and Sumner, of SAD 39.
"We're looking for the school system to really step up," he said. "Hopefully, the district will be involved in this as well, and go to meetings."
When prompted for ideas as to how the school district might take advantage of regionalization, Stanley listed of some potential ideas: "Possibly, for instance, fuel. Right now they are purchasing fuel right at the Buckfield Mall. Either regionalize with other towns to make a fuel purchase, getting a fuel island, or something where they can do a joint purchase that way.
"I'm not involved in all that, but maybe special ed teachers," he continued. "Instead of hiring one per school — do they need one per school? There's got to be ways. Maybe joint packages for the teachers, like insurance policies
"Does there need to be a superintendent for every school system?" he added. "Your know there's $75,000 a year," he said, referring to an estimated superintendent's salary.
At the possibility of school districts sharing superintendents, Dunn responded, "In the same regard, town managers. Is it possible for town managers to regionalize?"
Rep. Gagne-Friel said that this was a significant area of concern at the Turner meeting in Decemer.
"What I understand is that they really want to know what the governor's objectives are in regard to regionalization of towns. Is he expecting to close some of the town offices? I mean, that isn't going to happen! Nobody is going to give up their little town."
"They wanted more specificity," she reported in December. "They are already doing some things, what is it that he expects to do more than that?"
However, little came of that meeting, she said. "To have a meeting to talk, and don't know why — it wasn't doing them any good."
It was at that point that State Representative Rodney C. Jennings (D-District 93) offered to facilitate a meeting with the governor, so that those at the earlier meeting could gain a greater understanding of the regionalization goals of both the governor and the committee he has set up for that purpose.
"I told them what I understood, from the meetings that I attended, that it would mostly be to do with schools," said Gagne-Friel. "That would not necessarily affect selectpersons, but they're the ones with all the questions, so they are the ones who asked to go to this meeting.
"At first, we wanted him [Baldacci] to come to us," she said, "but then of course the governor wouldn't just be going to a selectmen's meeting. So, the governor came up with the idea of their coming to him. So he set aside one hour on February 4th, in the afternoon."
Gagne-Friel fears however that "this preliminary stuff should bow really be made public because people are going to call up and say, 'Can I go?' and they can't" The governor has limited the meeting to no more than 15 people, she said.
"It is a closed meeting for a very few people," she cautioned. "It was a specialty favor that Representative Jennings did for his selectpeople. And, because others were there, they got invited, too. Then I extended it to my town's manager because I was there and she wasn't
"If it is publicized as if it is some special meeting of the local leaders to o something with the governor, it isn't," said Gagne-Friel. "It is just kind of a little get together because they want to know something."
After than meeting, she says, and the clarification of goals that the governor can give to local selectmen and town managers, "Then they can go back and have another one of these regional meetings here in this area and really talk about some stuff."
That, in the words of Stanley, "would be a good idea." Buckfield leaders hope, at the appropriate time, to get feedback from the public on regionalization issue, as it is not always just about saving money, or bringing new services to a small town. There can be downsides as well.
"There are different avenues for regionalization that we have investigated," Dunn said. "I'll use roads for an example. For Buckfield to regionalize with neighboring towns such as Hartford and Sumner, to do a joint bid, it would not pay for Buckfield to do that because Buckfield primarily surfaces more miles in a season than does Hartford or Sumner."
Selectman Oscar Gammon returned to the subject of education.
"The town of Peru has never been in a district. They've run their own schools themselves. Now they are going to merge with SAD 21, I think it is — Dixfield, Carthage and Canton," Gammon said.
"So, this is kind of a thing we want to watch, to see what happens. There's no pressure. There's ways to save money. But sometimes if you get into too big of a district, like you take SAD 7, in my estimation, they are so big that there are some children over there that have to get on the bus at quarter past six in the morning. Thats' crazy!" Gammon continued.
Regionalizing services can also bring about some loss of local control. Is that a fear?
"It would depend on the subject," said Stanley, "and a balance of the benefit versus the loss of control. What do the people want? We would have to let the people decide. that."
The time for exploring all of the available options will come. For now, in regards to the upcoming meeting with the governor, "I don't know if even brainstorming is going to come out of it," said Gagne-Friel. "It is just a clarification of goals."
