GRANTS
January 9, 2006

The following EMail was sent independently by Roy Bonner, our 1st Vice Chairman, to Town Council President Robert Mushen, State Senator June Gibbs, State Representative John Loughlin, and Rhode Island Department of Administration Director Beverly Najarian.

These are truly, "times that try men's souls". I read with dismay the allocation of my tax money in the form of grants for such efforts as fixing the Lighthouse! In and of themselves, there is little to complain about preserving land, historic edifices, and so on, but the problem is our priorities!

We have with out question here in Little Compton some of the worst roads in the developed western world. I have a relatively new Ford truck with 24,000 miles on it and it needs new ball joints! Our roads are a disgrace and we go year after year patching the patches. The shoulders are so much in disrepair that one is forced to drive in the center of most roads to avoid pot holes that seem to have no bottom. I know we have talked about a bond issue, (borrowed money) to fix the deplorable condition of our roads and along comes our Department of Transportation with millions to buy land, and fix lighthouses! This is pure and simple "feel good" stuff, chest thumping for tree huggers, and pandering to our worst instincts. It is truly outrageous. My cynicism concerning the dysfunctional public sectors, rife with corruption and bad judgment, is only reinforced by this kind of absurdly!

I'm truly angry. There are times I feel helpless in the face of this stuff but this has renewed my conviction that we need to re double our efforts to rid our selves of these incompetents.

ROY BONNER