From The Sidelines: Community Spirit and Where Is It Going?

First, let me say that Montville Patch has almost weekly, even daily, articles on all the good things that local service organization, students and volunteers do on a regular basis for our community. We don't have a shortage of people willing to help out anywhere except at the top of local government. They are supposed to be the leaders and facilitators of those volunteer efforts but the have taken a path of non-involvement instead.

Item: A recent fundraiser for a volunteer firefighter and his family was held at the Towaco Firehouse. In fact it occurred the Saturday before a primary election, which was marked by some of the worst politics I have seen in some time.

The fundraiser was organized by the Towaco Fire Department for a family that has had a generational dedication to the fire district. The family had lost their home in a fire and the fund raiser was an effort to give them a helping hand. Not only was the fireman himself a volunteer but so also was his brother and his nephews. To top it off he has been a dedicated employee of the township for as long as I can remember. His two nephews have, by the way, both served in Iraq and Afghanistan. When the phrase "salt of the earth" is used it is these people it is referring to.

You would think that a Township Committee, the governing body of the township, would know all this and at least show up or send one of their group as a representative. The fact is that they don't know these things I mention and there is little evidence that they are concerned with much more than their own narrow interests.

We have seen a sea change over the last several years in the dynamic of the township elected officials and it isn't for the better. It isn't about newer leadership or older leadership. It is about caring and educating the leadership about the history and the people of the township. It is about knowing where we have been and where we ought to be going. It is not about the political infighting or personal agendas. It is about taking the time to care about your citizens, who they are and what problems they might be having.

It isn’t just this one event. There are families in Towaco on a private water system that are about to be charged per home for waterlines in the public street that no other residents have ever been charged for but that is cause for a future blog. Suffice it to say that if you don’t care enough to learn about the historical way the township has done things and how every other resident was treated then you aren’t doing your job.