Thursday, January 29, 2004
Buckfield doesn't want to be known as 'junkfield'
NOTE: This was my first published news article. At the time, and for the next two years, or so, my work was bylined "Wm. Duke Harrington."
BUCKFIELD — With pressure mounting on all sides — from citizen complaints, to environmental concerns, not to mention a need to comply with state law — the Buckfield Board of Selectmen has decided that the time is ripe to act on automobile graveyards located within the heart of the village.
It is a decision that comes after years of ill will, fueled, in part, by a desire to clean up the image of this sleepy little hamlet while still serving the rights of individual property owners.
The action can't come soon enough for some people, but the situation will finally come to a head at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, February 3, at the Buckfield Municipal Building.
"Yeah, it should be interesting," Chairman Lawrence "Skip" Stanley said with an exasperated shake of the head when referring to the upcoming event.
At the regular meeting of the selectmen on February 3, the board will act on three properties described as "illegal automobile graveyards."
One, the property of Allen Young, is on the outskirts of town at 18 Shed Hollow Road. The other two stand on the western gateway to the village. These properties, at numbers 10 and 17 Depot St., belong respectively to James Bishop and Roger "Pud" Bennett.
Municipal officers estimate that they have received more than 50 complaints on these properties over the last couple of years.
Many grievances have been verbal, some more formal. Town Manager Cynthia Dunn points in particular to one letter sent anonymously to the town office on November 2002. In this letter, the writer describes a recent visit from an out-of-state friend. The friend had joked, not altogether kindly, that upon arrival in Buckfield, and seeing the dilapidated vehicles dotted about its village center, he knew he had arrived at last "in the hicks."
The writer goes on to lament how the town could have let itself fall into such a condition, before finally concluding, "They should change the name of the town to Junkfield!"
The same sentiment is echoed throughout the town. Whether shopping at Tilton's Market, making a deposit at Northeast Bank, or checking the mail at the tiny little Post Office, one hears the same conclusion from others who, like the anonymous letter writer, prefer not to give their names while still remaining eager to share their opinions:
"They should really clean those paces up!"
"It's just awful!"
"It's disgusting!"
"I mean, it's the first thing you see when you drive into town."
At Hart's Pizza, the closest business to the so-called graveyards, owner Rhonda Hart is not nearly as shy.
"Sure, you can quote me," she asserted while preparing for morning customers. "I feel it should be cleaned up. Cars removed, buildings repaired, torn down, whatever they need to do. It's obnoxious. It looks disgusting."
Hart does not believe that the junked cars and dilapidated buildings visible directly across the street, through the large picture window of her shop, have had any impact on her business. However, she wearies of the almost daily comments from her customers.
"It's a nice town," she quotes them as saying, "but it ruins the look of the town. It's not appropriate."
Bennett's opinion on the condition of his property differs considerably.
"It ain't no god---m junkard!" he shouted into the wind when met in his yard for comment. "I'm sick of this g-----mn harassment! I went people to start minding their own g----mn business about my yard!
"I have what I have and I only have a little bit of land," he grumbled. "I call it a hardship. They have a select few that they are picking on and of they went around town they could find a lot more people worser than I am. I'm sick of their g-----mn bullying around!"
As part of the "they" that Bennett rails against, Dunn admits that the town has tried for some time to convince the property owners, especially the ones on Depot Street, to take an active interest in the aesthetics of their town.
As far back as October 2000, a full two years before the "Junkfield" letter, Dunn was providing information to Percy Turner of the Maine State Police in an attempt to resolve the issue. Dunn also enlisted the aid of the Maine Department of Transportation, given that the alleged village graveyards are each situated less than five feet off of Route 117. These efforts were ultimately unable to proceed due to what Dunn describes as "technicalities."
"We thought we might get a little further in the process if it came right from the Maine State Police," Dunn says of Turner's efforts at the time to enforce state law governing automobile graveyards.
One problem is that the voters of Buckfield have never adopted an automobile graveyard ordinance of their own.
"We relay on state law," Town Manager Dunn says of the town's only legal recourse. Until recently, she said, that law defined an automobile graveyard as "three, or more, unserviceable vehicles."
