Guard dogs at the park

Interesting email exchange:
From Mayor Art Ward
To: Edward Krawiecki, city attorney
Cc: Park Director Ed Swicklas, city Councilor David Mills
Sent: Thu, May 20, 2010 6:35 am
Subject: Guard Dog
Ed, the potential of acquiring a guard dog for securing the perimeter of the an area such as the inside of the Page Park swimming pool was raised at last evening's Park Board meeting; would appreciate it if you could review/provide details as to any possibilities and/or any problems which might be associated with the idea.

Mayor Ward

From Mayor Art Ward

To Park Director Ed Swicklas

Sent: 5/20/2010 6:37 AM

Ed, please forward to members of the Park Board so that they are aware of the action to address the issue.

Thank you,

Mayor Ward

From: Lori DeFillippi, park commissioner
To: Park Director Ed Swicklas
Sent: May 20, 2010
Ed,

I am happy the Mayor is at least exploring the idea of enclosed guard dogs- after cutting me off during "discussions" on this matter, as the Mayor so rudely did at last nights Park Boad meeting. As Commissioners, we volunteer our time and commitment to the welfare of our City, as such, our time and comments should be fully respected. I felt the Mayor dismissed my discussion on this topic by moving ahead without allowing me to finish. I am not sure if this is the norm for the Mayor at board meetings when he feels its warranted. I afford the Mayor his time, his opinions, and his discussions during the Park Board meetings and  I feel he should afford the same to me, and all the Park Board Commissioners.
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Copyright 2010. All rights reserved. Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

"Zero-tolerance, get-tough policy" needed for vandals, park panel member says

Lori DeFillippi, a parks commissioner, had this to say this afternoon:

We can blame the parents, blame a permissive society, blame the lack of recreation available, nevertheless, there is really but one solution — devise a punishment that fits the crime and publish the result for all to see. Mere slaps on the wrist, or assignments to non-punitive or mundane community service tasks serve only to encourage repetition by the perpetrator(s).
The blame for juvenile offenses can be placed with lack of parental supervision and the accompanying indifference to authority & responsibility. Admittedly, this is not always the case as some adolescents defy logic and, despite their parents doing all the right things, some stray from the straight and narrow. When push comes to shove, though, blaming bad parenting will not solve the problem; a parent or parents who have permitted a child to reach his/her teens without respect for authority or private property are hardly candidates to
reason with.
Our city leaders need to design a system of punishment for youthful offenders, whether their crimes be vandalism or graffiti, that are not only swift, but also appropriately severe as to inhibit a repeat performance. More importantly, the ensuing price paid by offenders must be sufficiently distasteful & publicized in such a manner that imitators will find it embarrassingly “uncool” to copy such utter foolishness.
No longer can our city “coddle” offenders in the effort to be their friend, to respect their “self esteem,” to appeal to their better nature or to appease complaining parents. Let the offenders walk around downtown with a sign hung around their neck listing their offenses!
While I do not presume to hold all the answers, it should be obvious that there exists a growing disrespect for authority, for private property and for taking personal responsibility for one’s own actions as well as those of one’s children. There was a time when punishment issues were solved largely within the family or by the community. Today, it's “let the police and the courts handle it” We must do better as a community and adopt a zero-tolerance,-get tough policy within this city.

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Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

DeFillippi speaks out on Park Board appointments

Mayor & Council members,
It has always been with a sense of pride and dedication that I have served as a member of the Bristol Board of Park Commissioners; to the members of the Bristol City Council who supported my reappointment at last evening's City Council meeting, I say "thank you" for affording me the privilege of continuing as a member of the Bristol Board of Park Commissioners; for those council members who opted not to support my reappointment, I would only request, in your future decisions regarding (re)appointments, that you display the decency to obtain adequate information on the contributions of volunteers to city boards and/or commissions before deciding to use these individuals as "political pawns" for your own self-serving agendas, as you did with the me and the other two members of the Board of Park Commissioners last evening. Elected officials should not hinder volunteers from wanting to serve their community by such public displays.

Sincerely,
Lori DeFillippi
Park Commissioner

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Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

DeFillippi defends elected school board

From Lori DeFillippi, park commissioner:
Did you know that according to the National School Boards Assoc. (NSBA) that nationally 96% of school boards are elected? Did you know that elected school boards are increasingly targeted for takeover by Mayors, as well as governors?
School board members are trustees for the educational welfare of all children in the communities they serve. They are elected by the people and are directly accountable to the community. Although we as parents, and all members of the community, may not always agree with the board members views/changes, they are accountable to the community who voted them in. I am speaking as a parent, and share the views of other parents who have children in our educational system. School Board members appointed by the Mayor or anybody else for that matter is a bad idea. Who is to say the Mayor, the Council or, heaven forbid, a newspapers picks “better people”?
The key factor in electing School Board members is that WE get a vote, and if WE don’t like the job he or she is doing, WE can vote that person out in the next election. Our political system and our country have been built on the promise that WE will have representation of the people and for the people. Who would the “appointed” members represent? And if we didn’t like the job they were doing, how would we get rid of them?
Of all elected positions we have in this country, School Board members must have the confidence of parents and the community as a whole, and you don’t get that by appointing members. You are asking us, the voters, parents, to trust the appointments of school board members by a Mayor and Council members with our most valuable resource, our children. So why would you not trust us with our vote to elect these members?
If people wanting to serve on the school board do not want to stand up to the rigors of a citywide election, I don’t want them representing me nor our children’s’ educational needs. You need to reject this notion that an appointed school board can do a better job than an elected board. It’s discriminatory and just wrong.
My children have gone through the elementary process. My son is in middle school and my daughter just entered her freshmen year in high school. I have been very satisfied with their educational needs being meant. I know I have a say in the election process. I know the school board members are accountable to the community. School Board members know that without the majority of community approval, nothing would get accomplished, and to think that an elected board cannot achieve community success shows no respect at all for the current School Board members who, like it or not, were voted into office by the citizens of Bristol.

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Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Sputnik?

At this week's Park Board meeting, commissioner Lori DeFillippi happened to mention October 4th.
"Sputnik Day," Mayor William Stortz immediately interjected.
"Who's Sputnik?" DeFillippi responded. "I don't know Sputnik."
After Stortz explained that Sputnik was the name of the first satellite, launched in 1957 by the former USSR, DeFillippi remained perplexed.
"I graduated from high school in 1978. How should I know Sputnik?" she asked.
"Who names a ship Sputnik?" DeFillippi asked. "I thought it was Otis Spunkmeier."

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Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com