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Observations — Round and About
By Edward LeHoskey, Torrington
Airlines — Anyone familiar with aircraft knows an airplane, if used improperly, is a flying bomb. We are familiar with hijacking and have been for 40 years. Did anyone do anything about it? One measure could have been making the cockpit secure. Beefing up the door would have required more weight, resulting in the loss of one paying seat. The airlines were not interested in the safety of passengers or of their own air crews, only the bottom line.
We were well aware of truck bombs—did anyone think that aircraft would not be used also? The FAA and the airlines were well aware of all of this but did nothing. After September 11, our government responded by showering the airlines with billions of dollars. A reward for incompetence? For years, private jets were ordered from Boeing with bullet-proof doors that could only be opened from the inside. The technology was there. Did the FAA or any of the airlines take advantage of it? No.
Federal Government — We now watch on TV all our duly elected officials grandstanding and saying all the right things, but they are not doing what is needed. The same duly elected officials recently had their chance to grandstand during the Firestone/ Ford hearings—hearings which have apparently been allowed to fade away, as will the current problems.
Several years ago there was a truck bombing in Lebanon. What military commander would house American Marines in a multi-storied building in a trouble zone? Over 250 Marines were killed in that bombing. And then there was the USS Cole bombing—another lack of security on the part of commanders.
Meanwhile, we have long suspected that our duly elected officials are in the pockets of big business, and Enron has confirmed our suspicions. As voters, we have only one course of action to take—vote them all out. Sadly, however, this will not happen. Year after year, the same people are reelected.
Someone once said, "What this country needs is a good five-cent cigar." Recently a friend said, "What this country needs is a firing squad." The Firestone/ Ford big shots knew their products were killing people all over the world and kept it secret, and the Enron people would also make good victims of said firing squad—and let's not forget the Andersen accounting people, too. Extreme measures? Maybe, but then others will realize they cannot dupe the people with impunity.
State Government — Congratulations to Bob Kraft of the Patriots. He snookered our governor and our state legislators, working Connecticut against Massachusetts for his own good. He got his new stadium in Massachusetts, and Connecticut lost millions in the deal. Wouldn't we all like to know the actual cost of that boondoggle?!
The powers that be in Hartford knew that whatever happened there was money to be made. I wonder what the legal costs were—attorneys in the know get richer and richer at the taxpayers' expense.
Did anyone believe that if the Patriots couldn't make it in Boston they had a chance in Hartford? During the hearings in Hartford, legislators took turns speaking, many of them stating their doubts and misgivings, but at the end of their talk they said that they would vote for it. Is this doublespeak?
Local Government — It is now reported that the Walgreen property in the North End of Torrington was sold for $5 million. I wonder why the city appraised it for $1.8 million. (It would be nice to have those percentages on property that I own.)
Recently Torrington had a local election and I knew nothing about either candidate for mayor. The night before the election I was driving down Kennedy Drive. People were putting up "Vote for Jerram" signs in groups of four and five, every 100 feet or so. Looked like overkill to me and a blight on the roadside. I voted for Mr. Quinn. Silly way to decide on how to vote, but I had nothing else.
We missed a chance to make a change in city government by not putting Mike Driscoll in office. I don't know Mr. Driscoll very well, but I grew up with his father. If he is anything like his dad, we missed a good chance for change. Of course, his location on the voting machines didn't help. I wonder why he was placed so low on the totem pole. Was this by design to isolate him?
The former mayor tells us the report on the former police chief was lost and that no copies exist. Can you believe that the high-priced lawyers who submitted that report don't have a copy in their files? Lots of secrets in government at every level. How about it, Mayor Quinn, are we shareholders in this corporation or not? Will the secrets persist?
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