"That left a little bit of guesswork," Dunn continued, referring to the need of local leaders to err on the side of the property owner when enforcing the law. "The shell of a vehicle could be sitting in one's yard. Technically, it's serviceable. You put in a motor, transmission, tires, what have you, and you've serviced it."
However, an amendment (LD 1367) sponsored by State Rep. Deborah Hutton (D—District 53) was signed into law May 27, 2003, that redefined automobile graveyards. MRSA Title 30-A, Chapter 183, now defines an automobile graveyard as an "outdoor area used to store three or more unregistered or uninspected motor vehicles."
"This amendment gave the towns more backbone, if you will, to enforce this for those towns that don't have local ordinances," said Dunn.
Bennett feels that, even under the new definitions, the town has no right to define his property as an "automobile graveyard."
"I got five vehicles here," he said, pointing toward his property where, in a desultory effort to be a good neighbor, he has strung up a blue tarp to hide most of them from view.
"One vehicle is not my vehicle," he said, referring to a jeep that he has allowed a friend to store on the site. "But it's registered and stickered.
"I have four vehicles that are mine. Two vehicles that are registered, and they're going to be stickered. There is going to be three of them registered come payday."
Concluding his inventory, Bennett pointed to an old school bus behind the other vehicles.
"There ain't no need for me to register, insure, and to get that bus stickered because that's going to be a truck when I get done with it to haul my equipment with."
Still, with the new definition in hand, Dunn, in her role as code enforcement officer for Buckfield, sent a letter dated November 20, 2003, to all three of the property owners. This letter gave them until December 31 to remove the violations.
Young has the option of applying for an automobile graveyard permit. This process includes a $50 application fee for an annual automobile graveyard or junkyard permit, obtained at the town office. The fee for an automobile recycling permit is $250.
Once submitted to the town manager, the application is forwarded to the selectmen, at which point a site review and public hearing is scheduled.
However, Bishop and Bennett have no alternative but to clean up their Depot Street properties. Title 30-A also requires that, "A permit may not be granted for an automobile graveyard or junkyard established after October 3, 1973, and located within 100 feet of any highway."
Dunn attested to the fact that neither of the lots in question on Depot Street have sufficient setbacks to make permitting them a possibility.
In this sense at least, it seems Bennett may be correct in his claim of hardship.
"If they look back at the titles and s--t, they'' find they did that crooked all the way through," he said, as proof of his point.
"I'm sick of their g----mn bullying around with the snowmobile club, saying this is on their property and etcetera," he said, gesturing toward the old railroad bed that runs behind his lot. "There is a select few that's starting this problem. Oscar Gammon is one of them, and a few other people."
In contrast to this, Selectman Gammon spoke at a recent meeting of the selectmen. At the same time that the town is pursuing action on the illegal automobile graveyards, it does issue permits to those properties that qualify for and meet state standards.
Having conducted a site review of the property of Perley Dunn on the East Buckfield Road, a public hearing was held and a permit approved by the selectmen at their January 20 meeting.
"We found no violation. We drove all the way around through the site," Gammon said of the review he conducted with Selectwoman Joanne Bly. "Everything was neat and clean."
This prompted a spontaneous response from a member of the public in attendance at the meeting.
"I'll tell you one thing, it's so neat I as not even aware there's a junkyard there," commented Judy Berg.
"He [Dunn] keeps it exceptionally clean for a graveyard," Gammon agreed. "Over the whole site, it's as neat and clean as it has been ever since I've been making these site inspections.
"It's an asset to the town, rather than a detriment," Gammon concluded in approving Dunn's automobile graveyard permit.
With the December 31 deadline for removal of the violations at the illegal automobile graveyards having passed, selectmen were to act on the violations at their January 6 meeting.
Bennett was present at that meeting and spent time asserting his intention to build an aluminum fence around his property to fully conceal the vehicles and other items stored there.
Stanley replied by reading aloud from the state's definitions of automobile graveyards. He informed Bennett that, even with a fence, he would still be in violation of the law and that, "The board intends to follow the law."
When Bennett demanded to know who made the laws, including "names and numbers," Town Manager Dunn agreed to provide him with appropriate contacts.
Allen Young was not present, but sent a letter to selectmen. In this letter, Young claimed to be the owner of Paris Hill Garage in South Paris. He wrote that the vehicles on his property are part of his inventory and that, according to Gordon Carroll of the state investigative department for the dealer section, he had the right to bring his cards home until he had a chance to work on them.
