http://rutlandherald.com/article/20130710/NEWS02/707109923
Published July 10, 2013 in the Rutland Herald 2nd Springfield forum set for today By Susan Smallheer Staff Writer SPRINGFIELD — Springfield residents are invited today to a second forum and walk as part of the “Not In My Town — Springfield, Vt.,” community effort. Wendi Lashua Germain of the Vermont Justice Center, one of the organizers of the community response to a June 19 drug sweep in Springfield, said people interested in participating in the walk should meet at Riverside Middle school at 6:30 p.m., and that the forum will start at 7 p.m. back at the school. During the drug sweep, coordinated by the Vermont Drug Task Force, 33 Springfield area residents were arrested on charges of heroin trafficking. Germain said the organizing committee has lined up three speakers for this evening’s session, which is designed to answer the questions posed by the 200 people who attended the first forum. Rutland City Police Chief James Baker, Windsor County Deputy State’s Attorney David Cahill, and Springfield psychiatric nurse practioner Jim Walsh are slated to discuss various issues, she said. Many people have questions about whether there is a need for a methadone clinic and what it would mean in Springfield. Currently, the closest methadone clinics are in Brattleboro and Lebanon, N.H. Germain said the group is moving ahead with plans for Neighborhood Watches, and that materials had been ordered to organize that effort. She said four neighborhoods would be selected initially, with more planned. “We are moving forward with the Neighborhood Watches,” she said. “We hope to get that in motion.” She said the Springfield Police Department had committed to have one police officer act as a liaison with each neighborhood watch group. She said Kelley Chrysler had donated the money for the Neighborhood Watch materials, which include large signs, organizational materials, stickers, manuals and leaflets. Germain said that one Springfield area woman had donated money for additional “Not In Our Town — Springfield, Vt.,” bracelets, and they will be available at today’s session. Germain said 150 adult bracelets had been handed out at the first forum, and about 75 children’s bracelets. She said she also handed out bracelets at the Fourth of July Parade in downtown Springfield, a parade organized by area churches. Germain said she expected the group would be meeting monthly for a while, and then break off into smaller groups to do more detailed work. Germain said a slower pace is planned for the walk in response to concerns voiced two weeks ago. The walk is expected to go through the nearby Springfield Shopping Plaza to the Fellows Footbridge and back before the forum.
A clinic ?
ReplyDeleteGood Idea.
Plenty of room in the new health care facility.
At least I think there is...
Good idea? I think not! I drove through Brattelboro today and saw some of the methadone clinic "attendees" roaming the streets.
DeleteI don't think we need to add more "drifters" in this town.
Good idea, bad idea, is all pretty much beside the point now. Springfield is targeted to have a methadone clinic. Those who aren't deaf should have been able to figure that out by now.
DeleteBetter late than never but too little, too late! Too bad the town waited until it was overrun by druggies and purveyors of illegal drugs to do anything meaningful. The same thing has happened to the school system and the business climate. The town still votes the same Bozos into office. It appears the cockroaches feeding off of the town are more intelligent than the voters!
ReplyDeletere Anon 8:35
DeleteHow true!
thats because no one else stands up to run for office....why dont run
ReplyDeleteIt's easier to bash others, then to actually do anything to correct the problem.
DeleteTo fix this problem you must first remove the individuals who claim to be the "leaders" of the town. Once the leadership realizes that the drug dealers are present because the towns people are not only fiscally depressed but emotionally depressed due to the lack of any hope that the town will be a thriving town once again. Springfield's leadership claims to be "progressive" yet lack the actual motivation or skill to actually progress the town into prosperity.
ReplyDeleteI would hardly call the Selectboard particularly "progressive".
DeleteNow Chuck, why would you want to replace the leaders just when they are starting to improve the Town with all those shiny new blue and black signs with the eye on them. They do such a wonderful job of abdicating leadership to the profitable "non-profits". Why what would we possibly do without them. Now with this project to build a methadone clinic, think of all the new productive people we will lure to Town to help spruce up the neighborhoods, and the revenue increase to the "not for profits" that will result from anchoring these people in Springfield. Why its a veritable economic miracle solution! We need to march around town with placards that say "We Want A Methadone Clinic In Our Town!" It is a transcendant moment can't you feel the great community vibes?
DeleteHey, Boss Hogg! Good to hear from you again. That isn't my comment you're responding to, but my doppelganger's. He/she is back on the warpath... Great to see first-class snark on this blog!
DeleteI wasn't too sure what they were talking about when they meant the "faith based" effort. Were they going to encourage the Jehovah Witnesses and Mormon Elders to go around knocking on doors? Not sure that would have the same impact as the Chief of Police knocking on the door of every reputed drug den in town, or did they mean to have the police department go knocking with the local ministers? That part was a bit confusing to me, because they said it wasn't a police thing. And somebody next to me suggested that we pass the hat and buy one way tickets for them to say Arizona, I had suggested New Jersey, but they seemed to think that might just reduce their cost of doing business. And then there were those wonderful ideas of everybody going out and buying "strategic shotguns", course back in my day we called those "sawed off shotguns". But the idea of shifting them from illegal heroin to legal prescribed drugs now there is a wonderful capitalistic approach. I was wondering are the police going to go out and give out free samples? Maybe that would be an amplified twist, knock, knock, "Hi! I'm Chief Johnson and I am here to give you three choices, you can take this one way ticket to Arizona, you can take these here free fixes, or we are going to bust you and you are going to stay in jail overnight." Hm, pretty tough choice I would say. Better get the community on the march!
DeleteI think the door knocking would be a good idea. It is a little hard to imagine our current police chief doing this, but still a good idea. I do not understand exactly what was being referred to as the "faith based" involvement. I know that several local religious groups including the Mormons have their version of AA up and running, and if that works for people, have no problem with that. On the other hand, it may alienate some people that would otherwise get involved and I would question the wisdom of entangling religion with the "not for profits" who view this as a revenue stream and as an alternative to the police becoming active with foot patrols.
DeleteThe neighborhood watches just became a whole lot more interesting...I am sure there are more than a few George Zimmerman's in this town.
ReplyDeleteI hope not.
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