More Shopping

Last week, the Fire District reported on more shopping, but this time they were using our federal taxes instead of our property taxes to pay the bill.  They were buying some $43,000 item whose name I didn't catch (Mr. Riffle informs me that it is called a Lifepak 15), designed to be life-saving, and planning to join another of the same items already owned by the Fire District because you can't have too many of a good thing, I expect.  Turns out they wrote a grant to FEMA to get this paid for and FEMA said, sure, we'll pay $40K and you can pay $3K and it will be a good deal.  I wish FEMA were in to funding libraries, but somehow the equipment deficient fire department qualifies as an emergency and the space-deficient library does not.

Also, a Commissioner advised the three of us attending as honored guests that if any one (of us, or of anyone else, I guess) wished to run for Fire Commissioner we should do it, but only if we were "democratically minded."  This is fairly rich coming from a man who runs a Comment Period in which "NO QUESTIONS" may be asked: that, he publicly told me, is why it is called a "Comment Period," and not a "Question Period."  So my questions are always phrased like this: "A lot of people are wondering why X is happening and so I've been thinking about that, and wonder what your comment on that would be."  Just a wondering, not a question.  Although it's a Comment Period, not a Wonder Period.

And, finally, the two Commissioners present for the meeting, one Commissioner's wife, and two attendees contributed $20 each to the new library, after an impassioned plea from me: a different kind of comment but I got it in in well under three minutes which is what the democratically-minded Commissioner has established as the limit for comments.