Dunn subsequently contacted Carroll.
"Mr. Young's dealer license for South Paris was — that establishment went out of business in October of 2002," Dunn reported. "At that time, all of his dealer plates, and all other pertinent documents to sell vehicles, were surrendered to the state."
To date, Buckfield officials say they have received no reply from Bishop.
At the request of Bennett, selectmen agreed to grant all three property owners an extension to February 3 to eliminate the violations.
Now, with the deadline looming, no action appears to have been taken at any of the properties.
For his part, Bennett appears bent on pursuing a new negotiating track.
"They ought to give me that other building, right next door to mine, that's the old water company building," he suggested, indicating that he could use it for storage.
"They've offered to sell it to people for $500, but they won't sell it to me because I live right next door," he said. "That property used to belong to this property that I own now.
"The water company people, some of their people are snowmobile people," he explained, "and they want me out of there because the snowmobile club was planning on having that as a clubhouse.
"They don't want me to pay the water company bill," he said, without indicating who "they" were, "because I have to keep paying for lawyers and etcetera, etcetera. I'm going to take my cars to my lawyer, and everything and these other bills, they can wait. If the water company wants to keep giving me trouble, I'm going to put in a well and I won't even get town water."
Bennett then returned to his battles with selectmen.
"They don't let other people know what's going on around town," he said. "They go behind executive sessions. THey won't let other people know what's said in executive session. It's about our business and they won't let us know what they say.
"They are talking about me, Jim Bishop and his father, and not any other person that I know of around town," said Bennett.
When asked if he intends to be at the February 3 meeting at which selectmen will act on his property, Bennett replied with fire in his eyes.
"Yes!" he said. "And I'll sure them all if I have to! It's harassment and it's discrimination against a few select people. It's not right!
"Me and my neighbors are a select few people who have junkyards . . . supposed junkards," he corrected himself. "Mine is not a junkyard!"
With that, Bennett gave the snow a bit of a disgruntled kick to indicate that he'd had the last word on the subject.
And, as he walked off back toward his yard, the words of Chairman Stanley hung behind him with icy foreboding in the cold January air.
" . . . it should be interesting."
BUCKFIELD — With pressure mounting on all sides — from citizen complaints, to environmental concerns, not to mention a need to comply with state law — the Buckfield Board of Selectmen has decided that the time is ripe to act on automobile graveyards located within the heart of the village.
It is a decision that comes after years of ill will, fueled, in part, by a desire to clean up the image of this sleepy little hamlet while still serving the rights of individual property owners.
The action can't come soon enough for some people, but the situation will finally come to a head at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, February 3, at the Buckfield Municipal Building.
"Yeah, it should be interesting," Chairman Lawrence "Skip" Stanley said with an exasperated shake of the head when referring to the upcoming event.
At the regular meeting of the selectmen on February 3, the board will act on three properties described as "illegal automobile graveyards."
One, the property of Allen Young, is on the outskirts of town at 18 Shed Hollow Road. The other two stand on the western gateway to the village. These properties, at numbers 10 and 17 Depot St., belong respectively to James Bishop and Roger "Pud" Bennett.
Municipal officers estimate that they have received more than 50 complaints on these properties over the last couple of years.
Many grievances have been verbal, some more formal. Town Manager Cynthia Dunn points in particular to one letter sent anonymously to the town office on November 2002. In this letter, the writer describes a recent visit from an out-of-state friend. The friend had joked, not altogether kindly, that upon arrival in Buckfield, and seeing the dilapidated vehicles dotted about its village center, he knew he had arrived at last "in the hicks."
The writer goes on to lament how the town could have let itself fall into such a condition, before finally concluding, "They should change the name of the town to Junkfield!"
The same sentiment is echoed throughout the town. Whether shopping at Tilton's Market, making a deposit at Northeast Bank, or checking the mail at the tiny little Post Office, one hears the same conclusion from others who, like the anonymous letter writer, prefer not to give their names while still remaining eager to share their opinions:
"They should really clean those paces up!"
"It's just awful!"
"It's disgusting!"
"I mean, it's the first thing you see when you drive into town."
At Hart's Pizza, the closest business to the so-called graveyards, owner Rhonda Hart is not nearly as shy.
"Sure, you can quote me," she asserted while preparing for morning customers. "I feel it should be cleaned up. Cars removed, buildings repaired, torn down, whatever they need to do. It's obnoxious. It looks disgusting."
Hart does not believe that the junked cars and dilapidated buildings visible directly across the street, through the large picture window of her shop, have had any impact on her business. However, she wearies of the almost daily comments from her customers.
"It's a nice town," she quotes them as saying, "but it ruins the look of the town. It's not appropriate."
Bennett's opinion on the condition of his property differs considerably.
"It ain't no god---m junkard!" he shouted into the wind when met in his yard for comment. "I'm sick of this g-----mn harassment! I went people to start minding their own g----mn business about my yard!
"I have what I have and I only have a little bit of land," he grumbled. "I call it a hardship. They have a select few that they are picking on and of they went around town they could find a lot more people worser than I am. I'm sick of their g-----mn bullying around!"
As part of the "they" that Bennett rails against, Dunn admits that the town has tried for some time to convince the property owners, especially the ones on Depot Street, to take an active interest in the aesthetics of their town.
As far back as October 2000, a full two years before the "Junkfield" letter, Dunn was providing information to Percy Turner of the Maine State Police in an attempt to resolve the issue. Dunn also enlisted the aid of the Maine Department of Transportation, given that the alleged village graveyards are each situated less than five feet off of Route 117. These efforts were ultimately unable to proceed due to what Dunn describes as "technicalities."
"We thought we might get a little further in the process if it came right from the Maine State Police," Dunn says of Turner's efforts at the time to enforce state law governing automobile graveyards.
One problem is that the voters of Buckfield have never adopted an automobile graveyard ordinance of their own.
"We relay on state law," Town Manager Dunn says of the town's only legal recourse. Until recently, she said, that law defined an automobile graveyard as "three, or more, unserviceable vehicles."
"That left a little bit of guesswork," Dunn continued, referring to the need of local leaders to err on the side of the property owner when enforcing the law. "The shell of a vehicle could be sitting in one's yard. Technically, it's serviceable. You put in a motor, transmission, tires, what have you, and you've serviced it."
However, an amendment (LD 1367) sponsored by State Rep. Deborah Hutton (D—District 53) was signed into law May 27, 2003, that redefined automobile graveyards. MRSA Title 30-A, Chapter 183, now defines an automobile graveyard as an "outdoor area used to store three or more unregistered or uninspected motor vehicles."
"This amendment gave the towns more backbone, if you will, to enforce this for those towns that don't have local ordinances," said Dunn.
Bennett feels that, even under the new definitions, the town has no right to define his property as an "automobile graveyard."
"I got five vehicles here," he said, pointing toward his property where, in a desultory effort to be a good neighbor, he has strung up a blue tarp to hide most of them from view.
"One vehicle is not my vehicle," he said, referring to a jeep that he has allowed a friend to store on the site. "But it's registered and stickered.
"I have four vehicles that are mine. Two vehicles that are registered, and they're going to be stickered. There is going to be three of them registered come payday."
Concluding his inventory, Bennett pointed to an old school bus behind the other vehicles.
"There ain't no need for me to register, insure, and to get that bus stickered because that's going to be a truck when I get done with it to haul my equipment with."
Still, with the new definition in hand, Dunn, in her role as code enforcement officer for Buckfield, sent a letter dated November 20, 2003, to all three of the property owners. This letter gave them until December 31 to remove the violations.
Young has the option of applying for an automobile graveyard permit. This process includes a $50 application fee for an annual automobile graveyard or junkyard permit, obtained at the town office. The fee for an automobile recycling permit is $250.
Once submitted to the town manager, the application is forwarded to the selectmen, at which point a site review and public hearing is scheduled.
However, Bishop and Bennett have no alternative but to clean up their Depot Street properties. Title 30-A also requires that, "A permit may not be granted for an automobile graveyard or junkyard established after October 3, 1973, and located within 100 feet of any highway."
Dunn attested to the fact that neither of the lots in question on Depot Street have sufficient setbacks to make permitting them a possibility.
In this sense at least, it seems Bennett may be correct in his claim of hardship.
"If they look back at the titles and s--t, they'' find they did that crooked all the way through," he said, as proof of his point.
"I'm sick of their g----mn bullying around with the snowmobile club, saying this is on their property and etcetera," he said, gesturing toward the old railroad bed that runs behind his lot. "There is a select few that's starting this problem. Oscar Gammon is one of them, and a few other people."
In contrast to this, Selectman Gammon spoke at a recent meeting of the selectmen. At the same time that the town is pursuing action on the illegal automobile graveyards, it does issue permits to those properties that qualify for and meet state standards.
Having conducted a site review of the property of Perley Dunn on the East Buckfield Road, a public hearing was held and a permit approved by the selectmen at their January 20 meeting.
"We found no violation. We drove all the way around through the site," Gammon said of the review he conducted with Selectwoman Joanne Bly. "Everything was neat and clean."
This prompted a spontaneous response from a member of the public in attendance at the meeting.
"I'll tell you one thing, it's so neat I as not even aware there's a junkyard there," commented Judy Berg.
"He [Dunn] keeps it exceptionally clean for a graveyard," Gammon agreed. "Over the whole site, it's as neat and clean as it has been ever since I've been making these site inspections.
"It's an asset to the town, rather than a detriment," Gammon concluded in approving Dunn's automobile graveyard permit.
With the December 31 deadline for removal of the violations at the illegal automobile graveyards having passed, selectmen were to act on the violations at their January 6 meeting.
Bennett was present at that meeting and spent time asserting his intention to build an aluminum fence around his property to fully conceal the vehicles and other items stored there.
Stanley replied by reading aloud from the state's definitions of automobile graveyards. He informed Bennett that, even with a fence, he would still be in violation of the law and that, "The board intends to follow the law."
When Bennett demanded to know who made the laws, including "names and numbers," Town Manager Dunn agreed to provide him with appropriate contacts.
Allen Young was not present, but sent a letter to selectmen. In this letter, Young claimed to be the owner of Paris Hill Garage in South Paris. He wrote that the vehicles on his property are part of his inventory and that, according to Gordon Carroll of the state investigative department for the dealer section, he had the right to bring his cards home until he had a chance to work on them.
Dunn subsequently contacted Carroll.
"Mr. Young's dealer license for South Paris was — that establishment went out of business in October of 2002," Dunn reported. "At that time, all of his dealer plates, and all other pertinent documents to sell vehicles, were surrendered to the state."
To date, Buckfield officials say they have received no reply from Bishop.
At the request of Bennett, selectmen agreed to grant all three property owners an extension to February 3 to eliminate the violations.
Now, with the deadline looming, no action appears to have been taken at any of the properties.
For his part, Bennett appears bent on pursuing a new negotiating track.
"They ought to give me that other building, right next door to mine, that's the old water company building," he suggested, indicating that he could use it for storage.
"They've offered to sell it to people for $500, but they won't sell it to me because I live right next door," he said. "That property used to belong to this property that I own now.
"The water company people, some of their people are snowmobile people," he explained, "and they want me out of there because the snowmobile club was planning on having that as a clubhouse.
"They don't want me to pay the water company bill," he said, without indicating who "they" were, "because I have to keep paying for lawyers and etcetera, etcetera. I'm going to take my cars to my lawyer, and everything and these other bills, they can wait. If the water company wants to keep giving me trouble, I'm going to put in a well and I won't even get town water."
Bennett then returned to his battles with selectmen.
"They don't let other people know what's going on around town," he said. "They go behind executive sessions. THey won't let other people know what's said in executive session. It's about our business and they won't let us know what they say.
"They are talking about me, Jim Bishop and his father, and not any other person that I know of around town," said Bennett.
When asked if he intends to be at the February 3 meeting at which selectmen will act on his property, Bennett replied with fire in his eyes.
"Yes!" he said. "And I'll sure them all if I have to! It's harassment and it's discrimination against a few select people. It's not right!
"Me and my neighbors are a select few people who have junkyards . . . supposed junkards," he corrected himself. "Mine is not a junkyard!"
With that, Bennett gave the snow a bit of a disgruntled kick to indicate that he'd had the last word on the subject.
And, as he walked off back toward his yard, the words of Chairman Stanley hung behind him with icy foreboding in the cold January air.
" . . . it should be interesting."
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